After a week devoted to prayer and fasting for the conversion of nations, world peace and the end of abortion, what better way to end than coming together with youths and families to celebrate the Catholic faith.

The 13th International Week of Prayer and Fasting was held Oct. 2-10. On Oct. 8, more than 150 people came together for the Youth and Family Rally held at Catholic University in Washington. The day included talks from top-notch speakers on subjects such as Mary, the Eucharist, bioethics and chastity. Participants also gathered to recite the rosary and chaplet of divine mercy, and confession and eucharistic adoration were available.

Vincentian Father David O’Connell, university president, celebrated the Mass for the youths and their families.

During his homily, he said that 65 percent of the world’s population is younger than 25. Some of the people these youths look up to "have compromised the most important things in life," he said, such as human life and the importance of family. "Is it any wonder that many young people have lost their way?"

Father O’Connell praised the youths in attendance for giving up their Saturday to come and be filled with the Word of God.

"You are waiting for God to speak to you as we together build a culture of life," he said. "If 65 percent of the world would listen to God, what a change it would be."

Raymond Arroyo, news anchor for "The World Over Live" on EWTN, spoke about Mary and the Eucharist. After his talk, he signed copies of his new book.

Local speakers included Ted Flynn, a member of St. Joseph Parish in Herndon, and Dr. John Bruchalski, founder of Tepeyac Family Center in Fairfax. Dr. Mark Miravalle, a professor of theology at Franciscan University of Steubenville, spoke about the fifth Marian doctrine.

"A papal definition of Mary as coredemptrix, mediatrix and advocate will bring great graces to the Church," he said.

Miravalle defined "coredemptrix" as meaning "woman with the redeemer." He cited many saints who have used this term including St. Pio of Pietrelcina, Edith Stein, St. Maximillian Kolbe, Blessed Teresa of Calcutta and John Paul II.

"She is the instrument by which He becomes man and His partner in redemption," he said. Mary’s "yes" at the annunciation was also a "yes" to Calvary. She is Our Lady of Sorrows, because she knew her son was born to die.

Her role as mediatrix describes how Mary nourishes her children spiritually by giving them every grace necessary. As advocate, she pleads on behalf of her children to her Son.

"She is the mother suffering, mother nourishing and mother pleading," he said. "In a time of crisis, the mother is the remedy."

With all the evils in today’s society, Miravalle said it is obvious that there needs to be some healing, and this will come through the Blessed Mother.

Christopher West, the foremost speaker on the pope’s Theology of the Body, addressed the rally in the afternoon. Before the fall, man and woman were naked without shame, he said.

"They understood the theology of their bodies," said West. "The call to love as God loves is stamped right into our very bodies."

And after the fall, they lost this ability to see one another as an opportunity to give and instead saw an opportunity to take.

"They became selfish," he said. "The sexual desire became inverted and self-serving."

The pope’s Theology of the Body is an attempt to rediscover the beauty and depth of all that the marital act means.

"We must allow our lust to be crucified," he said. "The meaning of sexual love is to share in the very love of God." That love is self-sacrificing and giving, West said.

Yvette Shore, a member of St. William of York Parish in Stafford, brought her two daughters, Amanda, a seventh-grader, and Jessica, a ninth-grader. After the talk on bioethics by Father Tad Pacholczyk, from the diocese of Fall River, Mass., the youths were shocked to hear what some scientists are doing.

"I’d known about cloning, but not how they do it," said Jessica, adding that she hoped to bring a copy of the talk to her school.

"They need to hear this stuff," said Yvette, adding that the chastity talks from Christopher West and Molly Kelly were also pertinent.

Douglas Streeks, an 11th-grader from Rockville, Md., attended the rally with his RCIA sponsor, Albert Stecklein, from Bethesda. Streeks said the ideas of chastity and being pro-life are not popular at his school. He was excited to spend his Saturday with others youths who believe the same things he does.

Judy Aungst came from Newark, Del., with her two children, Keenan, an eighth-grader, and Mariette, 10.

"We’re coming for the issues and what’s going on in our country," Aungst said. "There’s a spiritual battle out there."

Aungst has been working with the Week of Prayer and Fasting for 15 years. In the week leading up to the youth and family rally, Judy and her family said a daily rosary, chaplet of divine mercy and extra Masses throughout the week and fasted. Her children gave up TV for the week.

Samantha Martin, a ninth-grader, and her father, a member of Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish in Winchester, left their house at 6 a.m. to get to the rally. She enjoyed the talks but was more excited about the Crispin concert that ended the day’s activities.