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 Dear
sisters and brothers in Christ,
This weekend, we welcome back Fr. Kevin and all the Italy pilgrims
and give thanks to God for their safe travels. We pray they grew
closer to our Lord during this awesome experience.
I
am honored to be able to write this weekend in this hallowed space,
a letter about our youth groups here at St. Maria Goretti. Those
groups being
HOPE, our
Junior High program and
TRUTH, our
High School group. Let me offer my sincere thanks to those parents
and teens that are so dedicated to these groups. The Church calls
all of us to continue our education in the faith, and there are many
of you who are answering that call. HOPE and TRUTH, for some, are
the only Catholic catechesis the teens receive during this period of
their lives. For others, they may be in a Catholic school,
however, still love to come and hang out with friends, have fun,
enjoy fellowship with other teens that share the same beliefs and
all the while, be fed spiritually with prayer and catechesis.
With all that being
said, teens: this parish has almost 350 of you at the high school
age, about 600 if you put high school and junior high together. On
average, TRUTH will have 40-50 youth attending each weekend and HOPE
60-70 each Wednesday night. Where is everyone?!?! I know, I’ve
heard many of the excuses: “I have too much homework.”, “I know all
this stuff already.”, “Youth group is boring.”, etc., etc., etc. NO
ONE knows everything about the faith. We MUST continue to educate
ourselves on what it is we believe as Catholics. Too much
homework? What are you doing Saturday and Sunday prior to TRUTH?
Don’t get me wrong, many families keep Sunday as a family day. That
is great. Keep in mind that you also have a parish family. Teens
love to be around other teens. Youth group is ‘boring’? First, God
gave you intelligence and a voice…speak up! Tell us what you’d love
to see. Tell me how things would change by you deciding to not
come, gossip and complain, and just do nothing about it! One reason
Fr. Kevin became a priest was by complaining, but then being asked,
“What are you going to do about it?” Second, did you give youth
group a chance more than just one night? We do so many different
activities and variations of teaching, that maybe you came on a
night that didn’t totally speak to you. Why don’t you give it
another try?
Parents. Let us
work together. Let us reach for that common goal of engaging the
youth to embrace the faith. We know they are busy with so many
things. They have school. They have jobs. They have sports. We
also know, no full ride scholarship to Notre Dame will get them into
heaven. Running a successful multi-million dollar company will do
nothing to sway God in their favor. Being a first round draft pick
for the professional team will not bring them closer to Christ!
Continual and constant education, formation and prayer of our young
people are some of the best ways to help them get through this
unique time in their lives. At this age, they are hit with SO many
messages that are far away from Jesus’ message. The media has made
such a mess and mockery of the values that the Church holds firm
to. Working together, we can encourage them to get involved. It’s
so important that they follow our lead. Are we engaged in the
faith? Are we living out the Gospel? It’s time we took our faith
seriously and not be “Sunday Catholics”. If the faith is not
important to you outside your hour a week at Mass, neither will it
be for your teen. We MUST give our youth the Truth. It doesn’t
just come naturally. They need to be taught it…over and over and
over again until they are able to defend it without question. That
is why it is so important to keep them involved in youth group.
Maybe you’re not sure how beneficial youth group is, or you are
already sending them to a Catholic school. I’m reminded of the
comment after comment I received after the Confirmation Retreat on
how awesome it was to be able to spend a weekend with their friends,
learn about God and the Church, and “get away” from all their daily
worries. Youth Group is their “weekly” chance to do just that!
Won’t you help us build God’s kingdom by giving them that little
nudge that may be needed? Help us say to them: “You are important.
You are every bit a part of the Church as we are. God loves you so
much! We want to see you live eternally with Jesus!”
I can hear it now:
“They just want our registration fee!” IE: Money! Trust me, I
learned long ago that success is not all about the numbers. My
invite to all of you parents and teens is not so that I can say I
have a ginormous youth program. My goal in life is to get to heaven
and take as many as I can with me! I am passionate about the youth
and seeing that they are properly taught the TRUTH! Parents, I have
to believe that you have that same desire for your child. Teens, if
that isn’t your highest priority, I challenge you to make it so! I
invite all teens in the 7th
& 8th
grade to come check out
HOPE and all
high school teens to experience
TRUTH!
I also wanted to
mention that this year, we will begin our tradition of every 4
years, having our TRUTH Fall Retreat at St. Meinrad. This will be
an awesome experience for our high school teens. Space is going to
be limited, so watch for information soon.
May the Lord Bless
you and keep you. May He shine His face upon you and be gracious to
you. May He give you His peace.
In Christ,
Jeff
God is Good! All
the time!!!!!!!
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