Sleepless in Pigeon Forge

Sleepless in Pigeon Forge, originally uploaded by Stephanie A. Richer.

Last night I had a blast chaperoning the event, "Sleepless in Pigeon Forge", hosted for our high school teens by the Diocese of Knoxville. Here is a shot of some of St. Albert the Great's youth cutting it up on the basketball court. In addition to basketball, there was volleyball, swimming, board games, rave dancing, ping pong, pokeer, bowling, pool, video games, and just general "hanging out." It went from 6:00 pm on Saturday night to 6:00 am on Sunday morning - all-night party, people! By 5:00 am, "bodies" were beginning to accumulate as some kids just pretty much dropped where they were and crashed for a little sleep, while others kept going strong. Oh yeah, and there was pizza and snacks throughout the night to keep everyone going. Now, this is a great way to keep kids interested in "church" activities - the night also began with Mass, followed by Adoration and Confession for kids that wanted that - and some did!

Something like this is why I give kudos to Bishop Richard Stika and the Diocese of Knoxville. First, the diaconate in the diocese is widepsread and active, so many thanks to Deacon Dan Hosford for organizing this.

Second, the Bishop is dedicated to keeping youth active in their faith and building a healthy diocese - yes, while the Buddhists say "comparisons are odious," this is not something I felt was done strongly enough in the Diocese of Orange, at least not on a diocesan level, leaving it up to the parishes to do what they could, meaning less wealthy parishses were left out. Here, kids were exchanging Facebook IDs and phone numbers as they made new friends across the diocese. That is impoirtant, as these kids may be college friends and can help each other keep alive the faith and foster vocations.

And third - thank you to the city of Pigeon Forge for letting us use their community center. It really was a beautiful facility.