Youth

Lay deputy Caroline Christie testifies before the House of Deputies supporting Resolution A049, which authorizes provisional use of liturgical resources for same sex blessings.

The youth group from St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Morristown has just completed a week in Topsail, N.C., on its annual mission trip. Here are reflections from the young volunteers, compiled by chaperone Alan Chorun.

Lay deputy Gibson Oakley testifies before the House of Deputies at General Convention 2012 in support of resolution C100, which calls for funding the Episcopal Youth Event and earmarking $300,000 for it.

[Episcopal New Service — Indianapolis] When Caroline Christie attended the 2009 General Convention with a group of other high school students from the Episcopal Diocese of Newark, she didn’t know what to expect.

“I was just going because my friends were going,” she said. “I didn’t know that the Episcopal Church was so big, and everything that they did. It was a really eye-opening experience.”

And it whetted her appetite for more. Christie is back for the 77th General Convention, a lay deputy elected at age 17 to represent the Newark diocese along with Gibson Oakley, who was 16 when he was elected in January 2011.

Gibson Oakley made no bones about what will be on his mind as he heads to General Convention this week.  One of two teenagers who will be part of the lay deputation representing the Diocese of Newark, Gibson told those who would be voting for him that the church needs to be a welcoming haven for LGBT youth who encounter hostility on a daily basis.