St. Basil Life Teen Parent News -- December Edition

1. Life Teen last month

• 105 teens & Core members went on retreat focusing on our Identity as beloved children of God, and examining our earthly and heavenly desires. It was an amazing weekend and God further turned the hearts of our young people toward Himself.
• Nov. 15th we had over 100 people at our XLT Praise and Worship session with music, a priest guest speaker, and Eucharistic Adoration. When we say we are leading teens closer to Christ, we mean it literally. Just 30 minutes after XLT ended, Facebook was loaded with remarks about how awesome the music and prayer was.
• On Nov. 29th we had a life night discussing the main points of the first 3 Commandments.
• The Friday after Thanksgiving, while many were shopping, 15 teens and Core prepared & administered food for the homeless on the streets of Cleveland through the St. Benedict Joseph Labre project, in conjunction with JCU.

2. Life Teen this month

• Your very own Life Night! A special Life Night for parents will follow the 5:30 Mass on Sunday Dec. 6th. While parental participation isn't a requirement for Confirmation, your attendance is strongly encouraged for this separate but simultaneous Life Night. We'll discuss Commandments 4, 5, and 8, and how they affect our family relationships. It's a great opportunity for parents to share practical advice on how they build “The Domestic Church” and maintain or build strong faith relationships with your teenager. Meet in the Parish Center, 6:30-8 p.m.
• We will be taking another crew out to do the Labre project on Dec. 18th to not only give food to the hungry, but give them much-needed companionship during the Christmas season.
• Young Adult Retreat for your college student or young adult - check www.basilteen.com for details.
• NO LIFE NIGHTS on Dec. 20th or 27th.

3. A few victories for God - God is winning, one victory at a time.

• A teen told one of our Core members that she wishes she could have retreat weekends more often because of how she felt during the spring retreat.
• One of our recent high school graduates chose to spend Halloween weekend (a weekend that is usually the biggest party weekend of the year) on a retreat with 30 other college students talking about God, their faith, and how to remain pure in college.
• While talking to a teen at a life night who had a long post-retreat week, she said that the only reason she looks forward to the end of a weekend is because that means she gets to come to Life Teen and spend time with God and her friends in one spot.

4. Parent website of the month - www.fathersforgood.org Making the most out of anniversaries, tips on how to pray with your child, insights on your dating habits for your child, videos, books, and many resources to help you meet the challenges of fatherhood.

5. Please support our teens with prayer and through the monthly Life Teen envelope. Our ministry of leading teens closer to Christ can't be accomplished without your help and generosity!

St. Basil Life Teen Parent News - November Edition

1. Life Teen last month

• We had over 200 teens have a blast at our annual hayride.
• We had a life night on Moral Relativism, which the Pope has called one of the greatest struggles of our time. We combatted the idea "what's okay or true for you might not be true for me", and the popular line, "Don't impose your values on me". Showing that there are things that are objectively right and wrong had to serve as a basis for this semester on Morality.
• One of our Social Justice life nights gave the teens the opportunity to sign up for local service projects, including feeding the homeless of Cleveland.
• Our life night on Dating gave a good balanced view of the subject, showing the pros, cons, and delineating Catholic principles with which to approach dating if one chooses to do so in high school.

2. Life Teen this month

• Our weekend retreat is this weekend! Please pray for our teenagers as God makes every effort to break into their lives.
• Nov. 15th the life night will be an XLT Praise and Worship session with music, a speaker, and Eucharistic Adoration. When we say we are leading teens closer to Christ, we mean it literally.
• On Nov. 29th we'll have a life night discussing the main points of the first 3 Commandments.

3. A few victories for God - God is winning, one victory at a time.

• While on our ASP summer service project, two teen girls vocalized that they're discerning a call to religious life.
• One of our Core members told a couple teen guys that they should attend the prayer service for seminarians, and was excited to see one of them sitting right up front when the service began. The Core member spoke to him for a while afterwards about being open to what God is calling him to do with his life.

