The Diocesan
Pre-Lenten Youth retreat, Jesus,
Others, and Yourself (JOY) was held the weekend of February 8-10. Over 40 youth from the Diocese
participated. It was hosted by the Mother
of God Orthodox Church and was held at the Retreat Center located at St.
Joseph?s Seminary in Princeton, NJ. Some
of the facilities at the Retreat Center include dormitory rooms, large meeting
spaces, a gynamasium and dining hall. In
addition, the Mother of God Orthodox Church is located on the former Seminary grounds,
so that the youth were able to have prayer services in an Orthodox Church
throughout the retreat.
Sign-in was Friday night followed by a movie: Spiderman 3 and evening prayers. Saturday
morning started out with a morning prayer in church followed by breakfast in
the refectory. The day was broken into
three sessions based on the retreat topic Jesus,
Others, and Yourself (JOY). For each session there was a brief
presentation followed by a discussion group.
Each discussion group consisted of 8-10 youth led by a group leader. The
discussion groups were broken down by age.
Some of the group leaders were parents, but there were several group
leaders who were college students who they themselves had attended these
retreats in the past.
The first session
was about Jesus. Discussion centered
around having a relationship with Jesus - should you have a relationship with
Jesus, how do you start a relationship with Jesus and how do you build a
relationship with Jesus. The second and
third sessions were about Others and Yourself. The discussion was led by
Greg Abdalah who is a Seminarian from St Vladimir's Seminary. Discussion was about relationships - what is
a relationship and how do you have a relationship with Others, and about cultivating a relationship with Jesus Christ and others and
out of that relationship how we understand our true identity.
After the Discussion groups, the youth participated in various social and team-building activities including creating and performing skits, playing basketball and going bowling. On Sunday,
the youth and their parents attended Divine Liturgy at MOG Church and then had
a farewell brunch. There were some last
minute exchanging of phone numbers and emails and lots of picture taking. Many of the youth keep in contact year round
on Facebook or other social
networking websites. A summer retreat on Long Island hosted by Holy Trinity Church in East Meadow is being organized. Retreat information will be posted on the Diocesan website.
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