When Paul J. Kim took the stage at the Hilbert University Campus in Hamburg, he did what he does best. He informed, entertained, prayed and beatboxed. As keynote speaker for “No Matter What … A Day for Catholic Teens,” Kim used his talents as an international speaker to motivate his audience to make good decisions as they grow up.
The March 30 rally at Hilbert College in Hamburg also featured a question and answer panel, and Mass with Bishop Michael W. Fisher and Father Jeffrey Donovan.
“Hey Buffalo,” Kim said to a welcoming cheer. The 42-year-old speaker who can quote the Bible from memory, told how, as a teenager, he only came to church for two reasons. “As long as there were cute girls at Mass and doughnuts afterward – repeat customer,” he said. Things changed when his youth minister asked him to attend a Steubenville Conference. There, he found 2,000 people his age. His attitude toward faith changed when he was asked to make an honest prayer. Admitting his faults, he openly wept.
“I didn’t want to come to Christ because I didn’t want to give up my sins, because in my mind I convinced myself so heartily that whatever it was that God was trying to offer me was not better than what my sins were offering,” he explained.
St. Thomas Aquinas said people choose sin, not because it is evil, but because they don’t see the evil.
“Whenever we choose sin, it’s because we perceive good wrapped up in a whole lot of poison, but we fixate on the good, and unknowingly we are consuming this poison. It does kill us spiritually,” Kim said.
Like the conference leader before him, Kim asked everyone to say an honest prayer.
Revelation 3:20 states, “Behold I stand at the door and I knock. And if you let me in I will come and have a meal with you.” Kim explained, “That’s an invitation. But who likes random knocking at the door? Nobody really, right? But Jesus is knocking. We don’t want to let that guy in. Like, Dude, I need to clean stuff up. I got to hide things, bro. I got to delete files now. And Jesus is like, ‘I know about the files … all of them.’ … But here’s the thing with Jesus. He didn’t come for perfect people did He? He came to forgive, to heal, to restore us to life.
“I don’t know where you are in your faith today, but nothing’s really going to change unless you give God permission to come into your heart to show you Himself how good He is.”
The question and answer panel consisted of two lay people and two religious, all of whom are in education at one level or another. Questions from the audience include: “How do we know if what we are doing is what God wants?”
“If we’re truly doing what God wants us to do there will be a deep sense of peace. There will be joy,” replied Sister M. Joanne Suranni, CSSF, director of Faith Formation for Niagara Falls Family of Roman Catholic Parishes in Niagara Falls. “That doesn’t mean that there won’t be struggles we are going to face, but with God’s help, we can get through any struggle.”
When is it OK to disagree with Church teaching?
Colin Howard, from Our Lady of Hope Parish in Buffalo, who is big on Church obedience, answered that the world is full of struggles. “We’re all rational individuals. We are all thinkers. … It’s not just one person putting a dictate out. It’s 2,000 years’ worth of people arguing back and forth with each other about what is right, what is good, what is what God wants for us. It’s a very complex question. If you have disagreements, if you have things that you’re tackling, that’s normal.”
In between talks the kids, who ranged in age from 13 to 18, took part in breakout sessions, had pizza, and played a few games.
“I love it,” said Tim Lamparelli, 17, from St. Vincent Parish, Attica. “I thought it was very moving, very spiritual. you don’t get to do stuff like that too often, so I really liked it.”
He came as a sponsor to his friend in OCIA.
His personal highlight was being called to honest prayer. “That was really moving. I really felt the presence of God in that moment,” he said.
His friend Colin Lehman, 16, said. “I enjoyed it a lot. I think he was very moving. He spoke very well, and it was very easy to understand.”