Youth from Benton and Hamburg attend World Youth Day

Published August 9, 2023

On Aug. 1-6, youth from parishes from Benton and Hamburg traveled to Lisbon, Portugal, for World Youth Day.

Naomi Lee, youth minister at Our Lady of Fatima Church in Benton, said she first heard about World Youth day at the state youth convention last year. 

“We just got back from Steubenville (Youth Conference), and my kids were like ‘I can't believe there's 5,000 Catholics that are my age all going to the same event,’” Lee said. “I think being raised Catholic in Benton where we're the only Catholic church in the area, they don't go to school with other Catholics unless they're in their youth group. So to realize there are other Catholics in the area is cool, but then on a scale like this, realizing Catholicism is worldwide.”

World Youth Day featured Mass with Pope Francis and world-renowned speakers. In addition to the scheduled week, Lee took the 22-person Benton group to Fatima, about 80 miles from Lisbon. 

Holy Spirit Church in Hamburg attended World Youth Day under the leadership of Sister Yolanda Padrón Serrano, CMST. 

“Really, the biggest thing is they hope to be able to fortify their faith,” translator Juanita Cigarroa said, translating Sister Yolanda’s words before they left Arkansas. “And by that meeting with other groups and other young people from other countries that speak other languages, and, of course, being there with the pope, that's of course a big thing to be able to just see the universal Church at work.”