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Catholic Youth Ministry

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The Witness Stand

Mission and Culture

About This Session

This session begins with an interactive, large group game on pop culture. The Proclaim discusses what it means to be a missionary, how we are called to interact with culture, and how we can engage teens in their specific temperaments. The Break is a handout that helps the Core Members identify unique ways they can reach out to specific teens. The Send encourages Core Members to choose a saint to be an intercessor for their ministry and then closes with a period of Praise and Worship.

Goal of This Night

To equip and empower the Core Members to be missionaries to the teens.

Catechism

Scripture

Key Concepts

– As Core Members, we are called to enter into a different culture (music, social media, celebrity personalities, TV shows), become acquainted with a different language (text shorthand, urban dictionary colloquialisms), and learn about and reach out to each temperament differently.
– There are specific ways we can minister to teens of different temperaments.
– The mission is urgent. So many souls do not yet know the love of Christ. Jesus is calling each of us, as He did the first apostles, to “go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation” (Mark 16:15).

Accepting The Evidence

The Temperaments and the Spiritual Life

About This Session

This session begins with a comedic, improvisational game that ties in the four temperaments. The Proclaim provides insight on how the four temperaments engage in the spiritual life and specific ways people of each temperament can grow in holiness. The Break is a personal reflection that applies the principles of the Proclaim. The Send is a period of Eucharistic Adoration acknowledging it is ultimately Christ who makes us holy.

Goal of This Night

To provide insight on how each of the four temperaments can help us grow in holiness while still acknowledging it is ultimately Christ who makes us holy.

Catechism

Scripture

Key Concepts

– Just like our natural tendencies to be talkative, reflective, driven, or a peacemaker we have natural tendencies that apply to our prayer lives and apostolic endeavors.
– We are each called to a deep, meaningful, and personal relationship with Christ, no matter our temperament.
– Growing in holiness is not solely up to us. It is Christ who makes us holy.

Investigate and Discover

The Temperaments and You

About This Session

The Gather for this session is the Temperament Test. The Proclaim is a detailed explanation of the four temperaments. The Break is a personal activity that helps the Core Members reflect on their unique blend of temperaments. The Send provides opportunities for the Core Members to affirm one another and intercede for each other.

Goal of This Night

To provide Core Members with the opportunity to discover and reflect upon their unique blend of temperaments.

Scripture

Key Concepts

– Each temperament has strengths and challenges and most people have a primary and secondary temperament.
– The choleric is a natural leader, they also can be domineering and prone to pride. The melancholic is principled and thoughtful, they also can hold impossible standards. The sanguine is fun loving and friendly, they also can be superficial and inconsistent. The phlegmatic is prudent, they also can be unassertive and non-confrontational.
– Each individual blend of temperaments can contribute to the community in unique ways. On the other hand, the community can also support each other’s individual blend of temperaments in unique ways.

Mind Your Mannerisms

Introduction to the Temperaments

About This Session

The session begins with a Gather activity that challenges the Core Members to look beyond labels. The Proclaim introduces the four temperaments as more than a label and a means of becoming more self-aware and growing in holiness. The Break is a personal reflection and small group discussion on growing pains and the Send is the Litany of Humility.

Goal of This Night

To provide an overview of the temperaments and a foundational understanding that they are not an excuse for bad behavior but an opportunity to grow in self-knowledge, humility, holiness, and happiness.

Catechism

Scripture

Key Concepts

– The temperaments are foundational aspects of our personalities. They relate to our natural inclinations and reactions.
– The choleric tends to have a quick reaction and a long-lived impression. The melancholic tends to have a slow reaction and a long-lived impression. The sanguine tends to have a quick reaction and a short-lived impression. The phlegmatic tends to have a slow reaction and a short-lived impression.
– A temperament is more than a label. It not only informs us how we naturally tend to react, but also gives us insight on what we need to work on to become the best version of ourselves.

The Drive Of Your Life!

A Life Night on Conscience Formation

About This Life Night

This Life Night begins with a Gather meant to get the teens up and moving and challenge their sense of direction. The Proclaim directs the teens’ focus to the things in their life that they are unintentionally allowing to form their conscience and encourages them to allow Jesus to form their conscience instead. The Break gives teens time to reflect on the deficiencies in their own conscience formation and to think of people who might be able to help them form their conscience well. Then, they have a chance to spend some time in prayer discerning which gift of the Holy Spirit they need most in their life right now. The Send gives teens an opportunity to ask the Holy Spirit to give them the gifts they need to form their conscience.

Goal of This Night

The goal of this Life Night is to help teens understand that forming our conscience is an integral part of the Christian life and to challenge them to form their consciences in an intentional manner, rather than allowing the prevailing culture to form it for them.

