Mr. Dean Songy addressing Student Ministers at their workshop.
On Tuesday, July 26 through Friday, July 29, I joined 28 other Student Ministers in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi along with members of different high schools such as Catholic High, St. Scholastica, Vanderbilt, Our Lady Academy, and E.D. White, went to St. Stanislaus for a Student Minister Workshop. Although we all had different experiences throughout the week, we all grew through our time there.
The workshop consisted of different lectures and training sessions about areas like retreat planning, leading small groups, and prayer life, as well as free time in which the members of the workshop all came together for some fun in the sun at the beach. All of these experiences helped me to grow not only as a Student Minister, but also as a person. For example, in my time spent at the presentations about leading small and large groups, I didn’t just gain skills in those areas. I gained skills at leading groups. However, I also gained skills about understanding people and knowing the right thing to say when difficult or awkward situations arise. Also, my faith was strengthened in my time spent in prayer because I learned new ways to pray and connect with God.
During the workshop, each of us was sent to different areas to do service work. The work ranged from cleaning up the beaches to making sandwiches. I was sent to an old folks home to provide any necessary assistance. Most of what we did was merely speak with the elderly in the home. I didn’t think that this would be very effective, but while I spoke to the residents of the home, their faces lit up with joy. The service we did, not only in the old folks home but also in the rest of our work, helped us realize how much giving back to the community can mean to others. The 28 Student Ministers of Brother Martin, as well as the ministry teams from the other schools, formed new bonds and strengthened old ones. That night, all Student Ministers from all the schools experienced a Holy Hour at Our Lady of the Gulf Catholic Church. During the Holy Hour, we had the opportunity to receive the sacrament of reconciliation or just to spend some time with God. To close the workshop, each member of each school returned to his or her committee to fire-up suggestions for the coming school year. To represent this fire, each Student Minister received a candle that was lit by one of the school’s moderators. These new skills, along with the fire we received at the workshop, will help us lead our Brother Martin community to a stronger faith life in the coming year, and hopefully inspire future Student Ministers to do the same.
My most memorable moment from the entire workshop is one that I shared with my fellow Student Ministers. On Thursday night, we had a prayer session in which the Brother Martin students got together and shared some of our deepest wounds. This night brought all of the ideas and skills we had learned in the previous few days together. The intense session of prayer changed my whole view of prayer. I can honestly say that because of this night, I, and I’m sure my fellow Student Ministers will share the sentiment, grew closer to God, cultivated the relationships I have with the other members of the team, and developed my prayer skills to the best they’ve ever been.
2016 Brother Martin Student Ministers
Submitted by Patrick Newburger ’17
