Faith Formation Newsletter

8/11/2019 Faith Formation Newsletter

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patron Saints, St. Peter. He wascommissioned by Christ to bethe rock of our church, to be afirm foundation and guide. Thisis a way for us to help guide youas parents but also provide infor-mation on what we are doing tobuild that foundation in our faith.There will be sections for chil-dren and youth, along with tipsabout integrating faith into familylife.

Through our endeavors to reachour youth and families, we be-lieve they will ignite a spark towant to know, see, and experi-ence more of the faith. What

you put in it is what you will getout of it. Give this a chance.Give Christ a chance to reachand touch your heart. Will youlet go, let God, and go deeperwith us?

Starting the 2014 school year,Holy Apostles Faith Formation isworking to keep our familiesinformed, but also help to formyou in this journey of faith. Lastyear, Teresa and myself startedoff the year with the theme,Quest to Discipleship. We didnot fully integrate that into ourfocus for the year, however thathas been the driving force to ourvision and direction for our min-istries at Holy Apostles. Disci-pleship means walking in the wayof Christ. We are calling ouryouth, children, and families tolearn and fully live out that life-style. It is really hard, but it isalso a choice each family has tomake. Christ calls us to walk aroad less traveled and really divedeeper into learning not justmore about Him, but living inrelationship with Him, with

Christ at our core. Through ourdiscernment, prayer, and strate-gic planning with our advisoryteam, we have worked to devel-op a methodology to reach our

children and youth to not justteach them about Catholicism,but why we believe what webelieve, along with hands onexperiences of what our faith isreally all about.

We came up with the name TheRock in honor of one of our

July 2014 a group of 15 youthfrom our parish joined studentsfrom Good Shepherd in Me-nomonee Falls, WI on a bus toSt Louis, MO. It was a trans-forming week by all. Our groupexperienced great service, madenew friends, and returned toSoutheastern Wisconsin with anew energy.

Now we are ready to plan forworkcamp for next year!

We are heading to Kansas City,KS from July 12-18, 2015. Thisyear, we have reserved 24 spotsfor our youth to go on this life-changing experience. If you havefriends who want to go, invitethem. This is a great experienceto grow ourselves outward inservice, but also inward in prayerand reflection with God. Pleasesee our promo video on theworkcamp page of the youthministry page of the website.

If you want to sign up, please visitmyhanb.org to register, or con-tact Ben Rogalla. The deadlineto sign up is November 1st,2014. Read the testimonial fromCMH sophomore, John Lyons,about his experience at work-camp this past summer on page2.

Faith Formation Quest toDiscipleship logo

Faith Formation Has a Newslet

I N S I D E

T H I S I S S U E :

Workcamp 1

March forLife

2

Poverty

Awareness3

OctoberTreks

3

Kids Fun

Fest3

Holy Hill Trip 4

Youth Minis-

try Extras4

HA Youth: Heading to Kansas

FA I T H

F O R M AT I O N

N E W S L E T T E R

The Rock Matthew 16:18 Building a Foundation in Faith

O C T O B E R 7 T H , 2 0 1 4

Q U E S T T O D I S C I P L E S H I P

Director ofChildrens Ministry: Teresa Tobin

[email protected]

Director of YouthMinistry:Ben [email protected]

AdministrativeAssistant:Rachel [email protected]


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P A G E 2

It was an

extremely

emotional night

for every

attendant, I

guarantee it.

-John Lyons

Group picture at SixFlags in St. Louis,MO

Youth Ministry: March fo

Workcamp TestimonyThere are very few experienc-es that I could call as impactfulas Catholic Heart WorkCamp. In all honesty, I didnt

think much of it prior to thetrip. I simply thought that Iwould go, see what wouldhappen, and maybe it would bea good time. That being said, Ihad heard from a number ofothers beforehand that it reallywas a memorable experience;and now that Ive gone, I amthe one saying the same thing. Isuppose one can only under-stand its worth when one has actually been an attendant.

