Catechesis Supplement

From water fights to rosary lessons, children and teens grow in faith through cooperation of parishes

The children who participated in the Totus Tuus summer program in the Tell City Deanery line up for a group photo on the last day of the program, which included the fun of a water balloon fight and a slip-and-slide. (Submitted photo)

By John Shaughnessy

A childlike joy fills 34-year-old Megan Rust as she describes a fun-filled scene from earlier this summer.

When a water truck from a local fire station approached the hill by St. Mark Church in Perry County in southern Indiana, a group of children waiting for it couldn’t hide their excitement. And when the firefighters unleased the water onto a slip-and-slide, the children took turns giddily heading down the hill with huge smiles.

The fun was just beginning. A water balloon fight followed, with Rust joining in, getting blasted time and time again by the children, leaving her soaked and smiling.

Rust had a similar smile earlier on that late June morning as she watched the same children enter into the church for the closing Mass of the Tell City Deanery’s Totus Tuus program.

Latin for “Totally Yours,” Totus Tuus is a weeklong summer program designed to bring children and teenagers closer to Jesus, the Blessed Mother and the Church. And Rust saw that development by the reverence the children showed during the closing Mass.

“Their participation went from not a whole lot on Monday to really being involved and much more reverent by Friday,” says Rust, the catechetical leader of St. Paul Parish in Tell City. “It was a joy to watch those kindergartners to sixth graders really come to appreciate the Mass more.”

Another joy for Rust was knowing that there were 80 children and teens who participated in this year’s program, a record number that reflects the increased cooperation among the 10 faith communities in the Tell City Deanery to combine their resources to help grow and deepen the faith of their youths.

“Something that we do for Totus Tuus and something that is supported across the deanery is that we don’t charge for it,” Rust says. “We provide a free meal to every student and adult who comes in for the program. And we couldn’t do that without the support of the community.

“Not only are we doing this with great numbers, but we also have such tremendous support from all of the parishes. When we’re able to pool those resources from all of the different parishes, the kids win.”

That deanery-wide support is also complemented by the contributions of the Tell City Knights of Columbus Council #1172. Rust also says that individual Catholics in the deanery have an impact, too, including the parishioner who provided a rosary for each participant in this year’s Totus Tuus program, which had the theme, “The Mystery of Salvation,” with an emphasis on the sorrowful mysteries of the rosary.

A dramatic impact

The impact of all that cooperation for the Totus Tuus program has been noticeable.

“I’ve seen more kids in Mass since we’ve done Totus Tuus,” Rust says. “I’ve seen an uptick in our younger families. I would say the same is true the past couple of years.

“That’s neat to see because we don’t have a Catholic school here. Religious ed, Totus Tuus and Mass on Sunday are as much as they get. That’s what we provide. By the end of the week, they had learned to pray the rosary, and they were proud of that accomplishment. That was something really neat to watch.”

The cooperation of the parishes in the deanery also extends to the confirmation retreat at Saint Meinrad Archabbey in St. Meinrad that Benedictine Father Luke Waugh leads each year.

“It’s designed to foster a dialogue between the confirmand and their sponsor,” says Father Luke, who serves in Holy Cross Parish in St. Croix, St. Augustine Parish in Leopold and St. Isidore the Farmer Parish in Perry County. “That seems to be well-received.

“In early January, we usually have an Epiphany tour where we get the kids of the deanery together, and we’ll go tour different parishes to see how they decorate for Christmas and then have a little party afterward.”

There was also a deanery-wide pool party for youths on July 28.

These efforts are geared to overcoming one of the biggest challenges a parish priest has, Father Luke says—“getting our young people to participate in things.”

“We get a lot more participation when we get all our kids together,” he says. “We try to look for a whole lot of avenues to do this. As priests, we try to support all of our lay catechists and lay leaders with this.”

‘I really felt a lot of happiness’

For Father Luke, that included concelebrating a Mass at this year’s Totus Tuus with Father Michael Keucher, vocations director for the archdiocese.

“The program helps extend the young people’s faith,” Father Luke says. “They get to know their brothers and sisters in Christ that are of the same age. We have a good mix of students from different school systems, so it’s nice to see them interacting. It’s nice to see their faith grow. The participants from my parishes have always enjoyed it and look forward to returning.”

The same is true for the children and teenagers who participate from St. Mark Parish, says Bridgett Berger, the parish’s volunteer religious education coordinator.

“I couldn’t believe how many more kids we had this year and how much fun they had. I love that the program keeps growing by leaps and bounds each year,” Berger says. “The kids tell their friends, ‘You should come too.’ Seeing their faces light up as they’re learning about Jesus and Mary, it’s inspirational. I love it. They’re the future of our Church.”

For Berger, that focus on “the future of our Church” can’t be overstated.

“If we don’t have our kids in our churches, in our communities, we’re not going to have a future,” she says. “We’re not going to be able to keep our little parish.

“The children are our future. We have to teach them. We have to show them what it’s like to be a Catholic, what it means. We have to open up and share with them. Hopefully, we do a good job. Hopefully, we can promote new priests and sisters to religious life.”

Rust heaped praise on the college-age students who served as the team leaders of this year’s Totus Tuus program.

“The way they really focus on a relationship with the young people is huge,” she says. “They can reach them in a way I cannot, being a 30-something adult.

“We had a young lady who came to our night-time program and was a little hesitant. She became very glad she came by the end of the week because she was more involved, she was talking, and she made friends. To really see her blossom and grow in that manner was just wonderful.”

For Rust, that’s the lasting impact of the cooperation among the parishes. It offers a common connection to the faith, to each other and to being part of the faith community at the parish, the deanery, the archdiocesan and the universal Church levels.

By the end of this summer’s Totus Tuus program, Rust was soaked from the water balloon fight and ready for a long nap. She also had a satisfied smile.

“I really felt a lot of happiness because I felt we touched a lot of kids this year, a lot of kids we never had before,” she says. “To just see the smiles on their faces as they left, to hear their excitement and the question, ‘We’re going to do this next year, right?!’ It always brings me joy to know they’ve had a good time, and they’ve learned something. To witness that is always a pleasure.” †

 

Read more stories from our 2023 Catechesis Supplement