The Shrine with the One and Only... Father Jewel

Last Tuesday, the 22nd, by the grace of God, SPIRITUS visited the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help in Champion. It was an afternoon of prayer, Mass, Confession and learning about the new Mass changes, followed by a special treat: a tutorial on the arts of beat-boxing and break-dancing performed by the one and only Father Jewel.

I don't know if anyone has ever seen a beat-boxing, break-dancing priest (who "threw down" in his cassock, by the way), but it was pretty sweet. It's nice to see how individuals with extremely different backgrounds, talents, and gifts can use them to bring glory to God. Father Jewel is a great example of how God creates every human being so uniquely, and of how each and every one of us is special and how we are made to share our unique gifts with one another. It was a great gift and honor to spend the afternoon at the Shrine. Father Jewel, thank you for inspiring us.

So, moral of the story: If you don't think your gifts and talents can be used for the Church to bring glory to God and inspiration to your brothers and sisters in Christ... Think again.

What is the New Evangelization? (Part 2)

Last time [see Part 1, below], I presented a few things that I learned in a conversation at St. Pius Catholic Church in Appleton that I felt really needed to be addressed here, in particular that older generations of faithful Catholics don't always understand what the New Evangelization is or why it is so important. I feel that a detailed explanation is necessary because the New Evangelization involves the whole Church. We all need to be committed to fulfilling the call put out by Blessed John Paul II, whether on the front lines as missionaries, catechists, and DREs or as prayer warriors and supporters of their efforts. SPIRITUS is just one of the organizations that carries out the New Evangelization directly every day, and we can't do it by ourselves!

In a nutshell, the New Evangelization is a fulfillment of the mission Christ gave the Twelve Apostles to "go and make disciples of all nations", but it focuses specifically on those who have already heard some part of the Gospel and have either lost it (the seed was choked out by weeds), never become rooted in it (the seed was sown on rocky ground), or had it snatched away before they could truly receive it (the seed was eaten by birds). The New Evangelization uses "new" methods that are actually straight from the Bible.

First, we as evangelizers have to find out where the people we talk to are. Just as St. Paul in Athens began his testimony by speaking to the Greeks about the true nature of the "unknown god" they already worshiped, we also meet the youth and young adults right where they are. The most common difficulty we have encountered in our work with teens isn't that they don't know enough of what the Church teaches (though to be sure, this is frequently the case); it's that they don't even think there's a reason to consider that God exists! We have to come to them in their doubts and show them that faith truly does affect our lives before they will even listen to what we have to say about God.

Second, we can't just force students to accept the truth. If we simply stood up and read them the Catechism, many would not understand it, and even those who did would not accept most of what we told them. Jesus recognized this, and preached in parables. Even to His closest followers, much of what He said was clear only after the Crucifixion and the Resurrection. Like Jesus, we speak in terms that are understood and do not try to force students to learn what they aren't yet ready to comprehend. (That said, we are always faithful to the Magisterium of the Church and are careful to not give the impression that we believe in heresies when the truth is hard to understand.)

Third, we don't merely evangelize. We teach others to spread the Good News just as we have given it to them. St. Paul and the Apostles did this, fulfilling the Great Commission, and it is because of them that we have a Church today! We refer to this as discipleship, and it is one of the primary goals of our bi-weekly Bible studies (Inspire! and Teen Disciples).

I hope this post gives you a better understanding of the New Evangelization and why it is so critically important to the future of the Church. But also remember that the most important thing you can do for us as a SPIRITUS team and for the Church as a whole is to keep praying!

-Jared

What is the New Evangelization? (Part 1)

Last night, SPIRITUS dropped by St. Pius X Catholic Church in Appleton to attend Fr. Girotti's talk on his book A Shepherd Tends His Flock. While the talk was great and I would highly recommend his book (I'd buy it myself, if I had more spending money!), the most significant thing that happened last night for us was a great conversation we had with one of the other guests in attendance, a woman with a great love for the Catholic Church who had converted from Lutheranism and told us about several young people in her life with a great need to hear the truths the Church teaches.

