Director of Youth and Young Adult Ministry

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Director of Youth and Young Adult Ministry

Function: To form and inspire parish youth and young adult leaders, youth, and young adults to know and love Jesus and one another, to grow in the Catholic Faith and to evangelize, and to provide training, support and resources in the diocese for youth and young adult ministry. Click here for a full job description.

Qualifications: Practicing Catholic, with a personal relationship with Jesus, a love for the Catholic Faith, a Catholic Worldview, and a passion for sharing the Faith with others; Bachelor’s degree, preferably in theology, catechetics, or related field with a sound Catholic theology. Prior experience in parish youth ministry preferred. Understands, supports and articulates the Catholic Faith as taught by the Church. Love of youth and understanding of the developmental stages of middle and high school youth and young adults. Must have excellent organizational, communication, and leadership skills, and ability to relate to pastors, adult youth ministers, youth, and young adults. Requires energy and willingness to travel throughout the diocese, including some weekend and evening work. 

Click here for an application 

Interested individuals should submit via e-mail or regular mail, a letter of application along with their resume listing three professional references and a completed application form to: msimonson@diorc.org or Office of the Chancellor, Diocese of Rapid City, 606 Cathedral Drive, Rapid City SD 57701.

The Diocese of Rapid City offers a competitive salary and benefits package.

July 2018 West River Catholic

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Plainview church serves 100 years

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Bishop Robert Gruss will celebrate Mass at Our Lady of Victory Church, Plainview, on July 29, at 2 p.m. to commemorate the church’s centennial. Parish pastor, Fr. Janusz Korban of Faith, will concelebrate.

It was the first church built in rural Eastern Meade County and was dedicated by Bishop John Lawler on November 23, 1918.

On June 7, 2018, the Presbyteral Council for the Diocese of Rapid City recommended the church be canonically closed and the final regularly scheduled Mass was celebrated on June 24. An official decree regarding the closing of the parish is expected to run in the August issue of the West River Catholic.

According to a diocesan archive article written by the late Isabell King, of Sturgis, the land for the parish and rectory was donated by Tony Kovarik from his 1908 homestead. Construction started in 1917 and was completed in 1918. The first contribution of $500 came from Catholic Extension Society and was attributed to an anonymous donor. Pat Dewey, who did not own a wagon or buggy, went from farm to farm with a cultivator collecting money to build the new church.

Parishioners suffered a setback when their contractor ran off with part of the money collected for construction. They raised more money by holding card parties and other social events. Another carpenter was hired, and plastering, painting and a heating furnace were donated for the building. In her account, King said, “The ceiling was so high that heat rose to the top and stayed there, while the congregation was shivering and shaking.”

The first recorded pastor was Fr. Henry McRory who came from New York City. He lived with area families until the buildings were finished. In 1934, the rectory was sold, and the church became a mission parish served by St. Joseph Church, Faith. It has been served by Faith since then.

Cathedral will host ‘Padre Pio’ relics for veneration

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Through the work of the St. Pio Foundation, authentic relics of St. Pio of Pietrelcina have traveled throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico. By invitation of Bishop Robert Gruss on Friday, September 28 and Saturday, September 29, they will be at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Rapid City. The Diocese of Rapid City is one of 40 places in the U.S. to host the relics for veneration this year.

Francesco Forgione was born May 25, 1887, in Pietrelcina, Italy. By age 10 he expressed his desire to become a priest. At age 15 he joined the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin and took the name Pio in honor of St. Pius V. August 10, 1910, he was ordained a priest. A month later, he said, while praying Jesus and Mary appeared to him and gave him the

stigmata or wounds of Christ. While praying for an end to World War I, he said Christ appeared and pierced his side. As a result, he suffered in poor health for much of his life.

