SPIRITUS Team Four

As you may have noticed, SPIRITUS has already begun retreats this year, kicking off with a Confirmation retreat last weekend and continuing with a Faith on Fire last night. But we still haven't officially introduced ourselves, so without further ado, SPIRITUS Team Four:

Hi! I'm Mark Rose from Hudson, WI. I graduated from UW-Madison with a degree in Philosophy. This is my third year evangelizing with SPIRITUS and I am the Coordinator of the team. I am blessed to have this opportunity to lead the team in growing in holiness and evangelizing. I believe it's going to be an amazing year!

I'm Julie Escobar from Brush, Colorado. I graduated from McPherson College with a Bachelor's degree in Psychology. I am ecstatic to be a part of the wonderful journey of SPIRITUS and look forward to working, growing and learning with Jesus Christ and the youth!

I'm Jared Cunio. I joined SPIRITUS last year after graduating from the University of South Florida. I grew up in Titusville, Florida, near the Kennedy Space Center. I am very excited about my second year of SPIRITUS and I am looking forward to growing in faith, love and service as a Servant Leader.

Hey! I'm Callie Kowalski from Mountain Top, PA. I graduated from Franciscan U. in Steubenville with a Bachelor's degree in Multimedia Communications. Music is my passion and the Lord has called me to use it with SPIRITUS. I'm excited to grow in faith and witness to the youth.

Hi, I am Robbie Jennings from San Jacinto, CA. I received a Master's degree in Theology from Franciscan U. in Steubenville. I'm honored to be doing the Lord's will by carrying out the mission of SPIRITUS. I pray I grow deeper in my relationship with Jesus & bring His love to the youth.

Hi! I'm Rachel Van Handel and I'm from Appleton, WI. I graduated from the UW-Madison with a Bachelor's degree in Religious Studies and Sociology. I have an enormous heart for the youth and I am excited to show them the amazing love of God through working with SPIRITUS!

Hi, I'm Aaron Lang. I enjoy playing volleyball, basketball, and basically anything outside that's active. I grew up in the Appleton area and have been graced by God to be given the opportunity to work a second year on SPIRITUS as a Servant Leader.

Hi, I'm Kate Ruth. I grew up in Port Washington, WI and just graduated from University of Wisconsin-Green Bay with my Bachelor's degree in Social Work. I'm excited to be able to share my faith with all the students we will be working with this year!

I'm Michael Servis. I graduated from the University of Maine with a Bachelor's degree in Political Science and International Affairs. I have lived in many places and have spent much of my life traveling devoted to Christ and His church. I am excited to bring the Word of the Lord to His youth.

I'm Karissa Tousignant from Pewaukee, WI. I graduated in Music Theory from UW-Waukesha with an Associate of Arts degree. I love singing, playing guitar & clarinet, and sharing faith. I am back for my second year of SPIRITUS and I am super excited to share the love of God with all the youth.

We have a great team this year and God will use us to do great things! Stay tuned!

Bishops and Vocations

This past Wednesday morning, SPIRITUS had the great honor of spending some time meeting with the Most Reverend David L. Ricken, Bishop of Green Bay. Bishop Ricken spoke a little bit about how important our ministry is to the diocese and told us that he is praying for us every day. He also asked us a little bit about ourselves and how each member of the team found out about SPIRITUS. At the conclusion of our meeting, Bishop Ricken commissioned us for our ministry and posed for a few photos with the team. What an awesome opportunity to spend some time with a truly great successor to the Apostles!

One of the things Bishop Ricken shared with us was the great need for young people to answer God's call to live out vocations as priests in the Diocese of Green Bay. I don't remember the exact numbers, but there are something like just over half as many active priests as there are parishes in this diocese. Fortunately, we have a great Vocation Director, Fr. Schuster (who also happens to be our chaplain at SPIRITUS), and things are starting to turn around. Incidentally, we ran into Fr. Schuster after our meeting with the bishop...

...and he took some time out of his busy schedule to join us for a delicious lunch!

Sharing Faith

One of the things we like to do as members of SPIRITUS is come together as households (men at the St. Bernadette's rectory and women at Mt. Tabor Center) and share our personal faith with each other. Tonight we used the Gospel reading from today as a jumping-off point for our discussion.

