'Cristi Juventute' unites the youth at St. Francis of Assisi

Friday, Feb. 13, 2015

OREM— A broken-down bus led a divided youth group to come together as one.

 “Cristi Juventute” (Youth of Christ), the youth group at Saint Francis of Assisi Catholic Parish in Orem, includes youth from 13 to 18 years old.

Prior to last September, they divided themselves into the Anglo youth group and the Hispanic youth group.

“Sometimes parishes experience some type of division. … In our parish the division was more between Anglos and Hispanics,” said Gabriela Morales, one of the youth group leaders. 

When Morales arrived at St. Francis of Assisi two years ago as the coordinator of the Hispanic youth group, she was introduced to the coordinator of the English youth group, and they start talking about doing something together.

 “We thought about the possibility of creating just one group and integrating everyone,” said Morales, but after several meetings, “we decided that we were going to let the youth decide.”

The youth’s decision was “no.”

“They said that the cultures were very different, so we said OK … but we tried to at least once a month gather with all of them so they could little by little get to know each other and maybe realize that they all were young, that they shared the same faith, and that maybe the cultures were different, but they could learn about that, too,” said Morales.

This was the state of affairs when, last year, both groups decided to make a trip to a youth retreat in Denver, Colo., and were faced with a common goal of fundraising. Then the bus they planned to take broke down, “so in the last minute we had to rent some vans,” said Morales.

The bus breaking down was like a sign of God to bring the youth together, because traveling in the vans where the space was very reduced, “it kind of forced them to know each other more,” Morales said.

Also, during the three-day retreat, the youth from Saint Francis of Assisi Parish got to know each other better.

“One of our youth came to us and said, ‘Why don’t we all join and have just one youth group at our parish?’ ... We were very happy because a year before when we proposed that to them they said ‘no’ and now they were the ones approaching us with the idea,” said Morales.

Morales said that for all the group leaders the request from the youth was like a sign it was really God’s time. The leaders met and discussed joining the two groups, and in September they started the gatherings with just one group.

“It’s a process that we are constantly working on,” said Morales, who together with Angela Robles, Jovany Moore, Benny y Cielo Navarrete, Ricky Ramos, Ana Agustin, Dennis Robles, Jennifer Carrol and Leon Corvette guide around 50 youth every week, having talks, preparing presentations for special occasions such as Christmas, sharing personal stories and meals, praying, and doing other activities.

“It’s a wonderful experience,” said Benito Dominguez, who plans to attend the group more frequently. “I have been there once or twice because my friend invited me, and after being there I have found it is a great place to spend time and meet others.”

Cristi Juventute gathers every Thursday. The meetings are conducted in English, but if someone doesn’t understand, Spanish translation is provided.

Also, “what we have noticed is that the Hispanics who have grown up with Spanish in their homes like to pray in Spanish, so we have the themes in English and when we pray we encourage them to pray in the language that they feel more comfortable with,” said Morales.

Having a parish youth group is very important, she said, because “our youth are part of our Church; they have many talents. … If you could see all the energy, all their talents. Sometimes they [the youth] are neglected and we do not pay enough attention to them.  We need to see that they are hungry for Christ. ... When you share with them, you are going to realize that, but if the people at the parishes don’t share with them, they won’t realize that. Sometimes we make the mistake of not including the youth in the process. ... We want to do this. Here we sit down with them and asked them what is it that they need.”