March 21, 2023

Annual Young and Catholic Lenten Retreat advises young adults to ‘Be Not Afraid’

REGIONAL
Story and photos by David Martin

 

SPRINGFIELD – Young adults from throughout the Springfield Diocese gathered to meet and worship together at the third annual Young and Catholic Lenten Retreat at St. Paul the Apostle Parish Hall in Springfield on March 18.

The event was sponsored by the Springfield Diocese Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry. Luke Hollwedel, a board member for Springfield Young and Catholic, said because the event takes place during Lent there is a small social aspect to it, but it mostly consists of prayer, reflection, and quiet.

 “Lent is the time for preparation, for prayer for fasting and for re-focus,” said Hollwedel.

“This is good preparation to celebrate later. This event is not the party, this event is to get focused, get in the right relationship, get back to a place of peace with God so we are ready and disposed to celebrate later. Whatever we do for Easter will be way more fun!”

Hollwedel, a theology teacher at St. Mary High School in Westfield said the theme for this year’s retreat is “Be Not Afraid,” which he said is very appropriate for these times and this group because it can be very terrifying living in an uncertain world, but fear should not interfere with progressing in faith.

Hollwedel a parishioner at St. John the Evangelist Parish in Agawam, said he was really excited for the witness talks happening during the retreat, including the talk given by Joseph Austin, the director of Youth and Young Adult Ministry for the diocese, since he is the brains behind Young and Catholic, who gets all the tasks done that need to be completed for the retreat to work.

The second witness talk was given by Father Sean O’Mannion, the pastor of Our Lady of Czestochowa Parish in Turners Falls, with the topic of fear and humility. Father O’Mannion said he wanted those attending the retreat to understand how much of a negative force fear is and how much it limits their lives without them even realizing it is there.

Father O’Mannion said he was hoping his audience would become more aware of how much fear is a weapon used by the devil to lure people in and said he will convince them to pray more often to the patron saint St. Michael the Archangel.

“I really support what Joe is doing because it is an uphill struggle,” said Father Mannion. “The youth went away from the church like two generations ago. Joe has been doing a really good job of reaching out in real, respectable ways and presenting the truth unvarnished. So, whenever he asks me to do something, if I can, I do it because I think he has been a real blessing to our diocese.”

Father O’Mannion held a question and answer session at the end of his presentation.

At the end of both talks, the young adults split up to discuss in small groups their reflections and impressions of what they had learned and taken away from the witness talks. 

One of the group leaders, Katlyn Dobbs, the social media coordinator at the National Shrine of The Divine Mercy in Stockbridge, was looking forward to leading the group discussions with smaller groups and meeting new people as they consider questions about anxiety, which is a big problem in society today. She said the theme of the retreat was an appropriate topic for Lent.

“The theme, ‘Do not be afraid,’ I think it is so appropriate especially for Lent,” said Dobbs. “One of the first things when Mary at the Annunciation, when she saw the angel, and whenever people in the Bible experience the divine, we become afraid, so it is really interesting to flip that on its head, because God wants to reach us; he does not want us to be afraid.”

Mass was celebrated in the church by St. Paul’s pastor, Father Peter Ha Ding Dang, followed by lunch and Benediction and confession.

Dobbs said she encourages people to visit the website youngandcatholic.org to become a part of Young and Catholic, get the emails that come out weekly, and become a part of the movement they are trying to build in the diocese.

A video version of this story will be featured on an upcoming edition of “Real to Reel,” which airs Saturday evenings at 7 p.m. on WWLP-22 NEWS.