Teen workshop participants encouraged to ‘set the world on fire’

Youth Leadership Workshop leader Gustavo Morrice, a 2017 Father Ryan High School graduate, shows off the Search cross and Blessed Virgin medals he always wears around his neck. The Diocese of Nashville's Youth Leadership Workshop, celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, aims to develop young Catholic leaders in the diocese. The workshop features a host of activities as well as time for reflection with small group discussions and daily prayer, helping teens discover their leadership style and their vocations in life. Photos by Theresa Laurence

It’s a sweltering Middle Tennessee day, and a group of teenagers, eyes closed, not speaking, is trying to balance on a very small raised platform in the middle of the woods. They work together, hugging each other close, giggling, accidentally shouting when they lose their footing. 
 
All around them, other groups are working together to complete similar tasks, which all require critical thinking, verbal and non-verbal communication, and teamwork, important skills for leaders of any age. 
 
The ropes course is a rite of passage for participants in the Diocese of Nashville’s Youth Leadership Workshop, which has been helping high school students develop their leadership skills for the last 50 years. The goal is to empower and educate young leaders about their faith and the gifts, talents, and abilities God has given them so they can be leaders in their schools, parishes and communities.
 
“Everyone is a leader in certain situations,” said participant Maggie Feduccia, a parishioner at Holy Family Church in Brentwood. “I think I’m more of a leader in the small groups and not the ropes course,” she said with a laugh. 
 
Feduccia, a student at Nolensville High School, said she appreciates that the Youth Leadership Workshop offers her an opportunity to meet teens from across the diocese. “It’s just a blessing,” she said. 

Cade Foster, above, a senior at Father Ryan High School, gets help from his teammates to climb the wall during a ropes course activity at the Diocese of Nashville's Youth Leadership Workshop, held at Camp Hillmont in White Bluff, Tenn. July 5-8.

This year’s Youth Leadership Workshop, held July 5-8 at Camp Hillmont in White Bluff, Tennessee, drew 130 teens from 21 parishes across the Diocese of Nashville, the three Catholic high schools in the diocese, and a number of public high schools. Participants are recommended by teachers, parish pastors and directors of religious education, and youth/campus ministers.
 
Lizzy Simmons, a Holy Family parishioner who just graduated from Ravenwood High School, was attending her second Youth Leadership Workshop, this time on the kitchen crew, getting a “behind the scenes look” at how the workshop comes together. “It’s a really good way for me to get involved with my faith,” she said. 
 
The best way to get involved and make the most of the workshop, Simmons said, is to “be just right where your feet are,” and that means leaving technology and social media behind for four days. “I haven’t seen one person on their phone,” she said. It’s the best way to “immerse yourself 100 percent.”

Jeanne Meyer, right, works with her Workshop group to complete a team building exercise that required critical thinking and non-verbal communication. The workshop, now in its 50th year, helps develop young Catholic leaders in the diocese. This year's participants came from 21 different parishes in Middle Tennessee.

In addition to the physically challenging ropes course and all the activity and goofiness that ensues during the workshop, there is time for quiet reflection and prayer as well. “We learn more about ourselves and we get closer to God,” said Feduccia, who sees her future self working in Catholic youth leadership on a national level. “I want to take what I learn here and apply it to my vocation.”
 
Gustavo Morrice, a 2017 Father Ryan High School graduate and self-described “super-extrovert,” said the workshop got him to slow down and “learn how to pray.” Morrice, who always wears his Search cross around his neck, along with two Blessed Virgin medals, said they “are good reminders to make good decisions.”
 
In addition to the Mass, Workshop participants were exposed to several styles of prayer, including Adoration, Lectio Devina and the Rosary. This year, for the first time, they also left Camp Hillmont and traveled to downtown Nashville to visit historic Catholic church sites including St. Mary’s of the Seven Sorrows and attend Mass at the Cathedral of the Incarnation. 
 
After that, the teens were free to go their own ways, encouraged to, as their leaders’ shirts said: “set the world on fire” with their newly sharpened leadership skills.