
The ingredients are faith, friendship and fun, and the recipe has produced a delicious summer for young people attending Totus Tuus in the Diocese of Gary.
“From what I’ve seen, it’s going really well,” said Sean Martin, who heads the local Catholic summer youth program as diocesan coordinator of Catechesis and Faith Formation. “The eight missionaries are teaching the faith, and the kids are enjoying it and having fun, too.”
Martin said he is “most impressed with the rapport between the missionaries and the young people, which seems to be almost instantaneous” as the program moves to different parishes each week.
Remaining sites include St. John Kanty in Rolling Prairie and St. James the Less in Highland the week of July 12-18 and Queen of All Saints in Michigan City and St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Valparaiso the week of July 19-25. There is a daytime program for children entering grades 1-6 on Monday through Friday and an evening session for youths entering grades 7-12 on Sunday through Thursday at each site, and registration is available at host parishes.
A team of four trained, college-age missionaries leads the lessons at each parish, blending games, crafts and outdoor activities with prayer, faith lessons, adoration and Mass opportunities.
It’s more active than faith formation (the school-year religious education program),” said Mary McBride, an eighth grader at Franklin Middle School in Valparaiso who attended the July 6-10 session at St. Patrick in Chesterton with her triplet sisters. “We’ve been attending since kindergarten, first in Illinois when we lived there and since fourth grade after we moved into the Diocese of Gary.”
“You get to learn more about your faith while having fun,” added Molly McBride. “You can get all your religious questions answered.”
Sibling Meghan McBride said the “opportunity to make new friends” is the highlight of Totus Tuus, while the social activities that dominate the final day of the program make Thursday her favorite day.
This year in the Gary diocese, said missionary Caroline Wildfang of LaPorte, those Thursday activities for teens have ranged from a pizza party to a shaving cream wiffle ball game to an outing to a Gary RailCats baseball game. For the young crowd, Friday is devoted to water games and a finale that involves voting for one missionary to be “decorated” as an ice cream sundae, complete with whipped cream, gooey sauces and sprinkles.
“So far, three of us have each been chosen once, so we are lobbying for our fourth to get the chance this week,” said Wildfang. “By the end of the week, we’ve all gotten to know the students and it’s time to blow off some steam with our faith.”
Wildfang said this has been “the summer of my life, since the first week of training,” as the six-year cycle of topics has focused on “The Seven Sacraments” and praying the Rosary has highlighted the Joyful Mysteries.
“This curriculum is so faith-oriented, and I love it,” she added. "We learned what to talk about in the small group discussions, and we offer the teens an examination of conscience to prepare for confession, if they choose to participate in that sacrament during the week.”
Missionary Brendan Loughran, of Canandaigua, NY, said he’s been surprised by how much about their faith some of the younger children already know. “When we hold classes, some of their answers sound like they come right out of the catechism,” he explained. It’s been going really well. There was a learning curve, but it gets easier every week.
“Our team has bonded really well and we work off one another constructively,” he added.
Cade Campbell, whose missionary team led Totus Tuus last week at St. Bridget in Hobart, admitted that “sometimes, as a convert, the students know more than I do about a subject, but I told my class last week at St. Paul about my own experience with the Eucharist, and the junior-senior high students loved it.
“The younger kids are super fun to teach, and you can see them light up when you tell them something and they suddenly get it,” Campbell added.
“Every day is different,” said missionary Leah Dicesare of LaPorte. “The most challenging thing has been remembering the sequence of our lessons and how to get into a lesson, but it is so rewarding.”
Missionary Michael Buckley, who “totally would” participate in Totus Tuus again, noted “a huge diversity in knowledge of the Catholic faith,” which has been interesting to experience. “I have a third grader who knows a lot about our beliefs,” said the Winnetka, Ill. native.
To see the way the youngsters appreciate the Mass “after they learn in class about confession and Holy Communion is the best thing,” suggested missionary Caroline Isom, of Miami, Fla. “It has been beautiful and joyful. Sometimes they are a big handful, with lots of energy, but the students make classes exciting for us with their childlike innocence.”
The missionaries stay with a parish family each week, the girls and boys separately, and when their host family includes Totus Tuus students, “we get to know the kids before classes start, and they are so sweet,” said Isom.
The St. Bridget missionary team likely wins honors this year for hosting students who traveled the farthest to participate in Totus Tuus, hosting Isaac and Isabella O’Boyle from Ireland. “They visit their grandmother, Sarah Unland, in Hobart each July,” explained a parish staffer.
Zoe Zeagczewski, a fourth grader, said her favorite part of Totus Tuus is “when we get to go to class. We learn about how to be closer to Jesus and about the sacraments and the Eucharist.”
Asked what receiving Holy Communion is like at Mass, Zeagczewski gave a detailed, step-by-step description, from coming into church to walking up to kneel at the kneeler. “You put your left hand on top of your right hand and the priest says ‘the Body of Christ.’ You say ‘Amen’ and take the host in your hand and put it in your mouth, then go back to your pew.”
For second grader Elleen Sales, returning to Totus Tuus this summer was simply a no-brainer. “We learn new stuff,” she said.
Totus Tuus is a Latin phrase meaning “Totally Yours,” and was the motto of Pope Saint John Paul II.
The Catholic summer youth program with the same name is dedicated to sharing the Gospel and promoting the Catholic Faith through catechesis, evangelization, Christian witness and Eucharistic worship. The goal is to help young people grow in the understanding of their faith and strengthen their relationship with Jesus Christ.
Caption: Zach Zeagaczewski taps the heads of fellow players as he rounds the circle in a game of Duck, Duck Goose during the first day of the Totus Tuus program for grades 1-6 at St. Bridget in Hobart on July 7. Faith lessons and prayer are interspersed with games and crafts during the one-week sessions at Diocese of Gary parishes, with four college-age missionaries leading the daytime schedule for grades 1-6 and the evening meetings for grades 7-12. (Marlene A. Zloza photo)