4. Parent website of the month - This month's website is a link to a new book about being a Catholic parent. Click here to read about it. If the link doesn't work correctly, go to lifeteen.com and click on "store". Visit the book section and look for "Rocking the Cradle Catholic".

5. Please support our teens with prayer and through the monthly Life Teen envelope. Our ministry of leading teens closer to Christ can't be accomplished without your help and generosity!

St. Basil Life Teen Parent News - October Edition

1. Life Teen last month

• Our Life Teen Kickoff had over 250 teenagers! Wow. That's a lot of pizza, (please see number 5 below--hint hint). We're very blessed at this parish to have such a vibrant youth ministry.
• Our Confirmation Information meeting for Parents and teens was on Sept. 23rd. If you missed it, please email BasilLifeTeen@gmail.com.
• We had over 60 parents come to the parent talk given by guest speaker Patty Schneier on Oct. 4th. For the Life Night, Patty spoke about chastity and Theology of the Body to over 300 teens, including visitors from 4 different area parishes! visit www.pattyschneier.com.

2. Life Teen this month

• FALL RETREAT APPLICATIONS ARE UP!! Retreat is Nov. 6-8th. Sign up now before space runs out. Visit www.basilteen.com to download the app.
• Hayride Life Night October 11th - with EXTENDED TIME. The Life Night at Luther Farms runs from 7-8:30 p.m. Transportation not provided. Directions and details at www.basilteen.com
• We will be having Life Nights on Moral Relativism (Oct. 18) and Social Justice including the 7th and 10th Commandments (Oct. 25).

3. A few victories for God - God is winning, one victory at a time.

• A teen told me they started coming to Life Nights for the food, but now come to learn more about God and their Catholic faith.
• During Mass some teens were talking. Their own classmates told them to be quiet.

4. Parent website of the month - This month's website isn't a website at all, but it is an important article about how prescription pills are the new drug of choice among young people. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2009/07/29/hearstmaghealth381323.DTL

5. Please support our teens with prayer and through the monthly Life Teen envelope. Our ministry of leading teens closer to Christ can't be accomplished without your help and generosity!

St. Basil Life Teen Parent News - September Edition

1. Life Teen last month

• The FEST - Many of our teens joined thousands of other Catholics for free games, activities, and a Mass at night with fireworks following. A great time for the whole family!
• Guys' Night Out - We had 45 guys sleepover at the Church for video games, bball, and high tech hijinks. It was a great time to get to know one another before the school year.
• Girls' Night Out - We had 25 girls stay overnight in the FLC bonding in Christian fellowship and sharing thoughts on every issue under the sun.
• Our Core members spent a day on retreat - praying, sharing faith stories, affirming one another, and learning how to deal with teens who are grieving the loss of a loved one.

2. Life Teen this month

• September 27th - Life Teen Fall Kickoff. Weekly Life Nights start then, and will be every Sunday, 6:30-8 pm. Check http://www.basilteen.com/ for full schedule of Life Teen activities.
• September 23rd - Confirmation Information meeting for Parents and teens looking to be Confirmed. 7-8:30 p.m.
• ***October 4th - Parents of Teens, Get Real! A message of hope for parents who struggle for the right words regarding love, life, dating, sex, & marriage. Come hear guest speaker Patty Schneier offer practical tips & suggestions to help parents discuss True Love & the many counterfeits in our culture. You'll be equipped to be pro-active, and be the “first teacher” of their child about the important moral issues teens face. Patty will talk to the teenagers about many of the same issues after the Life Teen Mass for the Life Night. You don't want your teens to miss the teen talk!
  For Parents: Sunday, Oct. 4th, 4-5 p.m.
  For Teens: Sunday, Oct. 4th, 6:30-8 pm.

3. A few victories for God

• One of our Core members saw a teen who acts like he could care less post something on his Facebook about having fun at a Life Night. Even when his friends made fun of him, he defended going to church.
• One teen has started to volunteer 4 hours/one Saturday per month at a charity of particular interest and is actively inviting friends to join her in her efforts.

