By Dan Sherven
On May 12, the Archdiocese of Regina held a retreat for Grades 7-9 led by Michelle Braden and Braden Kuntz. The theme of the retreat was “Walking in the Light of Christ.”
Michelle Braden is the Youth Minister Coordinator for the Archdiocese of Regina’s Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry. And Braden Kuntz is responsible for Youth Ministry Support.
“We had participation from all four Catholic school divisions within our Archdiocese,” Michelle Braden says. There were 2600 students in 107 classrooms participating in nine communities spanning southern Saskatchewan.
She says this year’s theme, “Walking in the Light of Christ,” focused on Christian community and “what it looks like to be the light of Christ to others, and have that gift in our own life.”
Braden says that though community, “we are known and seen, and we are known and seen by others,” adding that social cliques, while often more comfortable, are not enough to count as a community.
In contrast, Braden says, the retreat highlighted “the importance of choosing community. Choosing not only our inner circle, those people who have the same values and maybe interests as us is very important … but it’s also important we have a wider circle in which to welcome those who maybe think differently than we do.”
Other topics were addressed as well. “We talked about the importance of praying for other people and asking other people to pray for you. We talked about the importance of: if you have really good friends and really solid community — there are people who will not just have fun with you but will also hold you accountable when you’re making poor choices. And that we’re not meant to journey or go in faith alone; we all need to surround ourselves with community.”
Braden says faith is important for young people for the same reasons it’s important to everyone. “I really think the longer I do youth ministry, with an exception of some of the games, what I do with young people I can apply to people of any age, because they’re really just people. And as people of faith we need to understand that we are created for a purpose greater than ourselves.
“We need faith because it brings us hope. We need faith because a relationship with God is what we were created for. We don’t rest until we find it.”
She says her work is focused on “creative ways to reach out to kids and bring them the love of Jesus.” To Braden, this is work that “needs to be done. Young people are slipping through the cracks in lots of areas of life and I find young people are not finding easy ways, for a multitude of reasons, to fit easily into parish communities.”
“They didn’t grow up in the parish the way some of us did,” Braden says. “But I find them absolutely hungry for faith and for God.”
The retreat also dealt with issues facing young people, such as the difficulty of finding a place to belong; how to pray simply; noticing the concept of Church can be expanded to include the community; and how there are people in that community who would pray for young people “and would not be afraid of [young people’s] questions.”
The retreat was delivered digitally through YouTube. It began with an introduction, followed by online games, music with singing, and activities the teacher did with the students in the classroom. It was a full-day event supporting the theme of “Walking in the Light of Christ,” and included a closing prayer service the students did in their classrooms.
Michelle Braden worked with Braden Kuntz to coordinate the retreat, present it to the school divisions, have meetings with the teachers, and create the retreat presentations. Presentations were given in real-time.
Her favorite part of the retreat was “how the Holy Spirit shows up — even online.” She remembers with a laugh when the first online retreat was set-up “our hopes were not very high.
“You’re in a library, the four of you, basically talking to the walls. You get no feedback, and really, we were surprised at how we could just feel the presence of God and how things flowed. Even though we were on the other side of the screen, we still felt like we were with them.”
Braden also remembers a student winning a game for a Tim Horton’s gift card. The student “had the screen name Carl Wheezer, which I think is a character from Jimmy Neutron. The winner happened to be at a school in Regina, so the team took the Tim’s card out at lunch hour and went to the school and said, ‘we’re here for Carl Wheezer.’ [We] took the card into the class and got selfies with [the students], and it was fun. The kids were really excited.”
Braden says the feedback about the retreat was that the classes had a great day and are looking forward to next year’s retreat. She notes that doing retreats online is not ideal, but it “has opened doors that we certainly didn’t have open a couple of years ago.”
In closing, she says parents should not be afraid of having deep conversations with their kids about faith. And that her office is open to parents who have questions.
The Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry delivers retreats in the Archdiocese and the wider community; supports adults who are doing youth ministry; organizes young adult events; is involved with camps in the Archdiocese (such as Camp Monahan and Camp Kenosee) and is coordinating the pilgrimage to World Youth Day
 |
Dan Sherven is the author of three books: Light and Dark, Classified: Off the Beat ‘N Path, and Live to the Point of Tears. Here you can find his books, articles, podcasts, and more: https://linktr.ee/dansherven |
