Catholic teens recently got an up-close look at the Church’s social justice teachings.

The annual Catholic Charities Summer Institute, known as C²SI, took place July 8-12 at St. John Center in Little Rock. Co-sponsored by Catholic Charities of Arkansas and the Catholic Youth Ministry Office, 69 high school students, including incoming high school freshmen and students who recently graduated, learned about social issues in Arkansas, what the Church says about social justice and took part in hands-on community service around the city. 

“We’re the Church of social justice, the Catholic Church, and so we wanted to use this camp to help young people understand social justice and what that looks like and what that means in action,” Liz Tingquist, diocesan youth ministry director, said.

The program began in 2007 out of a desire for youth ministers to put together a mission trip. After much prayer, Tingquist and Tricia Gentry, diocesan youth ministry program coordinator, decided to focus on the mission field here in Arkansas. Young people “need to know what’s going on in their own state,” Tingquist said. “We wanted to make it something that was educational, not just going and doing community service.”

Before attending the camp, sophomore Lily Kennedy from Sacred Heart Church in Charleston said she “didn’t realize how many people in need live in Little Rock.” After volunteering at Jericho Way, a homeless day center in Little Rock, she said she found that “it was amazing seeing how happy people in need were, even in the midst of not having much.”

Sixteen-year-old Pascha Wistrand of St. Agnes Church in Mena noticed that “people that are suffering, they still have joy in their life and they’re still happy, which is hard to do sometimes.”

Volunteers also did work at the Arkansas Food Bank, Habitat for Humanity, Arkansas Pregnancy Resource Center and Little Rock Compassion Center. They sorted donations, cleaned and painted and assisted clients and customers. 

With ever-changing social issues and high school students participating multiple times, there is a different theme each year for the Catholic Charities Summer Institute. This year’s theme was the dignity of the human person. In the mornings, there was an emphasis on social justice education. Participants heard from guest speakers on topics such as homelessness, immigration and human trafficking. In the afternoon, they volunteered at work sites around the city.

The young people participating have learned a lot from their experiences at the camp. 

What drew Zach Ellis, a rising senior at Catholic High School in Little Rock, to C²SI was the opportunity to take part in hands-on service.

“Jesus, he practiced agape, which is that self-sacrificing love,” he said. “We, as Catholics and Christians, are called to live in that world. And I think that the greatest way that we can do that is to give ourselves to service and try and live in that sacrificial way.”

Eighteen-year-old Angel Martinez’s favorite aspect of the week was watching other people grow. The parishioner at St. James Church in Searcy said he loved “seeing other people helping out with each other, as well as seeing people grow in their faith.” He also got to “witness such great things that each individual gets out of retreats or events, especially here at C² right now,” he said. 

The educational component of the Catholic Charities Summer Institute is one of the most important aspects of the camp, Tingquist said. 

“Over the years I think it’s really enlightening to (participants) to think of a world outside of themselves,” she said. “I think at the very least, it’s just opening their minds to be more open to things and helping them to get out of their comfort zone and know what it means to be an evangelist.”

How many of you have been at one of my confirmation Masses this year? If so, the first part of this homily will be very familiar to you. 

Remember what I said about salmon and other fish that live in rivers? They are constantly swimming against the current. If they didn’t, they’d all eventually end up in the ocean, carried away by the current. The struggle against the current makes for strong fish muscles and good eating that pond-raised fish can’t match. Going against the flow requires strength and makes them strong.

In today’s Gospel Jesus says it is the same for his apostles. His message is countercultural and so following him will entail swimming against the current of public opinion. He says we will be like sheep in the midst of wolves — “led before governors and kings for his sake as a witness before them,” handed over even by members of our own family, “hated by all.” 

No one can accuse Jesus of trying to collect followers by pretending that doing God’s will is always going to be easy, pleasant and well received. Indeed, he continually promises a cross and that what doesn’t kill them will make them strong: “whoever endures to the end will be saved.”

The same is true today. You participants in C2SI have spent a week looking at some of the social and moral teachings of the Church in matters which bear on the dignity of the human person, issues where we are countercultural, where we are in a lot of ways swimming against the current of public opinion. Issues of social justice and human rights. 

The special claims that the poor have on us, people who have no voice, whom society disregards — for instance, the homeless, refugees and victims of human trafficking — and the imperative to do what we can to work to make changes in our society to address these evils. We don’t usually get much push-back when we do works of charity, other than perhaps being dismissed as “do-gooders.” 

