As you probably know from your own personal retreat experiences, there are many different ways to “retreat” with teens who are participating in a Confirmation, youth ministry, or campus ministry retreat. However, depending on the group and circumstances, some models definitely work better than others do. Here are a few options:
Two-Day Overnight Retreat.
This is usually an ideal option for a group. A weekend allows time for the relationships among teens and adults to develop in a variety of experiences, including small-group sharing, recreation, and communal prayer. A weekend retreat may be a teen’s first chance to experience an informal celebration of the Sacraments of Penance and Eucharist. Many teens who return home from a weekend retreat name the celebrations of the sacraments as the highlights of their time away.
One-Night Retreat.
Depending on how far you are from the retreat location, a one-night retreat can offer most of the same advantages of a weekend retreat. Yet, you may find that just when the group is coming together, it’s time for them to go home. For younger adolescents, however, one-night retreats are preferable.
One-Day Retreat.
These can be difficult, whether they are held on a missed school day or a Saturday. In either case, it is hard for the teens to put schoolwork or basketball practice out of their minds in such a short time. Rather than spending seven or eight hours together during a day, have the teens meet from about 4 pm to midnight. These “less used” hours make the retreat time more sacred. Just make sure the teens have a free day from school on the day after the retreat so that they can rest and recover.
Mini-retreat.
Shorter retreats of about three to five hours can be successful for breaking out of the regular youth group-like routine. Schedule a mini-retreat during the time your group usually meets, albeit adding two or three hours of extending time. With this extra time, provide variation from what you usually do in a class or meeting. For example, add more time for personal and communal prayer. If you rarely include music in your prayer, do so on this occasion. If possible, incorporate a Mass into this mini-retreat as well.
In anticipation of the June 18 release of Pope Francis' encyclical Laudato Si ("Be Praised" or "Praised Be") which focuses on environmental issues, please note information on several ways Catholic Relief Services is reaching out to address climate change issues around the world.
On CRS Cares for Creation you will find stories, photos, and case studies that highlight the many ways in which the Church is reaching out to help vulnerable communities adapt to the impacts of climate change. There are also have several prayers, reflections, and activities that help Catholics take action. This material is arranged by grade level with several strands written specifically for high school religion classes and youth ministry groups.
What are some ways you can promote vocations to the priesthood and consecrated life with your students? Read through the list of ideas below. Choose at least one of the ideas. Add others of your own. Develop a plan to work with others to implement these ideas at your school (or parish).
1. Perpetual Adoration
Arrange for a schedule of continuous prayer for vocations before the Blessed Sacrament at a school chapel. Collect names of students willing to sign up for fifteen minute or half hour blocks of time. Make this a regular event.
2. Publicize Special Vocations
Highlight special events like National Vocation Awareness Week, World Day for Consecrated Life, or World Day of Prayer for Vocations. Also take note of special vents offered particularly in your own diocese. Volunteer to distribute flyers or other promotional materials to your students.
3. Witness Talk
Broach the topic of vocations to the priesthood or consecrated life in class or as part of a campus ministry session or retreat. Speak personally about how you have and are currently discerning your own vocational call. Arrange for a priest, seminarian, and/or a professed religious to speak about their own calling.
4. Seminary or Motherhouse Visit
Call a local seminary or motherhouse of a nearby religious community and arrange for a field trip or for interested students to visit on their own to hear a presentation by the vocation directors, and perhaps the seminarians and novices themselves.
5. Website Links
Create a set of website links to vocation websites in your own diocese and beyond and place them in a place where students can easily access them. Assign them to write a reflection essay about any vocational stories they read about in one or more of the sites.
By Justin McClain
During the upcoming break in the academic year, plan to use part of the time to refresh yourself in the life-giving words and teachings of Christ! Pope Francis addressed the need for renewal in a recent talk to priests. Catholic school teachers can find affirmation in his message as well.
The summer break can, and should, serve as an opportune occasion to seek 1) rest, 2) renewal, and 3) revitalization. This is true in terms of your mind, your body, and foremost, your soul. As such, here are a few scriptural passages to meditate on during the summer, in order to remain focused in a positive way on the promises of the new school year as of late August.
1. Rest
Jesus understands the need for rest. In the Gospels, Christ extended the divine “rest” that only he could offer, drawing us to seek him in order to find soulful relief from the weariness of the world. The school year is replete with busy schedules, numerous logistical demands, teenage drama, and numerous other concerns. Summer is the time to slow down, take a break, and rest!
For Reflection
“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light." (Matthew 11:28-30)
The apostles gathered together with Jesus and reported all they had done and taught. He said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.” (Mark 6:30-31)
2. Renewal
Jesus has a way of renewing everything without changing anything. In other words, he remains the same as he has been since before time began: He is unchanging, just as God the Father and God the Holy Spirit are, with the Three Persons of the Trinity united as one God. While you will use the weeks during the summer to renew lesson plans, renew classroom policies, renew familiarity with content by attending professional development programs, and so forth, make sure that all renewal that takes place is in the vein of Christian renewal. Ensure that the preparations you are making done in the Lord’s name, are engagingly new, and inspirationally faithful and unchangingly refreshing. Attempt to imagine how new Christ’s teachings must have sounded to his first disciples when they began to follow him. Plan to present the Gospel to the students with this same newness, particularly in terms of charitably and accurately portraying the Church’s age-old moral teachings (e.g., Catholic social teaching), which are sometimes contrived as old-fashioned, but are actually beautifully and wisely designed by God for the ultimate benefit of humanity.
