During an ongoing series of summer faith sessions, young adult Catholics countered the challenges of teaching children and teens about the faith in today’s world with a singular commitment to be “totally yours” to participants.
After prayer and training at the diocese’s Camp Lawrence in Porter County, eight Totus Tuus missionaries spread out in two teams to teach at eleven parishes throughout the diocese. Starting on June 8 and running through Aug. 2 youth have attended five-day catechetical sessions to be immersed in lessons about the Nicene Creed and Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary.
At St. Paul parish in Valparaiso, junior high school students gathered in the Life Teen Room – casual quarters with couches, games and musical instruments. With two missionaries leading the conversation, they spoke about responding to peer pressure through the eyes of faith.
Missionary Carmen Kosmicki, a collegiate from Nebraska, read from chapter five in the Gospel of Matthew, inviting the youth to heed Jesus’ words from His Sermon on the Mount, specifically, the introduction of the Beatitudes.
“I encourage you guys truly to call each other higher – not for just you and your friend group, but for everyone around you,” said Kosmicki.
Later, they played a game in the gym where they propelled a ball across the floor with fly swatters. Youth participants weren’t bugged to be spending summer days as Totus Tuus students.
“It’s good to meet new people, to network,” said Krissy Feddeler, 14, who will attend high school this fall after years of homeschooling. “I would like to really take some time to look at my faith … My family is helpful along the way and I’m happy to have that because starting at a new school is hard. I was raised in a very Catholic family and, obviously, there are a lot of other ideas at public schools.”
A cycle of lesson preparation, delivery and reflection had missionaries digging deep to deliver excellence.
“There’s a lot of teaching; we have to do a lot of lesson planning, being up late preparing for the next day’s classes,” said Benjamin Zegarra, 19, who works at Gary Diocesan Cemeteries and hopes to enter trade school soon. “The first week was the hardest ... Each week it gets better.”
Sean Martin, of the Office of Missionary Discipleship and Evangelization (Catechesis and Faith Formation), said his visits to the teaching sites are to provide missionaries with positive reinforcement.
“I want to encourage them to continue to grow – as teachers, in friendship, in the love of the Lord, and as missionaries – from the time they were at training until the end of summer,” Martin said.
In a classroom at St. Paul Catholic School, teenagers grappled with the Old Testament story of the sinfulness of Adam and Eve and the New Testament accounts of redemption brought about by Jesus Christ.
“Jesus is the new Adam. He represents the lamb. He also represents the sacrifice of Issac, who also carried what he would be sacrificed on, both sacrificed by their father,” explained missionary Elizabeth Hayes. “God had the choice to save Jesus, but they both knew His (sacrifice) needed to be fulfilled.”
The lessons were recapitulated by speaking of salvation history and how our worship of the Lord in the Real Presence continues.
“Every time we say, ‘Jesus,’ we are saying, ‘God has saved us,’” Hayes said. “His name is at the heart of Christian prayer.”
During a lunch break in a classroom at St. Mary parish in East Chicago, Totus Tuus missionaries prayed before their meal. They agreed that the often filter-less commentary and seemingly random questions from youth, including “If Jesus was in heaven before He was born, then where was Jesus’ mother before then?” are often sophisticated and humorous.
Just as the youngsters had a healthy curiosity for faith matters, missionary Mac Nowalk wanted to know where God would like him to be.
Praying for direction as he discerned joining the Totus Tuus program in Northwest Indiana, Nowalk got his message. “Specifically, what I heard is ‘I want you to be in ministry for the summer,’” he recalled.
Doubts creep in, but to remain “totally” devoted to his mission, he believes he must keep an ear to God, and the children and teens to whom he is ministering.
“Obedience is one of the greatest virtues ever,” said Nowalk, from Arlington, Virginia. “No matter how hard this is day by day, this is what God wants me to do right now. When I get more stressed, that puts me at ease.
“That’s all I need.”
Totus Tuus, Latin for “totally yours,” is a thoroughly Catholic program developed by the Diocese of Wichita and debuted in the Diocese of Gary in 2016. The program has expanded nationally to serve thousands of youth and young adults, who, in turn, reflect the teachings of the Church.
Maria Correa, 9, of East Chicago, unpacked some advanced theology, excited to share what she had learned in the Totus Tuus program.
“I learned about the resurrection: Jesus died but He also went into Hell and He opened the gates for the good souls. The gate of heaven was closed before,” Correa explained.
She said she was eager to tell about what she was taught to her mother, “who prays the Rosary.”
One of Correa’s classmates, Abraham Martinez, 9, wore bracelets or “strings,” each representing a lesson completed in Totus Tuus.
“Some of my friends came here,” Martinez said. “I enjoyed having fun, learning … especially this Friday was fun.”
He spoke about the “decorating” or “whip creaming” of one unlucky missionary, who, at the end of each week at a parish, agrees to some sticky fun.
“We poured syrup and everything on him,” Martinez said.
The boy also said he was nice because he learned that “God is always watching us, with every choice we get.”
Caption: Totus Tuus missionary Mac Nowalk (center) finds himself covered with various edible toppings, as students from the summer religious education classes continue to pour it on at St. Mary parish in East Chicago on June 21. Since 2016, Sean Martin, of the Diocese of Gary's Office of Office of Missionary Discipleship and Evangelization (Catechesis and Faith Formation), has coordinated the program that offers Totus Tuus sessions at multiple parish locations. (Anthony D. Alonzo photo)