Detroit — A thousand-plus teenagers might typically cheer in unison at a concert, or maybe a pep rally or a high school sporting event.

But the weekend of Feb. 12-13, at Detroit’s Renaissance Center downtown, it was love of the Lord that prompted joyful outbursts.

“God is good!” offered guest speaker and musician Jesse Manibusan from a stage in front of 1,200-plus high school-aged youths.

“All the time!” the teenagers responded.

“Who is the Church?” Manibusan asked.

“We are!” they said.

“Where are we?” he asked.
“Right here!” they shouted.

Such was just one of countless spirited scenes at Catholic Youth Organization’s Rainbow XXIX, the annual event that brings together teenagers from Catholic youth groups and high schools across metro Detroit.

The weekend-long event gave the young people a chance to get to know each other and have some fun — and plenty of chances to think about what God put them on earth for.



“This is a great experience,” said 17-year-old Kayanna Green, who attended with her fellow youth group members from St. Gregory the Great Parish in Detroit. “You get to meet new people and share your faith with everybody. It spiritually uplifts you.”

Positive messages

This year, as is the case each year, Rainbow was built around a specific program of events — a handful of general assemblies that included participation from all youths, a Mass with Archbishop Allen Vigneron, and a series of smaller activities that either educated young people about their faith, or gave them a chance to bond.

The theme of this year’s Rainbow — chosen by none other than the youths themselves through the CYO Youth Council — was “Live for Him.”

It was a message that Manibusan, a regular visitor to the annual conference, really hit home.

“Don’t just be Catholic and do Catholic things,” Manibusan said. “Be Christ in the world… When you leave a room, you make sure that they knew that Jesus was there!

“We have to be Christ. We have to seek the wisdom of Christ in all our thoughts and all our discerning and in all our actions.”

Manibusan spoke with the teens on a wide array of subjects — relationships, vocations and dealing with problems at home among them.

He stressed, though, that a Catholic is not going to be alone when he or she is going through turmoil. Christ, through the Church, is their companion. This, he said, was evidenced through the community gathered at Rainbow.

“Guidance comes in community,” he said. “Jesus speaks to us through community. The desire to do God’s will delights God… we get that in community.”

In addition to the general assemblies, teenagers at the conference also listened to talks on a variety of subjects — ranging from discerning vocations to being good stewards of the earth.

Togetherness a key

According to participants of Rainbow, the subject matter of the sessions was valuable — but it’s fellowship that makes the annual conference what it is.

“We were up there, we were dancing, we were going crazy,” said 15-year-old Austin Kaiser of St. Therese of Lisieux Parish in Shelby Township. “I love it.”

Austin, who attended his first Rainbow this year, said he’d heard so much about it since joining his parish youth group nearly a year ago. He said he had some issues in his life, and being around Church-centered peers in a positive atmosphere was a big help to him.

“It seemed like something I really needed, something I would enjoy and something that would help me with my faith,” he said.

In the first day, he said he received some serious food for thought through a skit put on by his fellow teenagers.

One needn’t look far for more experienced Rainbow-goers, either. Joseph Schroder, a 17-year-old from St. Kieran Parish in Shelby Township, said the annual conference gives a glimpse about what it means to be Church.



“The conference is the whole archdiocese,” Joseph said. “You get to see people from all over. There’s the parish, that’s the local part – but then there’s the Church, and that’s the global aspect of it.”

He said he especially appreciates how Rainbow can help a young person see that there are many ways to serve the Church.

“There’s missionaries, priests, sisters, brothers. We have lay ministers…” he said. “It’s a foundation.”

Long history, hopeful future

Youth ministers – including Joseph’s own – say Rainbow can really affect a teenager’s life.

Patricia Radacsy, St. Kieran youth minister, has attended all 29 Rainbow conferences. She recalls the very first one, which she helped to organize. About 200 youths showed up then at the Book Cadillac Hotel in Detroit, and the Mass was celebrated by Auxiliary Bishop Walter J. Schoenherr, now deceased.

A decade ago, the conferences would regularly draw more than 2,000 youths.



“Our young people, I believe, are searching for something to hold on to,” Radacsy said. “When they go to this, when they see that it’s okay to express their faith — to sing, to clap, to make their faith real and alive to them when that happens — it energizes them when they go back to their parish.

“Then what happens? The other kids catch it. The parents catch it. The adults catch it. I think faith is caught, not taught.”

But while the conferences have evolved over the years, one thing always has remained the same about Rainbow, she said, and that’s the effect it’s had on the young people and their communities.

“Naturally, deep down, they want the opportunity to be kids, and I’ve seen that 30 years ago until today,” Radacsy said. “It’s changed in numbers, in the organization of it – but the spirit of it? The message of it? That hasn’t changed at all.

“They’re wonderful young people and they give us that energy and they get that through each other.”

Radacsy let one of her youth group members sum it up.

“When our church comes, we get a different perspective,” said 15-year-old Dianna Galer of St. Kieran. “We get new ways of looking at our faith. It helps us grow as young people, and as the Church of today.”