High School Youth Group

August 2022

August 28-Youth Group Kick-off Party 5-8 at the Alles Residence (2220 E Wilcken Rd)

September 2022

September 11-Catholic Corruption

• 6pm-8pm in the sofa room
• Snack: Stephanie
• Prayer Challenge: Read Mother Teresa’s “I Thirst“

September 18-COEXIST

• 6pm-8pm in the sofa room
• Snack:
• Prayer Challenge: Pick one concrete way to evangelize this week.

September 22-Who does God hate?

• 6pm-8pm in the sofa room
• Snack:
• Prayer Challenge: Register for FORMED.

September 30-Registration due for Life Guardians Training (Oct. 8 in Columbia City)

October 2022

October 1-Deposits are due for World Youth Day.

October 2-Our Lady

• 6pm-8pm in the sofa room
• Snack:
• Prayer Challenge: Pray the Memorare each day.

October 8-Life Guardians Training for high school students

October 9-Indulgences

• 6pm-8pm in the sofa room
• Snack:
• Prayer Challenge: Suffer for the Holy Souls in Purgatory.

October 16-Fr. Mike and Fr. Josh

• 6pm-8pm in the sofa room
• Snack:
• Prayer Challenge: Pray for our priests and seminarians.

October 23-Love is Love?

• 6pm-8pm in the sofa room
• Snack:
• Prayer Challenge: Look for love.

October 30-Community Service Day

• 6pm-8pm meet in the sofa room
• Paper Permission Form
• Online Permission Form
• Snack:
• Prayer Challenge: Visit a grave site to pray for the dead.

November 2022

November 6-Come, Follow Me

• 6pm-8pm in the sofa room
• Snack:
• Prayer Challenge: Pray the Litany of Trust.

November 13-Guest Speaker

• 6pm-8pm in the sofa room
• Snack:
• Prayer Challenge: Visit the Blessed Sacrament

November 20-Ask a Priest

• 6pm-8pm in the sofa room
• Snack:
• Prayer Challenge: No Bible, no breakfast, no Bible, no bed.

November 27-Thanksgiving Break; No Youth Group

December 2022

December 4-Prayer

• 6pm-8pm in the sofa room
• Snack:
• Prayer Challenge: Pray the Litany of Trust each day

December 11-Christmas Shopping

• 6pm-8pm in the sofa room
• Snack:
• Prayer Challenge: Attend our parish penance service on Wednesday (5pm Mass, followed by guest speaker and Reconciliation)

December 18-Plan Lock-in

• 6pm-8pm in the sofa room
• Snack:
• Prayer Challenge: Spend a day with no screen (no phone, tv, computer, etc.)

December 25-Christmas, no Youth Group

• Christmas Eve Mass at 5 pm
• Midnight Mass at midnight
• Christmas Morning Mass 9 am

January 2023

January 1-Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God (Holy Day of Obligation), no Youth Group

• Masses at 8 am, noon and 7 pm

January 8-Caroling 2:30-5:00, no Youth Group

• Meet at church
• Paper permission form
• Online permission form

January 15-Mass Explained

• 6pm-8pm in the sofa room
• Snack: Baylor 
• Prayer Challenge: Go out of your way to show someone kindness.

January 22-Plan Lock-in

• 6pm-8pm in the sofa room
• Snack:
• Prayer Challenge: Pray the Rosary for the unborn and their mothers.

January 29-Kathy Bledsoe speaks-parents welcome!!!

• 6pm-8pm in the sofa room
• Snack:
• Prayer Challenge: Watch an Ascension Presents Video

February 2023

February 4-Trivia Night!!! Volunteers needed 5:30-11:00pm

February 5-Plan Lock-in

• 6pm-8pm in the sofa room
• Snack:
• Prayer Challenge: Pray every day for the love of you life.

February 11-Lock-in

• Begins with 5:00 Mass
• Ends at 7:00 am on February 12
• Online Permission Slip
• Paper Permission Slip
• Prayer Challenge: Attend an extra Mass this week.

