LINCOLN (SNR) – The Diocese of Lincoln will launch a new project in the fall of 2020 aimed at high school freshmen.
The “Freshman Encounter” will kick off Saturday, Aug. 15 at Pius X High School in Lincoln, and all freshmen in the diocese are encouraged to attend.
“We needed a reset,” said Jeff Schinstock, director of youth and young adult ministry.
“Freshmen and sophomores had only one event aimed at them through our office and that was QUEST retreats,” he said. “For a variety of reasons, QUEST wasn’t working anymore and it gave us a chance to step back and evaluate what was really needed.”
That process led to a conversation with Father Andrew Heaslip, director of religious education. A committee was formed to evaluate what was going strong and what needed to be strengthened.
“The catechesis being received in our Catholic schools is phenomenal,” Schinstock said. “We found that there was often an overlap between that and our God-teen curriculum that made it difficult for Godteen mentors to facilitate.”
The committee, that represented several parishes and all the Catholic high schools in the diocese, agreed that what was needed was more than an event, but an event that led to a journey of relationship.
Focused small groups are the most effective vehicle in youth ministry, Schinstock explained.
“Young people need to be able not just to hear but to process the Word and to work it out within a community. So the event was planned in order to be an inspirational starting point to focus the groups on Jesus. ”
The Freshman Encounter “is meant to draw students into a relationship with God, while also providing a community to continue fostering and challenging the growth of this relationship,” said Sister Pia Marie Fischer, M.S. “With the event occurring at the start of their high school experience, there will be a tone of focus on the seriousness of their relationship with God but also a group of friends to accompany them.”
The event will feature the music of John Marc Skoch, a graduate of St. Cecilia High School in Hastings. Skoch has worked for the Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS) and has performed at many Catholic events including SEEK conferences.
Dr. Andrew Swafford, a theologian at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kan., will be the keynote speaker. He will address the importance of authentic encounter with Jesus, as well as the necessity of following Christ where he leads.
Matt Simmons, who directs the diocesan Office of Evangelization and Spiritual Formation, will also give a meditation on the healing power of Jesus. Each theme will be explored in a talk and then the students will break out into the groups they will meet with the entire year and begin discussing the talk. Lunch will be served at the event and there will be opportunity for confessions and Eucharistic adoration.
Incoming freshmen in the diocesan Catholic schools are required to be at the event and be in an “encounter group.” Each school and parish has autonomy to decide when and where the groups and mentors will meet, so as to best realize their specific needs.
The diocese is suggesting meeting three times per month, with a curriculum focused on how to pray, encounter with Jesus, healing, and discipleship. Students not in the Catholic schools are highly encouraged to go to the event and will meet at their parish in the format that already existed there, whether it is Godteens or CCD. The focus will remain on those four themes while also going into the necessary catechesis to teach the fundamentals of the faith.
Simmons will monthly meet with and live-stream a formation session to help mentors facilitate the students’ weekly meetings. To fortify the idea of the parish as a spiritual home, parishes or regions are encouraged to monthly do an event that is social or spiritual in nature with all of their students.
For more information on the Freshman Encounter visit www.lincolndiocese.org/retreats/freshmen-encounter.
