Boot Camp
The past 8 days were my busiest so far this summer...and I probably won't be as busy until I get back to the NAC in late August.
My days began around 5/5:30 with personal pray...but then the rest of my day was spent from 7:30-4 (most days) a group of 20 rising sophomores in our RelEd program in the parish's first ever Confirmation Boot Camp.
Given the ever increasingly packed schedules of high school teenagers, our pastor wanted to offer an alternative program to the traditional once a week RelEd class. So was born the idea for an intense, dynamic, program that the teens would commit to attending to fulfill their catechetical portion of the Confirmation program. Our pastor had me and the Director of Faith Formation and Evangelization (DFFE) design an 8 day program (Sunday-Sunday, began and ended with Mass, and the teens went to daily Mass to start the day) that was about 61.5 hours of catechesis!! We tried to design it so that we had an overall theme for each day, and then we broke it down to two morning sessions (1A/1B) and two afternoon sessions (2A/2B), with either a hands on activity, small group discussions, large group processing, journaling, or YouTube video to help process the "lecture"....We had several goals, the biggest being that the teens had an encounter with Christ for either the FIRST time in their lives, or they experiences His love for them in a new, more radical way. Another goal was to expose them to the rich traditions and prayers of the Church that they, in all likelihood, have never experienced (e.g. Liturgy of the Hours, we did Day Time Prayer each day, Daily Mass, Eucharistic Exposition, the Angelus, just to name a few).
A couple highlights, IMO, were Wednesday, Friday and Saturday....Wednesday, after our session on "One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic Church", we made a mini-pilgrimage to the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston for Mass and a tour of the Mother Church of the Archdiocese of Boston. Our tour guide not only showed us the relic of the kneeler and chair St. Pope John Paul II used when he came to Boston in 1979 (that I've never seen!), but we were also blessed enough to venerate the Cathedral's relic of the True Cross!
On Friday after the presentation on serving Christ in others, we had the opportunity to indirectly serve the less fortunate in our community. We did a "Global Village Lunch" after, where the teen were divided into 3 "classes". The first class were served a nice lunch of either steak tips or chicken kabobs, rice, grilled veggies, rice and salad at an elegantly set table with nice silverware and a couple of drink options. Second class served themselves ziti and sauce on a table without tablecloth, paper plates, plastic utensils and paper cups...My class, Third Class, were given styrofoam cups and served ourselves rice and beans without any serving utensils...It wasn't long before the teens caught on and a couple of the First Class were sharing their salad/bread with us Third Class. I hope they didn't just look at the lesson as "unfair", but took to heart the point of the lesson---that there are people who do live like this every. single. day. of their lives, and not everyone does share their food with them (FTR--We did provide ziti after the exercise for anyone who still wanted lunch...)
Then on Saturday we talked about how it's not enough to just "serve" others, but that God has a personal mission, a vocation for each of us. We watched two vocational promotion videos: "For Love Alone" and "Fishers of Men" in our morning sessions. Then in our afternoon session we had "VOCATIONS LIVE!" talk show with two religious sisters, a seminarian, and a married couple expecting their first child.
After each day was over, I would then "unwind" with more personal prayer time as a sort of rest, maybe get a quick workout in, eat dinner, then flesh out the lessons for the following day...usually the DFFE and I were emailing back and forth until well after 10/11 pm. It made for really, really long days...but as is typical in youth ministry, and as cliche as it sounds, I feel I got as much, if not more, from the teens than they got from me and the other leaders. When I went to a Life Teen youth ministers conference, we were told that in youth ministry we often pour ourselves out like a libation in order for the teenagers to be led closer to Christ...and just when we think we don't have anymore to give, we find something else to give.
It was very edifying that last night after the closing Mass, many parents and almost all of the teens, came up to me to thank me for a great week. A lot of them recognized the difference between the traditional RelEd approach and the dynamic approach we tried to have, and they appreciated it. I just hope that for most (well, really for all, but I'm being realistic) this isn't the end. As much as Confirmation teachers can repeat the phrase "Confirmation isn't an end, it's a beginning" and "Confirmation is a Sacrament of Initiation---when are we initiated? At the end of something. NO! At the beginning...", it sometimes falls on deaf ears.
Overall, I personally thought it was a great week. My teacher heart was very happy and proud of the teens for their openness, participation and all their previous knowledge that they brought with them into the Camp. My seminarian/future priest heart was SO filled with hope at watching these teens throughout the 8 days...seeing how certain things were taken to heart, and I could tell they were really, critically thinking about what was presented to them, and that for most of them, it made sense.
The likelihood of me being assigned to Marlborough next summer for the 3 months I'm home after my, God willing, priestly ordination, is not high. However, I hope that there is a seminarian assigned here next summer, and that he gets to work with DFFE and the team members I had this summer to offer the 2nd annual CBC at IC.
Here are some pics that I took from the week, there are some on the IC Marlborough Facebook Page if you're that interested!
Praised be Jesus Christ!!
--kpl
My days began around 5/5:30 with personal pray...but then the rest of my day was spent from 7:30-4 (most days) a group of 20 rising sophomores in our RelEd program in the parish's first ever Confirmation Boot Camp.
