YD-Harper: My Reason to Stay: Finding God (and a Desire to be in the Church) in Service to and Relationship with the Unhoused of Los Angeles

Thursday, February 23 | Youth Day | 12:45pm - 1:45pm 

Young people of faith are looking for a spiritual home that brings them to life and honors their many feelings and questions. Many struggle to find that in our churches. Our solutions have often been to prioritize an individual relationship with God, to uplift the Eucharist as the place for meaningful encounter, and to celebrate quiet reverence. Though valuable, these are not enough. Come hear how Catholic social teaching - specifically how standing with and serving alongside the discarded poor of Skid Row - led this young(ish) person to know they belonged to God and in our Church.

Matt Harper is a 33 year old Angeleno who currently lives and works as a community member of the Los Angeles Catholic Worker, helping run a Skid Row soup kitchen, a house of hospitality, and resistance against systems of harm. Matt is also an organizer with White People 4 Black Lives, which works to build white anti-racist capacity to end white support for state violence in Los Angeles. He has served as a teacher and catechist in L.A.'s Catholic schools, confirmation programs, and elsewhere.

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Questions: speralta@la-archdiocese.org