Catechism

Scripture

Key Concepts

– Jesus has given us the gift of a conscience so that we can know the difference between right and wrong.
– Since we are imperfect and live in an imperfect world, our conscience can be malformed.
– To live the life that Jesus calls us to, we must allow Jesus to teach our conscience the difference between right and wrong. This allows us to trust our conscience.

Key Terms

-Conscience
-Vincible Ignorance
-Invincible Ignorance

Social Media Hashtags

#LT_TheDriveofYourLife
#CalibrateYourCompass
#theWAYthetruthandthelife

Eat Your Vegetables!

A Life Night on Church Authority

About This Life Night

This Life Night begins with a Gather game intended to get the teens moving. The game has rules that change as the game continues, forcing the teens to adapt their strategy. The Proclaim explains how the Church adapts by applying the teachings of Jesus to the problems and questions that are unique to our current time and culture. It challenges the teens to give the Church the obedience of faith. The Break facilitates a small group discussion on accepting the authority of the Church. The Send invites the teens to reflect on the story of the young man with the mute spirit whose father says, “Lord, I believe, help my unbelief.”

Goal of This Night

The goal of this Life Night is to challenge the teens to recognize that the Catholic Church speaks with the authority of Jesus Christ and, therefore, has the authority to instruct us in matters of faith and morals.

Catechism

Scripture

Key Concepts

– Since we live in such a different time than the one Jesus lived in, it can be difficult to see how His teachings apply to us and even more difficult to accept that guidance when we hear it.
– Jesus gave the Holy Spirit to the Church so that He could guide the Church even after His Ascension into heaven.
– Since the Holy Spirit guides the Church, we are called to give the obedience of faith to her.

Key Terms

-Obedience of Faith
-Infallibility
-Spirit of Truth

Social Media Hashtags

#LT_EatYourVegetables
#surrender
#JesusSpeaks

New and Improved!

A Life Night on God's Law

About This Life Night

This Life Night begins with a Gather game that has a lot of rules but is not well explained. The Proclaim walks the teens through the Old Law, the New Law, and how they are related, as well as the role that grace plays in our lives. The Break begins with a testimony from a Core Member about how God’s Law has shaped their lives and leads into a small group discussion about God’s law. The Send introduces the Ignatian Examen as a way to stay on track in following God’s law.

Goal of This Night

The goal of this Life Night is for teens to understand the importance of God’s law and the role that it plays in their lives, as well as the grace that they are given to help them follow it.

Catechism

Scripture

Key Concepts

– God has given us the law or instructions on how to follow Him. Both the Old Testament and the New Testament Law benefit us by helping us learn how to live well and seek out eternity with Him in heaven.
– The New Law fulfills and expands the Old Law (Ten Commandments) by revealing the foundation of love behind God’s teachings.
– God gives us grace to help us follow His Law and align ourselves more closely with His will in our lives.

Key Terms

-Ten Commandments
-The Two Great Commandments
-Grace

Social Media Hashtags

#LT_NewandImproved
#lawoflove

We’re Waiting For You!

A Life Night on Our Response To God

About This Life Night

The Life Night begins with a lively Gather that elicits strong responses from the teens about their likes and dislikes. The Proclaim shares the truth that we must exercise our gift of free will to actively respond to God’s call to blessedness by living out the Beatitudes. The Break gives teens the opportunity to process what they heard in the Proclaim and to brainstorm concrete ways to be a disciple of Christ. The Send is a period of Eucharistic Adoration in which teens are given the opportunity to respond to being in the presence of God.

Goal of This Night

The goal of this Life Night is for teens to recognize that encountering Jesus leads to a response to either pursue or reject Him. Teens will also learn that our decisions are motivated by the pursuit of happiness and that God placed this desire on our hearts and He alone can fulfill them.

Catechism

Scripture

Key Concepts

– We make decisions every day that are motivated by the pursuit of happiness.
– God gives us free will to either seek heavenly joy through the pursuit of the Beatitudes or temporal happiness through the pursuit of worldly goods.
– Happiness is a desire placed upon our hearts by God that only He can fulfill. Rather than just pursuing happiness, we must pursue God.

Key Terms

-Free will
-Beatitude
-Blessed

Social Media Hashtags

#LT_WereWaitingForYou
#TheBeAttitudes

East Benton Road

This video tells the incredible story of Luke, a teenager who survived a suicide attempt and came to realize God’s plan for him. Suffering from a young age, Luke describes his struggles, his near-death experience in his family’s mini-van, and what he learned from it all. This inspirational video resource dives into the themes of forgiveness, suffering, and how past experiences can be used to help others.

#blessed

The concept of being #blessed is discussed in this video, shown through Instagram photos and captions. In today’s digital age, social media can easily portray a misinterpretation of a glossy, filtered “blessed” life, but this video resource reminds us to take a step back, and remember that even in our suffering and struggles are we truly blessed.

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