New York Catholic Youth Day
This past Saturday the Archdiocese of New York held its Catholic Youth Day at St. Joseph's Seminary, Dunwoodie. One of the many blessings of having extern sisters is that we are able to have a presence at events such as this to plant the seeds for future Dominican vocations.
The Sisters of Christian Charity in Mendam graciously agreed to take our Sr. Mary Cecilia with them into New York. The theme for NY Catholic Youth Day was "Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God". Besides music and games there was also opportunities for confession, adoration, and a Mass celebrated by Cardinal Dolan. In between activities the youth could browse displays set up by different religious as well as other organizations. Sr. Mary Cecilia set up a table with information about our way of life and offered vocation pamphlets to anyone who was interested. She said that about 1500 young people attended the event, most of high school age. One surprise for sister was discovering that the musician for the event, Ike from the Ike NDolo Band, was someone she had traveled on a missionary trip with!
One of the organizers spoke to the sisters about the importance of their presence at this event. She emphasized that this might be the only time that some of the attendees would ever see a religious sister or brother. Just their presence could plant the seed of a future vocation.
Sr. Mary Cecilia with Ike from the Ike NDolo Band
Cardinal Dolan processes up the aisle at the beginning of the Mass