TACOMA — Prayer, music and laughter filled the campus of Tacoma’s Bellarmine Preparatory School on March 11 as nearly 250 students and youth ministers gathered for the Archdiocese of Seattle’s first Middle School Encounter since 2019.

The turnout was exciting for Kimberly Abadir, who became the archdiocese’s director of youth ministry services in late 2022.

“After registration closed, we were expecting close to 200 — and even more came on Saturday! We had a lot of walk-ins,” she said.

The daylong retreat featured guest speakers, music, games, a service project and Mass with Archbishop Paul D. Etienne. There were breakout sessions on apologetics, the Psalms and inspiration from the Holy Spirit. Students also learned about Ukrainian and Congolese refugees and migrant farmworkers, here and around the world, and had the opportunity to support them. 

At the end of the day, students took the microphone to share what moments affected them the most. They spoke about how good it was to be with other kids, to reflect on the Psalms and to discover the practice of repeating the Jesus Prayer — “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner” — throughout the day until it becomes part of them.  

It’s not OK to live as a loser

Benedictine Father Augustine Wetta of St. Louis Abbey in Missouri delivered opening and closing talks. His opening keynote, “Don’t Follow Your Dreams,” looked at the Rule of St. Benedict and how it applies to modern life. In his second talk, “Life Lessons from Losers, Has-Beens, Nobodies, and Other Great Saints,” he gave the students a lot to consider — and laugh about.

“God has a special affection for the loser,” he said, pointing to the Israelites. who faced plagues and exile, and the apostles, “whose first unanimous decision was to run away.” He also mentioned the rugby team he coached at St. Louis Priory School, which didn’t have a winning season until he stopped coaching.

“When it comes to losing, I sometimes convince myself that it is a sign of God’s special affection for my team because every failure reminds us that our beauty and our value and our integrity do not lie in our accomplishments but simply in our existence as sons and daughters of God.”

But, Father Augustine warned, it’s not OK to live as a loser.

Benedictine Father Augustine Wetta speaks to the students at the Middle School Encounter on March 11, 2023.

“In spite of all this talk of being sinners and failure and humility, you’re not called to be mediocre. You’re not called to be a failure,” he said. “Every one of us is called by God to be a saint, and we all have it in us. God is calling every one of you to be a canonized saint — a Mother Teresa-level saint. Anything else is just selling us short.”

Letters of hope

Other presenters talked about he struggles faced by Ukrainian and Congolese refugees and migrant farmworkers and what we as Catholics are doing to help them,” Abadir said. 

  • Amy Nash with the archdiocese’s Immigrant & Refugee Ministry talked about Welcome Circles and what parish-based groups are doing to help Ukrainians get settled in Western Washington. 
  • Kelsey Harrington from Agape Service Project talked about migrant farmworkers in Whatcom County and how young adults volunteers provide food, clothing, advocacy and friendship to them through weeklong service-immersion trips.
  • A middle schooler named Veronica represented the Daughters of Ruth, a group of young women who started an organization to help Congolese refugees. The girls learned to make paper beads from Congolese women, she explained, and now they make jewelry, which they sell and then donate 100% of the proceeds to the Congolese community. 

After the presentations, the participants wrote a “letter of hope” to the community of their choice, Abadir said. Letters to Ukrainian refugees will be included in welcome baskets, letters to Congolese families will be passed on by the Daughters of Ruth and letters to migrant farmworkers, which could be written in English or Spanish, will be included in Agape’s food baskets, she said.

When students spoke before the closing Mass, some said they found inspiration in writing these letters of encouragement. Many students praised Father Augustine as funny and relatable.

Aires Patulot, Bellarmine’s campus ministry director who helped emcee the event, told the students they now need to carry forward what they learned.

“You take on this work,” he said.

Students listen to a keynote speech at the Middle School Encounter at Tacoma's Bellarmine Preparatory School in Tacoma. (Photo by Stephen Brashear)

Parents in attendance were happy to see their children grow in faith and friendship.

“Having others surrounding you of the same faith is such a warm, beautiful feeling,” said Cheryl Walters, a member of Our Lady Queen of Heaven Parish in Spanaway. 

It was the first retreat for Walters’ son, Logan, who is in sixth grade. “Encounters like this help the kids learn and explore their faith,” she said. “It allows them to see and feel the Holy Spirit in action on their level with their peers.”

That feeling was echoed by Maria Teresa Correll, who brought students from Joint Base Lewis-McChord. 

“They need this,” particularly after the isolation of the pandemic, she said. “They need to be with other kids to share their faith.” 

Students laugh during a breakout session in the Bellarmine chapel. (Photo by Stephen Brashear)

It was a rewarding day, too, for Abadir and Joseph Tancioco, a program manager with the archdiocese’s youth ministry team. 

“I found the procession to Mass from the gym to the chapel, led by a youth carrying the crucifix, to be really powerful,” Tancioco said. The students “all sang the same song as they left the gym — ‘Lord, I Need You’ — and were welcomed by the student band singing the same song in the chapel.”

Abadir was touched by the “huge line of kids who got up to share their favorite part of the day” at the open mic. “I could hear directly from them how this event had truly impacted them.” 

Abadir and Tancioco said to expect another Middle School Encounter next March. In the meantime, they are planning events connected to World Youth Day — Aug. 1 in Anacortes, Aug. 3 in Vancouver and Aug. 5 in Seattle — and a high school youth convention for November.

Keep up with the archdiocese’s youth ministry program here.

Nearly 250 students and youth leaders attended the Middle School Encounter on March 11, 2023. It was the first encounter the archdiocese had done for middle school students since 2019. Here, attendees listen to Father Augustine Wetta’s talk “Life Lessons from Losers, Has-Beens, Nobodies, and Other Great Saints.” (Photo by Stephen Brashear)