But people really do get their back up when we speak out about people’s rights. For instance, the God-given right that people have to immigrate when desperate circumstances so require — and obligation to welcome them with open arms. 

Or the immorality of the death penalty, or the need to restructure our economy in a way that better serves the poor, or the universal right to receive medical care. And many other issues, for instance, the gender ideology that ignores the specific physical body that God gave us — which is an area that you learned about this week. And I could name a half-dozen other social and moral topics that bear on the dignity of the human person as well. 

We are countercultural and when we voice these truths, lots of people don’t like it. But in the end, the truth will prevail. “The light is stronger than the darkness.” “Whoever endures to the end will be saved.”

So if you intend to be faithful to Jesus and his teaching regarding the dignity of the human person, expect to spend your life swimming against the current. That’s what our seminarians are doing, which is what makes their witness so powerful and challenging. 

The Lord may well be calling some of you to follow him in this inspiring countercultural way as well. And some of you young ladies to serve him in religious life, which may be even more countercultural, given how our society currently views women.

These days we cannot expect the support of our increasingly pagan society and sometimes not even the support of family members and friends who have drifted from really living the faith, which is why it is so important for us to learn how to support each other in living our faith. Jesus talks about persecution and rejection, but even incomprehension can be very painful — especially in the teenage years when it is so important to feel accepted, but later too. I’ve experienced it and so will you if you truly give yourself over fully to the Lord and his will for your life. 

After all, just as with salmon and trout, going against the flow and doing what you know is right when doing so is difficult, will make you strong, in this case, strong in the Lord.

Bishop Anthony B. Taylor delivered this homily for the Catholic Charities Summer Institute July 12.

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Catholic teens spent a week in July learning what the Catholic Church teaches about social issues.

C2SI (Catholic Charities Summer Institute) is a weeklong retreat held at St. John Center in Little Rock to help youth from incoming freshmen to just-graduated seniors better understand the Catholic view of some hot-button issues. The teens also have opportunities throughout the week to serve at work sites in the Little Rock area.

Diocesan youth ministry director Liz Tingquist said she was happy C2SI was organized July 10-14 for the first time since 2019. 

“Your parents are the first teachers of the faith as they should be,” Tingquist said. “But to the kids, I said, ‘We're going to challenge you this week to start developing your own sense of social morality. And it may get you uncomfortable, or it may be opposed to the views of your parents. This is an opportunity at your age to start developing your own sense of what's right when it comes to these social justice issues. So we're going to have some discussions, and it's okay for you guys to disagree. But it's going to be civil, and we're going to talk about it.’”

One of the work sites this year was Jericho Way Day Resource Center. In addition to hosting a cookout, C2SI youth also cleaned the building. 

“Jericho Way is always a great work site,” Tingquist said. “That was hard work. The kids deep-cleaned that place. They cleaned commodes and showers that hadn’t been cleaned in a long time. They shampooed carpets, and we did a lot of stuff there. It really gets young people working who've never done anything like that before, and they all had great attitudes.”

Volunteering at Jericho Way was meaningful to rising senior Parker Vail, a parishioner of Immaculate Conception Church in North Little Rock. 

“Going into C2SI, I just expected that we were going to be doing some boring service work and that the talks would be boring too,” he said. “My expectations changed immediately on Tuesday when we went to Jericho Way. … It really showed me that these people that are so looked down upon in our society are still people. And what especially surprised me was how positive all the people there were despite what they’re all going through.”

C2SI shifts its attention each year. This year, the program centered on food and housing poverty and how they’re connected, as well as Catholic civil discourse. 

Teens participated in a housing simulation where each student was assigned a different character and had to visit stations related to Section 8 housing, an apartment building, public housing and a women's shelter to find a home.

“People were getting frustrated,” Tingquist said. “The kids said they felt like they were their characters and were getting desperate. Nobody explains how you get housing. The key is, if you want public housing, you have to get a voucher from Section 8 first. Well, nobody knew that so nobody went to Section 8 until almost the last day and then the lines were so long, and they couldn't get served. So I think that was a very good exercise for them to get through, and we had a great conversation afterward.”

C2SI is different from other ministries the youth office offers, such as Search and the State Youth Convention. 

“C2SI is focused on giving young people experiences they probably haven't had before, like going into homeless camps, meeting people, going to areas where there's a lot of immigrants and visiting with them,” Tinquist said. “It's a very serious week, so it's important that only people who want to come actually come.”

C2SI participants said the week touched their lives in a personal way. 