It's the Memorial of the Passion of John the Baptist, and that means we heard a very intense story today at Mass. It was a good place for us to begin sharing our lives and our faith with one another. Fr. Don and Fr. Andrew, the priests in residence here at St. Bernadette's, joined our discussion as well, bringing their insights and knowledge.

It's a great privilege to be able to discuss these things with not one but two great priests who have not only given their lives to Christ, but also generously extended hospitality to the men of SPIRITUS. It's not a privilege just anyone gets. (I never would have thought, before joining SPIRITUS, that I would have an opportunity to get to know a priest well enough to just sit down and have a deep conversation in the living room!) It's just one of the ways in which being part of SPIRITUS is a tremendous blessing. Of course, the greatest blessing is simply serving God.

New Year, Same Mission

Now that we're back at Mt. Tabor Center and learning our retreat sessions, I've been thinking about Mission: preparing for the mission, the meaning of mission, the importance of focusing on the mission... What is the mission?

During our opening retreat, Fr. Schuster (our team chaplain) asked us what our mission statement is. I'll confess that we had to look it up, but here it is: "The mission of SPIRITUS is to inspire young Catholics as disciples of Jesus so they will spread the Gospel and renew the Church!"

Let's break that down a little. SPIRITUS, of course, is us. The mission is what we do; it's our purpose. Young Catholics are those we meet on retreats: the youth of Wisconsin, ranging in age from 2nd-12th grade, whether they attend Catholic schools or are preparing for Sacraments of Initiation (mainly Confirmation, but also First Communion). We want to inspire them, or "set them on fire" by filling them with enthusiasm and excitement for their role as disciples. As a flame spreads from one candle to another, so our enthusiasm for our Faith should be contagious!

Disciples of Jesus are the followers, literally the students, of Christ Our Lord. We want the youth to learn from us to imitate Christ and put him at the center of their lives. But we also want these disciples to be true disciples, who not only live the way Jesus has shown them, but also pass it on to others. The Church is all of us who believe, and it is the youth who are the future of the Church. In fact, I once knew a priest who pointed out that the youth are really the present of the Church; they are here and now! In any case, twenty, thirty, forty years from now, the Church will only be vibrant if today's youth make it that way. They are the key to renewal!

Fr. Schuster also spoke to us a little bit about the importance of keeping the mission central to our ministry. Everything we do can either advance the mission or hinder it. Personally, I think our mission is a pretty important one, so I don't want to hinder it in any way! That means keeping the mission in mind and considering how everything I do might impact it, either positively or negatively.

It's also important to remember that "mission" comes from the Latin missio, which means "act of sending". We don't do this mission ourselves. We don't come up with it ourselves. It is something given to us, something we are literally "sent" on. God has called and sent us to be His messengers to the youth of Wisconsin. That's a big responsibility!

That's why it's so important to be prepared for our first retreat on September 8th. Please pray for SPIRITUS as we continue to train for this important mission with which God has entrusted us!

SPIRITUS Returns!

Greetings!

It's been a long time, but SPIRITUS is back and hard at work preparing for another year of exciting youth retreats as part of the New Evangelization!

The new team arrived on August 19th and almost immediately jumped into training. Our opening retreat started on Monday at Mount Tabor and continued throughout this past week at Camp Tekawitha. It was great to be back at Camp Tek... Last year's opening retreat was at a different location, with less space for recreation and without a chapel, so the other returners and I really appreciated the change! Having Jesus present in the Eucharist so close by always makes a huge difference.

Daily Mass with Fr. Schuster, our chaplain, was probably the highlight of our opening retreat for me, but we also spent a lot of time getting to know each other and going over all of the basics of living in community and growing in holiness. This formation will continue throughout the year, of course, but for now, all of our new team members can confidently approach the year knowing that they are prepared for the challenges and blessings of our daily lives on SPIRITUS.

We will continue our training next week, but we'll also be making some public appearances as a team at St. Patrick's and the TCCES Opening Liturgy this Sunday. Look for SPIRITUS at Mass!

-Jared

Formation - Food for the Soul

God is Good! All the time! During these busy months of retreats we as a SPIRITUS Team are able to step out of the busyness and enter into Formation once a week! During Formation, different speakers educate us on different topics ranging all the way from Finding Joy in the Cross, to the New Evangelization, to the Holy Spirit in the life of Jesus.

