Speakers challenge, inspire at Michigan Catholic Young Adult Conference in Canton

Canton — Young adults from across the state had the chance to connect with their brothers and sisters in the faith at the 2016 Michigan Catholic Young Adult Conference on April 1-2 at St. John Neumann Parish in Canton.

The annual conference brings together young adults from dioceses across Michigan offering faith, fellowship and a chance to disconnect from the outside world and refocus on their relationship with God.

“MiCYAC gives people a chance to connect with young adults from across their own diocese and the state,” said Nancy Neumann, a parishioner at St. Thomas More Student Parish in Kalamazoo and a Sterling Heights native. “For example, it brought together my sister, Cynthia (a parishioner of St. Anastasia in Troy) and myself for a faith-filled weekend. It gives people the chance to have purely Catholic experiences with peers.”

The conference featured Eucharistic adoration, reconciliation and Mass along with talks from St. John Neumann pastor Fr. Ron Richards and this year’s keynote speaker, Jack Jezreel, from Louisville, Ky.

The theme of the conference, “Radical Mercy,” was drawn from what Pope Francis’ oft-repeated message.

“Pope Francis has made this a missionary Church, a Church going out as opposed to gathering,” Jezreel told The Michigan Catholic before his keynote address. “Logically, the Church, compelled by mercy, needs to go to human crises, needs to be like Mother Teresa and others as an example. We need to ask, what would it look like for a parish to focus on mercy as its mission?”

The term “radical mercy” has nothing to do with rash or extreme examples of mercy, but rather, according to Jezreel, is about addressing the “root” of mercy.

“We need to address how mercy gets at the root of all things,” Jezreel said. “In that human encounter, mercy happens authentically. Radical mercy is an encounter with mercy.”

Attendees were inspired by Jezreel’s message.

“We got positive reactions from the young adults in attendance,” Neumann said. “People felt challenged and inspired, and that the talks were relevant. One person loved the vibe and described it as ‘laid back and informal, but rich and spiritual.’”

On Friday night, Fr. Richards addressed young adults from the Archdiocese of Detroit about the meaning of mercy, relating it to the story “Dead Man Walking” by Debbie Morris, a woman who was kidnaped, raped, and had difficulty forgiving the man on death row who turned her life upside down.

“They made a movie about the man’s time on death row, and when Debbie saw this, after thinking she buried it in her mind, all those horrible images came back,” Fr. Richards said. “She saw this Sister, standing by this man, and that led her to change her view, to forgive this man.

“She said, ‘We don’t sing Amazing Justice, we sing Amazing Grace.’ Justice didn’t heal, forgiveness did. In real life, the man was not sorry for what he did. It’s not about him asking, it’s about her granting.”

Fr. Richards added the parents of a prior victim chose not to forgive the man.

“People who are wronged say, ‘I hope you suffer as much as I did,’ but that has nothing to do with God,” Fr. Richards said. “Why is it, when the opposite happens, we say ‘Wow?’ Because forgiveness is divine. Humans say, ‘I hope you rot,’ but to forgive, that’s divine.

“Think about Jesus, hanging on the cross. ‘Forgive them, for they know not what they do.’ That line is key, it allows Jesus to look beyond what that person is, and truly forgive them, to truly love them.”