How YATOL Started:
YATOL began in 1976, during an international meeting of the Teams of Our Lady in France. Teams of Our Lady (TOL) is an international movement for married couples. During the meeting, youth who came with their families wanted to experience a community similar to that of their parents. They wanted to share their friendship, faith and joy with each other, to take on an active role in the life of the Church and to reach out to their friends. The movement was born out of these shared aspirations.
Since then, the movement has spread across the globe. It has over 5000 members in 12 countries: Brazil, Columbia, Canada, Haiti, Portugal, Spain, Italy, France, Belgium, Lebanon, Syria and Mozambique. Its current international headquarters are located in Lisbon, Portugal.
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YATOL in the United States:
YATOL in the United States began in the winter of 2003 and has an interesting past. Several members of the Sousa family (YATOL members from California) including: Jorge, Noelia, Gabriel, and Veronica, were visiting Portugal. They toured the Portuguese mainland from Lisbon going north and back after visiting relatives in the Azores, where Jorge, Noelia, and many relatives were born. This was their first trip to the mainland.
On the last day in Portugal, they arrived at the airport in Lisbon and began getting their bags prepared for check-in for their US return flight. As Noelia was looking for the family's tickets, she realized that they had been left in the taxi. She and Jorge begn considering their options. They tried to get in touch with their taxi driver through other drivers but were unsuccessful. The rest of their family had to leave, while Jorge and Noelia's family had to stay in Lisbon for another day or two to have new tickets issued to the family. Noelia told us that Veronica had commented that, "God must not love us. If He did, He would not have let this happen." Noelia while sad and concerned , replied, "All things happen for a reason, Veronica. We just don't always know what God's will is. We need to be calm and trust God." Little did she know that one day later God's loving will would show itself in a way that was beyond their imagination.
While they were waiting for passports to be confirmed and new tickets to be issued, Jorge decided that he wanted to do a little more sightseeing. He had always wanted to see Evora but had never had the opportunity. They rented a car and went to Evora.
As they walked in Evora, Gabriel and Veronica saw an Italian restaurant that looked good. Jorge and Noelia indicated that they wanted to eat at a Portugese restaurant in Portugal, but they would consider eating at the Italian restaurant the following day. They did eat there the next day.
As they waited for their food, they heard loud singing coming from a table full of young people. Jorge and Noelia became curious when they recognized a few of the songs being sang. As one of the group walked by, Jorge asked who they were and what the joyful singing was celebrating. The young woman (Maria de Noronha e Andrade) explained that they were part of a Catholic youth movement called the Equipas de Jovens de Nossa Senhora (YATOL) and that this was the week of their international meeting, being held in Evora, Portugal. Each group became excited when they found out that the family was Catholic and considering starting a spiritual group for young adults in California. The youth realized that this was a direct answer to their prayers, as one of the prayer topics for that meeting in Evora was for Teams to spread to the United States.
The family was invited to attend the meeting later that evening and they were inspired. Three days later they arrived back in the US and shared the story with the rest of their family. Planning began to get Teams of Our Lady in the USA and a little after a year later, they contacted the Canadian teams and had three of their members fly down to hold a retreat and start the US teams. With this enthusiasm, they formed a list of 60 interested young adults. Then, in the Blessed Sacrament chapel of Our Lady of the Assumption Church in Turlock, they prayerfully divided these people into five teams and chose an animator for each team.