“The main thing I learned from the week was that the people experiencing homelessness are just everyday people like you and me,” Vail said. “They have human dignity and deserve to be treated well.

Bishop Anthony B. Taylor delivered this homily July 12.

This week in Catholic Charities Summer Institute you have encountered people with big problems, and you gave some thought to how you might be able to help them.

When we encounter such situations, it is very important to remember what I told you at dinner Monday night: that it could just as well be us — “but for the grace of God, there go I.” There are a lot of people in our world who are facing problems that they find to be simply overwhelming.

Hopefully this experience has served to put you in their shoes, even if only for a couple of days. So if you are in their shoes, what are the ways that you can draw on your faith to deal effectively with problems that seem overwhelming and look like they’re only going to get worse?

In today’s Gospel Jesus says to do three things:

• keep your eyes open,

• be courageous and

• persevere.

And he promises to help us through these troubles. Here Jesus is speaking about the persecution of believers by the government and betrayal by their own family members, but what he says applies to other troubles as well. He says, “I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves; so be as shrewd as serpents and simple as doves … and do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say. You will be given at that moment what you are to say. For it will not be you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.”

But then as now, believers who keep their eyes open, act courageously and persevere will prevail. Jesus says elsewhere: “By your perseverance you will save your lives.”

And what is true on the cosmic level about persevering despite all the adversities we might face in the larger world as the price of faithfulness to the Lord is true also on the personal level about us persevering despite all the personal adversities we must face while still in this life. And this applies just as much to the everyday problems that you and I face as it does to the overwhelming adversities that sometimes lead to homelessness and the other social problems you have been learning about this week.

• Keep your eyes open to see what’s really going on. Don’t allow yourself to be deceived by outside appearances.

Our Gospel says we should be as “shrewd as serpents and as simple as doves.” In other words, don’t turn a blind eye to problems that if you don’t deal with them now are only going to get worse.

• Be courageous about how you confront these problems. When Jesus says to be “shrewd as serpents” he is drawing on peoples’ belief that snakes will let you cut off their tail, so long as they can keep their head intact and thereby survive.

I don’t think it works that way, but that was the image: be courageous enough to be willing to suffer quite a bit if that is what it’s going to take to deal with the problems effectively. 

• Persevere and, thereby, share in Jesus’ victory. In our Gospel, that means prevailing over persecutors.

In our own lives, that means not giving up when the struggle becomes hard, but rather simply doing our best and then placing our trust in the Lord who will do the rest.

Jesus’ words in today’s Gospel are as much for you and me as they were for the disciples 2,000 years ago: “I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves; so be as shrewd as serpents and simple as doves … and do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say … For it will not be you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.”

And “by your perseverance you will save your lives” — and I might add, the lives of others as well.

Angel Sasser of St. Jude Church in Jacksonville stood balanced on a ladder, carefully rolling a coat of white paint on the ceiling of a carport. Other teens wielded paint brushes and pressure washing hoses on bricks and siding to spruce up four homes in Southwest Little Rock July 8, part of Habitat for Humanity’s neighborhood revitalization program. 

But was more than just a coat of paint. They were living the Gospel.

“I always find joy in helping others,” the 18-year-old said, adding that seeing the smiles on people’s faces “is always heartwarming … It helps to find the face of God in people. Everyone should do it.”

It was her fourth time attending Catholic Charities Summer Institute, known as C2SI, along with 93 other teens. For 12 years the program, hosted annually by the Diocese of Little Rock Youth Ministry Office and Catholic Charities of Arkansas, allows teens to give back to the local community while also learning about social justice.

Homeowner Toniette Watson peeked out her door and smiled at the progress, explaining she had picked out the gray-tinted color herself.

“It means the world; I have pride you know when people come by and see (the house) freshly painted. We sit under the carport a lot and people will drive by and say how pretty it looks. That’s all we got so it makes me feel so good. I’m so thankful for you guys really,” she said.

Teens also worked at the Arkansas Food Bank, the veterans’ health care center on Fort Roots in North Little Rock and with the homeless at Jericho Way, River City Ministries and the Salvation Army.

Kate Engel, 18, of Immaculate Conception Church in Fort Smith, said it’s her fifth time attending C2SI and remembers visiting with a homeless woman at Jericho Way.

“She opened up about her whole story and encouraged us to stay in school, stay in the faith” which was inspiring given her situation, Engel said. “I really found my love for service here. I really love learning about social justice and immigrants.”

