The Catholic Key, diocesan newspaper for Kansas City – St. Joseph, recently ran a series of article in preparation for NCYC:  (Nine days until we all join together.)

KANSAS CITY, MO — You might say that Bob McCarty took Kansas City to heart. McCarty, barely on the job in 1997, was the executive director of the National Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry when the “Take It to Heart” National Catholic Youth Conference in K.C. broke the mold.

He’s still executive director, and he’s back in Kansas City, hoping that the Nov. 19-21 “Christ Reigns” National Catholic Youth Conference breaks more molds. But he’ll never forget the first one here. “We were expecting 12,000,” McCarty told The Catholic Key following an Oct. 29 NCYC preview luncheon for Kansas City area media. “Then about a month before the conference, we went from 12,000 to 17,000 (registered youth and adult leaders). We never saw it coming.” Read more of Kansas City conference in 1997 marked a turning point for NCYC

SAVANNAH, MO  — The T-shirt that Marjorie Ernst hand-lettered looked professional: “Laugh. Dance. Pray.”

Fans of the Ellen DeGeneres Show will know where that slogan was adapted. It is also the slogan that the delegation from St. Rose of Lima Parish will take as their own to the Nov. 19-21 National Catholic Youth Conference in Kansas City, some 60 miles down I-29. Read more of St. Rose of Lima youth will come to NCYC well prepared for fun, faith experience

OVERLAND PARK, KS. — For a solid decade, Irene Munoz would bend the ears of anyone within range about the National Catholic Youth Conference. Munoz was especially talkative during early morning workouts in the exercise room at Kansas City, Mo., police headquarters, where she works as administrative assistant to Deputy Chief Cy Ritter.

“To me,” Munoz told The Catholic Key during a break in an Oct. 31 adult volunteer orientation at St. Thomas Aquinas High School, “it reaffirms my faith in today’s young people. I still get goosebumps talking about it.” Read more of NCYC offers chance for police officer to combine work, faith