As Archbishop Charles Thompson begins his ministry among us, we look forward to the leadership that he will provide to the Church as our Archbishop. In the early days of his ministry we already see an emphasis on the importance of youth in his mind and in his heart. He has told the youth that they are not the future of the Church – they are the Church now. The Church needs and welcomes the energy, the generosity and the gifts of our youth.
I echo these sentiments of Archbishop Thompson for the youth of Christ the King. We are blessed with wonderful youth and we want them to know the important place they have in the life of our parish. We see the generosity and the goodness of our CTK youth in many ways.
Sunday, August 20, eight youth of the parish helped served meals at the Cathedral Soup Kitchen. I know the busy schedules that our middle and high school students have and the fact that they took time to minister to the poor of our city at the Soup Kitchen last Sunday is an example to all of us.
Several of our youth recently responded to the invitation to serve as greeters, lectors and Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion at our weekend Masses and have already begun training for these ministries. Their youthful faces will be a blessing to all of us and an inspiration to other youth of our parish.
As a parish we want to support our youth in every way we can to grow in their faith and to be at home at CTK. I want to emphasize two very special opportunities for our youth that will present themselves in the coming weeks.
Middle School youth in grades 6-8 are invited to participate in a one-day conference in Chicago on Saturday, October 1. ‘Holy Fire” is the name given to the event that will be an opportunity for prayer, music, sacraments and catechesis. Several thousand youth from around the Midwest will gather at the University of Illinois Chicago Pavilion for a celebration of their Catholic faith. Registrations are due by September 1. For additional information, please see our parish Youth Minister, Ann Collins.
An expected 20,000 Catholic High School Youth from around the nation will gather in Indianapolis November 16-19 for the National Catholic Youth Conference (NCYC). This event takes place every two years and is an unforgettable experience for both the youth and the adult chaperones who attend. We are fortunate that the event has been hosted in Indianapolis for the past several years. A special collection will be taken up at all of the Masses on the weekend of October 14-15 to help as many Christ the King High School youth as possible participate in the NCYC. It will be an opportunity for all of us to support our parish youth.
We thank the youth of Christ the King for the special gifts they bring to our parish and we welcome those gifts!
See you at Mass!