Local leaders involved in nonprofits, programs and ministries, spoke to the teens about what sparked their passion for a variety of community needs including the homeless, environment and pro-life work. Liz Tingquist, diocesan director of youth and campus ministry, said they wanted to work with the ongoing Catholic Charities theme that “every parish is a Catholic charity.” Youth were separated by geographical area to come up with a project they are passionate about and bring it back to their community to implement.

“I’ve found that there are several students that have gone all the way through high school (with C2SI) and it’s been great and they’ve been educated, but now I want this to be a stepping stone to finding their passion and taking action about it,” she said, later adding, “To me everybody finds Jesus in different ways but when you really allow opportunities for kids to be the hands and feet of Christ, and we do a lot of apostolic reflection during the week and our question always is where did you see the face of Christ today? And how were you the face of Christ to other people?”

Seminarians worked alongside teens, including Jonathan Semmler, 21, going into his third year in seminary, and Duwan Booker, 22, who graduated in May from Hendrix College in Conway.

“For me, it’s all about combining service with prayer,” Semmler said.

It was his eighth time to attend C2SI, crediting the program as “the most important event” in his formation toward his religious calling, as it was the first time he experienced “peace from service. This (program) holds a special place in my heart.”

Booker said he was looking forward to “seeing the hearts and minds changed and that’s through service and mission.”

Garrett Locknar, 17, a member of St. Boniface Church in Fort Smith, came back to attend C2SI because the experience was directly following Jesus’ call to mission. 

“It’s like we’re stepping into the feet of the disciples,” he said. “ … I think it’s just being able to physically see the affect we’re creating.”

Throughout the past nine years, Angie Capps and her husband Dwayne, youth ministry team members at St. Paul Church in Pocahontas, have been bringing youth to C2SI, including their three children.

“This is just where my heart is,” she said. “They can see the other side of the world. It opens their eyes, let me tell you.”

While Heather Throesch carefully ran her paint brush across the side of the home, the 17-year-old who attends youth ministry at St. Paul and Mass at St. John in Engelberg, explained it was her first time at C2SI.

“This is pretty fun. I feel at peace here, helping others that don’t get help,” Throesch said. “I’m hoping these people feel loved and see the face of Jesus through us.”

Kimberly Eden, a parishioner at Immaculate Conception Church in North Little Rock, said her four children, ages 14 to 20, have experienced C2SI, the first back in 2016. The three younger children attended this year. As a local attorney, Eden said most of her clients use the programs her children volunteered at during the week.

“They get to serve others in the way that Christ did. The whole social justice (aspect) and serving others not as fortunate as you instills a true understanding of what Jesus did and what he did to serve others and ultimately his sacrifice for us,” Eden said. “It has done nothing but strengthen all of my children’s faith, and I’m really proud to be a part of it honestly.”

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With the new school year’s first day peeking around the corner, Arkansas Catholic reached out to several diocesan teens to find out how they spent their summer break, enjoying surprisingly little down time in favor of living their faith out loud.

 

EMILY ELLIS, 17

Immaculate Conception Church, North Little Rock; senior, Mount St. Mary Academy

A cradle Catholic, Emily Ellis didn’t understand the depth of her faith until she was challenged to proclaim it before thousands of fellow Catholic youth.

“When I went to Steubenville (Catholic Youth conference) the first time, they had everybody that had never said ‘I love you,’ out loud to the Lord stand up and shout it,” she said. “I had never done that, so I stood up and I shouted it. I just burst into tears.”

The experience inspired her heavy involvement with Catholic youth activities. This summer alone, she attended Catholic Charities Summer Institute (C2SI), Youth Advisory Council and made a fourth consecutive trip to a Steubenville conference, this year as a member of LEAD, a select group of young Catholic witnesses.

Ellis’ schedule forced her to miss one other activity, Alive In You, which deploys young Catholics to put faith into action through service. Over the years, AIY has taken her to Alabama, Tennessee and her home state of Arkansas.

She calls her activities an indispensable part of her Catholic identity.

“There’s this stigma that you can’t talk about your faith in public or you’ll get shunned or you won’t be cool or whatever,” she said. “These events where I can go and express my Catholic-ness and learn from it enables me to help other people see it’s OK to be Catholic in public.”

 

DRUE KRAUSS, 15

St. Paul the Apostle Church, Pocahontas; sophomore, Pocahontas High School

When it comes to talking, less is more for the 15-year-old Drue Krauss; but when she does speak, people listen. Asked what her first C2SI had sparked in her after a day’s work at a Little Rock homeless shelter, Krauss responded with refreshing honesty.

