Americans at World Youth Day look for small ways to live the faith

Author: Scott Rouse Published on: January 23, 2019 Published in: Spiritual Experience & Disciplines

PANAMA CITY, Panama – While World Youth Day may be a mega-event for the global Catholic Church, American pilgrims on hand in Panama are focusing on the small ways in which they might be able to live holy lives upon returning home.

A panel discussion, “Young People, Called to Holiness, In the Church and In the World Today,” tackled a range of themes related to marriage, secularization, same-sex attraction, and more during an hour-long discussion during the “Fiat Festival” on Wednesday.

The festival, organized by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), FOCUS, and the Knights of Columbus, was the major event geared toward English language pilgrims, drawing an estimated 10,000 English language youth to the Amador Convention Center on the edge of the Pacific Ocean.

(The Knight of Columbus are a principal sponsor of Crux.)

The panelists included a mix of young pilgrims – Kelsey Skoch, Carlos García, Sarah Halweg, Drew Dillingham, and Kim Rose Dillingham, along with Bishop Edward Burns of Dallas – and responded to written audience questions about the practical applications of World Youth Day once pilgrims return home.

Drew Dillingham, who along with his wife Kim, had previously given a testimonial about the vocation of marriage, was asked about why marriage within the Church matters in a world that increasingly sees it as unnecessary.

“In a secular marriage, you’re often making a vow to your significant other, to your spouse. But in the Catholic view of marriage, when you’re on the altar, you’re not only making a vow to your wife, but you’re also making a covenant with God,” said Dillingham.

“That makes all the difference,” he told the crowd.

“If we really want the Church to grow, and if we really want to see the faith carried on, then we’ll all have to have courage,” Drew said.