Archive
Confirmation Retreat revisited
Back at my home parish, the 8th grade Confirmation kids (some were my CCD kids from last year) had an evening of reflection as a follow-up to their 2-day Confirmation Retreat last month [my previous blog post about it]. The schedule was pretty simple. After 6pm Mass (which I served at), pizza on the deck, a great skit (see pictures) about Jesus bridging the gap in the face of temptations, a personal witness talk by a teen, small group debrief (“What’s happened since the Retreat?”), and some large group reflections (that I couldn’t stay for) to close. The kids definitely wanted to be there. A great sign of their Confirmation journey.
CCD + catechesis crisis
MINISTERIAL PRACTICUM – (Fr Michael) — since the weather was so nice, we had class outside in the grass and discussed the current state of catechesis in the Catholic Church. Whether you call it CCD or Religious Education or Christian Formation, it’s essentially teaching the Catholic faith to adults or children (either in private Catholic Schools or weekly evening for public schoolers). We started by sharing, comparing & contrasting our own experiences in CCD verses private Catholic Schools. We highlighted the good and bad areas that need work, including better textbooks, better catechist training, more challenging truth (and less warm & fuzzy emotion-only faith), and other issues.
I can identify with many of these issues, especially since I’ve been a Pre-Confirmation catechist for (mostly) 7th graders for about the last 15 years. Even when a catechist commits lots of time, effort & prayer to present catechist attractively, relevantly and challengingly, frustration stiffle your efforts that perpetuates generation to generation producing ignorant Catholics with a childish knowledge of their Catholic faith. Improvements are coming … through the Church … through a committed laity … through our perseverence … to share the Gospel message of Christ in words and lessons and, most importantly, a living witness in “me”, in order to fullfill my role and awaken all I encounter.
Despite the obstacles and frustrations, I recall a quote from Pope John Paul II about teaching the faith to young people that illustrated my approach to catechesis and youth ministry through the years. [I’m still looking for the exact quote and will post here … check back]
[related resource: CATECHESI TRADENDAE (On Catechesis In Our Time) 1979 by Pope John Paul II]
Y.E.S. Retreat video
I can’t seem to install my Pinnacle video editing software on my laptop to finish editing the Y.E.S. Retreat video. I’ll have to finish it on break in October. Sorry for the delay, everyone!
For status of the Y.E.S. Retreat video, the MASTER LIST of YES event links is HERE.
Y.E.S. Retreat video
I just finished editing DAY #2 and added 42 more pictures!
For status of the Y.E.S. Retreat video, the MASTER LIST of YES event links is HERE.
YES video – “rip”
Today I started making room on a hard-drive for 80 GIG of space that I need to transfer (“rip”) from the camera to the computer. Each of the 4 tapes is 1.5 hours and take 20 GIG each. I ripped tape 2 & 4. The little that I watched looked good, not too shakey or dark. I did, however, forget to turn the camera off and times and recorded the floor (and my shoes) as I was walking (I hope there won’t be too much of that). The wheelchair races, Bishop Estevez, football and bingo looked good. — This should be fun.
Review YES Retreat 2007
The Youth Enjoying Service (Y.E.S.) Retreat is a 5 day (June 6-10th) service project experience for high school teens from all over the archdiocese of Miami. It’s is held at the Madonna Retreat House in Hallendale. This year had a small (but very lively) group of 12 teens.
This blog post will be the master directory of all the events & pictures from the video in case the locations change. You can find most of the events on PAGE 3 & PAGE 4 of my archives, but the link to each event is below:
——————– Day #1 / June 6 / Wednesday ——————–
(evening) Welcome + “Human BINGO” + “4 Winds Blow” + Dinner (11 pics)
(talk) “Catholic Social Teaching” (4 pics) — by Gloria Luna
——————– Day #2 / June 7 / Thursday ——————–
(morning) Breakfast + Prayer + Leaving by Bus (3 pics)
(project) St Elizabeth Gardens arrival + games + lunch + BINGO (27 pics)
(dinner) “Class” Dinner (5 pics)
(talk) “Immigration” (2 pics) — by Sr. Ondina Cortes
(evening) End of day sharing + making lunch (6 pics)
——————– Day #3 / June 8 / Friday ——————–
(morning) Breakfast + Prayer (? pics)
(project) Providence Place (? pics) — women’s shelter
(free time) S.W.A.T. training (? pics)
(talk) Monica Santos (? pics)
——————– Day #4 / June 9 / Saturday ——————–
(morning) Breakfast + Prayer (? pics)
(project) Daily Bread Food Bank (? pics) — food pantry
(free time) Football (? pics)
(talk) Convenant House (? pics) — shelter for runaway teens
(talk) “Eucharist” by Bishop Estevez (? pics) — a great surprise visit
(dinner) Dinner (? pics)
(service) Commissioning (? pics)
(nightime) Dancing? + “Mission Impossible” (? pics & 1 video)
——————– Day #5 / June 10 / Sunday ——————–
(morning) Breakfast + Prayer (? pics)
(closing) Closing Mass (? pics)
——————— STATUS of VIDEO EDITING ———————-
July 18 — finished day #2 (35 minutes) – “Class” dinner, immigration,
sharing, & making lunch
July 17 — working on day #2 – finished aerobics & BINGO (10 minutes)
July 03 — working on day #2 – finished wheelchair races (14 minutes)
June 29 — finished editing day #1 (7 minutes). See pics on PAGE 4 (middle).
June 28 — I found a 2 minute video clip on my memorystick. See it here.
June 27 — added blog posts of retreat events (without pictures, yet)
Francis also posted pictures of the retreat on the Office of Youth website.
SJVCS Seminary Life Album
July '09 -- hospital chaplains @ IPF
Easter '09 -- Miami SJVCS friends
the Son always finds a break in let the clouds
Feb '09 -- school vocation talks @ AMHS
Feb '09 -- cold breakfast with brothers (Matias, Fenly & Randy), now at SVDP and Imad (at SJVCS)
Superbowl '09 -- eating great @ SJVCS
Sept '08 -- Worklist Coordinators?
St Raphael Chapel mural @ SJVCS
Sept '08 -- retreats @ SJVCS
"It's not easy being green"
Catholic Kermit 
Recent Comments