Love Is Stronger

Are you between the ages of 19 and 35? Are you in reasonably good health? Finding yourself at a bit of a loose end this summer, or part of it? Wanna have a spiritual adventure?

Well, don't just sit around looking at Twitbook, Feeding the Buzz,  Hashing the Tags, and uh, Flicking the Nets! Come to Madonna House!

We are hosting our annual summer program for young adults, July 4-August 9. Come for one week, two weeks, the whole five week shooting match, or whatever you can manage. We are offering a truly superb program this year (if I do say so myself) with the theme "Love is Stronger: Hope and Faith in the World Today."

The inspiration for this theme was this event way back in 1987, when most of the 19-35 year olds we are holding this program for were not born or were in diapers. For those who don't click, Pope John Paul II was saying Mass in Chile and was disrupted by violent protesters. At one point, he simply said into the microphone, over and over "Love is stronger. Love is stronger." And the million-numbered crowd there for the Mass picked it up and repeated it, drowning out the angry violent shouts.

Well, 1987 is a long time ago, but this all seems more than a little relevant to me in the summer of 2015. Militants are chopping people's heads off in the Middle East. White supremacists gunning down church goers in South Carolina. Serious tensions remain in Eastern Europe and many other places. Our social and civil discourse too often degenerates into angry shouts and hateful invective on all sides.

In the face of all this, MH chooses to proclaim, loud, long, and clear, for five weeks this summer (and the rest of our lives, too) that LOVE IS STRONGER. Stronger than it all - all the hate, all the killing, all the divisions and ugliness that more and more is the hallmark of our times.

Each week has its own sub-theme around the theme of love--the details of the program can be found here. The reason I am posting this on the blog is that, in spite of it shaping up to be one of our best and most utterly relevant summer programs yet, our registrations for it are way, way down. And this makes no sense to me.

So, come on, young adults! Come get a word of truth, of hope, of love and encouragement to radiate the charity of Christ into the world that so needs it. Or, if you are already fully booked for the summer, consider sharing this post on your social media site (buzz that face! snap that chat! tweet! tweet!) so that all your friends can see it and - who knows? - come and have a life changing, or at least life-enriching experience at MH this summer, as so many thousands of people have had over the years.

All details of how to contact us and register are available at the link.