4. Parent website of the month - In some of the research I do to learn more about teenagers, I found some studies that really showed quite clearly how much teenagers go with the crowd. For example, if all of a teen's peers are sexually active and those peers never go to church, then there's a 96% chance that teen is sexually active too. On the other hand, when all of a teen's peers are NOT sexually active and those same peers DO worship weekly, there is only a 3% chance that teen will be sexually active. So whether a teen is good or bad, they do what their friends do. Only 3-4% of teenagers go against the stream, whether the stream leads to God or away from God. Click the picture below to see the data.

5. Please support our teens with prayer and through the monthly Life Teen envelope. Our ministry of leading teens closer to Christ can't be accomplished without your help and generosity!

St. Basil Life Teen Parent News - August Edition

1. Life Teen last month

• 50 go to Appalachia to serve the poor - We went to Kentucky for the Appalachia Service Project (ASP) to make homes warmer, safer, and drier for the poor residents of Breathitt County. It was a powerful experience
• 40 go to Pittsburgh to serve the poor - We went to Pittsburgh for Catholic Heart Workcamp (CHWC) to work at shelters and the homes of the elderly and disabled. It was a transformative encounter with God for all.
• Our weekly Wednesday Prayer Group discussed the source and summit of the Christian life - the Eucharist.

2. Life Teen this month

• The FEST - August 9th in Wickliffe. Join thousands of other Catholics for free games, activities, and a Mass at night with fireworks following.
• Guys' Night Out - August 15th - sleepover at the Church for video games, bball, and high tech hijinks for high school guys only - $5 gets you all you can eat.
• Girls' Night Out - August 22nd - sleepover at the Church with movies, chocolate fondue, games, and no guys! No cost.

3. A few victories for God

• While on ASP, two teens vocalized that they're discerning a call to religious life.
• The girls on ASP prayed a Rosary together at night during the trip before bed.

4. Parent website of the month - www.foryourmarriage.org - The U.S. Bishops made a website just to improve marriages. Find tips, thoughtful actions, and ways to improve one of the most influential parts of your teenager's life. Why would a teenager want to get married if all they see are unhappy married couples?

5. Please support our teens with prayer and through the monthly Life Teen envelope. Our ministry of leading teens closer to Christ can't be accomplished without your help and generosity!

St. Basil Life Teen Parent News - July Edition

1. Life Teen last month

• Several Core members, veterans and rookies, traveled to Arizona for the national Life Teen Conference. They attended workshops on liturgy, leading small groups, engaging upperclassmen, recruiting volunteers, and more. They also attended Reconciliation and were inspired by the Holy Spirit to come back to Brecksville to lead teenagers closer to Christ.
• Our weekly Wednesday Prayer Group prayed in thanksgiving to God for everything we asked for and received but forgot to thank Him for. We also discussed a wide range of other issues, including Heaven, miracles, and the question, "Are you a better person than you were a year ago? -- Provide examples."
• Steubenville - We teamed up with St. Michael's church to take 30 people to the Franciscan University of Steubenville for a weekend retreat. 2,000 teens were there. Inspiring talks, Mass, and Eucharistic Adoration all made this a powerful encounter with the Living God. The teens who go on this trip often become the leaders in Life Teen.

2. Life Teen this month

• Appalachia Service Project (ASP) - July 5-11 - We are taking 35 teens and 14 chaperones to Kentucky to make homes warmer, safer, and drier for the poor residents of Breathitt County. Pray for our teens as they follow the example of Christ Himself.
• July 19th - Sports Night after the Life Teen Mass, 6:30-8 pm. All high schoolers welcome.
• Catholic Heart Workcamp (CHWC) - July 19-24 - We're taking 32 teens and 7 chaperones to serve the poor of Pittsburgh by working at shelters and the homes of the elderly and disabled. Pray also for these disciples as they witness to the love of Christ.

