DBYC 2020 - (March 20 - 22) 

3.17.2020

We are postponing everything originally planned for this weekend. This is due to new developments with COVID-19 and recommendations from both the CDC and Mississippi State Department of not being able to gather in groups of 10 or more.

In order to do a livestream production with similar quality as our annual youth conference there are many parts that need to come together. With the reduction from not gathering in groups of 250 to 50 and now to 10, we can no longer adhere to those recommendations and have the crew needed to create a similar experience.

Again, we are postponing our annual youth conference and live conference streaming idea until further notice. Our office will take into consideration when to revisit hosting either a live event or online event again when our region lifts the recommendation not to gather.

In the meantime, a group called Project YM Live contacted our office. They are offering a live streaming event every Sunday from 7pm to 8pm starting March 22. The first broadcast will feature evangelist Paul J. Kim and worship leader Dave Moore. We invite you to encourage your youth to participate in this weekly! https://projectym.com/live/

Now more than ever we need to be vigilant with our youth and volunteers to show how connected we are as the body of Christ even if we have to maintain our social distance. Please let us know how we can help you and your youth group.

Yours in Christ,
Ray Lacy and Paul Blanchard
 


3.15.2020
This morning, the Mississippi State Department of Health in their live conference announced recommendations to help control COVID-19 outbreak. The following recommendation was communicated:

“Avoid gatherings of 250 people or more, especially if there is evidence of transmission in your county or adjacent counties. If you do attend, remember to practice the hygiene and distancing steps above.“ https://msdh.ms.gov/

After speaking with the different parties that come together to make our annual conference possible, we have made the decision this year to shift from our conference at the coliseum to a virtual conference filmed at the Pastoral center on Saturday March 21 2020.

What this means is that you will not bring your youth group to the coliseum. We will stream live the conference that you will be able to watch with your youth group in your homes or in your parish. We need your help to encourage participation to join our watch party.

We will still have the spirit mover perform the skits, we will still have our speakers virtually deliver their messages to your youth, and we will have small group questions projected on the screen for you to discuss with your youth group.

We will still have T-shirts. We will not be assessing a fee for the actual conference this year. We will work on coordinating any necessary refunds at a later date.

More information to come on how you can connect to our live feed. We’ll have the Youtube link and other information soon. Please bookmark the Catholic Diocese Youtube Page in preparation:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCe4xLBFUnmm1wBhCrNwjGjQ

Please start making plans with where your youth group can have a watch party. We anticipate as 6:00pm - 9:00pm broadcasting time, but will have more details soon.

We encourage you to wear our conference shirt during your watch party.

We are excited for the opportunity to celebrate our faith virtually and communially. We appreciate your cooperation as we find a way to still provide this encounter opportunity for the youth of our diocese.

DEADLINE FOR REGISTRATION IS MARCH 11 2020.
Each Youth Minister was emailed a registration packet on 2.3.2020.
Please call our office if you have any questions 228.702.2142.

This year will be the 43rd Annual DBYC (Diocese of Biloxi Youth Convention) held at the Gulf Coast Coliseum which invites all the parishes to come together with their youth groups to celebrate the faith through community, mass, keynote speakers, and worship.  The Diocesan Spirit Movers (10^th – 12^th grade peer ministry team) are the force behind planning the skits, theme, decorations, and act as the Masters of Ceremonies.  Target age group for DBYC is 9^th – 12^th grade.

Started in 1977, the goals have been to encourage community within our entire diocese.  In many ways, if our young people don’t travel outside their own town or visit other churches they may not realize that other young people excited about their Catholic faith exist nearby. 

We have a welcome ceremony on Friday evening where each parish introduces themselves to our Bishop (in a fun way) and then present the bishop with a gift from their parish.  We usually close Friday with a concert or keynote speaker.  Saturday is a day filled with fellowship, guest speakers and service activities throughout the day.  For lunch, we even invite our young people to dine with our seminarians and other religious to discuss religious vocations.  We close Saturday night with Adoration/XLT and Reconciliation.  We invite all the priests in our diocese to participate in the Reconciliation service.  On Sunday morning Mass is led by our Bishop before we dismiss.  Later that afternoon (between 2pm and 5pm) we have a Middle School Rally for our 6^th-8^th grade youth in each parish where they have a keynote speaker and praise and worship opportunities.

We constantly gather feedback from our Spirit Movers and parishes to grow the DBYC into something relevant to our young people while staying rooted in the catechesis of the Catholic church.  We’ve invited our Knights of Columbus, Sisters of Mercy, and other religious orders and groups to set up tables and have opportunities to engage the young people of our diocese to invite them to take part.

The goal of this annual event is provide an encounter opportunity for the youth of our diocese to grow in relationship with Jesus Christ and His Church.

Contact our office with how to register your parish youth group and cost details!

Facebook live page from conference: https://www.facebook.com/BiloxiCYO/

Scripture Inspiration for Theme:
JN 9:1-41 - Gospel
SM 16:1-13 - 1st Reading
EPH 5:8-14 - 2nd Reading

EX 34:29-35 - "veiled his face"

"I came into the Diocesan Youth Conference expecting nothing more than a boring teen camp retreat. I didn’t realize at the time how impactful it was going to be. I am in the 11^th grade and had never been to Adoration before so I had no idea what I was about to experience. Adoration was honestly the greatest experience of my life because it felt like it truly opened my heart to God. I was happy to find out there was also Confession available at that point in the convention. I sadly hadn’t had my heart open for the lord for a long time with making bad decisions and following the wrong crowd. I had not been to Confession since the 6^th grade when I attended Nativity and this weekend was only my second time. So, with that long period of being lost away from the path of God, you couldn’t understand how eye opening this was for me. I can’t wait to do it all again next year with all the amazing people I was there with. I very much recommend the Diocesan Youth Conference to anyone who hasn’t been because I really believe it could have such a positive impact on everyone like it did for me."

- Dylan, St. Mary's in Woolmarket. DBYC 2018

Awards Nomincation Packets Here