A Magnificent Experience

By Jeremy St. Clair 

Phil Catalanotto is a junior at St Thomas Aquinas College with a major of philosophical studies and a minor in communications.  A memorable experience happened this past summer when he went to the national teaching action conference in Forest Hills, Illinois, right outside of Chicago.

Only 20 students were chosen to go to this event, which is part of the reason it was memorable to him. They spent a week in community prayer and workshops. The conference was led by the Dominican Sisters. At the conference the people can just be themselves and say their true religious faith and what they believe. Groups of four or five people gather together for them to express themselves.

One activity they did was a nun hands out an homily which she says is educational and inspirational. She wants the college students to look over the homily and write beliefs they have from reading it and what they perceive from it. During the day the students did services such as helping elderly people and help out with gardening at schools.

Another event was guided meditation. That is a type of meditation where the students are walked through different chakras of their body. They did this to have a more inner relationship with God and so God would have a presence in their lives. After the meditation, there was a breakout when Phil learned how to preach.

After the conference ended on Sunday, at morning mass the students had a different role to play in the mass. Phil was the altar server in which he assisted the priest with making the altar for the communion and held the cross. During this there was a homily about making a difference. After that the students were called by college and each of them read a petition about what they learned and what they would do from this experience. The students who got up were presented with a Dominican cross by the sister who ran the conference. The students were told to preach and live by the gospel.

It was a memorable experience for Phil because only a few people are chosen to do this and it was something he would get to experience once. It also gave Phil the chance to express his own beliefs during the homily assignment and when he did the service. He also had a good experience in leading the meditation. And he also enjoyed helping out with the service carrying the cross. All in all, it was a magnificent experience, he said, and if he had the choice he would go again.