Center for Catholic Education at UD

By Karin Forsthoefel and Victoria Schoen

Dioceses around the country have been running the Totus Tuus program for many years, and more dioceses are adopting the program. The Diocese of Springfield will be running the program for its 8th year this summer.

This year’s theme is Prayer and the Our Father. The Totus Tuus program runs on a six year cycle, and each year the program covers material from the Catechism of the Catholic Church. This is the last year in the cycle, so we will be covering the last section of the Catechism on prayer.

For ten days, we will be training and getting to know our fellow staff members. We will be learning the course material at an advanced level, but also we will be learning how to present this material to children of different age groups.

After training, we will travel each week to a different parish in the area to present the program. In the mornings, we will teach children in 1st through 6th grade, and in the evenings we will teach junior high and high school students. We will be performing skits, giving witness talks, presenting lessons, and practicing prayer.

Along with teaching, we will commit to focusing on prayer on a deeper level with our team. We will gather for Liturgy of the Hours morning, evening, and night prayer, as well as attending daily Mass, weekly Adoration, and Reconciliation.

Through this experience, we hope to gain a deeper and more devoted prayer life. We also hope to gain knowledge about the teachings of the Catholic Church and confidence presenting that material to people with many different levels of understanding. We are also excited to gain much teaching experience for our future careers as Catholic educators. We hope to form new relationships with our team members, the students to whom we minister, and the parish host families with whom we will be staying throughout our travels.

Please pray for our ministry this summer and for all those participating in Totus Tuus programs throughout our country. Keep checking our blog for more posts and reflections about our experience!

Written by: Karin Forsthoefel and Victoria Schoen

Edited by: Emily Ely