3. A few victories for God

• 3 Core members members picked up and drove to Steubenville one Saturday for a Festival of Praise and Worship
• Working with the teens has given one of our Core members a lot of hope in a world that appears hopeless
• A teen told one of our Core members that LT is the thing she looks forward to most out of the week

4. Parent website of the month - www.usccb.org - The U.S. Bishops website. Get Catholic news, learn the Church's position on Euthanasia, Stem cells, Capital punishment, Cloning, Contraception, Social Justice, and more. Don't settle for someone else's interpretation of what the Church thinks -- Go straight to the source! Find the daily readings, the whole Bible and Catechism online, and listen to Catholic podcasts.

5. Please support our teens with prayer and through the monthly Life Teen envelope. Our ministry of leading teens closer to Christ can't be accomplished without your help and generosity!

St. Basil Life Teen Parent News - June Edition

1. Life Teen last month

• Senior Sendoff - We wished our seniors well individually, showed pictures of them through the years, and gave them a wall cross with Scripture on it for their dorm room. Then, we played outside.
• Sports Night - Although we are not running life nights throughout the summer, we are still getting together for events like Sports Nights (just playing games with good friends), and of course Prayer Group (PG) runs every Wednesday all year round.
• At our weekly Prayer Group/Bible Study/Current Event Discussion we talked about President Obama at ND, Same-sex marriage, and research revealing that above $50,000/year, money has no positive effect on happiness.
• We took 25 adults and teens to see a docudrama, The Human Experience, at its only showing in Cleveland. This winner of 18 film festival awards was made by several young Catholic men who search to answer the questions: Who am I? Who is Man? Why do we search for meaning? They spent a week living with the homeless in NYC, went to an orphanage for disabled children in Peru, and visited a leper colony in Ghana. It was a powerful film.
• 8th Grade Welcome - We welcomed the incoming freshmen and their parents into Life Teen. The students had a life night and learned about the kinds of topics and activities we do in LT, and parents learned about what LT is, how it runs, the benefits, and how they can get involved to help the ministry grow to lead teenagers closer to Christ. INCOMING FRESHMEN ARE INVITED TO ALL LIFE TEEN SUMMER ACTIVITIES - from Sports Nights to PG to Guys' and Girls' Nights Out, The FEST, etc.

2. Life Teen this month

• Several Core members are heading out to Arizona to receive training at the national Life Teen Conference. They will attend practical workshops, but also be renewed and refreshed in the Spirit by getting a vision of what Youth Ministry can and should be.
• Prayer Group every Wednesday, 7:30-8:30 p.m. in the parish office.
• Steubenville - We'll be taking a dozen teenagers to a weekend-long retreat at the Franciscan University of Steubenville. Hearts get transformed for God. This retreat's spots fill up quickly, so get your teen in soon next year. The teens who go on this usually become our teen leaders.

3. A Few Victories for God

• A teen told one of our Core members that the retreat was the first time she realized the importance of having a relationship with God.
• After fighting and losing friendship, two teens forgave each other during the girl breakout at the retreat and are now friends again.

4. Parent Website of the month - http://www.cpyu.org/
The Center for Parent/Youth Understanding is a nonprofit org committed to building strong families by serving to bridge the cultural-generational gap between parents and teenagers. Learn about the #1 song, the #1 movie, the #1 book, and the #1 video games your teens are interested in. It helps keep parents up to date on the latest youth culture news and information. Parents can now understand teenagers and their culture so that they will be better equipped to help them navigate the challenging world of adolescence. Who are the media role models your teens are looking up to?

5. Please support our teens with prayer and through the monthly Life Teen envelope. Our ministry of leading teens closer to Christ can't be accomplished without your help and generosity!

St. Basil Life Teen Parent News - May Edition

1. Life Teen last month

• We had a life night on the four marks of the Church - One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic. We brought meaning to these terms we say every Sunday in the Nicene Creed at Mass.
• Our life night on hypocrisy showed the humanity and divinity of the Church. While people in the Church will always be sinners (which is why we need the Church), the Church will never lead us astray when it comes to faith or morals.
• Our pro-life Life Night was fashioned around a few clips from the recent movie Horton Hears a Who, the Dr. Seuss classic. The points came across strong that "a person is a person, no matter how small." We prayed for the unborn and encouraged the teens to be loving and supportive of anyone who has had an abortion in the past to bring them back to reconciliation with the Church.
• On Good Friday over 60 of our high schoolers put on the Living Stations of the Cross for a packed church. If you've never seen it, come next year, but come early if you want a seat.
• One of our weekly Wednesday Prayer Group meetings focused on thinking through the issue of same-sex marriage.
• Confirmation for our 10th graders took place on April 24th with Bishop A. James Quinn. There were 134 teens and 5 adults sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit.