For Reflection
All were amazed and asked one another, "What is this? A new teaching with authority." (Mark 1:27)
"I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." (John 13:34-35)
“May we learn what this new teaching is that you speak of?” (Acts 17:19)
So whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come. (2 Corinthians 5:17)
Be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new self, created in God’s way in righteousness and holiness of truth. (Ephesians 4:23-24)
You have taken off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed, for knowledge, in the image of its creator. (Colossians 3: 9-10)
For this reason, he is the mediator of a new covenant. (Hebrews 9:15)
Blessed be the God and Father of Our Lord Jesus, who in his great mercy gave us a new birth to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. (1 Peter 1:3)
The one who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” (Revelation 21:5)
3. Revitalization
God is the author of your very life. He has given you free will because he wants your life to magnify him and to bring greater glory to the kingdom of God. Allow the Lord to breathe new life into any ministerial efforts, perhaps particularly in the midst of the end of a school year, when you may feel that you are suffering from burn-out, or that you are a shell of your formerly enlivened self.
For Reflection
“If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.” (Matthew 19:17)
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish, but might have eternal life. (John 3:16)
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. (John 3:36)
(Specifically regarding the Eucharist, which the Catechism of the Catholic Church identifies as “the source and summit of the Christian life” [CCC 1324], meditate on Jesus’ remarkable Bread of Life Discourse in John 6:22-59.)
Simon Peter answered him, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” (John 6:68)
Jesus spoke to them again, saying, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." (John 8:12)
“I came so that they might have life, and have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10)
“I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if dies, will live.” (John 11:25)
“I am the way and the truth and the life.” (John 14:6)
There are, of course, numerous relevant Old Testament passages that can be reflected upon as well, but the scope of this article was the New Testament, in order to emphasize Jesus’ fulfillment of the messianic prophecies as outlined in the Old Testament that allowed him to give us a newness of spiritual resolve. Hence, these are just a few of the multiple passages from within the New Testament that the Catholic school teacher can use for reflection in preparation for the next academic year and beyond.
This summer, in between the trips to the beach, other family outings, Independence Day barbecues, and other summer adventures, make sure that you (and your family) spend ample time with the Lord, in order to remember to rest, renew, and revitalize yourself by meditating on God’s goodness. In this manner, you can be an even more effective Catholic school educator in the next academic year, which will be here before you know it. In the meantime, happy summer and God bless you and your families with a restful vacation!
Mr. Justin McClain is a Theology teacher at Bishop McNamara High School in Forestville, Maryland.
Ave Maria Press offers an excellent resource to help your students learn more about the life of Óscar Romero, the Archbishop of San Salvador, who was beatified on May 23.
Monseñor: The Last Journey of Óscar Romero, covering the time of Romero's installation as Archbishop of San Salvador in February, 1977 to his martyrdom on March 24, 1980, is an 88-minute documentary distributed by Ave Maria Press. The documentary, produced by the Kellogg Institute at the University of Notre Dame, will be delivered as a DVD and sell for $27.95.
In addition, Ave Maria Press offers a free 38-page Study Guide to accompany the film. The Study Guide facilitates a one-week mini-unit devoted to the study of Óscar Romero through viewing of the Romero film, student research, and discussion. The five-day plan involves an introduction to the life of Archbishop Romero (Monday), viewing the film and discussing its key topics (Tuesday-Thursday), and a synopsis of the material through the sharing of student reports and projects (Friday).
The Study Guide is delivered in an electronic format, designed in full color, and is suitable for printing. Student handouts with writing space to jot responses to particular questions are included. Several links to other print and film resources offering background and enrichment to the issue are also included.
This one-week mini-unit is a perfect way to incorporate a strand of social justice in virtually any course in your theology curriculum. A Study Guide listing of glossary terms and references to the Ave Maria Press textbook Foundations of Catholic Social Teaching: Living as a Disciple of Christ are provided.
As summer approaches, your students will be attempting to secure a job. Certainly, an interview will be part of the hiring process. Review these suggestions to help your students prepare for a job interview.
Be knowledgeable about the company and the industry. Read the company website, reports, news articles, and any other literature about the company. Read about the company’s history, services or products, growth pattern, divisions and subsidiaries, size and competitors.
Practice answering questions about yourself, your accomplishments, and your intended career objectives. Find out from other people what their job interviews were like. Be prepared to talk about your talents, experience, values, and goals. Focus on what you can bring to the job rather than what the job can do for you. Be able to state your weaknesses, too, along with your strengths.
Prepare questions to ask your interviewer based on what you learned about the company.
As to the actual interview itself, keep the following points in mind:
Arrive a few minutes early.
Do not bring anyone with you.
Dress appropriately. Wear conservative clothing and little jewelry.