This woman was looking for a place where she could send her son's girlfriend to learn about the Catholic Faith. She told us that there just aren't enough opportunities for young adults who have never heard the truth to learn it from the Church in a nonthreatening setting. RCIA is a fantastic place to learn about the Faith, but it's hard to convince a nonbeliever to go through a class that is designed with the idea that everyone who signs up for it is planning to enter the Church. And bringing a nonbeliever into Mass is tricky business at best, especially when there's a good chance that the homily is going to be about something other than basic apologetics; most nonbelievers or even Protestants would be more confused than enlightened by their first experience of the Mass!

What she really wanted was some kind of apologetics or catechesis class for adults who have neither a solid background in the Faith nor a desire to enter the Catholic Church at this point in their lives. In other words, this woman wanted to know where she could send someone who was merely curious about the truth.

The good news is that SPIRITUS now has a way to reach out to exactly the kind of person she described to us. It's called Inspire! and it's a Bible study for young adults. At Inspire! Bible studies on the first and third Monday of every month, members of SPIRITUS join other young adults in three locations (our home base at Mt. Tabor Center in Menasha, as well as locations in Green Bay and Fond du Lac) in getting to know Christ better by studying the Gospel of Matthew.

The bad news is that the woman we talked to had a hard time understanding how this would help her son's girlfriend learn the truths taught by the Catholic Church. After a Spirit-filled conversation, this is what became apparent to all of us:

1. There is a huge generation gap between the old and the young when it comes to faith and how we learn about it.

2. Old methods of catechesis aren't working on the younger generations.

3. This is largely because the youth are bombarded with so many distractions that make it impossible for them to recognize Truth when they hear it, distractions like media, materialism, and the pace of modern life. Youth and young adults today are trained to think in very concrete, rational terms. There is very little place in their lives for things they can't touch, see, and manipulate.

4. Young people are leaving and have left the Church in large numbers. They don't accept what they are told, but question everything. And if they don't feel that their questions are answered, they don't feel that they are being fed, and so they leave. Of course, many of them are trained to be so skeptical that they are barely willing to accept anything the Church says!

5. There is a huge need for what Blessed John Paul II called the New Evangelization, in which new methods are used to preach the Gospel to all peoples (particularly in areas where the Faith was once strong, but has now been weakened by secularization) in ways that they can understand and accept it.

6. The older generations of faithful Catholics don't always understand what the New Evangelization is or why it is needed.

It is this last point that I really want to address, and I'll discuss it in depth next time.

[To be continued]

-Jared

We are SPIRITUS!

I just wanted to give a small biography of who the new members of the Spiritus are so you can all know who is writing to you this year!!!  Here they are:

Erin Schuessler

Erin Schuessler is back in town for a new adventure with the SPIRITUS team, this time, as the Coordinator.  Along with my new role, I am also beginning classes at the Augustine Institute in Denver, Colorado.  I am studying for a Master's degree in Evangelization and Catechesis.

Mark Rose

Hi! I'm Mark Rose and I am from Hudson, WI, which is on the border of Wisconsin and Minnesota. I received a Bachelor's degree in Philosophy from UW-Madison, and am back for my second year. I'm ready to serve the Lord and experience the Holy Spirit moving in a powerful way to His young ones.

Kelly Weber

I'm Kelly Weber and I hail from Grand Rapids, Michigan, affectionaly known as G-Rap. Before joining Spiritus I spent four amazing years at the University of Notre Dame, graduating with a degree in Theology. I am excited to be a part of SPIRITUS and to see what God has in store for me here in Wisconsin!

Jonathan Tousignant

Hi! I'm Jonathan Tousignant from Pewaukee, WI. I graduated from Creighton University with a BA in Photo-Journalism. I am on fire in my faith and love working with the youth, with music, outdoor activities, auto-mechanics, and photography. I look forward to carrying out this great mission of Christ!