Padre Pio was highly sought after as a spiritual director and confessor. Supernatural occurrences were also attributed to him. His popularity was a source of concern for his religious order and the Holy See. They restricted much of his ministry during his lifetime. He died September 23, 1968, and was canonized June 16, 2002, by Pope John Paul II. His feast day is September 23. St. Pio is the patron saint of civil defense volunteers, adolescents and the village of Pietrelcina.

Luciano Lamonarca, president and CEO of the St. Pio Foundation said in a letter, “I wish to extend our gratitude to you for your support of this pilgrimage of the relics of Padre Pio. Offering such an opportunity to the many thousands of faithful of the diocese and its neighboring dioceses requires much cooperative planning and effort on the part of both the St. Pio Foundation and the diocese.

“From the outset, the St. Pio Foundation decided to bring the relics of St. Pio to any diocese that would request them, whether large or small. A recent survey brought to our attention that at least 90 percent of those attending the veneration of the relics have never visited nor will be able to visit Pietrelcina nor San Giovanni Rotondo where the shrine of St. Pio is in Italy.”

Deacon Greg Kandra, the honorary advocate for the foundation, from New Rochelle, New York, said, “I’m sure you can appreciate that the hosting of these relics is a singular and even historic moment that can only help to inspire the faithful and offer many spiritual riches.”

Preliminary plans include Mass with Bishop Robert Gruss, veneration and reconciliation. When the schedule is finalized it will be published in the West River Catholic.

Join us, success can come through prayers

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By Fr. Mark McCormick, Director of Vocations

& Shawna Hanson, Director of Stewardship

 

“If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you.” John 15:7

 

“Ask and it will be given you; seek and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you.” Matthew 7:7

 

Sometimes we think we read over these words of Jesus without really allowing them to sink into our minds and hearts. Do we truly believe that this is true?  And if so, do we act out of that truth? Fr. Mark shared with me recently, “Sometimes I just don’t think we take this seriously and become a beggar in prayer before the Lord.” Over the next couple of months, we are encouraging everyone to practice being a beggar before the Lord in a very particular way. In mid-June, 60 people from around the diocese joined the Office of Stewardship for a day-and-a-half training conducted by Chris Stewart and Tony Brandt of Casting Nets Ministries. At that training, we explored the diocesan Core Value of Prayer as well as the power of Invitation (one of the aspects of Generous Hospitality). And we were inspired to use what we were learning to help work and pray for the success of the 2018 Stewardship Summit. This year’s Summit is an evangelistic event designed to help and foster an encounter with the living person of Jesus and the Holy Spirit in a new way in people’s lives. We are committed to praying as many Memorares as possible between now and September for the success of this event. In Tony’s words, “a plethora.”

Why the Memorare? As we bring our desires before the Lord, who better than Mary to stand beside us and add her own intercession? The Memorare also has a long history in the church, dating back to the 15th century. St. Francis DeSales, a saint from the 16th century, prayed it daily and credited the Blessed Virgin with saving him from falling into despair or heresy during a very difficult time in the church. Another priest from about the same time, Fr. Claude Bernard, is well known for his promotion of the prayer. He credited his miraculous healing to the prayer and then printed over 200,000 leaflets containing the Memorare and distributed them widely. In more recent times, St. Teresa of Calcutta was an advocate of the prayer, often using it when she faced an emergency situation and most needed a miracle. Steven Minnis, President of Benedictine College in Atchison, Kan., is convinced Our Lady has blessed the school many times through this prayer. In 2007, when enrollment was dropping, he employed the Memorare Army to pray that more students be given the experience of a Benedictine College education. After the 30 members prayed over 1200 Memorares apiece, 1232 full-time undergraduate students enrolled for the fall. He also credits the school’s Memorare Army with assisting with many of the building projects undertaken in recent years.

