December: Youth Ministry Updates
Diocese of Ogdensburg
Advent is Here!
Pax et Bonum,
Kelly
Diocesan Youth Council
High School Youth Rally
Encourage youth to attend!! Each group attending needs to have 1 Virtus-trained and background-checked adult supervising for every 8 students. Registration will open in January.
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Kelly at kdonnelly@rcdony.org.
March for Life
NCYC 2017!!
A group from the Diocese of Ogdensburg (open to students in grades 9-12) will be traveling together to participate in NCYC. Details and the opportunity to register for NCYC with the diocese will be available in January, but feel free to start talking it up to your youth now!
Sharing Information
Upcoming Events
Is your parish hosting a youth event that you would like to advertise to the diocese/region? Feel free to pass on flyers/information about upcoming events, so that it can be posted on the Youth Ministry Facebook page and/or included in upcoming Youth Ministry Newsletters.Photos of Events
If you have any photos from recent youth events that you would like shared on the Diocesan Youth Ministry Facebook page, Youth Ministry website, etc, please email the pictures and names to Kelly at kdonnelly@rcdony.org. Please make sure teens have completed a diocesan photo release form.
Support, Resources
I had the awesome opportunity to attend the National Conference on Catholic Youth Ministry and got a lot of excellent ideas and resources. I'll be sharing many of these resources in future newsletters (or if you're looking for something specific, let me know, and I'll see if I got anything dealing with that topic).
The diocese purchased a flash drive with the audio of all of the breakout sessions from the conference. If you're interested in borrowing the flash drive to listen to some of the workshops, please email me at kdonnelly@rcdony.org.
Random Tips
Discipleship: A simple way to encourage teens to pray for others is to create a prayer wall/basket with directions to "Take a prayer; leave a prayer." Prayers intentions written on a slip of paper are anonymously left, and participants take one of the slips to pray for. This is a project that be spread to the parish community as a whole or done within your youth ministry program.
Service: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is known as a national day of service, and since teens don't have school, it's a great opportunity to organize a day where youth volunteer in the community. Some ideas for winter volunteer opportunities are working in a local nursing home/assisted living home (lots of homes welcome groups of teens to come and lead an activity like Bingo or come to chat with residents), or volunteering at a local food pantry/food shelf. If transportation is difficult, you can involve teens in volunteering from your regular meeting location by making cards or care packages for the hospitalized/home-bound/military.
Knowledge: Many youth don't realize that the Christmas season extends beyond Christmas day, and early January is a great time to focus on the Christmas season. Bible study sessions/Scripture discussions based on Christmas and Epiphany readings can be a great start.
Here is a link to an interesting article on the symbolism of the song "The Twelve Days of Christmas." You could have youth guess what each item is symbolic for, or you could do a photo scavenger hunt where teens take pictures of an object that represents each symbol.
Upcoming Events
December 18: Lifeteen Event. "Abundent Sacrifice." Food, prayer, games. 5:00-8:00 at St. John's Church in Plattsburgh. Email plattsburghlifeteen@gmail.com
January 6: Hearts on Fire. Praise and Worship Holy Hour followed by a bonfire and refreshments. 7:00 at Notre Dame in Malone.
January 8: Lifeteen Event. "Imaculata." Food, prayer, games. 5:00-8:00 at Our Lady of Victory in Plattsburgh. Email plattsburghlifeteen@gmail.com
Christmas Prayer
Let Your goodness, Lord, appear to us, that we,
made in your image, conform ourselves to it.
In our own strength we cannot imitate Your majesty, power, and wonder,
nor is it fitting for us to try.
But Your mercy reaches from the heavens
through the clouds to the earth below.
You have come to us as a small child,
but you have brought us the greatest of all gifts,
the gift of eternal love
Caress us with Your tiny hands,
embrace us with Your tiny arms
and pierce our hearts with Your soft, sweet cries.
-St. Bernard of Clairvaux