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Diocesan Youth Attend John 6:35 Eucharistic Retreat
More than 600 youth from the Diocese of Raleigh attended the three-day John 6:35 Eucharistic Retreat September 26th – 29th at St. Catherine of Siena Church in Wake Forest, NC.
The retreat has its roots in Youth 2000, which began as a result of Pope John Paul II’s call at World Youth Day 1989 in Compostella, Spain, for a decade of Evangelization of young people leading up to the New Millennium.
In 2005, the first YOUTH 2000 was held in Raleigh with over 600 participants. The following year the name was changed to JOHN 6:35 (for the Scripture verse “I Am the Bread of Life”) and continues in the YOUTH 2000 format serving young people throughout North Carolina.
This year’s retreat included liturgies, music, guest speakers and workshops, Eucharistic Adoration, the Rosary and the Sacrament of Reconciliation. On Saturday evening, Most Reverend Michael F. Burbidge, Bishop of Raleigh, heard confessions and celebrated the Vigil Mass.
In his homily Bishop Burbidge addressed the reason for the retreat: “Let’s look at what you are doing during these special days. You have left the usual plans and activities of a weekend to spend time with the Lord. You have demonstrated the necessity that He must be the priority in your life. You will spend time with Him in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament so that He may speak to the silence of your hearts. You will grow in your knowledge of our Catholic faith so that you will hear the truth that is often distorted in the world in which we live. You will celebrate the Sacrament of Penance so that you may be freed of any guilt or shame that may be weighing you down due to the burden of sin.”
“We pray,” the Bishop said in his conclusion, “that with His divine assistance others will come to realize through the witness of our lives that the Eucharist is ‘firmly believed and intensely lived.’”