“I’m typically a judgmental person. I come by it naturally and I’m trying to fix it,” she said. “Meeting with the homeless people today, I just kind of looked at them and saw that they’re people and I think they deserve a second chance.

Krauss had heard about the diocese-sponsored service camp C2SI from her Catholic peers and was eager to check it out for herself. Now that she’s been here, she’s eager to spread the news to others.

 

SOPHIE MAMMARELLI, 16

Our Lady of the Holy Souls Church, Little Rock; junior, Mount St. Mary Academy

Not many teens would give up pool time to paint a stranger’s house in the middle of an Arkansas summer, but Sophie Mammarelli is one of them. Then again, judging from this year’s participation, more teens are following her example all the time.

“CYM is definitely like a second family to me. I think a lot of other people feel that way, too,” she said. 

Mammarelli attended all three events hosted by her home parish, starting with a Buffalo River float trip to bond with fellow CYM members. She also attended her first Stuebenville Catholic Youth Conference in Dallas.

The capstone event, and the one for which Holy Souls youth are known, was a mission trip to McGehee, Mammarelli’s fourth. And while the regimen was the same — painting, clean-up and other services performed for the town’s residents, regardless of religion — being one of the senior members helped her appreciate the experience in a new way.

“The moral of the story is, it’s very hard work but once you’re all finished and you’re sitting down at dinner at the end of the day, it’s really nice to hear people saying, ‘You guys are doing wonderful things,’” she said.

 

ZACHARIAH NEUMEIER, 18

St. Anthony Church, Ratcliff; 2018 graduate, County Line High School

After four years of participation in diocesan events, Zachariah Neumeier spent his last summer serving in the community as part of C2SI. The experience was as meaningful for him this year as it was his first.

“The typical phrase is (C2SI is) a very eye-opening experience and that’s very true,” he said. “But I think the main draw for me is that it’s so personal.”

“C2SI really allows you to see people for who they are and make a personal connection with them; really experience Christ in our brothers and sisters. Every person is a member of the body of Christ whether they realize it or not.”

He said the four years he’s spent in diocesan activities, including being a Search dad this summer, have prepared him as he moves on the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and beyond.

“It’s definitely influenced my career choices, what I’ve thought about doing in college, in my future. It’s influenced the way I vote. I feel very compelled to go out and vote based on my conscience,” he said.

For teenagers, the constant expectation of instant productivity thanks to technology, academic and athletic pressures to be the best and reports of students just like them being gunned down at an alarming rate, optimism and hope are hard to come by, even for the most faithful person.

However, Catholic professionals provided clarity on ways to cope.

“The Anxious World” panel discussion July 11 was part of the weeklong Catholic Charities Summer Institute, nicknamed C2SI, hosted annually by the Diocese of Little Rock Youth Ministry Office and Catholic Charities of Arkansas.

For 11 years, C2SI has put teens to work in various local service projects as well as educated them on Catholic social justice issues and Church teaching. This year, about 70 ninth- through 12th-grade students and more than 20 adults attended.

Liz Tingquist, diocesan director of youth and campus ministry, said the panel was meant to “take the taboo off of mental illness of any kind.”

“It’s just healthy when young people get together to be able to talk about this stuff because they also see, for instance if they’re going through anxiety and depression, they’re not the only ones who have,” Tingquist said.

 

Positive thinking

Dr. Sherry Simon, a clinical psychologist, president of Pax Christi Little Rock and parishioner at Christ the King Church, said in the past five to 10 years, she’s seen an increase in bullying and social media escalated it. She said one out of every three sixth through 12th grade students feel they have been bullied. 

People should work to build up their own self confidence after being torn down.

“After we’ve experienced something like that, we’re telling ourselves we’re not worth much. We’re kind of taking in that poison they’re giving us, we’re believing it. So we have to work on our own thoughts and feelings,” she said. 

When students asked about the most commons stresses she sees in young patients, Simon said gender identity concerns and school work.

Logan Limbaugh, 15, of St. Paul Church in Pocahontas, said the presentations hit close to home, as he went through counseling a few years ago due to fear and “it eventually helped,” he said. “… I just like the way they’re helping people.”

Collie, a nurse for 25 years, life coach for the past 10 in Benton and member of the Cathedral of St. Andrew in Little Rock, emphasized that it is possible to use nuclear brain scans to understand what the brain is thinking and “emotional trauma can change the brain function.”

As a life coach, she emphasizes positive thinking.

