Yukon Kuskokwim Delta Adult Faith Formation Program
The Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta Adult Faith Formation Program held a young adult retreat in April at the Moravian Seminary in Bethel. A total of 13 young adults from 6 villages attended the retreat, whose theme was “Brokenness and Beauty.” The event was led by Father Tri Dinh, SJ and Fr. David Romero, SJ, Jesuit priests from California. The retreat focused on the experiences of brokenness in attendees’ lives, and how God can transform those wounds into something life-giving and beautiful. At the retreat, Y-K Delta AFF director Patrick Tam and the priests facilitated activities that align with Alaska Native people’s preferred way of learning: hands-on and experiential. Attendees assembled colored glass to symbolize God’s light shining through even lives wounded by suicide, substance abuse, and domestic violence, which exist in high rates in many Alaska Native communities. Among the attendees was a young man who had grown up in the Diocese of Fairbanks, but migrated to Anchorage where he had become homeless in recent years. During the retreat, he shared his story with the group, giving a powerful witness to enduring faith and hope despite extreme adversity. After the event, Tam began working with the young man to connect him to resources in Anchorage to help him attain stable housing, job placement, and other basic needs. The healing retreat was timely given that several attendees’ villages had experienced unexpected losses in the months just prior, including several deaths through ATV accidents and a murder in the village of Emmonak.
