Volunteers Conference

Youth Retreat Center Volunteers of England~ 2011

   The day we all arrived back from Christmas break, we quickly packed up our bags and jumped in the minibus and headed north about 2 1/2 hours to Swanick for the Volunteers Conference.  There are 11 Catholic Retreat Centers around England and every year all the volunteers from these centers get together for this three-day Conference.  The theme this year focused on the theme of the Papal Visit back in October, "Heart Speaks Unto Heart." So we spent time exploring what it means for us to speak "heart unto heart", with each other and with the young people we're serving.  It was wonderful to have the opportunity to meet so many other people that do the same kind of work as we do here at SPEC.  It was really interesting to hear about all the different experiences that people have at the other sites and compare work schedules and programs and such. We had been told before we went that SPEC has largest team, as well as the most international team, of volunteers.  As one of the "foreigners," I was asked lots of different questions. "So, how are you finding the terrible winters of England? (To which I'd smile and say, "You have no idea.") Why come here?! America is such a great place!  Do you like English young people more than American young people?  You don't look 22 years old at all!  What is Lutheran? Do you feel left out at Mass when you can't take Communion?"  So many of the questions just made me smile.
   To give you a sense of how it felt, just imagine this: 150 enthusiastic Bible Camp counselors from 11 different camps who have come together for 3 days and are all overwhelmed with excitement in wanting to tell everyone how great their retreats are and how much they love young people. There are guitars everywhere, a continuous hum of upbeat worship songs being sung, silly camp games and traditions being shared, and some of the coolest, youthful and youth-loving priests you'll ever meet.  I'm sure you can imagine the outrageous amount of energy that was present.  And to top it off, the second night they brought in a Celtic band for a Keilidh! Just like in Edinburgh, but on a much smaller level. Well, the size of the crowd may have been smaller but the level of spirit and intensity definitely surpassed Scotland by a long shot.  Everyone joined in and everyone loved it!  We were even doing some square dancing at one point!  I did meet a volunteer name Conor McCarthy, yes, from Ireland(he was one of the only other "foreigners" in the whole crowd) who was by far the best dance partner to have...he knew all the moves and all the songs!  Let's just say, we had our fair share of tearin' up that dance floor. We had a blast!

  It was sad the three days went so fast; we were all hoping they'd just decide to extend it a couple more days because everyone was having so much fun.  But of course, our directors insisted we had to get back to our sites and back to work instead.  It was such a great way to spend the first days back from Christmas Break. Both nights we stayed up pretty late playing guitar and talking and learning about all the different programs in the country.  I even had a chat with one of the program leaders from up north about the Lutheran faith and how it compares to the Catholic tradition....it lasted for almost 3 hours. It was a fantastic three days full of mingling, sharing, exploring, learning, questioning, praying, laughing, singing, brainstorming, discerning, helping, and of course, dancing.  Needless to say, it was pretty quiet in the minibus on the drive back to SPEC.