Hello all! Planning is underway for the annual Steubenville Conference Trip! There are still a few seats open. Anyone interested in attending the trip please contact the Office of Youth & Young Adult Ministry at 814-512-3112. Seats will be on a first-come, first-serve basis for a non-refundable $50 deposit.
Follow the link below to view this years theme for the conference.
Jammin in the Chapel
23,000 teens participating in the National Catholic Youth Conference in Indianapolis, IN…..Signed, Sealed, Delivered. What an awesome witness to our Catholic Church and the faith we love.
Hello everyone!
Serving you as youth minister has been an amazing experience. I am very thankful to God for making it happen and for producing such good fruit during my time here in St. Marys. Very recently, I have been invited to a special new opportunity to concentrate my career more fully on technology, and after much prayer and discernment, I have accepted that opportunity. It is bittersweet because it means I will be moving to a new city and therefore leaving many familiar and friendly faces here in St. Marys. I absolutely love being here in St. Marys, and I think the kids of St. Marys are the best you can find anywhere. You guys are awesome. I am thankful to God for the experience of my time here, praying with you, teaching classes, hanging out at youth events, and working with so many amazing volunteers.
St. Marys has a bright future ahead, and I am confident that the teams we have built will carry on what we already have in progress. I am sure new Youth Ministry leadership will be found and lead you to the brightest days yet!
What an incredible honor it was to speak to the Family Resource Network of Elk County at the Ridgeway Courthouse Annex on February 26, 2013. The topic of the presentation was the work of the Interparish Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry. This Elk County Family Resource Network is a powerhouse gathering of distinguished professionals throughout the Elk County Region for the purpose of networking and sharing information. The representatives of the various organizations can all support one another through this networking. It is a powerful resource which supports many worthy projects in our community. As a voting member on this council, it was a sincere pleasure to share news of ministry efforts and outreaches right here in St. Marys. A video of the presentation appears above. Thanks again to the Elk County Family Resource Network for their amazing work.
It was a great pleasure to again join some of the students at SMA high school for Life Teen club today. The SMA Life Teen club is open to all high school youth. We welcomed a few new faces, made some crafts for the retirement communities, and discussed the upcoming beginning to the year of Life Teen on Sunday nights which will begin on September 29. The purpose of the SMA Life Teen club is to provide affirming fellowship for the youth of SMA. Along the way we make many friends, enjoy a small snack, and usually do a good work such as making crafts for the retirement communities. I am very thankful for this chance to get to know even more kids from the high school community and to provide an occasion for positive fellowship.
Today, in addition to making colorful door hangers for the retirees, everyone talked about about how summer went and yes we even told a few corny jokes:
One guy told another guy that someone said he sound like an owl.
The other guy replied, “Who?”
Preparations are well underway for the coming year of Life Teen. We have a team in place which is committed to the discipleship of teenagers. Various team members take on the challenge of heading up different Life Nights. We are looking forward to the best St. Marys Life Teen year ever. Life Teen is all about leading teens closer to Christ.
Pictured: Mike and Jen Gelsick (most often found ministering to youth at the Wednesday night youth social at iCafe), and John, St. Marys Youth Minister.
ECC Crusaders Battle Smethport Hubbers in Smethport. Many of our youth who are regulars at iCafe and Wednesday Night Youth Social are on the football team. It was a great night to kick off the season and to see the Crusaders work so hard on the field in Smethport. We think they did a fantastic job and are proud to support them.
Brother Michael, who is a transitional Deacon, has been assigned to St. Marys Parish this year as he prepares to be ordained to the priesthood. He is a seminarian from the Benedictine order. We visited the Aviation Festival today and had a great time meeting many families who are connected to Youth Ministry in various ways. Brother Michael will carry out many duties in the parish as he continues his formation and education. When possible, Brother Michael will be contributing to Life Teen and other youth events throughout 2013-2014.
Some of our group attended a special session today here at the Steubenville Youth Conference. International speaker Chris Stefanick provided a special session for graduated seniors who are about to head off to college. His hilarious sense of humor and the sharing of his own real life experiences combined to form an “inoculation” shot to give strength and information to those young men an women about to enter college as freshman.
The following are summary notes from his special talk:
Chastity
Credit cards
Sobriety
Sanity / loneliness – college freshman
— talk to people
— call home
Be aware of new atheism. Be as confident in our faith.
Many colleges and history books focus on indulgences, inquisitions, and Crusades… but the Catholic Church is so much more, has done so much more for the world.
The way to not fall away is to find your herd…
as soon as you get to college, find the Catholic campus ministry wherever it is, whatever it is…
Some campus ministers have reported that if they don’t make contact with a freshman in the first 24 hours, they may not see them all four years.
Really important for a student to “find their herd” ASAP. Need to find the right herd, or they will probably find the wrong herd. If possible students would even benefit from calling ahead to give their contact info to Campus ministry.
Focus missionaries
Campus ministries
… whatever other resources there may be
Andrea Dollinger will be participating in the PA Music Educator’s Association All-State Concert Band Festival from April 17-20. Andrea chaired well at District Band at ECCHS and at Regional Band in Meadville which then qualified her to take part in the state concert which will be held at the Warner Theater in Erie, PA on April 20.
(This announcement was shared by Andreas’s family for publication on this website. Would you like to have your teen recognized? Get in touch with John!)
Christ is risen! Alleluiah!
This was a terrific spring fling! Thanks to North Country Kettle pop corn, the Nicklases, the Sacred Heart Social Committee – and St. Joseph’s Intercession – for arranging a wonderful Spring Fling table at Sacred Heart which raised almost $300 towards our iCafe youth ministry outreach!
This was a great success – and thanks to the past success with the dips, we have been invited back to the Bah Humbug next Christmas with our dips and pop corn selection. This is a huge blessing since we all know that Youth Ministry does not receive a pre-set amount each year as part of the basic parish budgets. It’s basically all based on fundraising, so this is a really significant help!
Speaking of the Sacred Heart Social committee – Helene Burdick, Linda Brunner, and all of the huge extended Social Committee family, may I just say that going into their kitchen is usually one of the happiest moments of any day? You walk in and there are busy, smiling people all cooking, cleaning, cutting vegetables, wrapping cupcakes… it’s quite an amazing operation that goes on there. And you better show up hungry because as soon as you walk in the door, if some food has recently been completed, they will insist you sample it! I do recognize happiness when I see it, and the Sacred Heart Social committee has it. The Sacred Heart Social Committee is an awesome and vivacious ministry.
smyaya 