By Rose Brennan
NORWALK—Hundreds of teenagers from across the diocese filled St. Matthew Parish on Saturday, March 28 for a day of faith and fellowship. Entitled “Follow Me to the Cross,” the day offered an opportunity for the young believers to connect with their peers and engage with their Catholic faith just prior to Holy Week, which would begin the following day.
The students also had the opportunity to hear from adults invested in their growth in the faith, from youth ministers to priests to Bishop Frank J. Caggiano himself.
First to speak to the students was Father Ferry Galbert, the diocesan director of vocations. He asked some of the students about the careers they wanted to pursue when they became adults, whether doctors, lawyers, chefs or anything else.
All of those paths were noble, Father Galbert said. But believe it or not, God was actually calling every teenager in that room to the same thing: holiness.
“When (Christ) gave his life, he knew that some would not accept him, and some would not receive him,” Father Galbert said. “But to all those who received him, he gave them power—power to become sons of God. That’s not just for the saints. That’s not just for the apostles. That’s for you.”
Father Galbert shared that before he was a priest, he worked as a registered nurse on the stroke floor of Stamford Hospital. And while he was regularly helping his patients heal their bodies, he also wanted to help heal their souls—eventually leading him to pursue the priesthood.
“I’ve chosen to hand over my life to the Lord—with all my brokenness, with all my past,” he said. “Every saint has a past and I’m not a saint yet. We’re still in progress. We’re still in the building phase … Some choose to build up themselves, but some choose to allow the Lord to build them, with all that they are. You have that grace.”
Following Father Galbert’s talk, Father Miguel Betancur Lenis presided over a period of Eucharistic Adoration with praise and worship. As the music filled the church, Father Betancur Lenis processed in the sanctuary, allowing each of the teenagers to come face to face with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.
The teenagers later had the opportunity to pray the Living Stations of the Cross, a treasured Lenten tradition of the Church. The different parts were played by their peers, with teens from different parishes acting out the scenes of Jesus’ passion and death.
Following the Living Stations, the teenagers attended Mass with Bishop Caggiano. During his homily, the bishop recalled a difficult period in his young life, when he was diagnosed with rheumatic fever, leaving him bedridden for ten weeks and unable to physically exert himself for years afterward.
These events led the young Bishop Caggiano to become a “spectator,” unable to play ball or run around with his friends. He didn’t have a choice whether to be a spectator or not. But what happens when we can choose whether to spectate or participate?
“When Jesus walked, along the road to Jerusalem carrying his cross, most people went about their lives. They were selling, talking, gossiping, cleaning outside their house, walking here or there,” the bishop said. “Even though Jesus lived his life with the Apostles, they participated with him for three years walking in his footsteps … In the end, they ran or betrayed him. And of them, only one stayed behind and was with Jesus when he died.”
The bishop recalled who stood at the foot of the cross with Jesus: his mother Mary, Mary Magdalene, Mary the wife of Clopas and St. John the Apostle. And while they watched as Jesus took his final steps and breaths, they were not spectators.
“Every day, you and I are to walk in the footsteps of Jesus, for that is how we participate in the mystery that Jesus is offering us: new life,” Bishop Caggiano said. “We participate a thousand different ways every day. Every time you and I choose to love our neighbor—even those we do not like—we are walking in Jesus’ footsteps. We are no longer spectators; we are participating in the power of the Holy Spirit.”
Toward the end of the day, the teens were able to hear from someone a little closer to their age. Fatima Molina, a student at Bellarmine College of Fairfield University and parishioner of St. Charles Borromeo Parish in Bridgeport, was in their position just last year—in the pews at a Lenten youth encounter. And the following year, she was asked to deliver that year’s witness talk.
“I’m not here to tell you what to do with your life or to tell you I’m super religious or to go to church (six days a week)— although I’m pretty sure your ministers would love that,” Molina said. “But I’m here to tell you to look at Jesus and to look at the cross.”
Born in El Salvador, Molina said she made her sacraments largely because it’s what her friends were doing, rather than from a desire to follow Jesus or to connect with him. But when her family came to the United States, she found a close community at her parish—first as an altar server, then as a catechist and then as a member of the parish youth group.
As a teenager, Molina talked about how she started falling behind in classes while her mother worked incredibly hard to give her more opportunities to succeed. She then realized she was acting ungrateful for her mother’s sacrifices.
“Do you have someone that sacrificing himself for you? I know we all have one person,” Molina said, encouraging the teenagers to look at the crucifix on the Rosaries in each of their hands.
Molina said she knew no one—including herself—was perfect. Nevertheless, they shared the universal call to holiness Father Galbert reminded them of that morning.
“I know how hard it is—especially with how the world is, especially with Instagram and TikTok and YouTube and Netflix—how easy it is not to do the right thing,” Molina said. “I’m here to invite you not to be this perfect person—even though if you can, you should. But I’m here to invite you to think about Jesus before you do anything.”
