Enthusiasm ruled among the nearly 15,000 youth and chaperones during Youth Day at the 2005 Religious Education Congress in Anaheim.

The Feb. 17 event, which traditionally opens the Congress, drew high school youth from all over California and many other states such as Utah and Hawaii.

Playing on this year's theme of "Ask, Seek, Knock" based on Matthew 7: 7-12, Youth Day was filled with spirited liturgies, rousing musical performances and workshops offering the teens guidelines for making smart decisions and living a spiritual life within popular culture.

Popular singers Jesse Manibusan and Nellie Cruz kicked off the day with Christian pop songs that energized the crowd and got them ready for the day. The duo used popular hip-hop songs and audience participation to get the attendees up out of their seats and dancing in the aisles. Even the chaperones were moving to the music when Manibusan launched into a popular Eminem song to which he wrote lyrics more fitting for the day.

"This is one day that explodes with energy for our faith," said Carolyn Manalac, a senior at St. Joseph High School in Lakewood. "We come to let loose and celebrate with others who are exploring their faith. We get to be ourselves."

Manalac, who emceed the day's liturgical celebration with classmate Kathleen Brennan, has been attending youth day since her freshman year. She noted that participating in Congress has given her the confidence to express her faith and has strengthened her relationship with God.

This is the second conference for Brennan who said she is always amazed to see so many Catholics celebrating their faith.

"Being here makes me remember it's ok to be yourself," she said. "I don't feel alone because I know that there is always someone else going through the same things I am."

Remembering your faith and being true to yourself was a theme of one popular workshop given by well-known teen counselor Pam Stenzel. Her morning workshop, "Sex Has A Price Tag," packed the Convention Center arena with teens eager to learn how to deal with the tricky areas of relationships and sex while remaining true to their beliefs.

"I would love to protect you all from the pain I see every day [in my teen pregnancy counseling work] but I can't," she told the crowd. "My goal is that no one in this room will ever again have to say, 'Well, I didn't know. No one told me.'"

Stenzel challenged the teens to resist popular media images of love and sex and save themselves for the person they marry.

"God decided to let you choose well knowing it could lead to sin, pain and death," she said. "God created love for marriage --- for a lifetime commitment."

She told the teens that it's a simple rule to follow. "If you are not married, don't do it. If you are, go for it --- but with the person you are married to," she said to loud laughter.

Using her trademark humor and tough talk, Stenzel presented the hard facts of teen pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, and long-term poverty as some of the serious consequences of pre-marital sexual encounters.

"If you have sex outside of marriage, you will pay," she asserted. "No one has ever had more than one partner and not paid."

Stenzel presented statistics showing teens have a four times greater risk of contracting a disease than becoming pregnant, and that the average teenager in California is currently infected with 2.3 sexually transmitted diseases whether they are aware of it or not.

While telling girls that 80 percent of teen moms will live below the poverty level for 10 years and nine out of ten will never graduate from college, she reminded boys that their responsibility does not end when the sex ends.

"Boys, if you get a girl pregnant in the United States, it will cost you over the next 18 years between $60,000-$100,000. The government will take it out of your paycheck before you even see it. This is a serious responsibility boys and you better think about it before you have sex," she said.

"If there's a girl throwing herself at you, it may be hard, but run from her," she told the applauding audience.

In an afternoon session, speaker Tammy Evevard continued this theme of urging teens to think for themselves and maintain their Christian principles. In the workshop named "You've Been Punk'd" after the popular MTV series, Evevard asked the teens not to base their self-worth on media images of sex and aggression.

In a culture that tells girls what is valuable about them is their body, young people must create their own reality that allows them to live healthy, happy and holy lives she noted.

"You've been punk'd by believing that you are never enough and are never satisfied with who you are," explained Evevard. "We all want to find some level of happiness and contentment but we've been punk'd to believe that this is something outside of ourselves. But nothing outside of ourselves will create anything decent inside --- it will never change the way you see yourself."

She told the crowd to always remember that "you are of value simply because you are."

These messages of self-empowerment were not lost on the teens in attendance who came seeking messages of strength to empower them to feel comfortable openly practicing their faith among their peers.

"This conference not only makes church fun but it reminds us to keep focused and to keep our eyes on God," said Charlie Bedal, a senior at St. Bernard High School in Playa del Rey.