Detroit — Speaking to the 1,411 teenage participants of CYO’s Rainbow XXXIII Conference on Feb. 7, Steve Angrisano recalled a choice his son made three years ago.

The Angrisano family had just moved from Colorado to Texas, and his teenage son was struggling to fit in at his new school. One day, some classmates invited Angrisano’s son to join them for a movie, and he happily agreed.

But as Angrisano drove his son — then a sophomore — to the theater, his son received a call on his cellphone.

The caller was a friend from camp who had a difficult home life, asking if he could stay with the Angrisanos that night. Angrisano’s son decided to turn down the movie and get his old friend.

“He would do it for me, right?” he told his dad.

Angrisano said any other day, his son was a normal kid, but on that day, “that was heroic virtue. That was choosing to be holy.”

Angrisano pointed out no one was going to remember if he went to a movie three years ago, “but there is one kid who will never forget, ever, that when he needed a friend he had a friend. When he needed a place he had a place.”

This year’s weekend-long Rainbow conference was again held at the Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center, and included workshops, Mass, confession opportunities, quiet prayer time and chances to meet peers from across Metro Detroit.

Philip Dingman, a freshman and first-year Rainbow participant from St. Rita Parish in Holly, described the conference as “amazing” and fellow youth group member Billy Lavalle said he was glad the conference wasn’t “all sitting.”

Lavalle, a junior, said he enjoyed meeting new people and showed his name badge, which bore numerous stickers. An annual Rainbow tradition involves giving a sticker to the people you meet.

Maddie Elliott, a junior and member of Holy Trinity Parish, Port Huron, said she also “loved the icebreakers and meeting people.”

Fellow Holy Trinity parishioner Lauren Kenny, a senior and fourth-year Rainbow participant, added it was “great to see new people wanting to learn more about their faith.”

The theme this year was “Feed Your Faith,” giving ample opportunities to discuss what it means to belong at the table of the Lord, and ways to feed teens’ growing Catholic faith.

Keynote speaker and songwriter Jesse Manibusan also presented several sessions, and Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron presided over the Saturday evening vigil Mass, whose music was provided by the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist.

Archbishop Vigneron’s homily delved into the readings at Mass, which included lamentations of Job (Job 7:1-4, 6-7) and St. Paul’s eagerness to spread the faith (1 Cor 9:16-19, 22-23).

He also addressed the Gospel reading (Mark 1:29-39), explaining that the readings were meant “to be a kind of question and answer … Job poses the question about human misery, and Jesus is God the Father’s answer to our question.”

Archbishop Vigneron acknowledged that Job’s lamentations are that of an old man, and perhaps not immediately connected to young people.

Yet, as he prayed about the readings prior to his homily, the archbishop said he realized Job’s complaint was more of a question about the human condition: “What’s the solution to my agony?”

“I began to realize that this is not only a question of the old,” he said. “Undoubtedly, even some of you are here tonight with certain kinds of miseries.”

God’s answer to all of this is not a theory, said the archbishop, “but a person: Jesus of Nazareth.”

“Jesus’ answer to our misery is the cross,” he said. “That he endured this for our sake in order to win for us the resurrection … into joy, into heaven.”

However, the archbishop asked, “how can we keep this answer to ourselves?”

He said Catholics must be missionaries following St. Paul’s advice in 1 Corinthians, “I have become all things to all, to save at least some,” and be bearers of healing for everyone they meet.

 

Rainbow photos

For more pictures from CYO Rainbow XXXIII, visit gallery.themichigancatholic.com