By Amy White
The Texas Catholic

From Prince of Peace to Christ the King to St. Ann—Young adults from parishes across the Diocese of Dallas represented their communities at Community Beer Co. May 13 during the latest 635 event. 

The 635 is a diocese-wide young adult event hosted quarterly by the Diocese of Dallas’ Youth, Young Adult, and Campus Ministries office. The purpose of the event is to offer Dallas-area young adults a place to encounter God, grow in Christian community, and, ultimately, feel empowered to be disciples for Christ in their own parish communities.

“The main goal of The 635 is to welcome young adults from any background into an environment that is very low entry level, where the faith is very present but it’s not overbearing,” said Jacob Coffman, associate director of content development for the Youth, Young Adult, and Campus Ministries office of the Diocese of Dallas. “That way, the adults can connect to other young adults; but most importantly, our goal is to always connect them back to the parishes.” 

The May event boasted almost 500 young adults in attendance, the largest number the event has seen in its history. The gathering also featured for the first timetables around the periphery of the event where various young adult ministries could share about their ministry.

“We worked more directly with the parishes to really bring them into it. That’s why we had the table setup and everything, so we can have them really be active participants in The 635,” Coffman said. “Our goal is that, if you’re from Plano, you now get to see the Plano parishes that have young adult ministry. You get to see the Dallas parishes that have young adult ministry. Frisco was there as well. Coppell was there.

“That’s what the Church looks like in Dallas, and this is just the tip of the iceberg; this is not where we’re stopping. The goal is to keep highlighting how young adult ministry is growing across the board.”

Coming together
Much like past 635 events, the May gathering began at 6:35 p.m. with a happy hour, followed by praise and worship, a talk from a guest speaker, and plenty of time for conversation. The theme of the event was “the 5000,” a reference to the multitude fed by Jesus in the Gospel.

Bishop Edward J. Burns was the speaker of the night.

“My friends, God has raised us to a dignity that we need to acknowledge and offer Him all praise, honor, and glory,” Bishop Burns said, addressing the hundreds of young adults listening—many of whom were wearing t-shirts to represent their parish young adult groups. “And we need to give back to Him the wonderful gift of ourselves, the very gift He gave us, our humanity and the very gift of our abilities and faith.” 

The bishop urged the young adults to stay connected to Christ and His Church and to remember their human dignity and the dignity of others, among other messages.

“Listening to the Bishop give his talk was really, really good. There was just a lot of fruitfulness from the talk,” said Xolotzi Mendez, 23, a parishioner of St. Bernard of Clairvaux Catholic Church, adding that the talks at 635 events were “one of the reasons why I always come back.”

Besides the talks, another draw for many young adults was the community offered at The 635.

Alejandro de la Maza, a young adult from the St. Jude Catholic Church community, described The 635 as “probably the closest thing to heaven that you’re going to get in terms of meeting so many people that are on fire for the faith in the same spot.” He said, “I like seeing young people that share the same faith. It’s encouraging.”

Jenny Vitek, 29, agreed.

“It’s really nice to build community,” the St. Patrick Catholic Church parishioner said. “We’ve already met a handful of other people and met people again that we’ve seen at other events; and it’s a nice happy place.”

Branden Thevanh, 25, praised The 635 for bringing parishes together and encouraging interconnectivity between communities in the diocese.  

“It’s like experiencing the totality of the Church, being able to experience all the different parts and different facets,” he said, sporting the green t-shirt of St. Rita Catholic Community. “There are so many fruits that have come from that, so many friendships, so many new projects that have grown from that.”

The next 635 event is scheduled to take place on Sept. 10.