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| June 2005 |
| Youth of diocese have a busy summer
planned with camps, World Youth Day |
| Gene Young
Managing Editor
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For 19-year-old John Hansen of Dell Rapids,
the idea of a quiet, peaceful summer ahead is not something
he can even fathom.
Hansen is taking part in a full range of youth activities available
to young people of the diocese beginning with “Totus Tuus”
training and culminating with World Youth Day celebration in
Cologne, Germany in August.
Bob Siemens, the diocesan director of adolescent faith formation,
says it is important to provide faith-based opportunities for
young people.
Like Hansen, Siemens will be taking part and leading much of
the youth activity in the diocese and when diocesan young people
hit the road for activities.
“Actually, I am very excited about doing ‘Totus
Tuus,’” Hansen said. “It’s like a retreat.
We’ll go around to different high schools and teach about
the great things Jesus does for us.”
Hansen will then follow that up by returning to Discipleship
Camp for a second year at Lake Poinsett.
The summer schedule for diocesan young people will focus in
part on Discipleship (or D-Camp) at Lake Poinsett.
“The theme of camp this year is ‘spoken for’
which comes from a song that talks about how God has spoken
for our hearts throughout all of history,” said Siemens.
All of the diocesan youth activities do involve some teaching
components and plenty of focus on the faith, but there is also
plenty of opportunity for fun.
That is especially true during D-Camp (for junior high students,
July 10-13 and for senior high kids, July 14-17).
One the highlights each summer at D-camp is what Siemens calls
“Extreme Olympics”, a series of competitive contests
with a distinctly gross flare to them, like “bobbing for
spam” which they did last summer.
But it is also much more than that. “We have small groups,
short talks, confession, adoration, prayer each night, celebration
of Mass and praise and worship,” said Siemens. “It’s
awesome.”
From D-Camp, Siemens turns right around for the next big event,
“Steubenville in the Rockies” in Denver, Colorado,
July 22-24.
The theme this year for that is “experience the glory.”
“They have great speakers coming in and they are basically
going to be talking about the glory of God,” said Siemens.
“They will be discussing how we experience some of that
glory for ourselves and how we do that.”
For Hansen, who converted to Catholicism a little more than
a year ago, having the diocese offer challenging programs for
its youth is key.
“I definitely think it is crucial,”
he said. “Kids, even my age, are the future of our Church.
If they don’t follow God’s word and what his will
is for them, we might not have a Church...So we need to build
up the spirit of Christ in our youth so our Church will continue
to grow.”
Once back from “Steubenville in the Rockies,” diocesan
youth get about a week or so to rest up before heading out for
Europe and World Youth Day, August 9-21.
The group from the diocese of Sioux Falls is one of the largest
traveling to World Youth Day from the United States. “We
are on four flights,” said Siemens.
The 135 young people heading for Cologne is an amazing number,
even for him to grasp. “This is the biggest group we have
ever had leave our diocese to go overseas to a World Youth Day,”
said Siemens.
That covers past events in Paris, Manila and Rome. Each of those
groups were between 15 and 35. This year’s traveling group
is nearly four times as large as the previous largest Sioux
Falls contingent.
To put it in perspective, Denver, a much larger archdiocese,
has just 70 young people going to Germany.
The young people who are going come from across the entire diocese
from Eureka, Mobridge, Aberdeen, Watertown, Dell Rapids, Mitchell
and Sioux Falls.
En route, the diocesan group will travel to Italy, stopping
first in Rome.
The group will see the major basilicas the catacombs, the Sistine
Chapel and the Vatican museums while in Rome.
The group will then travel to Venice and make a stop in Switzerland
before arriving in Cologne, Germany for World Youth Day, August
15-21.
The number of events available to diocesan youth this summer
can be daunting from a cost perspective.
Siemens is sensitive to the cost aspect of summer diocesan events
and what it takes for a family to send their children. “It’s
really a huge sacrifice for the youth of our diocese to go on
a trip like this,” he said.
As a result, Siemens tries to help families deal with the costs.
“We always try to keep the cost a bare minimum, so the
only thing they are paying for is the fee to get there, and
maybe food when it is not included.
“We are trying to make it accessible to everybody so that
nobody is turned away,” said Siemens.”
But the World Youth Day trip is going to be more costly.
To handle that, many parishes mounted different fund raisers
to help pay at least part of what it will cost to send young
people to Europe.
In some cases, parishes started raising money for World Youth
Day travelers two or two and a half years ago. You may still
see those fundraisers in your parish generating money to pay
their way.
Siemens is also working to make sure the young people are challenged
at each event and with each event.
“I try to make these things captivating to their head
and to their heart,” he said. “I want them to know
that, no matter what, that they belong to Christ.”
“World Youth Day is really a pilgrimage,” Siemens
said. “It’s not a vacation. It’s not a trip.
It is a pilgrimage about opening our hearts to God more and
celebrating with a million people together in Cologne.”
And the trip and experience can make a difference for the youth
of the diocese. “You bet,” agreed Siemens. “You
definitely see people’s lives change.”
John Hansen is one of those people, Siemens speaks about when
he thinks how summer events can make a difference to young people.
Siemens met Hansen last summer. He has seen how involvement
in one diocesan summer event led to another and another.
Hansen is looking forward to this summer. “As an older
youth, I want to be there to set a good example,” he said.
“I’m going to enrich my faith as well; I want just
to be there for the kids to see me and the example I set.” |
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