 |
The short answer is, with faith. The "CFC" in CFC-Youth for Christ stands for Couples for Christ. It is a Catholic-based organization started in Manila, Philippines with over 100,000 members worldwide. Before CFC got so expansive, it started with a handful of people -- searching, inexperienced in leadership and reluctant to speak even to their spouses. With YFC at Loyola, it was reluctance to give up time that could be spent in, well, study. Besides, it was a religious organization, why would we want to start something like that at school? But one of CFC's innovations was The Great Adventure Tour, and at Loyola, there was one who went to the first one in 1998. Tour participants were encouraged to bring back any of the activities taught there, establishing YFC in their schools being one of them. But the Loyola participant put it off for a semester until fellow junior Mike Sevilla went to his first YFC retreat. University of Illinois at Chicago had already started their own YFC, and now they were after Loyola. Leader Franny Castro was also going to Loyola at that time. One day while Mike was talking about his experience at camp, he said, "Wouldn't it be great if we could have YFC here at school?" |
||
| Thus with peer pressure, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign beginning their own YFC, faith and hope, Mike Sevilla and Yvonne Hortillo began YFC in earnest in their senior years. They couldn't have done it without freshmen Mary Grace Hermano and Mike's sister, Melissa. They tried to do everything right. They made sure they had a table at the activity fair that sunny autumn afternoon on the then-green Halas Field. Lifesavers candy were stapled to the first meeting's fliers. They guarranteed free things to those who would go to their first meeting. |  |
||
 |
Monica de Asa provided movie tickets, Bally's passes, and CDs from Hard Rock Cafe to those who came to the first meeting. Couples for Christ North America ministries director Terry Savage came to invite the fourteen members and participants at that first meeting to join YFC and meet the group's true leader, Jesus Christ. | ||
| YFC at Loyola took a life of its own from there. Or rather, Jesus took leadership of the group. As seniors, Mike and Yvonne were swamped with schoolwork and internships, and most of the suggestions for activities came from the members. It was a true blessing to have Donna Ocampo, Corinne Mah and Thomas Schneidau, among other freshmen, to be so faithful and enthusiastic about attending meetings. They gave YFC its own unique identity among other well-established university faith groups. It gave the school a distinct Catholic organization students can belong to while at Loyola. |  |
||
 |
Before there was the Great Adventure Tour, there was CFC-Youth for Christ community-based. And before YFC and everything else, there was The Word. Jesus Christ's example of fearlessly facing authorities of His time and asking everyone to let the law of Our Father penetrate their hearts was the reason behind the start of YFC-Loyola University. We strive to keep it that way until now. Thanks for checking us out, and hope to see you at the next meeting! | ||
| Some of our activities: Meetings -- Weekly, with prayer, sharings and reflection times. Usually an hour long. Praisefests -- We once had one with InterVarsity. Prayer in song, usually about a half hour long. Retreats -- At least once a year, usually with other college-age participants from other campuses. We usually sleep over someone's apartment for a weekend, men and women separate. Service -- We go to St. Thomas of Canterbury on Lawrence and Kenmore every Friday to help out at the church soup kitchen. Fundraisers -- Bake sales and others. |
 |
||
| More: How do I join? | When are the meetings? | Who do I contact? | |||