2. Life Teen this month

• Our last life night of the semester is on May 3rd, which includes wishing our seniors farewell. We will have many summer activities planned, so watch http://www.basilteen.com/ for the details.
• A police officer will speak at St. Basil's on May 5th at 6 p.m. to parents regarding the dangers of hosting events with underage drinking.
• Welcome graduating 8th graders and parents! We will have a Life Night just for 8th graders on May 31st, after the LT Mass, 6:30-8 p.m. Our incoming freshmen will be welcomed into the Life Teen family in the Parish Center, while the parents can learn all about the program in the Family Life Center.
• Our weekly Prayer Group and Bible Study will continue throughout the summer, every Wednesday, 7:30-8:30 p.m.

3. A few victories for God

• A memorable event on Spring retreat: the girls got together and prayed the rosary before bed.
• "A teen invited me to the Living Stations on Good Friday, and really wanted me to come, not because they are in it, but because its such a powerful reenactment of what Jesus went through and they wanted me to experience it." - LT Core member
• The number of teens who attend Wednesday night Mass is growing. More and more are showing up early for Eucharistic Adoration.

4. Parent Website of the month
http://www.basilteen.com/ - we made it easier to get to our main Life Teen site. It's shorter and easier to remember - basilteen.com - find ways to get involved, learn about service projects, download permission slips, and find the calendar of events.

5. Please support our teens with prayer and through the monthly Life Teen envelope. Our ministry of leading teens closer to Christ can't be accomplished without your help and generosity!

St. Basil Life Teen Parent News - April Edition

1. What is this blog?

• This is a place for parents and other interested parishioners to stay up to date about what is going on in Life Teen at St. Basil's. Find out what your teen is up to, what they are learning, and where you can get involved. We hope this will give you the opportunity to get more involved in the faith life of your teenager, and perhaps spark good discussions. We will also provide resources to you for parenting and your own faith development. As always, the most life teen information can be found on our life teen website, www.basilthegreat.org/lifeteen.

2. Life Teen last month

• Our weekend retreat had 125 teens. It was focused on St. Paul's conversion and journey. We discussed our own faith journeys, discussed the role of suffering in the Christian life, went to Reconciliation, and had a ton of fun.


• We had a life night on the Teaching Authority of the Catholic Church - although some of the lower levels of church teaching can change, some things never will. The Church is our steady rock through all the ages, especially amidst growing moral relativism.


• We had a life night on Euthanasia - We hold highly the dignity of every human life. It is immoral to purposely take the life of another person.


• We had a social which was an improv comedy night to build community and form friendships. Many teens today have friends who do not share their values, so it is important to give them that support network by establishing friendships at church.

3. Life Teen this month

• We will have life nights on the four marks of the Church, the humanity and divinity of the Church, and a pro-life life night.


• There will be no Life Teen Mass or life night on Easter Sunday


• Confirmation is April 24th.


• Our last life night is on May 3rd.
  
• An officer will speak at St. Basil's on May 5th at 6 p.m. to parents regarding the dangers of hosting events with underage drinking.

4. A few victories for God

• Things our teens are doing for Lent, in their own words: "praying before meals, giving up TV, giving up the internet, giving up complaining, praying for 15 minutes every day, working on my lack of discipline, spending more time with my sister, be nicer to mom & dad, take down the wall I have built up inside of me out of fear."

5. Parent Website of the month

• www.basilthegreat.org/lifeteen - our main Life Teen site with detailed info on all that we do. Find ways to get involved, learn about service projects, download permission slips, and find the calendar of events