When a 14-year-old uses “fun” and “intriguing” to describe his experience at a spiritual event, it’s safe to say the event likely got its message across.
“Rise Up! Middle School Day” at Mount St. Joseph High School in Irvington May 1 featured a day of games, faith and fellowship.
More than 175 middle school students and their parents from 27 parishes from across the Archdiocese of Baltimore participated in the day-long event.
“The games and team-building were fun,” said Caleb Stein, 14, a student at Resurrection-St. Paul School in Ellicott City. “And the talks were very intriguing, and really related to our lives.”
Rise Up, designed for male and female students, included outdoor and indoor challenges, adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, inspirational talks, discussions and a closing Mass celebrated by Archbishop William E. Lori.
Other than a little mid-afternoon rain that provided a challenge for outdoor events, the gathering indeed seemed to get its message across.
“We had fun and I liked what we learned about our faith,” said Cole Honza, 13, another Resurrection–St. Paul student.
Honza’s classmate, Gabriel Howard, 13, said: “The challenges were really fun, and we learned a lot about working together.”
Craig Gould, director of family, youth and young adult ministry for the Archdiocese of Baltimore, said Rise Up’s goal was to highlight the importance of faith to middle school students.
“Middle school is crucial to faith formation,” Gould said.
He noted that there is a lot of structured faith formation for elementary school students with first Communion and first reconciliation programs, and there is a lot of independent formation available to high school students who are able to attend retreats and do service projects.
However, there often are big gaps in formation for middle schoolers.
“We kind of don’t know what to do with them,” Gould said. “They are 13 to 14 years old, they don’t drive. They want to have a sense of independence but often can’t be left on their own. Sometimes we try to dumb down the high school stuff for them or boost up the elementary school stuff, but that doesn’t really work.”
The Rise Up experience aims to give the middle school students a sense of community with their Catholic faith.
“The message is about belonging; belonging to Christ and belonging to your church,” Gould said. “This program helps give them the opportunity to experience that belonging through bonding events.”
In his homily at the closing Mass, Archbishop Lori also stressed belonging – something near and dear to any middle school student.
“We belong to Christ. We belong to Christ not just because we like this thing or that thing that the church might be doing…,” Archbishop Lori said. “Ultimately, we belong to Christ because he claims us and he claims us as his own. And he invites you and me to a beautiful adventure that we call life.”
He concluded by saying the youngsters should always remember that sense of belonging throughout their lives, no matter how much they struggle or achieve.
“He claims you as his own, and your heart will only be satisfied by him. He is the one that knows you, loves and cares about you, will walk with you throughout your life and satisfy that longing for love that is deep down in your heart. … You belong to him and you belong to the church, and no one will ever change that.”
Before the closing eucharistic adoration and Mass, the youngsters attended gender-specific talks given by Associate Vocations Director Father Matt Himes and Maryvale Prep Campus Minister Kristin DeVan, as well as talks from Mike Tenney, the host of Pop Culture Catechism: the Gospel according to Pop music & Movies.
Rise Up also included sessions for parents. Adults joined in parenting workshops and listened to a talk from clinician Alli Clayton of Shine the Light Counseling. The parent portion was sponsored by Ablaze Family Ministries.
“Parents are still really the most integral part of faith formation for their kids,” Gould said. “We know how important they are.”
It was the fourth year for the gathering, which had to be canceled in 2020 and scaled back in 2021 because of the pandemic.
Email Gerry Jackson at gjackson@CatholicReview.org
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