Noemi Tineo, 23, did all the right things in her teens as an active parishioner at St. Rose of Lima in Manhattan, including volunteering as an altar server and later in religious education.
However, she eventually drifted from her faith and kept drifting.
She still believed, but it wasn’t the same.
Then, in April 2024, when she was 20, Tineo attended an Effeta young adult weekend at St. Elizabeth Church in Washington Heights. She went at the urging of her mother, Gleidy, who had long been concerned. St. Rose now has its own chapter of Effeta, which organized a weekend retreat in early September at Our Lady of Mount Carmel in the Bronx.
Effeta is a Catholic pastoral ministry and weekend retreat movement designed for young adults. It was founded in Bogota, Colombia, in 2013. Effeta USA is based in Miami. The name comes from the Aramaic word “Ephphatha,” meaning “Be Opened,” referenced in the Gospel of Mark (7:31-37).
Feeling God’s presence on retreat
“It’s about helping young adults have an encounter with God. You can do the retreat whether you grew up in the Church, or, we’ve had people who hadn’t set foot in a Catholic Church; that’s completely OK. The weekend is about a relationship between you and God,” Tineo told The Good Newsroom in an Oct. 1 interview at St. Rose on East 165th Street.
“It was after I did the retreat (in April 2024),” she said of the time she began to practice the faith again as she had in her early to mid-teens. “I felt that God was there, I felt Him … I remember coming back from the retreat and feeling really happy, and I thanked my mom.” Her relationship with her mom improved, as did her relationships with the rest of her family.
Before that, she said, “I felt distant, I didn’t really have motivation to come to Mass. I didn’t really feel like God was there for me, I don’t know. I believed in God, but I just felt like I was stringing a lot at that time … There was nothing that really happened that pushed me away.”
She said concerns related to the COVID-19 years may have played a part, but she’s uncertain. Whatever it was, her mother came to her spiritual rescue. Tineo and her family now live in the Orange County town of Chester; she is the oldest of three. Their parish is St. Columba, but they still stay closely connected to St. Rose. Noemi has an associate degree in human services and works for an agency that helps people with developmental disabilities.
Leading fellow young adults back to the Church
“I don’t think I would have found my way back the way I did if I didn’t do Effeta,” she said, adding that teens and young adults “need community,” whether it’s Effeta or other Church ministries designed for their age groups, “as long as the people around you are encouraging you.” In recent years, Noemi has played a leading role in bringing fellow young adults to the Church, including those who had drifted away.
“Jesus opened the ears and mouth of the deaf and mute man, the faithful should open their hearts to Jesus,” explained Fr. Ramon Lopez, pastor of St. Rose of Lima, during the same sit-down interview with Noemi. “That is the story of Effeta, that is the message.”
As for Noemi’s faith journey, Fr. Lopez said he is glad that Noemi returned to being an active Church member and is thankful to her mother for playing the key role in that journey. “Her mother has helped her in her relationship with God, in her spiritual growth,” the pastor said. “And I am content with Noemi’s efforts, her evangelization efforts among her fellow young adults. I am very grateful.”