Byzanteen Youth Rally
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Byzanteen provides Eastern Catholic faith formation and fraternity for all teens (ages 13-18) growing up in the Byzantine Catholic tradition. Together with their peers, Byzanteens actively engage in living, growing in, and promoting the Byzantine Catholic tradition.
All Byzanteens are given the opportunity to gather from across the country for our biennial national Byzanteen Youth Rally or a Rally in our Eparchy. It's a great opportunity to make new friends, form lasting relationships, pray, grow spiritually, listen to inspiring talks from our Byzantine leaders, support one another in the Faith, and just have fun.
The next Byzanteen Youth Rally will take place Summer 2024 in San Diego, California! -
2022 Byzanteen Youth Rally Highlights
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In July 2022, once again, after a delay of two years, after a few years of imposed interruption by COVID-19, all the teens of the Ruthenian Metropolia in the United States gathered at Mount St. Mary's University in Emmitsburg, Maryland, for four days of prayer and community at the The Byzanteen Youth Rally in Emmitsburg, MD. The 25 young people accepted this invitation from the Eparchy of Parma and participated in days of leisure and fun connected with the growth in the faith.
The very first day began with Vespers and then icebreakers and dances, followed by a talk by keynote speaker, Superbowl Champion Matt Birk. "In the world that is chasing the greatness, stay small." Giving testimony of his life, Matt Birk described his Catholic upbringing, his football training that earned him enrollment to a prestigious university up to the point when he stopped attending Church at all during his university days. Relatable to many, Matt Birk explained how he found his way back to the Church - describing his life with many analogies from his football training. He encouraged the teens to keep perfecting the small acts and be persistent.Friday and Saturday was marked with the group work in the morning and then sport and leisure activities in the evening. We enjoyed to be together, to have our time spend with the teens.After Friday's breakfast, the teens of the Eparchy of Parma used the opportunity to come together and to congratulate to our Bishop (and to take a picture as well) who was celebrating his 21st Anniversary of Priestly Ordination. The afternoon was marked with a service project in collaboration with "Rise Against Hunger" and the teens packaged over 14,250 meals to send overseas to people in need. On Saturday, the teens participated in a very solemn Hierarchical Divine Liturgy with Archbishop William Skurla (Archeparchy of Pittsburgh), Bishop Kurt Burnette (Eparchy of Passaic), and our Bishop Milan. This hierarchical Divine Liturgy took place in the beautiful National Shrine of St. Elizaberth Seton, the first person born in the United States to be canonized by the Catholic Church. The day also included a talk by Father Cyril Pinchak, SJ on prayer, and dance and fun activities in the evening.The rally was closed on Sunday morning with the announcement of the location of the 2024 Rally that will take place in the San Diego, California. Yet for the teens of the Eparchy of Parma, the trip was not over. Annunciation Parish Kids (Chicago area) visited Gettysburg and did some rafting and quality time with Fr. Tom Loya! Cleveland area kids on their way home, which included a group of teens with Bishop Milan and Fr. Lukas Mitro, stopped to visit the nuns of St. Basil the Great at their Motherhouse, Mount St. Macrina in Uniontown, Pennsylvania. Bishop Milan and Father Lukas celebrated Divine Liturgy in the chapel and afterwards, Sr. Susan Sisko, the Provincial, spoke to the teens. The teens were then given a tour of the grounds of the Mount to see the magnificent work of the sisters throughout the ages among the Byzantine Catholics in the US.
Youth Rally ‘22 was my first American Byzantine teen camp. There were many young people together in prayer and community. I have seen teens almost from across the US; passionate for Christ, faith, friendship and life. Four days in Maryland days were filled with prayer, talks, witnesses and sport activities. I cannot wait for next Rally! - Sofia and Noemi Fedorisin
