IGNITING FAITH

FacetoFace Ministries programs reach out to Catholic youth

Jon Courchene and his team ministered to 27,000 Catholic youth last year. Courchene is executive director of FacetoFace Ministries, a ministry that reaches out to Catholic youth across Western Canada.

The ministry had its beginnings in 1999, when a parish youth minister, Ken Yasinski, organized a weekend retreat at St. Walburg. The retreat went well and Yasinski was invited to hold similar retreats in other locations. By 2003, he was doing it full time as FacetoFace Ministries.

Courchene first heard about the organization when his parents urged him to attend a FacetoFace retreat.

“I brushed them off,” he says, “but in 2005, I became a parish minister and learned that a FacetoFace retreat was booked for my area. I saw immediately it was a legitimate ministry the Lord was using. I was very impressed with the team that led it, and the retreat, which really kick-started our youth group.”

When Courchene returned to Saskatoon in 2007, he began volunteering with FacetoFace while attending the University of Saskatchewan. He became its executive director in the fall of 2012.

The ministry has always been based out of Saskatoon. In 2006, it received registered charity status, and the following year began branching out with more programs.

One popular program is Ignite Summer Camp, which is held for a week each summer in Bruno at St. Therese Institute of Faith and Mission. About 100 youth come together for the camp that includes three teaching sessions a day along with large group games and prayer.

“Ignite is a chance for youth to grow in their faith,” Courchene says. “Everything we do goes back to our vision: that all people would encounter Christ and embrace the call to be saints. Our mission is to live and proclaim the fullness of the Catholic faith.

“How do we facilitate this? God is always reaching out to us, and we have the opportunity to respond. We try to ‘prime the pump,’ so to speak, by getting kids ready for the encounter, then staying out of the way and letting God do the work.”

The three daily sessions involve praise and worship, hearing a testimony from a volunteer team member and teaching from a guest speaker, plus involvement in small groups to discuss and unpack it all.

Courchene says the week also provides plenty of time for fellowship. “We want youth to connect and grow and see that there’s a bigger church out there than their local community. Often the highlight of the weekend is Eucharistic Adoration, which involves sitting in silence with the Lord.

“We do a good job of explaining it.”

FacetoFace still holds weekend youth retreats, but one of the biggest aspects of the ministry, and the one that keeps staff and volunteers busiest, is school retreats. The team does 80-plus school retreats across Western Canada each year for elementary, junior high and high school students.

Often, Courchene says, they are repeat visits. “A Catholic school division will book us for a whole week and assign us to various schools. In large divisions, we may go to half the schools one year and the other half the next.”

In elementary schools, retreats start with a large group assembly at the beginning of the day, then break into different age-grouped activities, followed by an assembly at the end of the day.

Each year, the ministry chooses a different theme “to get the message across” and gears the talks, games and music to the theme. Last year’s theme was ‘The Moment.’

FacetoFace also runs a bus trip pilgrimage to the United States each year. Students go to Steubenville, Ohio, to a weekend conference run by the Franciscan University of Steubenville. Two thousand Catholic youth hear top speakers and great bands. They also do mission work in soup kitchens or elsewhere to serve people in need.

The biggest event of the year for FacetoFace is the United Conference, which is held in Saskatoon in November. This is a youth conference with an adult track. It draws about 350 people.

“The conference is youth-focused, but we had so many parents saying, ‘My kid’s been transformed. How can I get that, too?’ that we’ve opened it to adults,” Courchene says.

Besides four full-time staff, FacetoFace typically employs two summer students to help facilitate the summer program.

“Plus, we have a whole bunch of amazing volunteers.

“An Ignite Camp, for instance, will involve as many as 35 young adults volunteering their time to make a difference in someone else’s life. Most are former campers who want to give back.”

Funding for FacetoFace comes from individuals and a monthly donor base that supplements what isn’t raised through event registration. Courchene says donor giving makes the program affordable for all parishes and schools.

For more information about FacetoFace, visit www.f2f.ca.