adult events

It Takes a Child to Raise a Village

Ministering to Whole Families

We spend a great deal of time catechizing young people about God, who will return home to no experiences of faith in God. We are sowing seed in shadow soil. What we must do, what Pope Francis is urging us to do, is evangelize families as we catechize their children. Come discover strategies to reach and engage entire families with a compelling message of the Gospel.

To the Heights!

To reach a summit requires a climb. The only way to make our Sunday liturgies the source and summit of our faith, is to be climbing Monday to Saturday! We’ll focus on ways of reaching through the classroom and encouraging families to open their hearts to grace, to sacrament, to community, to the climb.

A Culture of Grace

In the Sacraments, we experience a true foretaste of heaven. You have likely experienced it firsthand. Perhaps you’ve even thought, “If everyone knew what I knew, they would ALL be here!” Well…they don’t know what they don’t know. In a culture steeped in consumerism, we have made even the reception of the sacraments a transaction. How do we bring greater richness to both our sacramental preparation and sacramental experiences so that our parish gathers not as consumers of sacraments but as a community steeped in a culture of God’s grace.

Rich Ritual

Here is a piece of great news—the Sunday Eucharistic celebration is rich in opportunity to engage all of its members. In his “on-the-road” ministry these past many years, Steve has seen and heard much about how to engage youth, their families, and indeed whole parish communities in Sunday celebrations. Steve will share the lessons he has learned, and best practices he has seen in parish that have vibrant Eucharistic celebration.

Sing with All Our Skill

“Why aren’t they singing?” is a mantra of music ministers and religious educators and liturgists alike. Culturally, singing is perceived by many as a risk. Our society reinforces the roles of “performer” and “audience.” However, these obstacles can be overcome. We’ve all experienced a singing, praying, passionate congregation. The fact is there is not one factor but many that help people to enter into communal prayer. Take time to evaluate the “sing ability” of your liturgy and prayer, and learn strategies to create greater participation in your parish prayer.

Engaging Youth in Parish Liturgies

If the Liturgy is the work of the people, then parish liturgies are not complete if our youth are not present and fully engaged. There are a myriad of reasons that this can be difficult. Not the least of which is that the majority of our youth are not coming to mass at all! Anything we do to make mass more “youth friendly” only has an impact if they are able to experience it. This workshop is designed to help you take stock of the things we are doing and can do, both inside and outside of the Sunday liturgy, to facilitate the engagement and involvement of our young people.