And so it begins...

Greetings!
We have begun our youth programs this year and they are off to a great start! This past Sunday we had over 300 Jr. High and High School teens present for our opening night.
I have to say that I was rather impressed with how willing the teens were to play my sick and twisted youth group games. There is something about the smell of cheetoes mixed with the smell of dirty feet that just brings tears to my eyes,..literally.

We don't have a Life Night this weekend due to the Labor Day Holiday but we will be back in business on September 9th. On the 9th the Edge will begin their series on the gifts of the Holy Spirit and Life teen will begin their series on how God speaks to us through the scripture. We will also have a couple more games (probably not as sick and twisted as on the first night) and as always there will be food.

On Wednesday the 5th we will begin our Wed. night group called TmT (Thomas More's Teens). This will begin at 7:00 PM in the Lois Kennedy Room. All teens grades 9-12 are invited to attend.

September 11th is the first confirmation class. For those teens who are nervous about the requirements this year, I promise your minds will be set at ease after the first class. Leslie and I have made some modifications to the program to help make it more "user friendly". We have come up with several different options on the requirements and will go over them with you at the first classes on the 11th and 15th. One of the requirements we have modified is the retreat requirement. You now have the option of the Jan 5th retreat or you can go on some other Catholic retreat during the year instead. Or you can go to 5 of our Wednesday night meetings and we will count that as a retreat.

If you are a Junior or Senior and want to go on a search retreat, be sure to pick one up at youth group. Also, Teens with Christ is coming up. This is for teens in 8th-10th grade. Both Search and Teens with Christ will count as a confirmation retreat if you would like to attend either of them instead of the retreat on Jan 5th.

Well, I guess that is all for now. Remember, Be Proud to Be Catholic!

Pete

Are you ready?

Greetings St. Rose!I am so excited to be here and have been overwhelmed not just with the work but also with the volunteer spirit that is so alive here at St. Rose. As I write this we are gearing up for our opening night of youth programs and I am proud to say we are ready!Currently we have over 40 adult volunteers who will beworking with the Life Teen, Edge and Confirmation program this year! We have several exciting nights planned for this Fall and are looking forward to continuing many of the great trips that St. Rose has taken in the past.There are also some things we will be doing that are new. One of the events that is coming up soon is called "Apologhetti". There will be five"Apologhetti" nights this year and they will be open to the entire Parish. Apologhetti is a combination of apologetics and spaghetti. Apologetics is the study of learning how to explain and defend the Catholic faith when called upon to do so. September 25th will be our first "apologhetti" night. We will have a spaghetti dinner and then I will give a talk on salvation. The topic will be "How to Respond when someone asks you if you are saved". Please plan on coming to these exciting nights this year. All donations will benefit our youth programs. Another new event this year will be TMT (Thomas More's Teens).This will be a Wednesday night group for teens to go deeper into areas of their faith that are relevant to them in their lives right now. Some of the things we will be doing are basic apologetics, social justice and Theology of the Body for teens. For more info about all of our youth programs, for meeting times and dates or for other info, please visit our youth website www.saintroselifeteen.org. We have also set up a table in the narthex of the churchwith calendars and various info related to our confirmation program and youth groups.

I can't wait to get to know all of you this year!

Peace
Pete

Stay tuned. Pete has moved in and is setting up his basement. Check back soon.