Holy Angels Years 1990 - 2002 Part One



After a few years, the Antioch Youth Group was not attracting new members. The retreat would get a couple of new teens involved. The original members were graduating. The youth group model is ineffective long term as the original teens are comfortable with each other and are not motivated to bring in new members. The group eventually dies and you have to start over.

I went to visit Frank Mercandte at St John Neumann Parish in St Charles. He was using a  comprehensive model which was centered on a Peer Ministry team. Teens were presenting content, leading small group, giving witness talks, performing skits, running games, leading retreats, and inviting teens to come to events. Done right, it was constantly reaching new teens. When the teens came to an event, the peer ministers were trained to be welcoming so that no one felt alone. After picking Frank's brain, I decided to go with this model.

Still, I discovered that the group would only get as big as the number of adult leaders that I could find. One adult can effectively reach seven teens. So, four leaders means twenty eight committed teens. Now with this peer ministry model, we were constantly reaching new people, We were able to reach three times as many teens and the group didn't die because new teens would come weekly.

Peer ministry allowed me to disciple the teens on the team. Some of the teens would go off to college and get involved in their on campus Catholic ministry. At first, the hard part for me was finding converted teens to be peer ministers. I couldn't have the blind leading the blind. What to do? I had good and committed teens, but I needed on fire for God teens. I needed a program that I could send my teen leaders to that would help them deepen their faith in God. So I did what I knew best. I convinced two of my college leaders to make a Happening weekend. Of course, Patrick will claim that I twisted his arm to go, but he and Sara went. Through God's grace, they were greatly impacted. I kept sending teens on Happening weekends even hosting some at Holy Angels Parish. I will show you the impact of the Happening through one story.

Brian didn't grow up in a Catholic home. One of our teens invited him to attend a Happening weekend. It changed his life. He stayed on to work the next Happening weekend. Eventually, he became Catholic. Get this! He felt a calling to be a priest and went into the seminary. He eventually was discerned out of the seminary, and a few years later got married and has two children. He works for a national Catholic ministry. Today, he is a strong Catholic husband and father. It started through one teen inviting another teen. There are many teens who were in the Holy Angels Parish and who went on Happening weekends and are today strong Christian parents and spouses.

One of the keys to be constantly getting new teens is outreach events that would attract teens that normally would not come to church or serious youth ministry events, so we developed several over the years:

The Oasis. Whether it was in rectory basement or in the basement of the Old convent. We had a room dedicated to the youth ministry. We used it for junior high RE ministry that we called Lighthouse. We used it for a High School Drop in Center on Tuesday nights. We used it for Peer Ministry team meetings, and all weekly high school youth ministry events. It had its own entrance and its own bathroom. It was painted by the teens. It had couches, a TV, video games, a ping pong table, a pool table, and a pin ball machine. It also had a vending machine with soda. As well as a refrigerator. It had a sound system stock full of Christian music from every genre. We sold an assortment candy for fifty cents.

Of course, it was not always a smooth experience working with young people. I discovered one of the teens stealing money out the till. So, I had to buy locks for the cabinet. Another crazy side story: I discovered teens faking out their parents. They would get dropped off in front of the building. They would look like they were heading into the Oasis. When their parents were out of sight, they would turn around and get into their friend's car and drive away. They would get back in time to fool their parents that they had spent the whole time at church. 

Drop in Center: Tuesday nights. hang out, play pool, etc.Teens were encouraged to bring their friends. I had some of the best theology discussions with friends of our teens. It worked because it was informal. The teens felt comfortable with me and the other teens. They would start coming to Sunday night meetings which were fun but always had one hour of prayer, teaching, and discussions.

I was injured several times over the years in youth ministry. Dislocated fingers several times playing basketball with teens. The most memorable injury happened during the drop in center night. Andrew Peters was playing a video game and losing. So, I was giving him a hard time. He got up and comes  charging at me like a rhino. He was a beefy big person! He goes to tackle me and puts his shoulder right into my ribs! THUD! I had several broken ribs. Needless to say, I never let him forget it. Years later, I would rub my ribs and say "I think they still hurt".
 
Second Sunday: games, skits, talks, and small groups. Always the second Sunday of the month. We used the main hall of the church which gave us more room to do crazier stuff.

In the twenty seven years of youth ministry only once did I have a fight break out among the teens. During a Second Sunday night, we were playing a harmless game called Bumper Bods. It is a simple game where teens hold their ankles and walk around bent over trying to nudge people so they would let go of their ankles. Pretty simple game. Well, two guys who had a grudge against each other going all the way back to middle school started pushing each other. One of them was about to throw a punch with his arm cocked back. I was able to hold his arm back while another leader grabbed the other teen. 


Coed softball team: Middle school and  high school teens. Played against area churches. males and females.Every one played. Still competitive. Had playoffs.

In summer of 2000, Matt who was a senior in high school came out to play on the softball team. I had not seen him before this summer. But, the softball team worked to reach athletes who typically were busy during the school year playing in sports. We had someone drop out of the trip to World Youth Day Rome. I asked Matt if he wanted to go on the trip. He was pretty excited. He talked with his parents and went on the trip. It changed his life. 