Appear well-groomed with a recent haircut, clipped nails, polished shoes, and pressed clothing.
Do not chew gum.
Bring a pen and notebook and use them.
Be courteous, friendly, and enthusiastic. Keep in mind the interviewer is looking for someone who can fit in well with the rest of the staff.
Maintain eye contact with the interviewer. Pay attention to your own body language. Sit naturally. Do not fold your arms.
Do not discuss salary unless the interviewer initiates the topic.
Put a positive spin on yourself. For example, if you are asked if you have a certain skill that you lack, reply, “No, but I am a quick learner.”
Before you leave, make sure to find out the next step. Will the interviewer contact you? When? Should you contact the interviewer? When?
Thank the interviewer. The next day, send a written thank-you note. This is a must.
Exercise
Assign the students to complete a resume, that is, a written overview of their background, experience, and skills. A resume should include:
Your name.
Your mailing address.
Your phone number.
Your email address.
An objective stating the kind of work you want to do.
Your educational background.
Your work experience beginning with the most recent job and/or volunteer experience.
Your honors and activities.
As the school year nears a conclusion, lead your students in a variety of activities and presentations that highlight their maturation and help them to imagine their futures. Here are three ideas:
1. Your Freshman Self (about 20 minutes)
Ask the students to bring photos of themselves from when they were freshmen (or photos from two years prior). Ask them to pass their old photos around the room as you lead a discussion in which they described their “freshmen selves” in the third person. For example, “He had a hard time making friends” or “She thought she knew everything.” Continue building on the discussion to encourage the students to describe how they are different now from when the photo was taken.
2. On the Spot: Imaging Life’s Vocations (about 15 minutes)
Make a set of flash cards with numbers on them to represent five-year age intervals beginning at age 25 and ending at age 80 (e.g., 25, 30, 35, etc.). Briefly present a summary of the term vocation in terms of a call to marriage, family life, consecrated life, or priesthood and career as a job that expresses one’s talents and creativity. Choose a random student to come to the front of the room to be “on the spot.” Ask him or her to pick from the flash cards and to describe the career and vocation he or she imagines when actually that age. Call on other students to repeat the exercise.
3. Large Group Presentation: Maturity (about 20 minutes)
Lead a discussion on the meaning of maturity and what maturity entails. Offer the following descriptions (write them on the board). Then ask the teens to add other descriptions of maturity to the list:
A mature person has the ability to give as well as to receive.
A mature person is empathetic; can perceive how another person is feeling.
A mature person can establish and keep relationships with others.
A mature person is comfortable with himself or herself.
A mature person is emotionally, spiritually, and physically fit.
A mature person is able to meet his or her needs in a healthy way.
Prepare a lesson or part of a lesson that focuses on the theme of pastoral leadership and priesthood today, especially as it connects between teachings from the Pastoral Letters of the New Testament. Some qualities which make up a good priest are drawn from the Letter to Titus.
Overview
First Timothy, Second Timothy, and Titus are called “Pastoral Letters” because they were written by one pastor (shepherd) to two other pastors, Timothy and Titus. The differ from other New Testament letters—both those written by St. Paul and those attributed to him—in that they were addressed to individuals and give great advice on Church leadership. The Pastoral Letters assert that in order for one to be a priest or bishop, he must be a moral exemplar, other-centered, and be willing to undergo any kind of trial for the sake of the Gospel. First Timothy gives guidelines for those chosen to be bishops. Second Timothy describes the end of St. Paul’s ministry and is a reflection on his impending death. The Letter to Titus, the focus here, discusses the qualities necessary for being a good presbyter (priest).
Lesson
1. Define pastor as “shepherd.” Ask the students to identify images from the Gospels of Christ acting as a shepherd. Ask: Why would “shepherd” be an appropriate name for a leader of the early Church? (Jesus used the metaphor of a shepherd and the flock to describe the relationship to the Apostles and the Apostles’ relationship to the faithful.)
2. Ask the students to write a brief reflection on a priest in their life who has had a positive influence on them. What qualities did that person possess that made him a good religious leader? Allow about five to seven minutes for writing. Then call on volunteers to share their reflections with the class.
3. Refer the students to Titus 1:5-9. Relate this description of presbyters to the student’s reflections and to an understanding of a priest’s mission and ministry today.
Assignment
There are nine references from the Letter of Titus in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Write them on the board. Ask the students to work individually or with a partner to look up the references from Titus and from the Catechism and explain how each supports a particular teaching about priesthood.
Teaching
Reference from Titus
Reference from the Catechism
Eligibility for Holy Orders
Titus 1:5-9
CCC, 1577
Instructions for the appointment of presbyters
Titus 1:5
CCC, 1590
Self-mastery and renewal
Titus 2:1-6
CCC, 2342
Temperance
Titus 2:12
CCC, 1809
The return of Christ
Titus 2:13
CCC, 449, 1041, 1130, 1404, 2276, 2818
Christ’s work of Redemption
Titus 2:14
CCC, 802
Baptism as a requirement for God’s kingdom
Titus 3:5
CCC, 1215
Hope
Titus 3:6-7
CCC, 1817
