Youth Ministry Newsletter
March 2023
|
|
Dear Friends in Youth Ministry,
I hope this Lenten Season is off to a wonderful start for all of you! It has been such a pleasure to visit with so many of you in the last couple of months! If you would like me to come and meet with you at your parish and we have not yet been in touch, please email me!
The overview of our recent Youth Ministry Survey is ready! We received 45 responses representing 40 parishes with active youth ministry programs. You can view the summary report of the survey here. A huge thank you to all of you who participated – the information you provided is so helpful, and your input is actively shaping our planning and priorities as we consider how best to serve you in the coming years. If you didn’t get a chance to fill out the survey, I’d like to hear from you too! It would be wonderful to know about your ministry and how we can support you, so please contact me so that we can be in touch.
We have some very exciting events coming up this month! Register your group for the Middle School Encounter on 3/11, and if you’re able to get away for a day and a half, the Faith Formation/Youth Minister Retreat on 3/15 - 3/16 is a GREAT opportunity for all of us to have a little time away – please register and join us if you can!
We have a few World Youth Day announcements too!
- I’m very happy to share that we granted 12 scholarships to high school students and young adults with financial need, and they will be joining us for World Youth Day in Portugal this August!
-
If you are making your own arrangements for World Youth Day and not registering via our website, please let me know! For future grant requests, it will be very helpful to provide this year’s numbers – we won’t know to include you unless you share your plans with us! Thanks!
- Check out the schedule for this year’s local events below!
As always, I’d like you to know that you’re welcome to contact me any time. Email me at [email protected]
Blessings to you this lent and always - God Bless!
Kimberly
|
|
MIDDLE SCHOOL ENCOUNTER:
It's not too late to register! In addition to our keynote speaker, Fr. Augustine Wetta, OSB from the St. Louis Abbey, I’d like to highlight our featured service project!
- Our focus is on immigrants and refugees: We will highlight 3 communities: Their challenges, their needs, and what we as Catholics are actively doing to help them. Students will be invited to write a letter of hope to the community of their choice:
- Congolese community, served by Daughters of Ruth: Students will write letters of encouragement.
- Ukrainian community, served by the Welcome Circles: Students will write letters of welcome, which will be included with families’ welcome baskets.
-
Migrant workers, served by the Agape Service Project: Students will write letters of thanks, which will be included in weekly food box deliveries. Students will have the option of writing these letters in Spanish.
*** AND another wonderful highlight! Right after our service project rotations, we will offer breakout sessions, featuring two of our own amazing and inspiring speakers!
- 6th Grade: King David and the Psalms - Danielle Curl from Sacred Heart, Enumclaw
- 7th Grade: Holy Spirit Inspired - Sarah Riggio from Our Lady of Guadalupe, Seattle
- 8th Grade: Apologetics...Monk Style! - Fr. Augustine Wetta, O.S.B.
CONFIRMATION RETREATS:
Please see below for the 4 dates – These retreats are designed for parish groups to attend together. If you are organizing your own retreat, we know you may consider these retreats for students who are unable to attend on your dates… Here is what to do if you’d like to send single students to one of the 4 Confirmation Retreats at Camp Hamilton this year:
- Please contact us! We’d like for you to get in touch (rather than the parent).
-
Email Lisa Hillyard at [email protected] – she will let you know which parishes are attending on the date(s) you select.
- Please reach out to one or more of those parishes to ask if your student can join their group. (Your student will need a group for parish time, and the parish will need to have enough chaperones to add your student to their group.)
- Arrange for payment: The cost to attend is $50 – we are billing parishes for their group after the retreat. Your student can either bring a check along and pay upon arrival or arrange to pay the parish at another time.
- Questions? Let us know!
OVERNIGHT RETREATS/ACTIVITIES:
Many of you will be arranging plans for multi-day events or mission trips this spring or summer. You can find information about adult to student ratios and policies for overnight stays in sections 6.1 and 6.4 here: Guidelines.
|
|
|
|
Ideas Exchange
Lent Traditions Check out the answers to last month's question! Look in this section next month for everyone’s answers, as well as the new question!
This month’s question: Easter Traditions! Looking ahead to Eastertide...What activities have worked well with your students?
|
|
|
|
|
Monthly Zoom Lunches Link!
Please join us at noon on the 2nd Thursday of each month.
March 9, 2023, 12:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)
Meeting ID: 863 0253 4385
One tap mobile
+12532158782,,86302534385# US (Tacoma)
+12532050468,,86302534385# US
|
|
|
|
Upcoming Dates
-
3/4/23: Confirmation Retreat (Middle School, Camp Hamilton, Monroe)
-
3/11/23: Middle School Encounter (Bellarmine Prep, Tacoma)
-
3/15/23 – 3/16/23: Faith Formation Lenten Retreat (Archbishop Brunett Retreat Center, Federal Way)
-
3/18/23: Confirmation Retreat (High School, Camp Hamilton, Monroe)
-
3/18/23: Agape – 20th Anniversary Celebration
-
3/29/23: Annual Luncheon on Youth Mental Health (from 11:00 – 1:00 at the Chancery/Zoom
-
4/15/23: Confirmation Retreat (High School, Camp Hamilton, Monroe)
-
4/20/23: Lay Minister Convocation (Archbishop Brunett Retreat Center, Federal Way)
-
4/28/23 - 4/30/23: Fin de semana de formación para lideres de Pastoral Juvenil – Event is in Spanish (Archbishop Brunett Retreat Center, Federal Way)
-
4/29/23: Confirmation Retreat (Middle School, Camp Hamilton, Monroe)
-
5/2/23: Spring Gathering (Holy Family, Kirkland)
-
6/8/23: PAFF Annual Conference – includes Youth Ministers (Archbishop Brunett Retreat Center, Federal Way)
-
7/10-7/14: Franciscan LEAD/Steubenville (Spokane, WA) Steubenville Conferences
-
7/14-7/16: Steubenville NW (Spokane, WA) Flyer I Spiritusnw.com
-
8/1-8/6: World Youth Day (Lisbon)
-
8/1-8/5: Local WYD Celebrations
- 8/1: St. Mary, Anacortes
- 8/3: Our Lady of Lourdes, Vancouver
- 8/5: St. James/Immaculate Conception, Seattle
-
8/5-8/10: Middle School Boys' Camp (organized through St. Nicholas, Gig Harbor) Flyer
-
8/15-8/17: High School Retreat – Rescheduled from December 2022 (Archbishop Brunett Retreat Center, Federal Way)
-
8/26/23: Empower Training (Lifeteen) (Holy Family, Kirkland)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