Travelin Lockin: lazer tag, bowling, Whirly Ball, rented out movie theatre, roller skating.

Battle of the Bands: four or five high school garage bands "Wayne's World". Give them a chance to play on a stage and in front of an audience.We get as many as one hundred fifty teens. Most teens who attend are not Catholic.

In all the years that I did youth ministry, I never had someone come drunk to an event. The Battle of the Bands was the riskiest event that I ever did because I never knew who would show up. Even though I warned the bands about lyrics, I never knew what they were singing. It was time of the mosh pits, and stage diving. I prayed that no one would get hurt. Many teens came with crazy hair etc. They looked pretty intimidating. I found over the years that teens that came to be respectful. One Battle of the Bands this guy shows up totally drunk. He must have been forty. It took me a long time to get him to leave. I almost had to call the police. It was not unusual for parents to come to listen to their teen play, so at first I thought that he was a parent. But, his swaying was not to the music.

Bigger and Better Hunt: Divide teens into small groups. Give them a penny. They had to knock on doors and make a trade. Whoever came back in an hour with either a bigger or better item won!

Boundary Waters Canoe Trip: One of my leaders organized a very awesome canoe trip to the boundary waters in northern Minnesota.

Various Other Outreach Events
Camping trips
Six Flags
Christmas break trip to Chicago: hand out blankets to homeless, go to Mass, shop and eat.
Cedar Point.
Overnight ski trip to Wilmot Mountain

The only time I ever swore at teens was on a camping trip to Indiana Dunes. I had a wild group of freshmen mainly boys. I thought if I could take them on trip and build relationship with them. I could have bigger impact in the future. My wife graciously agreed to help me. I don't think she knew what she was getting herself into. There was not a lot to do at this park other than climb the dunes and swim. Being from Aurora, these boys were gang member wannabes.They would come back to camp with stories of other "gangs" chasing them. At night, we had some great discussions around the campfire. We talked about all kinds of spiritual things like angels, miracles, etc. It was pretty late before I sent them to their tents. I figured they would sleep after a long day outdoors. Boy, I was wrong! They would not stop talking. Of course, the tents don't offer sound proofing. So, if one tent is being obnoxious they are keeping the whole campsite awake. Somewhere in the early morning hours I swore at them to get their cooperation. It was a dumb idea which I would never repeat. I think they eventually fell asleep.

I did another camping trip to Indiana Beach with a small group of teens that were troublesome. Indiana Beach has a boardwalk over a lake, so it is kinda like a mini Six Flags. It had rides, games, water slides and other attractions. Every thing seemed to have gone well. It was time to pack up and go home. I was helping to clean out a tent used by four guys who could be on the obnoxious side of things. I picked up a shampoo bottle. It was completely empty. Who brings a regular sized shampoo bottle on a camping trip and it is completely empty? So, I was suspicious. I smelled it. Guess what it smelled like? Shampoo? No! Vodka! I didn't say a word until we got back to church. It was a tight group of friends. I gave the bottle to the parent that I knew would not let it slide. Later, I heard the rest of story. One of the teens had drinking problem. The parents handled it perfectly.  

The Hub of the Youth Ministry
Youth Meetings every Sunday night: teaching talks, prayer, small or large group discussion .

Evangelistic Retreats and Conferences
Steubenville Youth Conferences
National Catholic Youth Conferences
World Youth Day: Rome 2000, Toronto 2002
Happening in Christianity
Peer Ministry Retreats

Serving Opportunities

Puppet Ministry: using Sesame Street type quality puppets. stage made out of pvc pipes and curtains. Performed shows for grade school children. Using prerecorded Christian stories or they used their own voices following scripts.

Youth Choir: led by Arlene and Barb. 11 am Sunday Mass Choir September to May. Every year, we had about a dozen teens. Again, we were able to reach the theater/choir teens who filled their schedule with plays, choir, and Madrigal dinners. Arlene was the drama teacher at one of local high schools. Her son made it on Broadway in New York City. In fact, he was part of small cast that won a Tony award for the the production of Urinetown. So, you can imagine that this teen choir was great!

Camp WOW Counselor: Four day middle school summer camp at Dickson Valley Retreat and Camp. The high school teens gave talks, led small group, performed skits, and were the backbone of camp. Every camp had around one hundred twenty middle school campers. The teens spent the week trying to lead the campers closer to Christ. It was the perfect youth ministry program. I was able to impact teens from middle school to high school. To get them away from home and disconnect them from their normal routine. Over twenty plus years of doing camp, we saw much spiritual fruit. 

Every thing we did was pointing towards a relationship with Jesus. Whether we were tilling the soil with an out reach event or some crazy game, our goal was to plant the seed of the Gospel. Every event was an attempt to build relationships with any teen who walk through our doors. Years later, these young people have turned into adults and we are able to state that many are living as followers of Jesus.










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