Given the ever increasingly packed schedules of high school teenagers, our pastor wanted to offer an alternative program to the traditional once a week RelEd class. So was born the idea for an intense, dynamic, program that the teens would commit to attending to fulfill their catechetical portion of the Confirmation program. Our pastor had me and the Director of Faith Formation and Evangelization (DFFE) design an 8 day program (Sunday-Sunday, began and ended with Mass, and the teens went to daily Mass to start the day) that was about 61.5 hours of catechesis!! We tried to design it so that we had an overall theme for each day, and then we broke it down to two morning sessions (1A/1B) and two afternoon sessions (2A/2B), with either a hands on activity, small group discussions, large group processing, journaling, or YouTube video to help process the "lecture"....We had several goals, the biggest being that the teens had an encounter with Christ for either the FIRST time in their lives, or they experiences His love for them in a new, more radical way. Another goal was to expose them to the rich traditions and prayers of the Church that they, in all likelihood, have never experienced (e.g. Liturgy of the Hours, we did Day Time Prayer each day, Daily Mass, Eucharistic Exposition, the Angelus, just to name a few).
A couple highlights, IMO, were Wednesday, Friday and Saturday....Wednesday, after our session on "One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic Church", we made a mini-pilgrimage to the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston for Mass and a tour of the Mother Church of the Archdiocese of Boston. Our tour guide not only showed us the relic of the kneeler and chair St. Pope John Paul II used when he came to Boston in 1979 (that I've never seen!), but we were also blessed enough to venerate the Cathedral's relic of the True Cross!
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| From Choir Loft |
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| At Foot of the Sanctuary Stairs as we discussed the tradition of the Cardinal's Galero above the Main Altar |
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| The Chair and Kneeler St. Pope John Paul II used 1 Oct 1979 |
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| Reliquary with the True Cross |
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| Holy Door for the Jubilee Year of Mercy |
On Friday after the presentation on serving Christ in others, we had the opportunity to indirectly serve the less fortunate in our community. We did a "Global Village Lunch" after, where the teen were divided into 3 "classes". The first class were served a nice lunch of either steak tips or chicken kabobs, rice, grilled veggies, rice and salad at an elegantly set table with nice silverware and a couple of drink options. Second class served themselves ziti and sauce on a table without tablecloth, paper plates, plastic utensils and paper cups...My class, Third Class, were given styrofoam cups and served ourselves rice and beans without any serving utensils...It wasn't long before the teens caught on and a couple of the First Class were sharing their salad/bread with us Third Class. I hope they didn't just look at the lesson as "unfair", but took to heart the point of the lesson---that there are people who do live like this every. single. day. of their lives, and not everyone does share their food with them (FTR--We did provide ziti after the exercise for anyone who still wanted lunch...)
Then on Saturday we talked about how it's not enough to just "serve" others, but that God has a personal mission, a vocation for each of us. We watched two vocational promotion videos: "For Love Alone" and "Fishers of Men" in our morning sessions. Then in our afternoon session we had "VOCATIONS LIVE!" talk show with two religious sisters, a seminarian, and a married couple expecting their first child.
 |
| VOCATIONS LIVE! |
After each day was over, I would then "unwind" with more personal prayer time as a sort of rest, maybe get a quick workout in, eat dinner, then flesh out the lessons for the following day...usually the DFFE and I were emailing back and forth until well after 10/11 pm. It made for really, really long days...but as is typical in youth ministry, and as cliche as it sounds, I feel I got as much, if not more, from the teens than they got from me and the other leaders. When I went to a Life Teen youth ministers conference, we were told that in youth ministry we often pour ourselves out like a libation in order for the teenagers to be led closer to Christ...and just when we think we don't have anymore to give, we find something else to give.
It was very edifying that last night after the closing Mass, many parents and almost all of the teens, came up to me to thank me for a great week. A lot of them recognized the difference between the traditional RelEd approach and the dynamic approach we tried to have, and they appreciated it. I just hope that for most (well, really for all, but I'm being realistic) this isn't the end. As much as Confirmation teachers can repeat the phrase "Confirmation isn't an end, it's a beginning" and "Confirmation is a Sacrament of Initiation---when are we initiated? At the end of something. NO! At the beginning...", it sometimes falls on deaf ears.
Overall, I personally thought it was a great week. My teacher heart was very happy and proud of the teens for their openness, participation and all their previous knowledge that they brought with them into the Camp. My seminarian/future priest heart was SO filled with hope at watching these teens throughout the 8 days...seeing how certain things were taken to heart, and I could tell they were really, critically thinking about what was presented to them, and that for most of them, it made sense.
The likelihood of me being assigned to Marlborough next summer for the 3 months I'm home after my, God willing, priestly ordination, is not high. However, I hope that there is a seminarian assigned here next summer, and that he gets to work with DFFE and the team members I had this summer to offer the 2nd annual CBC at IC.
Here are some pics that I took from the week, there are some on the IC Marlborough Facebook Page if you're that interested!
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| Day 2: Who is God?! |
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| Team Member Andre leading some icebreakers |
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| "Obstacle Course" (Teaching on 1 Cor. 12 followed) |
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| 2016 CBC! |
Praised be Jesus Christ!!
--kpl
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