Over 6,000 youths, grades 6th through 12th, filed into the Music Mill Amphitheater of Six Flags on Sunday, October 19, and sat with their individual church groups. The large stadium became a rainbow of colors, as each church had a separate color of shirts and sat in their own private section.
After spending the past four and a half hours enjoying the theme park, the crowd was difficult to quiet, but the noise slowly died down as speaker Mike Patin was introduced to the stage.
St. Jude youth group co-leader Liz Belman waved her arms above her head after noticing that some of her students were still entering the open, arena-like building. Legacy junior Amy Bohuslav frantically searched for the deep blue shirts her youth group was wearing, and arrived out of breath with the small group she previously explored the park with.
Patin started off by having the crowd participate in coordination tasks, such as clapping a certain amount of times in succession or patting their thighs.
In one game, he stated a sentence, and all those whom the sentence applied to would perform a specific action designated by him.
“All those who can easily lift more than 150 pounds, stand up,” he said. Most of the males stood, whether they truly could or not. “Now if you’re standing,” he continued, “pick up the person next to you.” Mansfield High senior Daniel Cosio was quickly swooped up and swung around yelling before being placed back on the ground half a minute later.
After finally catching their attention with the games and calming them, he guided the crowd through several songs, teaching them as he went, before diving into his half hour speech, using multiple allusions to further prove his point and relate the topics to the students listening.
The crowd stood together and applauded him loudly as he left the stage.
Large, colorful flags adorned with “World Youth Day” were carried down through the columns of students and around the stage, followed by a procession of liturgical ministers, including lectors, altar servers, and the bishops of the Dallas and Fort Worth diocese.
“The Lord be with you,” Fort Worth bishop Michael Olson said, raising his hands. The crowd responded, “And with your spirit.”
Mass proceeded, and two students left their group to read both readings preceding the gospel, first in english, then in spanish. Bishop Olson finished off by reading the gospel.
“Our Catholic faith is not something we keep to ourselves, or that we only celebrate on Sundays,” he said to the crowd, starting his homily. “Take what you have done here today on this beautiful day that God has given us, and bring that always into the lives that we return to.”
As the bishop finished and prayed before the altar, the crowd kneeled in unison on the rough concrete. Those who had dressed warmly passed their jackets around for others wearing shorts to kneel on so that they wouldn’t cut their knees on the rocky surface.
“The mass is over. Go now in peace to love and to serve God,” Bishop Olson said.
Groups departed, many rubbing their sore knees, finding their appointed drivers. Several students ran to the stage, dodging in between people, trying to find the bishops to talk to and take pictures with. The theme park was soon almost empty, and the students returned to their churches together, joking and laughing loudly as they exited the park.
Carter Bonneau • Jan 9, 2015 at 8:37 am
This is a really cool story, this is something that I wish more churches would be involved in because it sounds really fun and great to be a part of. I to have faith in our savior Christ and this is really awesome to hear and read about.