From Sunday, July 7 to Thursday, July 11, 60 highschoolers from the Diocese of Allentown gathered at Muhlenberg College for the Quo Vadis and Fiat Days retreats. Although the days were hot, the young men and women exuded joy and enthusiasm as they devoted time to the Lord.
Father John Maria, the Director of Vocations for the Diocese of Allentown, explained that “one important theme [for the retreats] was that we are all called to holiness. In different ways, we are all to help feed the sheep of the Lord’s flock. Some will be called in particular ways to married life, to consecrated life, or to priesthood.”
The Quo Vadis retreat welcomed 33 young men, and the Fiat Days retreat had 27 young women. Occasionally, the two groups would come together, including for a Eucharistic Procession to the Cathedral of St. Catherine of Siena, daily Mass, and certain talks.
The attendees spent hours in worship and prayer over the course of the retreats. “When the group prayed during the daily Mass, holy hour and other gatherings, there was peace among the group,” Sister Rose Bernadette Mulligan, IHM, who led Fiat Days for the tenth time this year, commented. “You could sense the young people placing the trials and tribulations of the teen years into Jesus' hands.”
The retreatants heard talks on a wide range of topics, from Q-and-A with sisters and seminarians to the responsible use of the internet. The youth also enjoyed time for recreation, including nighttime glow-in-the-dark soccer and arts and crafts.
Bishop Schlert celebrated Mass for the young men and women at the Cathedral of St. Catharine of Siena Parish in Allentown on Wednesday, following a talk by Father Mark Searles, a member of the College Formation Faculty at Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary in Lower Gwynedd Township. Father Searles gave a tour of the Cathedral, and spoke about its history and the history of the Diocese of Allentown.
That God wants everyone to be holy was a repeated message from the speakers. In his talk to the young men, “Seek Ye First,” Father Maria insisted that “you need to seek the Kingdom of God first before priesthood is even an option.” In Meghan and Mark Quaranta’s talk “The Road to Heaven” on married life, Meghan explained that “the purpose of every single vocation is to get to Heaven and bring as many people as you can with you.”
That said, Father Maria underlined the beauty and importance of priesthood, touting “the power of God to change not just people’s lives, but people’s eternal lives” through the priestly ministry. He also quipped, “when people have a devil problem, who do they call? Not the Ghostbusters! They call a Catholic priest.”
Of course, priesthood also comes with significant challenges, but Father Maria made the point that, “when the call is clear, you just have to forget your weaknesses, and trust that the Lord has it all figured out.”
The Quarantas, married for almost ten years with four kids at home, showed how the call to holiness could be lived in married life. “I used to think religious life was the hard vocation, and marriage was the fun one,” Meghan admitted. “But since then, I’ve learned it’s all hard.” Mark described how the need to drop what one is doing at any given moment to feed a toddler or comfort a frustrated 8-year-old is akin to how monks must drop what they are doing at the sound of a bell. “Parents have the near-constant opportunity to live the works of mercy,” he shared.
Thanks to Bishop Schlert, the efforts of twenty priests, religious, and seminarians, as well as several guest speakers and the grace of God, the highschoolers were able to learn about God’s love, the universal call to holiness, and the joyful service of the different vocations. As one Fiat Days attendee put it: “You experience things here that you just can’t experience anywhere else.”
Mark and Meghan Quaranta speak to the attendees
Retreatants attend daily mass in Egner Chapel at Muhlenberg College.
Quo Vadis men enjoy basketball during recreation time.
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