Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! 2018 marks my third year as the youth coordinator here at St. Peter’s, and I wanted to take this opportunity to tell you about our youth ministry program. The Holy Spirit has been hard at work in our programs. It has been a privilege to work with our teens, parents and volunteers, as we allow the Spirit to guide us and form our programs. Read on to learn more about the opportunities being offered for our middle school and high school youth. If you would like more information on how to get your youth involved, would like to volunteer yourself or simply would like to learn more, please feel free to reach out to me. Thank you for your continued prayers and your support of youth ministry!
Christmas blessings,
Elizabeth McCanna
Youth Coordinator
Middle School Youth Ministry
“Chill” is our middle school youth group, which meets once a month in the youth room. We meet once a month on a Wednesday evening before Religious Education. As the name implies, we chill! There is always an abundance of pizza and games, and we look at the Gospel for the upcoming Sunday. Chill has provided an opportunity for our middle school youth to connect with one another and with me. Father Steven often joins us for pizza and fun, as well!
Summer Stretch was just added this past summer and is a service program geared towards middle school youth. We meet once a week in the summer. We spend our mornings leaning about Jesus and spreading His good news through works of service. We do a wide variety of service projects including caring for our historic cemetery and packing food at Feed My Starving Children. After lunch we head out for a fun recreation activity. Our high school teens are also welcome to participate as teen leaders — giving them a chance to serve others and grow in their leadership skills, as they help guide our middle school youth.
High School Youth Ministry
Perissos is our high school youth group and a key component of our Confirmation program. All high school youth are welcome to join us on Wednesday nights, as we work to grow in our relationship with Christ. Our evenings are guided by curriculum from Lifeteen and are organized and lead by our core team and peer ministers. What does the word “Perissos” even mean? Perissos is a Greek word meaning abundant and comes from John 10:10 where Christ tells us, “I have come that they may have life and have it abundantly.”
Peer Ministry is a new program that we started this year. It is an opportunity for confirmed high school teens to foster their relationship with Jesus and develop their leadership skills by helping lead Perissos. We have a group of eight committed teens who are striving to strengthen their relationship with the Lord and minister to their peers. They participated in their own retreat in November and are active in Perissos. They will help with our Confirmation Retreat this upcoming weekend!
Workcamp is in its twenty-fourth year here at St. Peter’s and has been the backbone of our youth ministry program. Thank you to all who have supported our trips through the years. Workcamp is a week-long mission trip for our high school youth to deepen their relationship with Christ by being his hands and feet. This year we will travel to Vandalia, Illinois in July with twenty teens and four adults from our parish. Father Steven will also be joining us this year and is excited for our daily trips to Dairy Queen!
Steubenville St. Paul Youth Conference was another first for St. Peter’s this past summer, as our small, but mighty, group of teens and adults (10 in total) spent a weekend at the University of St. Thomas hearing from dynamic speakers, participating in the sacraments and encountering Christ in a new way, through powerful adoration and praise and worship. We are excited to be heading back to the conference again this year. We now have twelve spots reserved for our group.
Click here to read more about our parish school, Faithful Shepherd Catholic School.