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October 2, 2023By Carissa Krautscheid
Preparations are underway for the Diocese of Tucson’s preliminary Lenten mission for teens. Titled El Camino to Easter, this youth ministry initiative will feature a series of talks for teens across the diocese during Lent 2024.
The diocesan Director of Youth Ministry, Fr. Manu Franco-Gomez, O.Carm., elaborated, “This is a combination of three things: the idea of Lenten Missions, Pascua Juvenil, and the experience of running Synodal sessions. The goal is to build sessions from scratch that would collect the wisdom of people from different parishes about how to connect with young people.”
These sessions are currently being planned by about 25 young adults who represent different communities: Casa Grande, Sahuarita, Sierra Vista, Tucson, and Catholic University of America-Tucson. They meet every three weeks to collaborate; their third planning meeting took place Sunday, October 1.
In the future, this group will discern the year’s theme for the series, which will be available in both English and Spanish. The 2024 sessions will be centered on “Our Call to Holiness,” with the emphasis on vocations that Bishop Weisenburger has called all ministries to integrate. This theme will “educate our teens in the beautiful vocabulary associated with discernment,” said Fr. Manu. “It will explore our individual vocations given to us by God, how the Church treasures all vocations, pathways to holiness, and how to build the Church as a larger reality than just the individual.”
Additional elements will be derived from the Office of Youth Ministry’s five guiding principles: faith, formation, fellowship, service, and sharing talents.
“We listen to the Spirit,” said Fr. Manu, “based on the talents and gifts of this group.”
El Camino to Easter will launch at the Diocese of Tucson’s Youth Days on February 3 in Yuma and February 10 in Tucson.
Additionally, Fr. Manu said, “this is an opportunity for parishes that are looking for a Confirmation retreat to fulfill that part of Confirmation program. If a parish doesn’t have the resources to plan and host a retreat, confirmandi can attend this instead.”
How can you support El Camino to Easter? Fr. Manu invites the community to prayer, “We would love to have people praying and supporting this effort to create something unique to the Diocese of Tucson.”