Two hundred and fifty young adults gathered from all corners of the archdiocese and beyond for the first multicultural young adult Encuentro held at Old St. Mary’s Church on April 13.

The three-hour Encuentro culminated with an hour of dialogue with Cardinal George.

Prior to the cardinal’s arrival, participants discussed a list of questions in small groups coordinated by a facilitator. After the discussions, each group summarized their responses and read them back to Cardinal George.

“The objective was to give a voice to the young adults in order to understand what is happening at the grassroots level, so that from this grassroots level a pastoral plan can be developed,” said Pablo Padilla, one of the event coordinators and director of the Ruah Hispanic Center of the Office of Young Adult Ministry. Padilla added that the effort will help the church find ways to be more inclusive of young adults.

This was the first young adult Encuentro with a multicultural emphasis to be organized by the Young Adult Ministry office. Previously, there were four Encuentros for Hispanic young adults celebrated since 2000.

“We are calling it the first multicultural Encuentro” said Padilla, “because it’s the first time young adults of different age groups and ethnic groups of the archdiocese have come together so that the cardinal can hear them speak in a unified voice and not as different ethnic groups. We want them to be heard as a single voice.”

The young adults met in various rooms, as well as the parish cafeteria, to discuss the cardinal’s questions, which included, “What things make you proud of your faith?” and “Why do you bother going to Mass?”

While some groups were loud and boisterous, others spoke in hushed tones, but many ideas percolated through several groups, including creating engaging activities for young adults and promoting more young adult groups at the parish level.

“The church should take a more active role to ensure that each parish has a person in charge of a young adult group,” said Vanessa Vargas of Most Blessed Trinity Parish in Waukegan. “Young adults should always be given options and have access to young adult groups, because sometimes they ask and the parish doesn’t have anywhere to send them.”

When Cardinal George arrived, everyone gathered again in the church, and each small group representative read their responses to the cardinal. He responded individually to each of the presentations.

To the question, “What are your hopes and dreams of the Catholic Church?” a young man named Michael expressed the importance of catechizing other young adults.

“To inform the youth in the faith, we ourselves need to be informed properly with catechesis,” he said, and he added that it was necessary to have access to catechetical programs directed at young adults at the parish level.

Cardinal George said that as far as the organizational structure is concerned, the archdiocese counts on Msgr. Richard Hynes, director of the Department of Parish Life and Formation, with Father Marco Mercado, delegate to the archbishop for Hispanic Ministry, and Father John Cusick, director of Young Adult Ministry, but that it is equally important to have initiative from the young adults themselves.

“It has to be something that comes up from all of you, inside you. You look around, see who’s around, who shares your faith and wants to know more about it, and then you start working. You don’t need a large, large structure to help us to be present to the world,” he said.

One of Cardinal George’s questions was, “What would you say to someone who is spiritual but not religious?”

The cardinal elaborated on this topic during the discussion.

“Spirituality is individual, religion is community. We have to be spiritual but it has to be a spirituality rooted in religion,” he said.

Cardinal George expressed his desire that this event be the beginning of an on-going dialogue to find new ways to bring young adults closer to the church. “You should be free to go to the priest and say here’s where we are. And the priest will listen. Please do that” he said, in referring to those wanting to form groups at their parishes.

One of the phrases repeatedly used by the participants during the Encuentro was “building bridges.” The cardinal said he liked the image the phrase evoked, and added, “We have to build bridges toward society,” he said. “If you are the builders of those bridges, then we are in good shape.”