While there, every day had thesame basic structure. Wewoke up, there was a show inthe morning to get us readyfor the day, then we hoppedon our bus to go out and helpour assignments. Each personhad a particular group ofroughly ten people that he orshe would work with through-out the week. My group hadthree different people that weworked for in total, but the

first we met stood out. Hername was Betty and she was,honestly, one of, ifnot the, sweetest old lady Iveever met. She couldnt expressenough how overly gratefulshe was for our service. Our

work for Betty included paint-ing, cleaning gutters, yardwork, and fixing her doorthreshold to make it mobile

for a wheelchair. As Im sure is apparent, this experience wasextremely touching. Every daywe sat down with her forlunch and she told us of herpast and present experiences -she was even willing enough totell us about the moreemotional stories of her life,which was really somethingelse. Though the teens were allout working for others, every-one else there was working forthe teens. They made sure tokeep us entertained onany hour that was a part of ourfree time; as well as inspired. Iwould imagine that every daywe had a good four hours orso of free time, which kept allfour hundred or so of us hap-py. There was one day in par-ticular that I, honestly, couldnthave seen coming in a millionyears. They called it four cor-ners. It was something of a prayer technique, but it was alot more than that. The idea isthat we all have issues in ourlives, or regrets, or worries;and there are others out therethat could help us throughthem. There were a number of

adults sat in a valley that any-one could talk to, or not ifyou felt no need, wheneverthey pleased; also, if youd

prefer, one could do the samewith a group of other teens ora close friend. It was an ex-tremely emotional night forevery attendant, I guarantee it.Personally, I spoke with a mannamed Nicolas on topics that Iwont address here, as Im sureyou can understand, but what Iwill say is that I wont forget it.The entire experience was alot more than that, but thatsthe short version of it. In total,

I imagine that the attitudepresent at Catholic WorkCamp is something you cant find most places. As well, it isan attitude that you can onlytruly understand if you haveseen it first hand. Therefore, ifwe want to bring it home, Idsay to go out and do it your-self. Youll find your own inspi-ration and perhaps your ownmeans of spreading it. As forme, the only way I can imagine

bringing home Catholic WorkCamp is through one person ata time. Cause for every oneperson that goes, theyll leavewith a different view whenthey return; and perhaps sharethat view with others.

The cost of this experience will be $325.Please contact Ben Rogalla if interestedor visit the link for more information:click here.

To register, go to myhanb.org .

Registration deadline: Nov. 1st.

January 20-24, Youth Ministry will beheading to Washington DC for March forLife, the largest Pro-Life march on theanniversary of Roe v. Wade. We aretrying to take a group to this great faithand proactive experience. To gather incommunion with those to protect thepoor and vulnerable, which is one of ourCatholic Social Teachings.

T H E R O C K M A T T H E W 1 6 : 1 8

March forLife Flier
http://www.wyreministries.org/march-for-life.htmlhttp://www.wyreministries.org/march-for-life.html


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Youth Ministry: Poverty Awareness ProjP A G E 3Q U E S T T O D I S C I P L E S H I P

Looking ahead a little bit, Saturday,November 8th we will have a

"Poverty Awareness Project" AllNight Sleep Out in conjunctionwith St. Elizabeth Ann SetonChurch. Why?

To learn about poverty in ourcommunity.

To learn to feel compassion.

To learn to NOT be judgmen-tal.

To do something positivetogether.

To help others become awareof what is going on in our

community.To sleep out in the cold allnight.

To experience for one nightwhat the homeless feel everynight.

To grow in appreciation of ourfamilies and homes.

To discover ways of beingChrist for others ~ Disciple-ship.

All this takes place during NationalHunger and Homelessness Week.

This is optional for high schoolstudents, but can be a great tie tothe Poverty Simulation that all 9th-11th grade youth will be doing thefollowing day for our Novembertrek. The cost for this is $20,which would cover the cost ofdinner, breakfast, and a shirt.Please contact Ben Rogalla to regis-ter, or if you as a parent would liketo help.

Registration Deadline:

October 30th

am. Decorate the trunk with Fall/Halloween decorations. The kids inattendance will walk from trunk-to-trunk, looking at the decorations asyou give out candy or small trin-kets.