“When Peter was hanging upside down on the cross, what do you think he was saying to himself? … Do you think he would have said it was worth it?” Collie said. “… So even in our most, what would appear hopeless situation, was that a hopeless situation for Peter? It was actually very triumphant. So how our perception, how we look at something and seeing the beauty around us even in hopeless situations is very powerful and the only person that can do that for you is you.”

Collie said pressures have gotten more intense for everyone.

“We call it ‘the microwave phenomenon’ where there’s a lot of pressure on you guys to perform and to do way more and there’s not a lot of emphasis on prayer and meditation, taking care of yourself first so you may take care of others,” Collie said.

 

Violence, fears

Msgr. Jack Harris, pastor of Sacred Heart Church in Morrilton, has spent years in prison ministry and crisis response. He told the students, “My life changed drastically March 24, 1998, at 12:34 in the afternoon.” This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Westside Middle School shooting near Jonesboro where two students killed four students and a teacher.

“At that point, that was the worst school shooting in the history of the United States. I got sent to the campus immediately” and stayed with students — attending practices, school events and other activities until they graduated from high school, he said. He is no stranger to personal trauma, as his father was a Little Rock police officer killed in the line of duty.

A year later, Msgr. Harris traveled to Columbine High School in Colorado three times after their school shooting. He went through training with the National Organization for Victim Assistance and led one of the first crisis response teams to New York City after 9/11. He has continued to provide crisis response to law enforcement and firefighters.

After the presentations, the teens wrote in journals, broke into small groups for discussion, then asked the speakers questions.

Emma Parker, 18, a member of Immaculate Conception Church in North Little Rock, asked in light of the school shootings, “what would you say to other kids who are scared it’s going to happen to them?”

Msgr. Harris said students should be able to ask their school administration about safety plans and what is in place. School Resource Officers often help students feel safer and that it’s a healthy response for shooting survivors to rally or advocate for change.

“It’s a fair question for students to ask. And when the media carries the reports the way they do, which is a good thing we need information, that just raises it all the time,” he said. “My congregation wants to know, what’s our plan? What if somebody shows up?”

In a world defined by labels, Hudson B. asked teenagers attending the Catholic Charities Summer Institute to label a photo of a red car. It is a red car, but looking deeper, it was also a 1975 Ford LTD, two-door, V8, 400. Both definitions are correct, but the second paints a deeper picture.

For his life, Hudson, who realized as a child he was experiencing same-sex attraction, said “the Church is calling us to see each other as persons first.”

“I’m not a gay Catholic or straight Catholic or anything like that, I’m person. I’m a person who experiences whatever attraction,” he said. “… I was able to see beyond red car. I was able to see beyond the idea that attractions were needed to define who I am as a person.”

Hudson, an international speaker for the past five years, was one of the speakers talking with about 80 youth at C2SI for the 10th anniversary of the week-long retreat, hosted annually by the Diocese of Little Rock Youth Ministry Office. It was held July 24-28 at the Arkansas 4-H Center in Little Rock.

“It’s been 10 years of watching young people care so much about other people … learning about being Christ to others and give service to others in 100-degree heat,” of summer, said Liz Tingquist, diocesan director of youth and campus ministry.

Though speakers address unique topics each year, Tingquist said they made it a point this year to discuss topics the teenagers have requested — the gender revolution, death penalty and peace in a world of nuclear armament. All discussions followed guidelines set forth by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

“We don’t shy away from things that would be semi-controversial,” she said, including discussing LGBTQ+ topics.

LGBTQ+ is a common acronym for those who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning and others.

“The kids have been asking about this the last several years because they’ve been dealing with this in school and so we’re going to talk about how do you walk with someone but still speak the truth?”

The presentation, “Walking in Faith with our LGBTQA Brothers and Sisters” was led by Hudson B., who for safety reasons asked that his last name not be printed. He gave a three-part talk detailing his own story, which included both homosexuality and transgenderism, while journeying toward what it means to be a person of Christ. He provided information to prayerfully consider when discussing same-sex attraction and the ultimate pursuit of happiness and belonging. He also led a Q&A session with Bishop Anthony B. Taylor.

Hudson, who hails from Canada, began experiencing same-sex attractions while young and from an early age, identified more with the feminine. By age 11, he was addicted to pornography.

“I remember looking at that stuff and saying ‘I’m gay.’ I was 11,” he said, while recounting how the images of the women were no longer providing stimulation.

Porn addiction would consume him for almost 20 years, delving into escapism and binges that would last hours. At 13, he began partying and being promiscuous with girls.

“How does that respect the dignity and worth of a person? It’s doesn’t. That’s where I was at,” Hudson said.

