Searching in the Spirit 2012: Pentecost Revisited

From July 3rd to 7th, I was one of the chaperones at an archdiocesan camp called Searching in the Spirit. Created for Gr. 7 students who had just been confirmed, the five day camp looked at the themes of Sacredness, Witness, Forgiveness, Servitude, and One Body in order that the 65 Gr. 7s could more

readily invite the Holy Spirit into their lives. For the past five years that I have been involved in the program, it has been - without a doubt - the best week of my summer. It is a perfect example of how vibrant and alive the Church is. From the Gr. 7 students, to the 14 person youth/young adult leadership team (who organizes and runs the entire program!), to adult chaperones, and to priests, Searching in the Spirit demonstrates that the Church truly is one Body in Christ. Prayer, fellowship, laughs, meals, mass, confession, adoration...all mixed in with the typical summer camp activities like archery and kayaking.

Stuff Catholics Say

Yeah yeah, I know. This whole fad rolled over and died months ago. In all fairness, my friends and I got together while the fad was still alive and filmed this video, but it took a long time to get put together. So here it is!

Filming and Editing credit: Patrick Guevara (who should have it up on his own channel soon, at which point I'll link to his instead of mine).

The Life of the Church

Here's a link to the latest column that I wrote for The Catholic Register. Do you want to get to know your faith? Then get to know the liturgical calendar of the Church!

The Church One Day at a Time

Our Hope

Yesterday evening, I was helping lead a Life Teen social event at my parish, celebrating the beatification of (now) Blessed Pope John Paul II. At one point during the night, a youth received a text. And then another youth received a text. And the exclamation from both was the same: "Hey guys! Osama Bin Laden is dead!" Immediately there was an eruption of discussion: Did he get shot? Who shot him? Did they simply find his body? Was the US involved? The announcement of the death of a guy who many presume to be behind so much of the pain and heartache in recent history was jarring. I for one, was shocked that people were already sending texts about it. But one of the youth cut to the heart of the matter. When someone again declared, "It's true! He's dead!" this youth meekly asked,

"...Should we...be happy about this?"

Rise Up: It's Kinda Rhetorical

I just had the best New Years ever by attending CCO's Rise Up Conference, this year held in Montreal. The days from Tuesday Dec. 28th to Saturday Jan. 1st proved to be such a beautiful example of how we, the young people in the Church, are challenging ourselves. Through talks, prayer, mass, praise and worship, workshops, exploring Montreal and ushering in the new year with a banquet and dance, the 600+ young adults, CCO staff, nuns, priests and bishops in attendance came to better understand how they are meant to more fully live and spread the Catholic faith. It was such a humbling, exciting and hopeful experience.

No Body Now But Yours

From August 23th - August 27th, I was part of an 12 person leadership team that led a Post-Confirmation summer camp for Gr. 7s: Searching in the Spirit. It is a camp, so we all took part in tons of awesome activities like swimming, kayaking, archery, hiking, low ropes, and volleyball. But being a Catholic camp, the leaders also gave workshops and led prayers for the participants, each day focusing on one theme. By the end of the week, the youth had been given lessons based on 5 themes: We Are Sacred, We are Witnesses, We Are Forgiven, We Are Servants, and We Are One Body. All in all, it was an amazing week filled with new friends, a loving community, and lots of laughter, joy, and faith.

Our Primary Focus

On June 12th, I travelled down to Scottsdale, Arizona for the National Life Teen Training Convention that was held for all youth ministry coordinators who had already subscribed, or were thinking of subscribing, to their youth ministry program. It was such an amazing time, filled with so many great people, so many great talks, and so much great music.

A lot of information was thrown at us over the course of 4 days. With over 500 people, we had to choose different breakout sessions. But after every session of "How to Recruit Leaders" or "Teaching Teens and their Families to Pray", or "Leading Teens into Sacred Scripture", all 500+ youth ministry coordinators and 70 priests came back together and listened to a talk that mentioned The Eucharist, or a talk that mentioned Mary. Accompanying all of this was prayer, and there was lots of it. Everywhere. Liturgy of the Hours when we woke up, prayers during general sessions, prayers at the beginning, middle, and end of breakout sessions. Daily mass and Eucharistic Adoration. Liturgy of the Hours before we went to sleep. It was incredibly challenging, yet incredibly peaceful.

Do You Believe?

Another liturgical year has passed us by, and that means, for those involved in youth ministry, another Spirit Day has come and gone as well. last weekend, the 6th annual Archdiocesan event put on by the Youth Ministry Office entitled "Believe" catered to over 1800 Gr. 7s, for the first time over 2 days and in 2 different locations (the same program was run twice). "Believe", because we believe in the Creed, in God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, in the Communion of Saints, in the Forgiveness of Sins, in the Resurrection of the Body, and in life everlasting.

Why I'm in Youth Ministry

Spirit Day 2009 planning is well under way. The annual pre-Confirmation event for Gr. 7s entitled "Believe" this year, is a fantastic way for the youth of the archdiocese to seriously think about their faith. As I am wracking my brain trying to think of ways to get the message of "Believe" across, I am reminded of a blog I wrote after last year's Spirit Day. As I read through the blog, it puts a smile on my face to know that my opinion of youth ministry hasn't changed - and that's a very good thing. 
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This Past Saturday, Nov. 15th 2008, marked the 5th annual Spirit Day, entitled "Shine Like the Son", an event organised by the YMO for the Gr. 7s of the Archdiocese of Vancouver. The day was filled with awesome music (courtesy of Matt Maher and his band), Speaker sessions (courtesy of Apex Ministries), skits, testimonies, icebreakers and food. It was the largest Spirit Day to date - 1400 Gr. 7s; 500 eager youth had to be turned away. On top of those 1400 rowdy ones, there were a huge number of volunteers, including the stage team, the spirit team, logistics team, stage hands, lighting people, sound people, MCs, and adult chaperones. It was an amazing day filled with tons of people ready to open their hearts to God.