For more information and to re-serve a spot, please contact

Teresa Tobin at [email protected] at (262) 754-0157 by

We are looking for Trunk or TreatSponsors during Kids FallFest, Saturday, October 25th from11:00 am-3:00 pm at Holy Apostles.This event will be open to allschool, parish, Faith Formation andcommunity families. Trunk orTreat is a fun and safe way to cele-brate Halloween! Bring yourcar, truck or van to the Holy Apos-tles designated parking lot by 10:35

Saturday, October18th.

Middle and HighSchool youth are alsoneeded to volunteer tomake this event possi-ble. Please contactBen Rogalla by Octo-ber 18th if you canhelp make this event

possible for our children .

As the High School Groups beginto determine their spiritual gifts,those preparing for Confirmationwill be able to live and practicethose gifts. In apprenticeships,youth will be able to use their giftsto grow and develop themselvesand a ministry in the parish. At theministry fair, youth will be attendingto explore what ministries ourparish has, but also to talk and learnabout a few ministries they may be

interested in, while then choosingone to apprentice in. When we areconfirmed, we are not just con-firmed in the faith, but into theparish. This is a way we found tobring life and integration of ouryouth into our parish, our spiritualfamily. They can then be engaged inour parish, grow relationships, andgive thanks to God by living outtheir gifts.

In the month of October, both Junior High and High School willhave treks that will provide differ-ent experiences.

Junior High will be traveling tothe Green Power Garden inWaukesha to help close out thegarden. While they are there, theywill learn and discuss poverty in ourlocal areas and what positive influ-ence this garden gives to those inneed.

Youth Ministry October Treks

Faith Formation: Kids Fun Fest

Come help and experienceTrunk or Treat with us!

The hope is

for our youth

have self

discovery of

their gifts, and

to live them

out in the life

of our parish


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Incense was used during the proces-sion and during the consecrationwhich is a symbol of lifting up our

prayers to God. We also learned in326 AD St. Helena found the originalcross of Jesus.

After lunch we broke into groupsand embarked on a self guided tour ofthe grounds. The groups had to visitat least 8 sights on Holy Hill and hadto take a selfie at each place. Somepoints of interest included the ShrineChapel which houses a rare statue ofMary, the Scenic Tower, the outdoor

Stations of the Cross, the LourdesGrotto, the statue of the SacredHeart , The Chapel of St. Therese

On September 14th the Faith For-mation Children and Youth Ministriestook their first ever "Go Forth and

Trek to Holy Hill. Approximately 70people attended this event which wasopen to all children and families 1st -8th grade. We had a great time ex-ploring the beauty and wonder of thisNational Shrine and Basilica dedicatedto God in honor of the Blessed VirginMary. We attended Mass at 11 am inthe Basilica which happened to be thefeast of the Exaltation of the Cross.After Mass we had a group picnic onthe grounds and the kids enjoyedtalking about some of the differences

they noticed at Mass. During theconsecration bells were used which issomething we don't witness at HolyApostles.

and the Basilica.

We were blessed with a beautiful day.Memories were made as we experi-

enced our faith at this place of peace.

Faith Formation: Holy Hill Trek and Go Fo

Our youth with musicianIke Ndolo at

St. John Bosco Youth Day!

Check us out!Hanb.org

Youth Ministry Extras!On October 4th, five youth from ourparish participated in St. John BoscoYouth Day at Holy Hill. Over 1,900others from across the state and Illi-nois were there. It was a little cold,but by the end of the day, great fel-lowship, prayer, speakers, and funtook place. Everyone left excitedabout the possibility of returning nextyear, with the hope it might be a littlewarmer! Please pray for these youthon their Confirmation journey!

Group Picture at Holy HillPhoto taken by Bill Burge

Confirmation Class of 2014 Photo taken by Paul Owen

52 youth from our parish received the Rite of Confirmation on Sunday, October5th, 2014. Please pray that the Holy Spirit impacts their lives exponentially!

Center for Parent/Youth Understanding (CPYU)Here is a great resource for parents to understand the

culture of todays youth! - click here -
http://www.cpyu.org/http://www.cpyu.org/

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Faith Formation Newsletter