Hudson moved from a city of one million to a town of 1,000, where he had to face the man he had become. He met people at a local parish and wanted “the peace that they have.”

At 27, he came out to himself as gay again one night after using porn.

 “I was thinking I guess the only way I could be a good Catholic is to hold on to this roller coaster, just white knuckle it, ‘behave good.’ Like the Church is an authority saying ‘you can’t do this’ and I was growing in bitterness because I couldn’t be who I am,” Hudson said.

But, he embraced chastity, which he said is not “behavior management.”

“I realized that the wolf you feed, the interior wolf you feed is the wolf that wins the battle … and most importantly I realized because I’m made in the image and likeness of God, I realized that I am loved and made by him. I am enough; I am man enough because I am his,” Hudson said.

The world thrives on embracing identity, but often, that identity is anchored to self, not the Creator.

“You want to talk about breaking someone’s heart, tell them that their vocation that they hope and dream for you can’t do, ‘Well, why?’ ‘Because this is who you are,’” Hudson said of one day being a husband and father. “And the world tells you this is who you are, because you experience (same-sex) attraction, which you did not specifically choose … it confines you to this little narrative, a little story of what your life must unfold like.”

While society defines people by sexuality, Hudson said, “Am I a sexuality with a person or am I a person with a sexuality? We’re persons first.”

Just as people can often misinterpret lyrics to a song, every Catholic is challenged to sing the truth.

“It’s up to us to help people learn the proper lyrics so that we can help people make sense of the faith instead of believing that someone like me could never belong and doesn’t exist,” Hudson said. “… I get accused of not being honest with myself … I know I belong in the Church because of people like you who love me enough to invite me to pursue the mystery of Christ.”

Luke Haslauer, 16, a member of Christ the King Church in Little Rock, said, “I was really impressed and inspired that he came up and talked about his problems and was open and honest with everybody.”

Having the answers and understanding provided clarity said, Claire Hollenbeck, 17, a member of St. Boniface Church in Fort Smith.

“I feel like I’ve learned more about how the Catholic Church sees the LGBTQA community,” she said, adding before Hudson’s talk, “I wasn’t sure how I should feel about it.”

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Liz Tingquist, diocesan director of youth and campus ministry, said when Catholic Charities Summer Institute (C2SI, pronounced “C-squared-S-I”) in Little Rock started in 2007, “the very first year we weren’t sure” it was going to be an annual tradition. She credited St. Edward Church in Texarkana for bringing 18 of the 20 youth that first year.

This year about 80 ninth through 12th-grade students from 23 parishes throughout the state were represented.

Attendees volunteered at Arkansas Foodbank, Jericho Way and some new locations, like Ferncliff Disaster Relief Warehouse, Little Rock Compassion Center, an inner-city mission for the homeless, and returned to the Arkansas Pregnancy Resource Center after several years, Tingquist said.

Cassie Farmer, 16, a parishioner of St. Peter the Fisherman Church in Mountain Home, attended C2SI for the first time.

“The first day we went to Jericho, which is a place for the homeless people. I really enjoyed talking to them and they enjoyed talking to us, and helping them,” she said.

The teens were personally touched by experiences with the homeless, including Jojo Vazquez, 18, a parishioner at St. John Church in Hot Springs.

“He just told me how he was homeless because he felt like a burden to his family because he was disabled. He had fallen and broken his ACL so he was just talking to me about how not everyone who is homeless is into drugs or going through something like a crime,” Vazquez said. “It was just really eye-opening and I felt like it was an encounter with Christ and I loved it.”

Tracy Eichenberger, disaster preparedness and response coordinator for Catholic Charities of Arkansas, hosted a disaster simulation, giving the youth a glimpse at how much life changes in the blink of an eye when nature strikes.

“Every year we figure kids see in the news some sort of hurricane or tornados come through Arkansas, house fires … the kids see it, but we’ve never really focused on it,” Tingquist said. 

Laurel Dhority, 17, a parishioner at St. Paul Church in Pocahontas, has attended C2SI several times. Attending this year was special after witnessing what local outreach services can do for people after her city suffered severe flooding in May, she said.

 “C-squared is really important to me just because of the service we get to give those that are living on the outskirts of society. Doing things like this even though you don’t see those people, you still know they’re helping,” she said after loading boxes of food at the Arkansas Foodbank in Little Rock. “It’s really important to me because a lot of people in my community recently have been affected by natural disasters and things like that so it’s really great to do stuff like this here and be able to take it back home.”

