Cancellation of ACYC prompts new event

By ROB HERBST
The Catholic Week
Nothing can replace the Archdiocesan Catholic Youth Conference, which annually brought together nearly 400 young people from throughout the Archdiocese of Mobile. But the Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry is offering an alternate event with Arch Mob Youth Fest 2021.
Arch Mob Youth Fest will be an opportunity for parishes to host their own event. The Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry will provide prerecorded video content, a sample itinerary and other materials for parishes that register. Parish leaders can ultimately decide how they use the material for their young people on their own campuses. They can also decide when to use the material, provided it is no earlier than Feb. 26 — when ACYC had been scheduled to begin. 
A double whammy of COVID-19 and Hurricane Sally wiped out this year’s ACYC. Not only did a social distancing ACYC seem inappropriate, but the event’s usual host — the Perdido Beach Resort in Orange Beach — suffered hurricane damage and couldn’t accommodate the event.
“Youth ministers were pretty clear that a reduced capacity ACYC was not going to be ACYC,” said Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry Director Adam Ganucheau. “So how can we still give a piece of what ACYC is, knowing we cannot replace ACYC in totality.”
Still, Arch Mob Youth Fest will include important components of ACYC.
“It does unite everybody, it does encourage young people to be holy today. It celebrates being a young Catholic in southern Alabama,” Ganucheau said. 
“Those are important parts of ACYC. We couldn’t have imagined (last year) this is what we are having, but we adjusted and this could be a great thing. We’re excited about the potential and possibility.”
The video content will include an introduction and closing video from Archbishop Thomas J. Rodi, two keynote talks and three breakout sessions. 
The sessions will include material from Archdiocese of Mobile Vocations Director Fr. Victor Ingalls and Director of the Office of Family Life and Evangelization Pat Arensberg, as well as a panel discussion including Archdiocese of Mobile high school teachers Lauren Alley of McGill-Toolen Catholic High School, Agnes Armstrong of Montgomery Catholic High School and Gabrielle Smith of St. Michael Catholic High School. 
There will also be what’s called “brain break” videos, such as a trivia contest with Archdiocese of Mobile seminarians.
Parishes are also asked to incorporate Mass and Adoration into their day for young people.
Parish groups that register will be given a link to a password-protected website which will host the materials.
The theme of Arch Mob Youth Fest is “Infinite” based on a quote from Blessed Carlo Acutis – “Our goal must be infinite, not the finite. The infinite is our homeland. Heaven has been waiting for us forever.”
Blessed Carlo Acutis could become the first millennial saint. 
He was beatified in October and is best known for documenting Eucharistic miracles around the world and cataloging them on a website he created before dying of leukemia in 2006. He was 15. 
“He was a young person who used the Internet, so it kind of all fits. He also had a great devotion to the Eucharist,” Ganucheau said. 
- Parishes interested in registering for Arch Mob Youth Fest can visit mobarch.org/youth-fest