Natalie from LEAD is a member of St. Mary’s Parish in Cape Girardeau, MO which is in the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau. This fall she will be a senior at Notre Dame High School.

Today she shared with us how God changed her life through friendship.

She grew up Catholic with very involved parents.

And yet, as she entered high school, she wanted to fit in and took on a negative attitude – and a big part of this was that she began gossiping about other people. This left her feeling empty and unloved.

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Marilyn from LEAD is a member of Immaculate Conception of Dardenne (ICD) Parish in the Archdiocese of St. Louis. She went to high school at Timberland High School in Wentzville, MO and this fall she will be a freshman at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.  Tonight she shared with us how she has experienced the love of God through the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

As a high school student, she went on a retreat with her parish, and while there she was filled with deep sorrow for her sins. She decided to go to Confession and felt a huge embrace from God – like a hug.

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Mary Sophia from LEAD is a parishioner at Mary, Mother of the Church in the Archdiocese of St. Louis where she is a member of the parish youth group. She recently graduated from Mehlville High School, and in the fall she will be a freshman at the Franciscan University of Steubenville.

Tonight we had the privilege of hearing her share about the first time that she let God into her life. In 8th grade, during a time of deep personal struggle – her mom had been diagnosed with cancer – she started to resent God, and thought that He had forgotten about her.

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Kaitlyn from LEAD is a member of St. Joseph Parish in Conway, Arkansas – which is in the Diocese of Little Rock. She will be a senior this fall at Greenbrier High School.

In her testimony this afternoon, she got very vulnerable with all of us about a difficult family situation she experienced, and how she felt a great deal of personal guilt because of how the situation played out.

What brought Kaitlyn a tremendous amount of freedom was opening up with her small group at a Steubenville youth conference.

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Lydia from LEAD is a member of St. Benedict Parish in Duluth, MN – in the Diocese of Duluth, MN. She is homeschooled, will be a senior in high school this fall, but also takes classes at a local community college.

This morning, Lydia shared with us how she came to appreciate the importance of the Mass through a powerful experience she had a Catholic youth camp. Here are some of the awesome things she shared:

I’ve very grateful for my parents and the way they’ve fostered me in my faith.

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