There has been a lot of discussion about the new format for Religious Education classes for the Fall and we want to take this opportunity to answer the very valid exasperation:

“We can’t survive an hour mass… it is going to be painful to get them to come to 2 hours of RE!!!”

The goal of Religious Education is not to “stuff our heads” with facts about the faith, but to draw closer to God through the gifts of the Church.  In order to experience God we need to grow in our awareness of Him and how to recognize Him in ALL of our activities.  As a result, when the children come to Religious Education it will begin with movement away from “day to day distractions”.  More than an academic exercise this is a process of relating to God in communion together and is facilitated by a variety of gathering activities,  games and enthusiasm in the gym.

Class times will be marked by both instruction and application activities, doing our best to avoid the “sit and learn” mentality that the children experience all day at school.

Finally, the conclusion of the gathering will end in a personal conversation with the living God, giving the children a perspective on bringing the light of Christ with them into ALL the activities that fill the rest of their week.

This experience of Religious Education can only be attained if our hearts are oriented towards SHM as a ‘Sanctuary of Sanctity’ for each and everyone one of us.

Please pray for the volunteer catechists, your children, and the staff; that God’s grace will fulfill each of our heart’s desire to know God intimately.  And please feel free to contact any of us with questions or concerns for your child.  It is our goal to be the best resource for you in your role as the primary educator of your children.

MISSION:

As the youth mature in their Faith they will be able to bring “all men that light of Christ, which shines out visibly from the Church.”(Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, No.1).  This mission is fulfilled by conforming one’s will to the will of God, and thereby fulfilling the end for which the parish of Sacred Heart of Mary exists; a sanctuary of sanctity.

Mission means “to be sent” and the youth are presented with a very specific opportunity to affect the world we live in.  Each person carries the experience of their faith into their world, and through the sharing of their experiences, they uniquely affect those people in that moment of time.

Since the light of Christ is the love of the Father, it is God’s will to invite all people into his family; the sanctuary away from the fallen state of use, materialism and individualism.  Through the Sacramental celebrations of the Church we dwell in the Father’s love so that our hearts and lives are orientated towards service, charity and community.  It is the Holy Spirit himself who imparts the grace to grow in sanctity/holiness so that we may bring…  the light of Christ to our world. “It is not a question of carrying out heroic or extraordinary gestures, but of acting, by putting to good use one’s talents and possibilities, and committing to constantly progress in faith and love.” (Pope Benedict XVI World Youth Day Message 2010).

Here at SHM the youth will be given the opportunity to know, experience and grow closer to God (the end for which the parish exists) so that they in turn will invite others to share in the joy that they have found, a sanctuary of sanctity.  As one friend to another they will present Christ’s invitation to the world they live in, “Come, follow me” (Mark 10:21) bringing the light of Christ to all men which comes through the Church and her Sacraments.

OUR VISION:

Catechize Catholic youth in order to help them mature in their Catholic Faith, thereby nurturing in them the desire to grow in personal and communal holiness.

Holiness is found in God and therefore those who grow in holiness are growing closer to God.  “The Church, a communion living in the faith of the apostles which she transmits, is the place where we know the Holy Spirit…” (CCC688) The Holy Spirit has been given to the Church, specifically in the Sacraments, where together we are sanctified through the gift of God’s love and mercy.

As we already noted, personal growth in holiness rests in self knowledge and self possession, but this is not the goal of holiness, rather it gives us the ability to then “…freely give (ourselves) and enter into communion with other persons.” (CCC 357).  If we don’t know who we are, created in the image and likeness of God,  then those who are in relationship with us will never meet the true, unrepeatable person God made us to be.  AND, if we do not possess ourselves then the giving of ourselves has no meaning… “if you can’t say ‘no’ what does your ‘yes’ mean?” (Theology of the Body– Christopher West “The Gift”).

So the goal of growing closer to God is fulfilled by personally experiencing God in the communal celebration of the Sacraments, which compels us to love as God loves; to grow in holiness.  By receiving the “fullness” of what the scriptures and apostles have given us in the Catholic Faith, we discover the “truth, the way and the life” (John 14:6).  The Youth Apostolate is directed towards “living life to the full” (John 10:10) and is the means by which our youth will come to “know, love and serve God in this life and for eternity…”(CCC1721) With this Vision in mind we can now reflect on our Mission.

Catechize Catholic youth in order to help them mature in their Catholic Faith, thereby nurturing in them the desire to grow in personal and communal holiness.

“The human individual possesses the dignity of a person, who is not just something, but someone…”  (CCC 357) Personal growth of the youth deals with their ability to grow in”…self-knowledge, and self possession …”  (CCC 357).

The youth are very interested in growing in “Self-knowledge” but culturally this ‘discovery’ is often driven by the market, inundating them with knowledge of things, ideas, and others.  The principal goal of marketing is getting the youth (and all of us) to abandon themselves to the appetites, lure and obsession of “something“.  Once anyone is distracted with the knowledge of things it is very easy to give up the other very important characteristic of what it means to be human; “self possession”. In fact we become slaves to the things of our lives… possessed you might say.

The youth need the opportunity to grow in “self-knowledge“, and the responsibility they have of “self possession“.  Today the youth need a “sanctuary of sanctity” in which they can grow in personal… holiness.”  The Church is this sanctuary to encounter the  living Christ who “fully reveals man to himself and makes his supreme calling clear” (Gaudium et spes 22) Personal holiness finds meaning in the person of Jesus Christ… not an idea, concept or belief system.  Jesus, God become man, is a “someone, not a something” who is experienced through the Sacraments of the Church.

