Archdiocese of America - Oratory Festival: Who is this year's winner?translated

This year's winner of the senior student category at the St. John Chrysostom Festival of Rhetoric, which is organized by the Department of Religious Education of the Holy Archdiocese of America, was Andrew Taxiarchos, of Annunciation Parish, Cranston, Rhode Island, who is preparing to start his senior year of high school in the fall. The process of the Festival is as follows: students between the ages of 12 and 18 choose one of the topics suggested by the Archdiocese to prepare a short speech, which the contestants deliver first at the parish level and, if qualified, then present it at the regional and metropolitan levels before reaching the final stage, where students from all over America participate. Thus, participants spend months researching and writing their speech, as well as preparing for its presentation. The event usually starts in February and can last until June.

The young people's relationship with faith is complex, in the year 2026. In a country like America, religiosity and secularism seem to be growing...