The Office of Evangelization and Family Life Ministries is seeking young adults for a volunteer opportunity during the annual Steubenville of the Rockies conference this June.
“This is a way to invite young adults into a greater leadership role in the Church and contrast the whole consumer attitude with giving,” said Mary McGeehan, Young Adult Ministry Specialist for the Archdiocese of Denver.
“We want you here, we want you to serve with us,” she said. “You’re invited to still participate and serve, just in a different way as you mature in your faith.”
The volunteer group, called Mercy Squad, will participate in a pre-conference retreat from June 19-21, and then take on their volunteer tasks during the conference from June 21-23.
The pre-conference retreat will include opportunities for adoration, confession and reflections led by Father Ryan O’Neill, Vocations Director for the archdiocese. The group’s tasks during the conference include welcoming retreatants, organizing registration packets, helping during meals and guiding groups as they walk to events.
The Mercy Squad is ideal for college students, as well as young adults who have summers off or are able to take off work.
Michelle Peters, Director of Youth, Young Adult and Campus Ministries for the archdiocese, explained the importance of giving young adults opportunities designed specifically for them.
“It is important that they are given the opportunity to exercise the gifts that they have been given,” she said. “Young adults often look at different parishes and groups before finding one that they settle in.
“By offering the young adults leadership roles in different areas, they will feel a part of the community and will be more active.”
Inspired by Mother Teresa and St. Therese of Lisieux, the Mercy Squad will be in charge of “little acts that make a big difference in helping people feel welcomed and loved,” said McGeehan.
“We’re really wanting to make Mercy Squad a cohort that can emphasize hospitality and love and gift of presence,” she said.
The group will also be “prayer warriors” for the retreatants “through intercessory prayer during adoration or while they’re in the long line for confession,” McGeehan added.
“And having hallway guides that not only are directing them, but also praying and interceding for them in ways the participants might not even realize.”
Peters emphasized the impact those actions can have.
“The success of a conference requires a lot of details — many of which go unnoticed but would be greatly missed if they weren’t there,” she said.
“Steubenville of the Rockies offers our high school students an opportunity to encounter Christ, which can lead to lifelong conversions. The young adults serving at the conference will be helping these high school students have the opportunity to experience a deeper relationship with Christ.”
McGeehan hopes the young adults who join the Mercy Squad will inspire the conference attendees to deepen their faith even more.
“You can be loving God at Steubenville, but to see people a little bit older than you who are still committed to their faith and living it out so much so that they want to do menial tasks and give up their time for them,” she said.
“It’s a good witness of what faith looks like beyond an emotional experience or a spiritual high.”
To apply for the Mercy Squad, visit archden.org/eflm/conferences-retreats/steubenville.