Every youth’s desire to be seen as a person, “someone“.  is met by the invitation of the Church to pursue their desire by seeking God… then they will come to recognize the one who made them in His image and know who they are, AND dare we say, know what to do.

OUR VISION:

Catechize Catholic youth in order to help them mature in their Catholic Faith, thereby nurturing in them the desire to grow in personal and communal holiness.

Nurturing… the desire to grow means that we become aware of everything that influences and affects the youth.  To nurture is to cultivate so we look to the famous parable of the Sower in Matthew, Luke and Mark’s gospels where “seed was scattered on the path, the rocky, the thorny and the good soil”.  It becomes obvious that God’s love needs a nurtured environment to “take root and produce 100, 60 or 30 fold of what was sown.”  Mt 13:1-23, Mk 4:1-20, Lk 8:1-15.

The work for parents, as primary educators of their children, is to nurture the desire, or hearts, of the youth to help them receive the love of God in their lives.  We are often tempted to throw “good soil’ or the “faith” on top of the “path, rocks, and weeds” of the culture and hope for the best.  However, together with parents, the Youth Apostolate seeks to introduce the youth to the fertile ground of the Church; specifically through the celebration and participation in the Sacraments.  Pope Benedict XVI at Cologne Germany for World Youth Day said in his first speech to the youth “the Church (is) the place where God’s merciful love reaches out to all people. In the Church and through the Church you will meet Christ, who is waiting for you.”  This meeting with Christ is specifically found through the Sacraments.

The Sacraments (soil) of the Church nurtures the desire of youth to grow in their Catholic faith.  Once their faith begins growing “Faith seeks understanding: …a believer desires to know better the One in whom he has put his faith…a more penetrating knowledge will in turn call forth a greater faith, increasingly set afire by love.” CCC158.  From here we embark on the path to personal and communal holiness…

OUR VISION:

Catechize Catholic youth in order to help them mature in their Catholic Faith, thereby nurturing in them the desire to grow in personal and communal holiness.

Our Previous developments- “Catechize Catholic youth” means to pass on the scriptural and apostolic truth that is universal to every person, in every place and time.

God’s universal truth is not a set of facts, dates or ideas that we ask the youth to memorize but is the life of Christ present throughout the entire Church.  Helping the youth “mature in their Catholic Faith” means helping them to give their unique “response of faith and love that no other creature can give…”(CCC 357).

We already know that “faith” is part of the activity of catechesis (passing on what we have been given) but it ultimately is a relationship with God- “Faith: Both a gift of God and a human act by which the believer gives personal adherence to God who invites his response…”  (Glossary of the Catechism of the Catholic Church).  So “maturing in faith” is a daily activity of responding to the revelation of God… today.  This again emphasizes the dynamic nature of the Youth Apostolate to be outward rather than just self serving for the youth because it matters for their lives, TODAY!

This is what is so exciting about the gift of our Youth; that they will recognize God alive in the world and respond to His calling out in love.  Each youth can grow deeper in love with God through the unique way they live their lives.

OUR VISION

Catechize Catholic youth in order to help them mature in their Catholic Faith, thereby nurturing in them the desire to grow in personal and communal holiness.

Last week we understood “catechize” to mean handing on the faith that we have received from the apostles.  Which leads us to our identity as Catholics.  The term Catholic means universal, and the Catechism defines this universality in two steps:

1.)  Christ is present universally in the Church which imparts the “fullness of the means of salvation”: correct and complete confession of faith, full sacramental life, and ordained ministry in apostolic succession. (CCC 830)

2.)  The Church is sent by Christ to the entire(universal) human race. (CCC831)

So rather than an individualistic faith, that does not imply or require others to be involved, we are passing on a faith that is universal and demands that if we believe in the “Good News of the Gospel” that we share it with those whom God has given us in relationship.  We gain confidence in this universal call because Jesus, who is present, is eternally present to all who come to encounter Him through the Church, “the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.”(Heb 13:8)

So we are not simply introducing the youth to a bunch of facts, dates, rules, etc. that people often misinterpret as the “deposit of faith” but we are introducing them to the “living Christ” who wants to meet them, and share His love so that “…they may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10).

First- We have discovered a deeper identity in the word “apostolate“.  Traditionally we have identified our activities as “Youth Ministry”, but we have grown to understand that the Church does not exist to strictly “minister to” or “serve” the youth but “to instruct, strengthen, and encourage the faithful to a more fervent life.” Apostolicam Actuositatem (6) This helps us to clarify that our work is not to be inwardly focused but always outward… or Apostolic.

OUR VISION

Catechize our Catholic Youth in order to help them mature in their Catholic faith, thereby nurturing in them the desire to grow in personal and communal holiness.

What does “catechize” mean?  Simply put it is “the education in the faith” (CCC5), and to understand what we mean by “faith” we look to the term “deposit of faith” from Dei Verbum, which is ” the heritage of faith contained in sacred scripture and Tradition, handed on in the Church from the time of the Apostles… (CCC84).  So in catechizing, we are to hand on the faith which we have received from the apostles.

Our faith is trustworthy and complete.   Our responsibility is to first receive it from the Holy Spirit, through the Church, and then pass it on to those whom have been entrusted to us… so that they may do the same.