Happening National Reflection - Part 1

By Autumn Toms, St. Patrick's Dunwoody

Hello! My name is Autumn Toms, I am a rising senior at St. Patrick’s, and I will be Rector of Happening 71. I had the wonderful opportunity to attend the Happening National Leadership Conference in Philadelphia, and I had a blast! Not only did I make amazing new friends, but I also learned so much about Happenings all over the country. I attended workshops discussing caritas, marketing, and nine ways to lead like Jesus. At all these workshops, and even when just having conversations with other youth, I found that even though all Happenings are based on the same principles, everyone interprets and executes those principles differently. Some of these ideas we loved, and some made us value our choices more.

All of the youth I met, and even the youth and adults on HNC, had such a strong love for Happening even though they all had different levels of involvement. I met rectors, ORs (which the Diocese of West Missouri calls Dings), and youth who had only served on team once. Everyone had such strong faith; I am really glad I was able to be in community with them. I hope to stay in touch with the people I met by serving on team at other Happenings in Dioceses such as West Missouri and West Texas.