Disciple Now

Youth Ministry > Diocesan Programs & Events > Disciple Now

August 13-15, 2010
A Retreat for Youth in Grades 7th, 8th, and 9th

Location | Registration | Release Forms | Follow-up Experiences | Contacts

You are invited to join youth from around the diocese to explore how you can be a Christian leader at church, home and school!

Disciple Now encourages youth to live as disciples of Jesus Christ in our world through partnership with their parents and their church community.

Discern personal and spiritual gifts
Develop Christian leadership skills
Continue to develop your relationship with Christ and your ability to share with others
Develop an awareness of your role(s) in your parish community

Why attend Disciple Now?

We know that young people have important gifts that our parishes need. We also know that if we don't support the development of those gifts, they most likely won't get used in our parish communities. The schools and civic community will reap the benefits of the gifts our young people have to share. Disciple Now is a weekend experience that will empower young people to recognize their gifts and give them some real ideas about how to use those gifts in their parish community.

Location

Catholic Renewal Center (Map)
4503 Bridge Street
Fort Worth, TX 76103

Registration

All registrations must take place through a parish. Submit the registration form below to your youth minister or group leader if your group will be attending.

Individual Registration Form (parish use only)

If your parish group will not be attending but you want to attend, please call the Diocesan Office of Youth Ministry at (817) 560-2452, Ext. 261 to find out how you can connect with another nearby parish. If you are outside of Fort Worth call toll-free 1-888-560-3370 (ext. 261 Kevin Prevou or ext. 255 Josie Castillo).

Materials for Parish Group Leaders

Below you will find the complete registration packet. This packet is intended for parish group leaders only.

Complete Registration Packet Cover Letter

Individual Registration

Group Registration

Electronic Registration (Form F)
Letter to CYM / DREs (login required)

Parish Group Registration Instructions
Ideally, you will choose a group of 4-8 teens and 1-2 adults to accompany the teens (remember the diocesan guideline is a ratio of one adult to every six teens). Have the youth participants fill out the individual registration form (both sides of the form) and get their parent(s) to sign the form indicating their support for their son or daughter to attend. Have the adult participants fill out only the front side of the individual registration form and mark the adult line on the form.

Submit these forms and the $65.00 fee for the weekend per person by the deadline which is ? or when the camp is full (we can only handle 50 retreatants including youth and adult leaders).

For Parent of a Youth Participant

Send every PARENT of a youth participant the following:

Letter to Parents (login required)

Core Purpose and Goals

List of "What to Bring" (English)

List of "What to Bring" (Spanish)

Participant Conduct Covenant
Release Forms A and B (See Release Forms)

For Youth Participant

Send every YOUTH participant the following:

Participant Welcome Letter

List of "What to Bring" (English)

List of "What to Bring" (Spanish)

For Adult Participant

Send every ADULT participant the following:

Core Purpose and Goals

Adult Participant Welcome Letter

List of "What to Bring" (English)

List of "What to Bring" (Spanish)

Scholarship Request Form

Participant Conduct Covenant
Release Form D (See Release Forms)

Note: If you are unable to open the PDF files you will need to download Adobe Reader.

Diocesan Release Forms

Click the link below for the following forms: Youth Participant Release (Form A), Consent to Medical Treatment (Form B), Release for Participants Outside of Diocese (Form C), Adult Participant Release (Form D), and Parish Release Forms Data Tracking Sheet. You may also find these forms under "Diocesan Release Forms" in the upper-left flyout menu.

Diocesan Release Forms

Announcements for Parish Leaders
It is critical that you have a clear way to involve youth in the life of the Church though leadership opportunities. At the retreat this idea will be explored and discussed, but the real opportunities will happen when they return. Be ready to discuss this - think about the ways you can help them utilize their gifts through specific leadership roles in the parish and/or group.

Please pray for the retreat and for the all attending. It is our hope that each youth comes away from the retreat with a greater sense of their gifts and how they can share them with the parish community. As always, call or e-mail me if you have questions. - Kevin

Follow-up Experiences to Disciple Now

Many parish leaders have asked for follow-up possibilities to the Disciple Now experience and so this year we are going to try to offer that. We will give an invitation to all groups attending Disciple Now to come together two months after Disciple Now (date coming soon) to pray together, share the project that they undertook through pictures and stories (we are going to focus energy during the planning part of the retreat on a project that is "doable" or at least "startable" within the two month time period before we get together again). We will of course share prayer, food and fun together as well.

But we also recognize that a follow-up gathering cannot accomplish the kind of follow-up that is needed through the rest of the year. Here are some ways you can follow-up the D-Now experience in your parish:

1) Choose at least two adults who will be the on-going contacts for the D-Now youth throughout the year. Make sure they understand that their role is to contact each of the young people at least once a month to see how they are doing and to ask their help, participation, leadership in parish or youth ministry projects where they are needed. Ideally, this person(s) would be the one(s) that went with the group to the D-Now retreat but if that is not possible, ask someone else. A parent of one of the teens may be very willing to do this. It is only a one year commitment.

2) Choose specific ways that you want to involve the D-Now youth during the next year (this is especially good if you do this prior to the group attending the retreat). This will enable you to choose young people based on the gifts you will need during the upcoming year. Examples of some ways to involve them:

Ask them to be the phone committee to contact all of the youth prior to events to invite and to give information about the upcoming events.
Make them the core team for the Jr. High program (could be religious ed, youth group, bible study, etc.) This means they will have a regular responsibility for leadership in a particular setting. I used a group like this to lead a parish youth group that met weekly (in my previous life in parish ministry).
Have them put together monthly or every other month service/outreach activities for Jr. High youth. They will need adult leaders to help them do this but this is very possible.
Invite them to take on particular roles in the parish liturgy as lectors, ushers, greeters, etc. They will need to be trained for these roles but what a great example to other young people and to the parish.
Invite them to develop a Jr. High youth group. This would be a really big task but if there is interest...it is a great place to start.

3) Make sure the parents of the young people attending know what the weekend is all about. Meet with them and their young people that will be attending the D-Now retreat prior to them going and after they come back. You will need the parents support if you want this to work (which means having the young people get involved and stay involved in parish life over the next year.

4) Make sure your parish staff including the pastor, understand what is happening in the D-Now weekend. Invite them to consider ways that the 7th-9th graders can be invited into discipleship in their area of ministry.

5) Pray for the young people and adults that will be attending D-Now prior to them going in your youth ministry and religious education programs. When they return, commission them (bless them) for ministry in a public setting. This could take place in the Church at one of the masses, at a large group gathering of young people, or some large group parish gathering. It should not be a private event. Commissioning is not only for the individual person, it is for the community.

6) Gather with the young people for breakfast (or some meal) once a month or every other month to talk about their experience of discipleship, how they see themselves growing, difficulties they are having, etc. Young people will talk at a meal away from the classroom in ways they will never speak in the classroom.

I will add to this list over the coming weeks and invite you to send in ideas for follow-up that have been successful in your parish. Ultimately, we must keep the perspective that every seed we plant is worthwhile even if we do not see it bloom or bear fruit.