Trisha Flasch

I'm Trisha Flasch and I grew up in Mayville, WI. I graduated with my BA in Philosophy from UW Stevens Point and Master's in Religious Studies from Naropa University in Boulder, CO. I struggled with feeling proud of my faith when I was a kid so I am incredibly excited to learn, gro, and help our youth be proud of God.

Aaron Lang

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 with the SPIRITUS team. I am excited to start my path towards serving Christ.

Alexandria Lewis

My name is Alexandria Lewis, or Alex. I am from Sheridan, Indiana, and graduated from Franciscan University in Steubenville with a degree in English/Drama. After graduation I served for Lourdes Volunteers helping arrange pilgrimages to Lourdes. Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us!

Jared Cunio

Hi, I'm Jared Cunio. I joined SPIRITUS after graduating from the University of South Florida. I grew up in Titusville, Florida, about 15  minutes from the Kennedy Space Center. I am very excited about being part of SPIRITUS, and I am looking forward to seeing how God will help me grow this year.

Karissa Tousignant

My name is Karissa Tousignant from Pewaukee, WI. I graduated in Music Theory from UW-Waukesha with my Associate of Arts and Sciences. I love singing and playing Guitar and Clarinet. I worked with the Schoenstatt Sisters of Mary to run summer camps for youth. I love God, my faith and I can not wait to share God with the youth.

Daniel Bayer

My name is Daniel Bayer from Middleton, WI. I graduated from Madison College with an associates degree in Liberal Arts. I recently returned from Spain where I attended World Youth Day. I hope to carry my enthusiasm from that experience to inspire the students on retreats.

I hope you can all share in our experience throughout the year and God bless you all.

Mark Rose

Grateful

As I knelt for morning prayer with my Spiritus team members in the chapel, I could sum up my feelings in one word: grateful. For each of my team members, for the sunshine spilling in through the stain glass windows, and for Jesus’ presence with us. Each day here has brought so many blessings and unlooked for gifts.

It is so true that when you give, more comes back to you. Serving as a member of the Spiritus team has brought new meaning to Mark 6:8-9 for me. “He charged them to take nothing for their journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in their belts— but to wear sandals and not put on two tunics.^”

As a disciple in 2011 getting a staff through airport security might be a stretch. And ok, I might have been wearing about ten layers of clothing when I flew to Wisconsin because I couldn’t fit it all in my suitcase, so I stretched the “two tunics” part.

But I am blessed with the opportunity during this time in my life to live out the call to spread the gospel. Living as a Spiritus member, I have the perfect chance to experience the generosity of others. The warm bed I sleep in, the food I eat, and the homey facilities I live in are all gifts. From farm-fresh eggs to Brewers’ tickets, each day I am delighted by how generous the people around me are because I said “yes” to God’s call to serve the Catholic youth of Wisconsin.

So I wanted to say an extra-special thank you to everyone who makes Spiritus possible, to my team members who also set aside their plans to evangelize for nine months together, and to God for calling me here. I am so excited to keep giving and trusting in God to provide for the journey.

Alex

Blessed Again

Throughout this last week we, as Spiritus, have had the opportunity to lead 2 middle school retreats, a freshman retreat, a senior retreat, and a confirmation retreat. Although this week has been incredibly busy and although we have been cramming to prepare all our sessions I can not be anything but thankful for every moment I have been gifted with this week.

When I decided to join the Spiritus team I was not really sure what I was getting myself into but now after only 4 weeks I can not imagine being anywhere else. The young people that we have been blessed enough to encounter have already shown me how lucky I am to be able to do this ministry. So far we have been able to really connect with the young people and intimately share our experiences. I feel touched by how open and willing to explore with us the young people have been so far.

Each week I have the pleasure of looking forward to working with young people who are open and looking to understand their faith. I have the opportunity to share with young people what they have to gain by turning their hearts toward God.

Trisha

Spirit-Filled Week!

It has been one incredible week!

