Onsite at Ignite NW—Part 2

So finally, it was check-in time for the youth! We had the check-in outside. The weather was so nice. There was a string backpack for each participant--sort of like World Youth Day. (In fact, one of the organizers said, "World Youth Day is just like Ignite on steroids!") Below is Christine from Star of the Sea, who helped with checking people in.

The green shirts and religious spread throughout the campus to welcome the youth and direct them to the check-in area.

Here they all come!

These two little helpers who were so good the whole time their mom, Priscilla, was busy checking the groups in. What cutie pies!

Priscilla (with braided hair) and Molly (far left) hard at work

We even had some Canadians! Woo  hoo! I was so excited.

Finally, everyone was settled and things got underway with talks, Mass, supper, and icebreaker games.

The band was The Thirsting. Here is their singer, Daniel Oberreuter. The first evening, he gave a talk on how to meditate on the mysteries of the Rosary. I will never say the rosary the same way again. You can hear a 6-minute version of the talk here (second video on top--WARNING: turn your speakers down before you click on this website!):

http://www.thethirstingcatholic.com/video.html

The song he sang with the talk was "Come Hold My Son" on the same page.

It was so moving.

From the website: "The Thirsting is a Catholic rock band whose mission is to inspire you to love and follow Jesus Christ through the Catholic Church, the Eucharist, Mary, and the Rosary."

Well, that's different, to say the least!

Right after that talk, we got ready for the outdoor rosary procession.

We said the rosary and sang hymns, which echoed loudly all throughout this very, very secular campus. It was the neatest feeling, as if we were accompanying Jesus and Mary on a triumphal walk through an area which has never received them before. (And seriously, the employees at the campus were asking the sisters in habit, "What are you? Is this something to do with religion?" They honestly had never seen habits before.)

 

Loved this T-shirt one of the litter bearers was wearing:

The first day ended with the Salve Regina.

The next day, we had workshops.

Above, the youth gathered for a workshop in one of the classrooms

Left, Dr. Joy Ruiz-Molleston speaks on end-of-life issues

Right, Fr. Bryan Dolejski, vocation director for the Archdiocese of Seattle, prays before his workshop on discerning God's will.



Fr. Bryce Sibley (below) was a big hit. He spoke on the issues of same-sex attractions and defending traditional marriage. You can hear one of his great talks here:

http://www.igniteyourtorch.com/#!torch-talks/c17zc

Mrs. Sarah Duffy gave a workshop on sacred music.

Sr. Esther Mary spoke about "Women Priests: Why Not?"

Sr. Catherine Marie talked to the girls about true womanhood.

Sr. Simona Pia, who is from Australia and belongs to the Franciscans of the Immaculate, talked about St. Maximilian Kolbe, the Militia of the Immaculata, and consecration to Mary. She gave us beautiful Miraculous Medals at the end of her talk.




(There were many other talks and speakers; this is just a sampling.)

Time for Mass! (right and below)

And then for lunch and some informal social time.

Our trusty MC's, Flannery and Joseph, kept things moving along in a timely manner.

John Sohl, our busy media man from Louisville (he had just come back from WYD in Rio):

In the evening we had a special holy hour in which Jesus was brought to each person individually, using this beautiful monstrance. Many confessions were heard.

To be continued....

Onsite at Ignite NW—Part 1

 The first building we saw was the Longhouse, where we were to have most of our activities. I was intrigued by the unusual Native American art on the outside of the building.

(Boy, doesn't this guy look happy? Time to bring some Christian joy to this place.)

Here is an example of how the inside was decorated. (See papal flag on back wall, added by the band.)

This banner was set up outside the door.....

Inside, this meeting room.........

...was made into the adoration chapel. (Some of the surroundings couldn't be helped.)

The tabernacle was almost exactly the same as the one we have in New Hope! 

Our Lady of Ignite stands off to the side.

The woodland setting was beautiful.

The green shirts chalked the sidewalks to help us get around.

I must say, the campus layout was very confusing.