Will you join us in praying 10 Memorares each day for the intentions of:

Bringing those the Lord desires to this year’s Summit
The successful planning of all of elements of the Summit
The speakers who will share their inspirational stories
An outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon all who will come

 

‘Together, we will leave a wonderful legacy for those who follow’

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Most people do not think about leaving a legacy. Perhaps it is because we think legacies are for people with a lot of money or cultural clout, for people who are famous or who have done significant things in their lives.  “How can someone as simple and small like me leave any type of legacy?” we think.

But Jesus did not fit into any of those categories. He was a humble, dependent, faithful and compassionate man, seeking to do the Father’s will, sharing the Father’s love, rejected by many people, willing to suffer and die for humankind, yet the legacy he left has continued for more than two thousand years.

Materially, Jesus left nothing. He left no widow, and no children. He gave away practically everything he had during the course of his life and was stripped of everything left when he died. Yet, Jesus left a greater inheritance than anyone in human history.  He passed it on to eleven fearful apostles who became empowered through the gift of the Holy Spirit and then they carried this legacy into their future. Because of those humble and challenging beginnings, even today, we still draw on that legacy and always will.

Jesus’ legacy has been given to each one of us to carry forward. Like the first disciples, each of us is called into the mission field to proclaim Christ crucified and risen, “living the mission of Jesus Christ, leading to eternal life.” Christ’s mission has been given to each of us in baptism and strengthened again through the Sacrament of Confirmation. The Lord has promised to “be with us always” (Mt 28:20) never depriving us of the help necessary to carry out that which has been entrusted to us.

The mission statement of the Diocese clearly reflects this:

We, the Diocese of Rapid City, through the power of the Holy Spirit, are called to attract and form intentional disciples who joyfully, boldly and lovingly proclaim and live the mission of Jesus Christ, leading to eternal life.

Each of us must answer our call to evangelize, to share the Gospel so that Jesus’ mission is lived in our own time and for generations to come.

The vision of the Diocese of Rapid City expressed in the Priority Plan also echoes the vision of Jesus and his public ministry. Recall our vision statement:

Reconcile – Make Disciples – Live the Mission. Our vision statement provides the window in which we see our mission. These identifying marks — Reconcile – Make Disciples – Live the Mission — are the foundation stones for moving the diocese forward in the future.

As you will read on pages 1 and 2 in this edition of the West River Catholic, the diocese is embarking upon a capital campaign to assist in the work of carrying forward the legacy of Jesus into our future. To reflect this, the campaign has been entitled: Living the Mission — A Legacy of Faith, A Legacy of Giving. 

Living the Mission invites each of us to personally take up the mission of Jesus, leaving our own legacy of faith and a legacy of giving in response to our call to discipleship. Living the Mission as outlined in the Vision Statement in the Priority Plan is not a project to complete but an ongoing way of discipleship. It is also reflected through the Living the Mission — A Legacy of Faith, A Legacy of Giving campaign whereby our generosity offers us the hope of continuing the mission of Jesus in the Diocese of Rapid City and the Rapid City Catholic School System for years to come by meeting current pressing needs.

The goal of the Living the Mission campaign is $12,000,000 to support a new Pastoral Center, the Priests’ Pension Plan, Native American Ministry, the RCCSS Endowment and a new cafeteria and kitchen at St. Thomas More High School. Again, on pages 1 and 2, more information about these goals can be found. These current needs, as well as future needs not described here, were developed through a comprehensive master plan- ning process completed in June 2017.

Living the Mission — A Legacy of Faith, A Legacy of Giving provides the people of the Diocese of Rapid City a real opportunity to not only carry forward the legacy of Jesus, but to leave our own legacy for generations to come just as those before us have done. This legacy of faith and generosity has been the hallmark of the diocese for generations.

I hope that you will join me in continuing this holy tradition following in the footsteps of our Master, who not only showed us the way, but taught us the way. Together, we will leave a wonderful legacy for those who follow us and the mission of Jesus can become more fully present among us, all across the diocese.

May Christ’s peace, love, joy, and faith reign in our hearts.

Black Elk, Servant of God

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