High-schoolers and collegians shared their faith Jan. 28 during a day retreat at St. Anthony’s Church in Groton. The five-hour event, led by seven students from Ithaca College Catholic Community, was attended by six teens from St. Anthony’s and two from Holy Cross Parish in Dryden.
Activities included small-group discussions and personal testimonies by the young adults. The day’s focus was on families — in society and church, on earth and in heaven — and how they can impact our lives, as well as what God can teach us through these people.
Ithaca College students have been collaborating on events with high-school Catholics in Tompkins County for more than a year. K.C. Lewis, 20, an Ithaca College junior, led the formation of this union.
“High school can be a very rough time in your life because you have to balance friends, religion, family, school and planning for your future,” she said. “From personal experience, it’s very easy to shove God in the corner of your life and be your own guide. Our goal is to connect with the high-school students and show them that God can, and should, be a major part of your life throughout high school and college, and when you let this happen, everything else falls into place.”
“Their presence among our events has been well received,” Carolann Darling, youth minister at St. Anthony’s, said of the college group. “I personally have been so impressed with the genuine enthusiasm and witness of faith of these young adults … they are a treasure within our community.”