Here's a summary of some of the things I have learned from Formation:

The Joy in the Cross:

“Believe the incredible and you can do the impossible!” During the Passion of the Christ, when Jesus Falls and the Blessed Mother runs to help Him. Jesus says, “See Mother I make all things new.” This shows the Joy He had in carrying His cross. Jesus the Son of God had to suffer greatly, therefore to follow Christ we WILL suffer. Jesus picked up His cross with great joy, yet He knew what the outcome would be. True Joy comes in embracing God’s will and in embracing God's will you will be truly free!

The New Evangelization:

“A person only discovers himself by making a gift of himself.” To evangelize is to bring others to God.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan gives us seven strategies of Evangelization:

1. To keep the question, the longing for God, alive in the hearts of other people.
2. “Be not afraid!” Have confidence that Christ sends us on a mission. Also, we (the Church) ourselves need to be Evangelized! “You can not give what you do not have!”
3. Friendship with Jesus! God does not satisfy the thirst of the human heart with a proposition, but only with a Person, whose name is Jesus.
4. This person, Jesus, tells us He is the Truth, the Way and the Life. The way of Jesus is in and through His Church.
5. The missionary, the evangelist, must be a person of JOY!
6. Evangelization is about LOVE!
7. Blood! To be martyrs for the Church. To believe in the mission of Christ so firmly that we are willing to give our life for it.

God is calling each and every person to Evangelization through different ways! Listen for God's voice in your life!

The Holy Spirit in the life of Jesus:

• The Holy Spirit in the life of Jesus:

“He emptied Himself.....” Of what? God was willing to come down and be one of us. God put aside God and chose to be one of us. The Holy Spirit came and took root in Jesus! At the Incarnation through the Holy Spirit. At the Baptism, Jesus had to say yes to being man.

• The Holy Spirit in the Church:

The church is lead by the Spirit of God. We as a people are being invited to “Receive the Holy Spirit!” Jesus is almost begging us to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, and yet we can only receive as much as we are open to receiving.

• The Holy Spirit in our lives:

God is with us; we have to be open to God’s will! We have to take the message of Christ to others! We need to be Informative, to bring the good news of Jesus and Performative, to be life-changing!

I thank God for each and every person who takes the time to share their Faith and wisdom with the SPIRITUS Team! May God Bless! Peace!

Karissa

The Power of Healing

Over the course of this Spiritus year, there has been lots of opportunities to experience healing in our own individual formation. One way that we experience this is through healing prayer. We are fortunate to know a ministry that focuses on giving people a chance to name some of the wounds of their past that need healing and to nail it to the cross. The team facilitates this discussion and allows the people going through a process of freedom from some of these areas that can weigh us down. We had sessions teaching us about some of these concepts, but we also had the priveledge to experience healing prayer over the last two weeks.

It was very powerful and an experience that allowed me personally to feel God's love that much more. This time in prayer pinpoints the way we see things sometimes because of something that happened in our past that we might not remember, specifically in our childhood. In a process of letting go, and forgiving those experiences, this prayer team invokes the Holy Spirit to come down and set the person free from these "judgements". For me, it was very freeing, and a wonderful experience of prayer, releasing me of the judgements I make sometimes because of some of the wounds in my life. This is just another beautiful way we experience growing closer to Christ as we journey throughout the rest of the year.

Mark

Lent: The Journey Begins

Today marks the beginning of our Lenten journey this year, and it reminds me of so many other journeys I have experienced in my life.

As we often share with students on Confirmation retreats, the Mass is a kind of journey, a quest, with the prize of receiving Jesus Christ in the Eucharist as its end.

Our chaplain, Fr. Schuster, likes to use another Journey to help students fully engage in the retreat experience: He walks into the room with his guitar and plays the 1981 classic "Don't Stop Believin'", encouraging retreatants to sing along.

I made quite a journey myself to get here back in August, hopping on an airplane in Florida's busy Orlando International Airport and traveling all day to reach Mt. Tabor Center in Menasha, WI.

And speaking of long journeys, the longest trip ever taken by human beings (to the moon!) started from my hometown of Titusville, FL.

But it's another journey that we are called to reflect on during this season of Lent, a journey that in many ways dominates our experience of being Christians. This is the journey we remember and celebrate with every Mass, the journey that we find (if we dare to look closely enough) reflected in the course of each of our lives. It's the deceptively-simple journey of Christ as He carries His cross.

