Teens’ Hearts on Fire at annual retreat
Wearing baggy khaki shorts, a silver studded belt, and five rings – four on his fingers and one on his toe – the Rev. Joe David is unlike any other priest in Greensburg Catholic Diocese. Referred to as the “punk priest,” David has shaggy brown hair and a labret in the bottom of his middle lip. He listens to the Beastie Boys and Green Day, quoting their songs as easily as he recites scripture.
The teenagers gathered at the eighth annual Hearts on Fire Youth Retreat at Mount St. Macrina in Uniontown seem to love him, maybe because they feel like they can relate to him.
“He’s cool,” said Craig Herring, 17, of Farmington. Herring attended the retreat the past three years and co-chaired it with Jack, Katie and Molly Macioce, 17-year-old triplets from Uniontown.
Youth group members from St. Therese Roman Catholic Church, St. John the Evangelist Roman Catholic Church and St. Joan of Arc Roman Catholic also helped plan the retreat.
Having heard David speak before, Herring said the priest, who is from Harrison City, is always interesting to listen to.
Herring was right. David kept the crowd’s attention Wednesday during his presentation and often had everyone laughing, despite the heat and thunderstorms. However, he was also serious from time to time, especially when he talked about the Holy Spirit’s power to change a person, and thus the world.
David urged the teenagers to share the gifts the Holy Spirit gave them when they were baptized. The seven gifts are wisdom, knowledge, understanding, reverence, wonder and awe, strength and courage.
“God doesn’t give us gifts so we can keep them to ourselves,” David said.
Trying to make the teenagers understand, David asked them what they would do if they found out they had an old, rich uncle who left them a “wickedly awesome” condo in Tahiti.
“Would you say ‘Yo uncle, thanks a lot dude’ and then go and not invite any of your friends? And if you did you wouldn’t have any fun. You’d just sit there, and sit there, and sit there. Gifts are meant to be shared,” he said. “It’s the same with gifts from God. If you keep them to yourself they’re not going to do you one bit of good.”
Herring said he comes to the retreat to better himself spiritually, and he said he hopes other teenagers realize the important role the Holy Spirit plays in their lives as well.
“It’s about letting kids know what the Holy Spirit is and how it works through us,” Herring said.
In addition to David, the Rev. John Wisneski of Greensburg, the Rev. Jim Clark of Cardale and Chris Padgett of the Christian rock band Scarecrow and Tinmen also addressed the teenagers.
The retreat was open to area teenagers of all denominations who have accepted Christ and are looking for direction in their lives.