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As darkness fell over the St. John Center campus, 81 teenagers embarked on a harrowing escape. At 8 p.m., a fun trivia game was interrupted by the sound of a siren and the ominous message that terrorists had taken over the United States. Cellphone service is down and walking on paved roads was too dangerous. They had to run for the Mexican border, keeping on the grass, in the shadows, armed with only a map and the supplies that they were allotted.

For the next three hours, they were refugees.

Living the struggle

The dramatic scenario was a refugee simulation, part of the ninth annual Catholic Charities Summer Institute July 10-15, hosted annually by the Diocese of Little Rock Youth and Campus Ministry Office in Little Rock. Ninth through 12th-grade students participated in a week of volunteering in the community and hot topic discussion panels, including race in America and refugees.

But on Wednesday evening July 13, these were not merely teenagers. They were escaping their homes, fearing capture, an unknown culture and language and the tragic realization that they could never go home. 

Because refugee resettlement is a prominent issue in the state, Liz Tingquist, diocesan director of youth and campus ministry, said it’s good for the teenagers to start forming their own social conscience, particularly during an election year.

“It’s easy to have an opinion without having walked in the shoes, and I think when you walk in the shoes of people through ministry it really softens your heart to what Jesus would want,” Tingquist said. “So we really want them maybe to have a Jesus perspective, he actually walked in our shoes; so they’re going to walk in their shoes.”

Following a simple prompt given by Catholic Relief Services, diocesan family life director Elizabeth Reha, who holds a master’s degree in theater, created a script and plan for the simulation to be as real as possible.

“I hope they have a sense of the challenges of refugees from around the world, not just in Mexico,” Reha said.

There were 30 adults helping, some at various stations around the grounds of St. John Center, which included a refugee camp, shelters, a border crossing and prison, taking on the personalities of everyone from Spanish-speaking camp workers to a terrorist with a “ferocious” dog guarding the prison.

‘A lot more intense’

Eight teams of about 10 students each were staggered on their journey, each given different personas, including being pregnant, elderly and disabled.

Terrorists carrying bats watched intently, shouting, “there’s Americans everywhere!” and “I’ve got one!”

“It’s a lot more intense than I thought it’d be,” said “prisoner” Conner Kordsmeier, 17, from Our Lady of Fatima Church in Benton. “I was looking for my ‘wife.’ I have not found her, no idea where she is. It’s pretty scary if this was real. There’s actually people going through things more serious than this.”

Some had to walk with canes or dolls, along with supplies such as medicine, personal items and food, symbolized by painted boards.

“I’m 28 years old and eight months pregnant. I am looking for my sister. I was hoping to find her when I crossed the border,” 18-year-old Andrea Beyer said, her shirt stretched from the rubber ball under it. But the St. Michael in West Memphis parishioner wasn’t so lucky, as she stood in prison. “I can definitely say my eyes are opened. I had the mindset that if a country started its war, you just take a plane or train to the next country. I didn’t know they were kind of being hunted down.”

The border of Mexico was in sight, the Lady of Guadalupe statue standing as a beacon of hope.

Paul Nick, 17, from Christ the King Church in Little Rock was almost separated by border patrol from his “wife.”

“I was scared out of my mind to lose her,” Nick said. “It’s tough and scary. You never know if you’re going to make it to the next day.”

Open eyes

What waited after the border crossing was far from prosperity or safety. The teens were challenged to imagine living for three years in squalor at a refugee camp, being barked at by the commandant.  

Matthew Dagastino, 18, from St. Michael Church in West Memphis, sat on the ground, quietly cuddling his baby.

“I had to carry her the entire journey to Mexico,” Dagastino said, adding he was also looking for his other “children.” “The whole traveling was pretty scary, going through the woods and hiding.” 

After “three years” — and almost three hours into the outdoor simulation — they made the “14-hour” bus ride to their new home in Colima, Mexico, within the air-conditioned Morris Hall Chapel. Three Spanish-speaking seminarians — Jaime Nieto, Omar Galván and David Aguilar — were there to greet them with warm smiles, hugs and kind words.

At 11 p.m., the simulation ended as Reha debriefed the tired, hot and emotionally drained teens before they broke into groups to share their experiences.

“Until the day we die, until our last breath, we are called to be Christians, to be Christ to others,” Reha said.

Dagastino said the experience, though merely scratching the surface, put him in the footsteps of refugees.

“It makes you realize how hard it is. It’s not just get up and go,” he said. “They go through a lot of hardships.”