Imagine a church where young people pursue the adults to get involved instead of the other way around. One is asking how she can become a lector while another is hoping to become a eucharistic minister. Imagine further that you are overhearing a conversation after Mass where a few ebullient high school students astound the pastor by wondering out loud if there was room for their voices on the pastoral council. Hearing such offers would leave us feeling joyfully confounded. At the root of this hopeful scenario is a deep gratitude that the spiritual gifts of our youth are ready to enliven and strengthen our faith community, not in some future time but right here and right now.

Such was the inspiration of a certain Father Matthew J. Fedwa who began to visualize such a church in 1965 just as the Second Vatican Council fathers were heading home to begin implementing the fruitful imagining of that great council. In the fervor of what he witnessed, he began to write down his concepts of a youth retreat that would become known as Teens Encounter Christ or TEC. Fifty years since its birth, TEC has become a powerful movement of the Holy Spirit that is still gathering momentum even as the church strives to re-evangelize itself.

So what is a TEC? Simply put, it is an invitation to encounter the living God in community through the person of Jesus Christ. The main objective of a TEC retreat is to present a life-changing experience of paschal mystery by ourproclaiming wonderful works of God that joyfully results with our collective "Yes!" This happens in a liturgical, biblical, and personally-witnessed faith experience that rests securely on the rich tradition of our Catholic faith. When all of this occurs in the context of a real and lived communal experience, young people have the opportunity to respond, "Wow! I get it now!" What results is a widened family of faith for our youth and yet, no tents are erected afterwards as if to set up some permanent camp much as Peter intended at Mount Tabor at Jesus' transfiguration. Candidates on a TEC go back to their home faith-communities to become a strong leaven that adds new life to their parishes.

While the primary audience for a TEC retreat is high school juniors and seniors, there has been a growing presence of college students and young adults who participate as well. In fact, what makes TEC so unique and effective is that it is intergenerational in the sense that it is an adult faith community witnessing to and with youth. This means that some of those offering "meditations" (talks) throughout the weekend are older teens who have previously made a TEC retreat themselves. The power of these meditations and discussion afterward is that our teens get to hear one another articulate what faith is for them. In this carefully crafted trust environment, they can begin to weave their own internal narratives of how the Holy Spirit is actually helping them live out a grace-filled future.

One such candidate is Bethany Szamocki, a student from St. Joseph the Worker Church in Chatham who attended Springfield TEC 232 last January. When asked how her experience affected her faith walk she responded, "At TEC you not only learn to love God, but also receive an abundance of love yourself. Think of TEC as the beginning of a book; it begins a whole new story with you and Christ. A person can never get too much Jesus, that's the beautiful thing about our faith; it never ends. God provides us with so many opportunities to build up a relationship with him, why would you want to miss out on that?"

If you are a priest, youth leader, interested parent or even one of those energized young people mentioned earlier who wants to either begin or rebuild a hopeful youth ministry for high school students, there are two groups in the Springfield diocese that you can contact:

TEC of Springfield is planning TEC 233 at the Villa Maria Catholic Life Center on Lake Springfield July 4-6. For more information, visit their website www.tecofspringfield.homestead.com. In Quincy, Great River TEC weekends are held at the Franciscan Retreat Center at Quincy University. TEC 301 is scheduled for July 23-25 with more information at www.greatrivertec.org.

Dan Frachey is director of Christian Formation at the Church of St. Jude in Rochester. He can be contacted at .