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This past week, June 27-30, the teens of the Ruthenian Metropolia in the United States gathered for four days of prayer and community at the The Byzanteen Youth Rally in San Diego, CA.
After the youth arrived and got settled in their dorms, the Rally kicked off with Vespers and dinner followed by icebreakers and a talk from keynote speaker, Fr. Christoper Zugger from the Eparchy of Phoenix, a noted scholar on our Byzantine Catholic Church in Europe. Fr. Christopher discussed his recent book and the Ask a Priest Anything Project. The day ended with Compline.
Each day after began with breakfast and Matins and included free time for the teens to get to know each better over extracurricular activities such as basketball or dodgeball, tennis, choir, crafts, and baking ethnic goodies.
On Friday, the youth heard from Mother Iliana from Christ the Bridegroom Monastery in Burton, Ohio. She gave reflections on certain relevant passages from Scripture as well as a moving personal account of trauma and psycho-spiritual healing in her own life in which her Faith played a critical role.After attending Panachida and Confessions, the afternoon was marked with a service project in collaboration with "Rise Against Hunger" and the teens packaged thousands meals to send to people in need. The day ended with a very solemn Hierarchical Divine Liturgy and Holy Anointing with Archbishop William Skurla (Archeparchy of Pittsburgh), Bishop Kurt Burnette (Eparchy of Passaic), and our Bishop Robert Pipta.
On Saturday, the youth heard from a third keynote speaker, Trent Horn. Trent is a well-known Catholic Apologist who has written a number of books and is a host on the very popular "Catholic Answers" radio program. In his talk and during the Q&A session with the ByzanTEENS, Trent discussed how to respond to individuals who challenge or question our Catholic Faith. In the evening, the youth enjoyed a social where Fr. Lukas Mitro, from the Eparchy of Parma, introduced them to "European" style dances.
The rally closed on Sunday morning with the announcement of the location of the 2026 Rally that will take place in Cleveland, Ohio on July 9-12, 2026. Thank you to all the clergy, chaperones, ByzanTEENS who participated in this year’s event and the University of San Diego for hosting!
