NORTHBROOK, ILL. – The Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA (AMS), will hold its first-ever Military Young Adult Conference this weekend in Northbrook, Ill., just outside Chicago. The conference, called “Serving as a Missionary Disciple,” will bring members of the AMS Office of Evangelization together with active-duty Catholic ministry leaders based around the country, ages 18 to 35, and if married, their spouses, for a group encounter at the Techny Towers Conference and Retreat Center. Over the course of the June 16-18 gathering, participants will explore ways to enhance their faith journey and develop ministerial leadership skills that they can carry back to their home base Catholic communities and further build the body of Christ.
Twenty attendees are registered, coming from U.S. Military installations far and wide, including Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, Edwards Air Force Base (AFB) and the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms in California, Mountain Home AFB in Idaho, Tinker AFB and Will Rogers Air National Guard Base in Oklahoma, Barksdale AFB in Louisiana, and Fort Bragg in North Carolina.
“Serving as a Missionary Disciple,” which the AMS hopes to make a biannual event, was launched at the direction of His Excellency, the Most Reverend Timothy P. Broglio, J.C.D., Archbishop for the Military Services.
Archbishop Broglio said:
“The next general Assembly of the Synod of Bishops in October 2018 will be devoted to young people and their response to the Lord’s invitation to follow Him. It is appropriate that there be a gathering of representatives of the age group which constitutes the largest contingent of the AMS. I look forward to praying with them and to hearing their insights on responding to the Lord’s call.”
Maj. Casey Bustamante, AMS Associate Director for Young Adult Ministry, said even the planning and organizing of this first-time event has been a faith-building experience:
“I am inspired by the lessons-learned, working with a young adult planning team as well as the priests, Catholic Pastoral Life Coordinators and Coordinators of Religious Education with whom I have connected through inviting the Archdiocese’s young ministry leaders to the conference. As one of the planning members said, ‘young adult Catholics are the heart of the Archdiocese’—they often are the men who pursue a vocation to the priesthood and chaplaincy as well as the young men and women who are a light to the world in so many dark places. They are the ‘light’ in the sense of their direct service to our country and particularly as Catholics evangelizing across the globe through their witness to Jesus Christ.”
Ms. Bustamante requested prayers from the faithful for a successful conference that will inspire participating young adult military Catholics to reach greater strides in service to the Church.
