Meet Bridge

Hello again!


Now, I introduce myself after introducing the Blog.

I am a cradle Catholic. I went to a Private Catholic School until fifth grade in which I started homeschooling. When I started homeschooling, I was still relatively naive about my faith and how to really praise and follow God. JJ and C started getting involved in Youth Ministry almost immediately (we started homeschooling at the same time) and making new friends. I couldn't wait until I was old enough to join the youth group they were in!

Shortly after I started homeschooling, I realized more and more how much I hadn't been taught about the Catholic Church while in school. Was this because the government didn't like Catholics? Maybe I was in the middle of a revolution! I found, instead, that my parents had only counted on the school to teach me what I needed to learn about the faith. This is highly inadvisable if this is what some are doing. A school can only do so much after teaching you about Science, Math, Geography, History... so on and so forth. They are not responsible for my faith life.

When I started to find out about all the things I hadn't been taught in school about Catholicism, I started going to retreats and getting more involved in my faith. Mom and Dad wanted me to get a better grip on what the youth do in our diocese/state. JJ and C were both involved in making retreats so I naturally went to one that they helped make. My first was called "Middle School Youth Rally". While I can't say it was the best experience with retreats(I've been to so many wonderful ones), it was eye opening. There were a lot of youth there putting it on (two of them being C and JJ) and leading the middle schoolers, respectfully talking about prayer and Jesus Christ. Passion blazed their words when they talked about God and His Mercy that I was very taken aback. The group of youth putting this on was called the Diocesan Youth Council. At this time, I was only about 12. It made an impression...

After I turned 14, I was admitted into the Diocesan Youth Council long after applying two years before, hoping to slip into the group. I was denied at first, but only because I was under than the suggested grade and age while other people wanted to join the group. I was, as you can imagine, really exited when I got in. At the same time I got into the DYC, my mother and I were asked to join a group called the Vermont Catholic Youth Workers. They are a group of adults who provide resources and training for other adults in Catechises and youth oriented programs in the Catholic Church. The reason they wanted me was for a Youth's perspective on what adults should teach other youths. This sounded interesting so we said yes. Since then, C has joined this group. (My mother was invited because she seemed the perfect adult addition.)

In the middle of this whole process, I was attending many retreats and going on spiritual pilgrimages with my family (including World Youth Day which we will talk a lot about later.). I came to love the people I went to these retreats with and respect those that made it happen. I really couldn't have gone to most of the things I've gone to if it weren't for a specific three people.
God really is awesome!

In Christ,
Bridge