February 19-Sin

• 6pm-8pm in the sofa room
• Snack:
• Prayer Challenge: Choose something to fast from.

February 26-Freedom

• 6pm-8pm in the sofa room
• Snack: Emma 
• Prayer Challenge: Reflect on what you need freedom from.

March 2023

March 5-Community

• 6pm-8pm in the sofa room
• Snack:
• Prayer Challenge: 

March 12-Guy’s Night

• 6pm-8pm in the sofa room
• Snack:
• Prayer Challenge: Pray for the men in your life.

March 19-Parish Mission (Paul Kim)-ALL ARE WELCOME!!!

• 6pm-8pm
• Snack:
• Prayer Challenge: Go to Adoration

March 26-Living Stations of the Cross

• 6pm-8pm
• Snack:
• Prayer Challenge: Meditate on Christ’s passion for 15 minutes.

April 2023

April 2-Participate in Procession beginning at 10:15 am at the Courthouse, no Youth Group

April 9-Easter Sunday, no Youth Group

April 16-Girl’s Night

• 6pm-8pm in the sofa room
• Prayer Challenge: Pray for the women in your life.

April 23-Scavenger Hunt

• 6pm-8pm
• Online Permission Form
• Paper Permission Form
• Prayer Challenge: Only listen to Christian music/podcasts/movies this week.

April 30-Progressive Dinner

• 6pm-8pm
• Online Permission Form
• Paper Permission Form
• Prayer Challenge: Try a new form of prayer.

June 2023

June 4-Graduation Mass

• Register here

June 20-24 Old Settlers

• Sign up here

July 2023

July 28-August 7-World Youth Day Pilgrimage!!!!!!

Upcoming World Youth Day Formation Meetings

May 19-Holy Hour of Power Adoration 6-7 pm

May 20-The St. Patrick’s (FW) WYD Formation Hub, along with other pilgrims, is doing a 5-mile hike at Chain O’Lake State Park on May 20^th starting at 9:30am. This Hike is open to all pilgrims, and parents. If you or your pilgrims are interested, please use this link to “rsvp”: https://forms.microsoft.com/r/JAcVxYtrkY. .

June 7-Join Bishop Rhoads for an all-pilgrim Mass at Sacred Heart in Warsaw. Mass at 6:30 followed by meeting with finalized details about our pilgrimage!

July 1-Formation meeting at St. Paul of the Cross. We will begin with Mass at 9 am, then walk the Blue River Trail while praying the Rosary and talking through logistics. Bring or wear your walking shoes! Families welcome!

Optional Summer Activities are in alphabetical order.

Beauty Will Save the World

High school students are invited to a five-day residence camp to encounter Jesus Christ through understanding of five core themes: Beauty of Creation, Beauty of Art, Beauty of the Body and Sexuality, Beauty of Vocation and Beauty of Worship. Students will experience engaging talks, prayer, recreation, entertainment and community.

Dates: July 9-13, 2023

Where: University of Saint Francis, 2701 Spring Street

Cost: $200 per camper

Contact Megan Quigley at mquigley@sf.edu or call 260-399-7700, ext. 6703 with questions.

Catholic Youth Summer Camp

Where high-adventure activities lead to high-adventure faith.

Dates: 8 weeks to choose from June 11-August 4

Where: Centerburg, OH or Brighton, MI

Cost: $570 per camper

Holy Cross Saints and Scholars

Notre Dame Vision

Location: Notre Dame University, Notre Dame, Indiana
Date: June 26-30, July 10-14, or July 17-21
Cost: $450
Scholarship Available: Yes, $275 scholarship through the Diocese, which makes the cost $150. Available on a first come, first serve policy. Contact Stephanie to reserve a scholarship.
​Registration Deadline:
Early deadline: March 25, 2023
Regular deadline: May 17, 2023

Website: mcgrath.nd.edu/conferences/summer-institute/vision-youth-conference/

Notre Dame Vision is a 5-day experience on the Notre Dame campus designed to help participants discover and renew God’s call in their lives.
Connect with hundreds of other high school students as you learn from the witness of the saints and develop practices to live your faith. Immerse yourself in the Notre Dame campus and sharpen your spiritual vision to recognize God’s grace at work in your life.
With the rich insights of nationally-known speakers and the mentorship of active college students, in large group sessions and in small faith-sharing peer groups, Notre Dame Vision gives you the space and community to ask big questions about how God is calling you to use your talents in service to the Church and world.

