Saint Helena Youth Group

Acts 29: We are the next chapter

“Dear young people, let yourselves be taken over by the light of Christ, and spread that light wherever you are.” – Pope St. John Paul II

Saint Helena Youth Group 2025 Calendar (January – June)

January 12 – Embracing Our Baptismal Call (Lesson on the Baptism of Jesus)

Project: PB&J Sandwiches and brown-bagged lunches for the homeless

This evening, we will reflect on the baptism of Jesus. This event reveals Jesus’ humility, marks the start of his mission, and shows the Trinity. By looking at Jesus’ baptism, we can understand more about our own baptism and the call to serve and love others. Teens are asked to bring a jar of PB or grape jelly or a loaf of bread to make PB&J sandwiches for the homeless.

February 2 – The Presentation: Walking in Faith (Lesson on Candlemas & The Presentation)

Project: Write cards for homebound

The Presentation of the Lord shows us what it means to trust God with our whole lives. Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to the Temple, offering Him to God as the law required. This event also teaches us about offering our own lives to God. Mary and Joseph presented Jesus in the Temple, and we are invited to present our lives to God, too. This doesn’t just mean going to church but offering our hearts, minds, and actions to Him each day. Like them, we are called to be humble, open, and ready to do God’s will. This can mean making sacrifices, choosing what’s right over what’s easy, or simply asking God to lead us. We’ll also write cards and notes for our homebound parishioners to brighten up their winter days.

March 2 – Repent & Believe! (Lesson on Lent)

Project: Pasta Bakes for the Missionaries of Charity

This evening, we’ll read and reflect on the Gospel reading from Mark 1:12-15, which narrates Jesus’ time in the desert and His subsequent message of repentance and belief, and discuss what changes are necessary in our lives to draw closer to Jesus. We’ll emphasize the significance of repentance as not just feeling remorse for wrongdoings but as a sincere commitment to a new way of life rooted in the Gospel. We’ll also challenge each other, as we prepare for Lent, to examine our actions, attitudes, and beliefs in light of God’s unconditional love and the call to live as His beloved children. Our service project this evening will be to bring a donation of pasta and pasta sauce to give to the Missionaries of Charity soup kitchen.

March 30 – The Prodigal Son: Everything He Has is Yours

Project: Easter crafts for the homebound

Tonight, we’ll reflect on the parable of the Prodigal Son. This gospel reading teaches us about freedom, duty, and love. The younger son seeks freedom and wastes his inheritance, while the older son is dutiful but resentful. The father’s generous love and forgiveness reveal that true discipleship requires a loving relationship with God. Without love, both freedom and duty can lead us astray. This lesson will help us to see the importance of balancing freedom and duty with love for God and others. Our service project for this evening will be to create and assemble crafts that will be given to the homebound parishioners for an Easter gift.

April 13 – Palm Sunday: Welcoming Jesus as King

Project: Write letters to priest (Holy Thursday Thank You)

April 27 – Locked Doors Don’t Keep Jesus Away

Project: Divine Mercy chaplet in the chapel

In a locked room, Jesus appeared to his disciples, offering peace and showing his wounds, which brought them joy. He empowered them with the Holy Spirit and the authority to forgive sins. Thomas, absent initially, doubted their testimony. Later, Jesus appeared again, inviting Thomas to touch his wounds, leading to Thomas’ declaration of faith. Jesus blessed future believers who wouldn’t see yet believe. These events were recorded to affirm faith in Jesus as the Christ. This evening, we will head to the chapel to reflect on the Sunday gospel and spend some quiet time with Jesus in the Holy Eucharist.

June 8 – Pentecost Party (and ice cream social)

This evening, we’ll reflect on the great feast of Pentecost, a time to reflect on the Holy Spirit and its impact on the early Church and our lives today. The readings for this Sunday focus on the presence and work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of believers. We’ll pray over and discuss the power and presence of the Holy Spirit in the Church. And, of course, we’ll celebrate the beginning of summer and the end of the school year with a Costco cake and ice cream social!