When we show The Passion of the Christ on Confirmation retreats, this is the part students watch. If we didn't already know the story, it would all seem so straightforward. A Man, already bruised and bloody, carries a heavy wooden cross on which He is to be crucified as a common criminal. He falters, too weak to go on, and another man is forced to aid Him. At every turn along the way, the cross-bearers and their Roman escort encounter resistance. When they finally reach the top of the hill on which the execution is to take place, the Condemned can barely find strength to stand.

But cut throughout this drama are sometimes-confusing scenes that hint to us that something more might be going on here. And there is something more: this Man is Jesus, fully human but also fully God. And He is innocent of the crimes for which He has been condemned. His death is for our salvation.

There is so much more going on during this journey than I can ever hope to describe, but one thing that always stands out to me is the other man, the one who helps Jesus carry His cross: Simon of Cyrene. Here is a man who wants nothing to do with Jesus, but, through walking beside Him, comes to love Him. Simon suffers with Jesus as they both struggle under the weight of the cross. At one point, Simon offers to endure anything the Roman soldiers can inflict upon him, only demanding that they stop ridiculing Jesus. I am always reminded that this Simon, who did not even know Jesus until shortly before the Crucifixion, went on to become a saint.

Lent offers us a time to walk with Christ to the Crucifixion, remembering always that the Resurrection waits just beyond. It allows us to suffer with Christ as we take up our own crosses of penance. It reminds us that in some ways, our entire lives must be a kind of Way of the Cross, as every day we die to self and learn to live more fully in Christ. Lent is the time when we reflect on this simple truth: if we wish to go where Christ goes, we must walk with Him.

"I like your shoes" - the power of affirmation

“And please do not just say, ‘I like your shoes.’”We always add that last instruction before we begin small group affirmations on retreat. Students chuckle, but it reminds them that we want them to focus on each other’s personal gifts rather than exterior things like footwear. Small group affirmations are one of my favorite parts of SPIRITUS retreats. It challenges the students to be real with one another. They aren’t used to being sincere and at first the idea of actually saying nice things about each other out loud intimidates them. They begin with superficial comments, but as we continue they relax and speak from their hearts. One particular small group recently reminded me an affirmations power to open hearts. At the beginning of the retreat my small group was very closed off. Most felt deprived of their weekend. They were skeptical that a religious retreat could be fun. I wasn’t sure how affirmations would go over.The Holy Spirit provided. As the retreat continued, I noticed distinctive, positive qualities about each student. One boy was incredibly funny. He knew how to put a smile on his classmates’ faces. Another of the girls was deeply compassionate. She was quick to note how what others said affected people. When the time came to begin small group affirmations, I was surprised by how much goodness I saw in those students. God gave me the gift of seeing them through His eyes. Despite their resistance to being on retreat, they were kind, caring, and even charming people. I was even more surprised by their change of attitude after affirmations. They went from being guarded to treating me like a friend. Our small group laughed together and several of them opened up and shared personal struggles, all because of a few kind words. It gave me a lot to reflect on. Do I let people know that I appreciate them? Do I take notice of their accomplishments and point them out? Do I remind people that I am thankful God put them into my life? Do I affirm from the heart rather than remaining on surface level? I know for sure God is calling me to say more than, “I like your shoes.”

Alive in the Holy Spirit!

Sometimes, we here at SPIRITUS have a very busy week.

This was one of those weeks. Between Faith on Fires, Confirmation Retreats, and a Shine Retreat, we have just survived nine different events, and we are not through yet! Tomorrow night we have our biweekly Bible Studies, Inspire! and Teen Disciples.

It is during weeks like these, when we are sometimes a little tired, that we see more than ever how much we depend on the Holy Spirit. Why? Because He gives us strength to not merely survive our busy weeks, but to absolutely thrive!

I can honestly say that while I am physically a little tired, I am also more spiritually energized than I have been in a long time!

We have met so many awesome students who are excited about their faith, from the middle school students at Seton to the Confirmation candidates of St. Margaret Mary and St. Patrick. A little farther from our home base in Menasha, we've also met young people from the Tri-Parishes in Sherwood/Stockbridge/Hilbert, St. John Catholic School in Princeton, St. Catherine of Siena in Ripon, and Holy Family Parish in Fond du Lac. As always, we are humbled and awed by the Holy Spirit's ability to use us to ignite faith and change lives everywhere we go.

Please continue to pray for us during this busy season that the Holy Spirit will continue to give us everything we need to continue to thrive in ministry.

God Bless,

Jared