We kicked things off last Tuesday with an early-morning visit to Green Bay, where we attended morning Mass celebrated by Bishop Ricken. He gave us a special commissioning at the end of Mass and had time to pose for a picture with the team and share some of his wisdom (and fantastic stories about his life) with us. Then we ate some delicious breakfast and headed over to our next important destination for the day: Lambeau Field! That's right, I (and the other out-of-state team members) have now officially experienced the Lambeau Field tour!

The next day we experienced some intense prayer of a more charismatic variety, as we invited some of our friends to come and pray over us, asking the Holy Spirit to bless us in new and exciting ways to better equip us to handle the task ahead.

All of this, of course, helped us prepare for our first retreat: a Shine Retreat with 5th graders on Friday. The retreat was an awesome experience. The 5th graders are so open to Christ's love!

On Saturday, we were able to relax a bit and enjoy some team bonding time by attending a Brewers game. The Brewers lost by one run, but it was still an enjoyable evening, and as an added bonus we paid a quick visit to Jonathan and Karissa's house on the way.

Sunday was our first Faith on Fire, with 6th, 7th, and 8th graders. It was a little intimidating to be in front of so many people, but the Holy Spirit was with us and they really got pumped up for Jesus! It was an awesome sight to see the kids all on their feet and rushing to the front to join our worship leaders on the stage during praise and worship!

Today the men went back up to Green Bay to attend a Project Andrew dinner. It was great to see Bishop Ricken and Fr. Schuster again, and also to meet Bishop Morneau and the other priests at the event.

I'm afraid that this is only a very brief summary of the amazing things going on at SPIRITUS, but we have our first Challenge Retreat for high school seniors tomorrow, and I need to get my rest!

-Jared

Gearing Up for Retreats!

Happy Labor Day!

I can hardly believe we're already into our third week at Mount Tabor! When I got on the plane in Orlando, Florida on August 21, I had no idea what to expect. I didn't realize that training would be so busy, or that the Holy Spirit would start pouring out such incredible blessings so quickly!

I'm loving Wisconsin, even though it's a bit of a change from what I'm used to. The weather cooled off a little bit this weekend, and it's a good reminder that I have my first real winter ahead of me. I'm pretty excited about this! (Snowball fights! Sledding! Hot Chocolate!)

Since arriving, the team has been pretty busy, as Mark already mentioned. But it's all for the greater glory of God! We've been training hard so that, when retreats start in less than a week, we will be fully prepared for the Holy Spirit to use us to ignite faith in Catholic youth!

Even though we have been working hard, it's been a great experience so far! I already mentioned that the Holy Spirit has been pouring out incredible blessings; the best of these has been the opportunity to participate daily in the communal prayer of the Church! From today's Morning Prayer: "One day within Your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere." (Psalm 84:10a). As a member of SPIRITUS, I get to spend every day in God's courts!

-Jared

Spiritus is BACK!

We're baaaaaaack!!!! Spiritus is back in action again, and we're all excited to kick off this New Year! The team has been training really hard to prepare themselves for an intense, epic adventure.

The team moved in on August 21st and we started the 1st week at Whispering Pines in Shawano, WI for our opening team retreat. This was filled with many different training opportunities which include: forms of prayer, aspects of the Catholic faith, community life, and discipleship. This week has been dedicated to learning about some of the Confirmation retreat sessions. The team has been doing a wonderful job preparing these sessions and practicing them. Most importantly, we have had plenty of time getting to know each other by: meeting one-on-one, having spontaneous van trips, participating in a ropes course, team bonding games (spoons, euchre, egyptian ratscrew, bananas...etc.), and so much more! This year is off to a terrific start, and I know this year is going to be great, filled with many stories and blessings we hope to share with you.

Now, each person is going to share with you all a little bit about themselves and how excited they are to start Spiritus...stay tuned!

Thank you all for your continuous prayers and I hope you remain connected to the Spiritus Journey!

-Mark

Check out photos from the SPIRITUS 2010-2011 year on our website and on our Facebook page! Praise God for an amazing nine months, and the many graces, challenges, and blessings of this ministry!!!