Steubenville

We are not taking a group to Steubenville this year, but if you want to attend with your same-gender child(ren), I am happy to help you register! Send me an email.

Location: Steubenville, OH

Date: June 16-18, June 23-25, July 7-9 or July 14-16

Cost: $250 per person

Eden Invitation “original personhood beyond the LGBT+ paradigm” provides stories and resources for Catholics struggling with their identity or journeying with a friend/relative struggling with their identity.

We live in an age of nonstop information. Not knowledge, not wisdom—just information. All of these conflicting bits and chunks of data are competing with us for the very souls of our children. If we don’t explain to our children why our Catholic Faith is logical, coherent, cohesive, consistent, and beautiful, they will have no reason to stick with it when the rest of the world tells them it’s stupid, superstitious, oppressive, irrelevant, and evil.
 
—Leila Millerfrom Raising Chaste Catholic Men

How to Form Saints, Not Just College Applicants

This webinar is a must-watch for parents! I have the book if anybody wants to borrow it.

Friends, today we celebrate the feast of the Holy Family. The Gospel presents the life of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph as a model for our families.

We spend a lot of time worrying about our family’s welfare. Will we have enough money to send the kids to the best schools? Will they find and establish a lucrative career? Will they fit into polite society?

But the only question that finally matters is: have they found their mission from God? The family is meant to be, as John Paul II described it, an ecclesiola, a little Church. And the Church’s purpose is to discern and foster the missions of its people.

What makes a family holy is its capacity to surrender itself to a higher goal, as in Aristotle’s definition of friendship. When the family turns in on itself, it devolves into dysfunction. “If you love someone, set them free,” says the famous quotation attributed to American writer Richard Bach. The holy family is one that is free for God’s work. Bishop Barron, December 31, 2017

• NATIONAL EUCHARISTIC CONGRESS: Here is a video message from our office regarding the National Eucharistic Congress in 2024. VIDEO LINK
  1. We are encouraging our youth and young adult ministry leaders to prioritize the National Eucharistic Congress (July 17-21, 2024) for their summer plans next year. The last National Eucharistic Congress was more than 80 years ago.
  2. Youth group leaders and students can receive special youth ministry pricing ($250 / ticket) for the National Eucharistic Congress through registering here: It will be important that they list “Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend” as their diocese in registration. (See the “registration questions” in the attachment.)
  3. Families registering with children under the age of 18 should register here: ($299/adult, $99/child age 3-18, Free for lap children age 0-2).
  4. Adults and young adults can buy discounted passes ($299) here through the diocese: https://diocesefwsb.org/eucharist-events/#congress
  5. In 2024, the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage is expected to journey through our diocese (likely in the South Bend side of our diocese).
  6. In the summer of 2023, our diocese will be a pilot for the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage with an 8-day Eucharistic Pilgrimage from Fort Wayne-South Bend.

As our country makes preparations for a 2024 National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend has been selected as a preparation site to host a Cross-diocesan Eucharistic Pilgrimage in June of 2023. Catholic Faithful will follow the Eucharistic Lord through our cities, highways, rural roads, and small towns. The Cross-diocesan Eucharistic Pilgrimage will happen June 4 (Fort Wayne) to June 11 (South Bend). Our diocese is seeking a small team of pilgrims to walk the entire 100+ mile pilgrimage over 8 days with Jesus. Additionally, Catholic faithful, priests, and deacons will be invited to join for portions of the Eucharistic Pilgrimage on the various days of the week of June 4-June 11, 2023. Interested in joining for the full pilgrimage? Email John: jpratt@diocesefwsb.org. Interested in joining part of the pilgrimage? Find more information and registration (coming soon) at diocesefwsb.org/procession.