June 22 – St. John the Baptist Bonfire & BBQ

In honor of St. John the Baptist, we will be having our end-of-the-year celebration and bonfire! St. John the Baptist was a man on fire with the Holy Spirit. His words burned like a furnace, and he feared no one, even the powerful rulers of his day. He called all to repentance without exception, and lightened the way for the messiah like a blazing torch. What better way to commemorate this zealous prophet than with a roaring bonfire? Let us celebrate a great year of youth group by calling to mind St. John’s declaration that, “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30).

Summer schedule will be announced in April!

Thoughts on the youth group…

So, just what exactly IS a youth group? Why would I send my teen to a youth group? Isn’t is just ONE MORE activity in an already jammed-packed schedule? Don’t they get ENOUGH religion at school? All of these are great questions to ask. Before you leave this page, may I invite you to check out this Welcome Letter for an answer? Also – continue reading this page to learn even more.

Our youth group (which we call “Acts 29” – read on to find out why) is open to ALL teens in grades 8 – 12. We meet Sunday evenings (see our schedule below) from 7 – 8:15pm for prayer, games, food, and good and healthy friendships. Led by Christian and Gabrielle Thompson, our youth group is a great place for teens to discover the truths about who they are, who God is, and what is the great plan and potential for a life lived in union to our beautiful and tremendous God!

Why is our group called “Acts 29” – there is only 28 chapters in the Book of Acts. Where is the 29th chapter? It’s us! We are the next chapter. The book of Acts closes with these words about St. Paul: “He received all who came to him, and with complete assurance and without hindrance he proclaimed the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ.” (Acts 28:30-31)

We can do great things when we are in relationship with Jesus. My hope is that all teens who pass through our youth group have an encounter with Jesus, Who will provide them with a true sense of purpose. Through prayer, food, games, and personal interactions, we seek to provide teens with healthy relationships that can build a sense of purpose, from which they can spread the mission of Jesus to all those they meet!

We start by recognizing that we are loved by God and created to be in relationship with Him.

With that truth, we acknowledge that our sin divides us from this communion of love with God. We teach that Jesus “bridges” this divide by dying for each one of us and ransoming us back from death. Finally, we respond to this message with thanksgiving and love by giving our lives over fully to Jesus by building and deepening our personal relationship with Him through the Church, sacraments, and prayer.

Three Goals for our youth ministry (provided by the USCCB)

Empowering young people to live as disciples of Jesus Christ – We seek to empower our youth to live their lives to the fullest potential, which is only done through a relationship with Jesus. A soul in a state of sanctifying grace radiates the love and life of the Holy Trinity. What better way to live! We teach – through example, prayer, and teaching – that all of us, especially our teens, have a particular purpose and reason for being here. One of our goals is to help teens realize that they do have a purpose in life. Most teens don’t believe there is a purpose to their lives. We teach that their purpose that is so much deeper than sports, academics, or friend circles – rather, the true purpose is one that comes from being a beloved child of God. This is how we empower our young people!
Drawing them into responsible participation in the Catholic Church – Why do most Catholics leave the faith after high school? Simple – they are bored. Teens are inundated constantly with fake and inauthentic option (think of Snapchat filters and TikTok influencers). They are craving the true, good, and beautiful. Think about it – when is the last time you saw a teen walking without having their eyes buried in an I-Phone and ears muffled in Airpods and just enjoying the world around them? What is our solution? Simple – offer the Catholic faith authentically and without apology. We don’t need gimmicks or flashy signs to draw teens to the Faith. In fact, they don’t want gimmicks or flash – they get enough of that through social media. In a world where teens are starved for the true and authentic, we just need good ol’ fashioned Catholicism with all its truth, goodness, and beauty. Our youth group seeks to draw teens into responsible participation in the Catholic Church through the Person of Jesus, most especially in the Mass, Eucharistic Adoration, and communal prayer.
Fostering their personal and spiritual growth – a whole teen is a healthy teen. We seek to foster the whole person of the teen by supporting them in their spiritual, emotional, psychological, and physical growth. Let’s face it – being a teen is tough and there are a lot of changes during the teen years. Our youth group offers a space where teens can discover who they are – true, beautiful, and good children of God Who has a specific plan for their lives.