The campus was built in 1967. 

The surroundings were lovely, but the buildings.... not so much.

That's my dorm..... Dorm u. Yes, lower case u. They did not ask me to proofread their dorm names. :) 

Fr. Sibley gave us a talk about serving at the conference. 

Each of us introduced himself or herself, and told who our favorite saint is and why. 

This helped the KY people get to know the WA people and vice versa.

Here is Josh Johnson with the band's lead singer, Daniel Oberreuter.

The religious and priests were asked to arrive early for orientation. 

The first was Carmelite Br. Matthias, a seminarian who used to belong to the band 

which would play at the conference.

Fr. Peter Tynan, OSB, from nearby St. Martin's College, 

made himself at home to do some spiritual reading.

Here are three seminarians from the Archdiocese of Seattle, all of whom were a great help to us...

....some Society of Mary Sisters (Sr. Bernadette, originally from Oregon, 

and on the right, Sr. Fernanda, who is from Argentina).....

...some "men in black" (Fr. Ignacio Llorente, an Argentinian; Fr. Joseph Altenhofen; and Fr. Derek Lappe, all three of whom work in the Seattle Archdiocese; and Fr. Sibley from Louisiana)....

....and some ladies in white. Our Nashville Dominicans! YAY! 

Left to right, Sr. Immaculata Marie, Sr. Angela Marie, and Sr. Felicity:

Religious Sisters of Mercy of Alma, Michigan. 

Left to right, Sr. Mary Hanah, Sr. Catherine Marie, and Sr. Esther Mary:

Sr. Giovanni Paolo, SOLT, with Emma (both are originally from Ohio):

There were some Dominican priests and brothers, too.

Hey, even Pope Francis showed up. It was the place to be.

Fr. Sibley and Fr. Lappe wanted me to photograph them working, because, as Fr. Sibley explained, "diocesan priests actually work, while the rest of them [priests] getta sit around in costumes all day." LOL

It was the feast of St. Dominic. This scene shows one of my favorite aspects of Ignite: 

the different communities socializing and praying together. 

Here they are reciting Vespers for the feast day. 

To be continued.....

Preparing for Ignite Northwest

The parish which put on Ignite NW was Our Lady, Star of the Sea Parish in Bremerton, WA, just a few blocks from where you take the ferry. (The parishioners usually just call it Star.) It is an amazingly active parish.

Here are some photos of the inside of the church.

 Side altar to the Holy Innocents

Side altar to St. Lawrence Ruiz, a lay Dominican, and his companions, martyrs

Here is Fr. Lappe, the pastor (on the right) with his friend Fr. Sibley

This is the parish's famous van in which we were driven around by Angelle, one of the parish's missionaries, who is from Louisiana. The van is named the "Holy Moldy." As its name suggests, it is very idiosyncratic. For example, the sliding door on the side often sticks, and once I had to climb out through the front when I was sitting in the back. We had so many adventures in the Holy Moldy (including getting lost in it very often, since all of us who used it were out-of-staters), 

I couldn't leave out a photo of it. 

(Thanks for the picture, Emma!)

We got to work early Monday morning in the parish hall. The first thing Tamara did was to present to the Washington crew a replica of our own new statue of "Our Lady of Ignite," as we call her.

That day and the next two days, there were endless meetings and consultations.....

The cell phones never stopped buzzing and ringing, and there was a big table around which was seated a large group of people, each with a laptop, furiously keying away. Others were folding shirts, sorting name tags and making lists.

These sights and tasks were very familiar!

Some of the volunteers and we ate at a nearby park on Tuesday evening. 

Left to right, Flannery, Priscilla, Josh, Lauren, Tamara, Emma, Molly and Angelle.

Joseph entertaining Josh's and Katie's twins while daddy worked v-e-r-y late

Finally the group bags were all packed.....

And the U-Haul set off. Oh, so familiar.

Joseph, Tamara, Angelle, Emma taking a break before we left

On the way to the conference site, I saw Mt. Rainier for the first and only time. I was so excited!