Youth ignite their faith and find hope at Utah Catholic Conference, held Sept. 20

Friday, Sep. 26, 2025

DRAPER — Local Catholic youth were treated to a day of personal faith stories, evangelization and hope at the youth session of the Utah Catholic Conference, held Sept. 20 at the Skaggs Catholic Center.

Keynote speaker John Levi, a hip-hop artist and Catholic school principal in the Diocese of St. Petersburg, Fla., shared his personal journey of faith, beginning with his childhood Catholic upbringing and then chronicling how he distanced himself from the Church before returning to the faith as an adult. 

A cradle Catholic, Levi served as an altar boy and received all his sacraments before drifting away from the faith. 

“As we get older, you know, the world starts to kind of dim that light,” he said. “But I need to tell you guys, don’t let it. Never forget – you can pray to God and ask him just to give you that spark again to remind you of the beauty of your youth.”

He went on to recall an experience he had at the age of 15, when he let off fireworks at his home, which was mistaken for gunfire and drew a SWAT team response, leading him to pray fervently for the first time in years.

“At that point, it was just like, ‘God, I need you right now; like, I need you, like, an hour ago,’” he said. 

Although he felt that God helped him through that experience, Levi again began to wander from truths he knew while he became a successful hip-hop artist, performing at venues across the country. Eventually, after a period of struggle, Levi reconnected with his faith, particularly the sacraments and the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, he said.

As he did so, he left the world of secular hip hop and began to develop his own form of the music, which centered on his Catholic faith. This led to him performing around the world, including at World Youth Day in front of Pope Francis in Lisbon, Portugal in August 2023. 

Through this journey “God became so real to me,” he said. “He became more real than any person ever in my life.”

As he looks back on his life, he has realized God had been with him throughout his struggles, Levi said.

“I can tell you right now, if you’re going through a struggle, count it as a blessing,” he told the youth at the conference. “Our Catholic faith teaches us that suffering can be redemptive, that it redeems. Redemptive suffering — you pick up your cross, you kiss it, you hold it, right away.”

Levi urged the youth to remain strong in the faith and close to the Lord.

“He wants you to live abundant, beautiful lives, no matter how dark or crazy it might get along the way,” Levi said. “He wants the best for you; never forget it.” 

Following Levi’s presentation, Bishop Oscar A. Solis spent a few minutes with the youth, urging them to live a life intertwined with Jesus, not just on Sundays but every day. 

Being a Christian is an active, joyful mission, the bishop said, and he encouraged the youth to be proud of who they are and their faith. 

“You will never convert people if you do not have that joy in your heart that comes from knowing that Christ is in us,” he said. 

The youth also participated in two breakout sessions that day. The first was led by Sammie Carel, youth and young adult director for the Diocese of Phoenix. In her presentation, Carel made several key points about the pro-life issue of abortion. 

The belief that life begins with conception is supported by science,  she said. “Ninety-six percent of biologists actually agree that life begins here, at the moment of conception, at the moment of fertilization.”

Because a fetus becomes a person from the moment of conception, abortion is never justified, even in cases of rape or incest, she said. “Humanity, not size or ability, imparts personhood.”

“A trauma shouldn’t be healed with another trauma,” she said of abortion in those instances. Carel emphasized that laws matter and that a person’s worth is not determined by their developmental stage or whether they are wanted. 

In the second breakout session, rapper Carlo Zamora shared his own personal faith journey, which in many ways is similar to Levi’s. Raised in a devout Catholic home, Zamora, like Levi, wandered away from the Church as a teenager after going through some difficult times when he felt unloved by God.

As an adult, Zamora married, had children and began to attend Mass regularly with his family, and pursued a career as a gangster rap artist. He became very successful but was brought up short along that path when one day he performed for an audience of 1,500 teenagers, something he had not anticipated. 

“I’m thinking to myself, like, ‘Wow. Like, how am I gonna say all these crazy, vulgar, violent, sexual lyrics to all these young people? Like, I am corrupting some minds,’” he said. “That’s what I really, really felt, that I felt so sick inside.”

Afterwards, Zamora confronted the tour promoter. 

“I was like, man, like you should be ashamed of yourself,” he said. “He looked me dead on my face, the way I’m looking at you right now. He said, ‘Bro, I ain’t the one rapping here; you should be ashamed of yourself.’”

That experience transformed Zamora, who realized God had a different path for him. He left gangster rap behind and began to develop a new musical form he called Catholic rap. Eventually he met up with Levi and others who use their music to evangelize and to bring people to God. 

Now, “I just make myself available,” he said. “I make myself available, and I never say no to God’s calling. If I feel that God is calling me to it, I just swallow my pride, zip my mind, my mouth, and go forward with it. I just make myself available. I make myself available, and I never say no to God’s calling.”

Zamora concluded his presentation with some advice for the youth.

“Guys, go over, see the Eucharist, go to Mass, pray, pray the rosary, say all your prayers, and go home and tell your parents you love them,” he said. “And don’t just tell them you love them. Show them your love by the way you live your lives, [by] the things you do and the way you act with other people.” 

After the presentations, the two artists wound up the day with a concert for the young people, similar to the one they had performed the previous evening for young adults at the Skaggs Catholic Center.