Couples for Christ nat'l conference in Charlotte on June 30

by Susan Palmes-Dennis

About 1,000 youth and parent delegates from all over the US are expected to attend the 24th Couples for Christ Youth Conference to be held at the University of North Carolina in Charlotte, North Carolina on June 30 to July 2.

Lorena Ostrea, said the delegates include 100 delegates from North Carolina and 45 from Charlotte. The CFC Youth is the youth ministry of the Couples for Christ. 

Lorena and John Ostrea are CFC Couple Coordinators for CFC-Youth in Charlotte.

The conference theme for this year is “Rekindle the Gift: Fulfill your Ministry 2nd  Timothy.” 

The Couples for Christ is a movement aimed at the renewal and strengthening of Christian family life. It is now a global Catholic/Christian organization of men and women.

It grows mainly through the establishment of localized units in different parishes. Incidentally, the Couples for Christ started in the Philippines in 1993 and was brought to the US a year later. 

Members of the Youth ministry of Couples for Christ are aged 12-20 years old.
The CFC national confernece is held in a different location every year with last year's event held at the University of Las Vegas, Nevada.

The year before that or in 2016, it was held at the Catholic University of America and in 2010 it was on Riverside, California.

In 2009, the CFC national conference was held in Urbana Champaign, Illinois and the year before it was in Jacksonville, Florida. In 2007 and 2006 the conference was held at Anaheim Southern California and Las Vegas, Nevada respectively. 

Last year's participants in Las Vegas numbered 820, while conferences in Jacksonville (2008) and Illinois (2009) were attended by more than 600 delegates and there were 1,100 delegates in the CFC conference in Southern California Riverside the year after. 

For this year's event, his eminence Bishop Peter Joseph Jugis was invited to concelebrate the Mass on the first day from 12 to 2 pm but he was unavailable on that date. 

In his place Fr. Patrick Winslow, parish priest of the St. Thomas Aquinas Church will concelebrate the first Mass. Ostrea said there will be daily Masses, Eucharistic adoration and hourly intercessory prayers. 

Incidentally it was Dr. Eumelia "Nini" Bautista, past president of the Filipino-American Community of the Carolinas Inc. (FACC) who was instrumental in securing the UNCC as venue for the conference. 

The three-day conference also lined up activities like volleyball and basketball contests, events like original song, band, dance, slam poetry and spoken word competitions as well as photography, video and banner contests.

There are also workshops, teaching of songs, praise and worship. “A major conference is a powerful expression of the mission of the community, and in the area the conference is being hosted,” Ostrea said. 

The event is a collaboration of service teams and volunteers from the Couples for Christ ministries, Singles for Christ’s and the youth.

CFC organizing committee heads in Charlotte and North Carolina include, John and Lorena Ostrea, Jake and Marie Miranda, Joy and Manny Arrojado, Richard and Nenette Costes, Art Aquino, Oscar and Rina Goco, Lindo and Betty Javelona.