Annual Theme

This year's theme for the Office of Youth, Campus, and Young Adult Ministries in the Catholic Diocese of Arlington is “Walk humbly with your God.”  We are excited to use this theme because it is the episcopal motto of our new bishop, Bishop Michael F. Burbidge, who was installed as the fourth bishop of the Diocese of Arlington on December 6, 2016.

This quote from Scripture (Micah 6:8) has always been a favorite of Bishop Burbidge and was printed on the back of the Mass card from his first Mass after his priestly ordination. These instructions to “do justice and to love goodness, and to walk humbly with your God” are given in response to the people of Israel asking how to re-establish their broken relationship with the Lord. These are the basic instructions which allow us to see who we are in God’s sight.

When we “walk humbly with our God,” we must recognize that the greatest example to follow is that of Jesus Christ. While he has endowed each of us with many gifts and talents, true humility would be using these not for our own pride and personal gain, but to give glory to God.

In youth, campus, and young adult ministry, we exercise the “art of accompaniment” as we journey alongside those to whom we minister in their walk with Christ. As Pope Francis tells us in Evangelii Gaudium, “the pace of this accompaniment must be steady and reassuring.” On this journey we recognize that we walk humbly, it is not a sprint.  We are on a daily, steady pilgrimage towards the Kingdom of God. 

The crown in the artwork for this theme represents both Christ our King and Christ crucified. Perhaps the greatest act of humility in the history of the world is our God, the King of the Universe, coming to us as a child…a child destined to suffer and die for His own creation.

Within the artwork, a map can be seen in the word “Humbly.” A map is symbolic of a journey and is meant to represent the walking pilgrimage that we are all called to. The map is of the city of Arlington which includes the area where the Cathedral of St. Thomas More is located. The Cathedral is the principal church of the Diocese and the seat of Bishop Burbidge.  

We will use this theme throughout all of our event programming in the coming school year. Bishop Burbidge will speak to this theme at each of the events he attends. We encourage all youth, campus, and young adult ministries to break open this theme throughout your programming which will connect your ministries with those of the diocesan church.

“You have been told, O mortal, what is good, and what the LORD requires of you: Only to do justice and to love goodness, and to walk humbly with your God.” – Micah 6:8

“In our world, ordained ministers and other pastoral workers can make present the fragrance of Christ’s closeness and his personal gaze. The Church will have to initiate everyone – priests, religious and laity – into this “art of accompaniment” which teaches us to remove our sandals before the sacred ground of the other (cf. Ex 3:5). The pace of this accompaniment must be steady and reassuring, reflecting our closeness and our compassionate gaze which also heals, liberates and encourages growth in the Christian life.” – Evangelii Gaudium, 169

If you would like copies of this image for your youth, campus, or young adult ministry, please email April with your request and a brief description of how you plan to use the logo

Post Card Resource

“It is impossible to grasp the concept of evangelization unless one tries to keep in view all its essential elements.” - EN 17

In order to assist you with understanding the Church’s language about the process of evangelization as well as contemporary verbiage we have provided a post card with what we hope will be some helpful visuals. Special thanks to the Diocese of Sioux Falls for the idea. See below for details.

front of card

This graphic illustrates the process of evangelization as described in ecclesial documents. We have also provided you with references to these documents that will help explain the individual steps in greater detail.

EN – Evangelii Nuntiandi – Paul VI

RM – Redemptoris Missio – John Paul II 

CT – Catechesi Tradendae – John Paul II 

GDC – General Directory for Catechesis – Congregation for Clergy 

back of card

The Five Thresholds of Conversion are the five steps that every person goes through on the path to discipleship as Sherry Weddell describes in her popular book, Forming Intentional Disciples. These steps are based on Doug Schaupp’s work in evangelization at UCLA. For a very informative description of these five steps please watch this short video by Fr. Robert Barron.

The Pyramid of Spiritual Commitment: Duffy Robins describes a typical youth ministry program as a “mixed bag of kids whose commitments are all over the place.” The Pyramid of Spiritual Commitment provides an illustration of this point. In his book Building a Youth Ministry that Builds Disciples he details what all of these spiritual commitments look like and later helps the reader understand what they can do to help teens move forward in their spiritual commitments.

The Four Earmarks of Discipleship are described in an article by Greg Ogden entitled, Making Disciples Jesus’ Way: A Few at a Time. In this article he discusses his observations on the necessary components for building true and lasting disciples. In this article he asserts that disciples are made in relationship, not programs. He goes on to outline four earmarks or hallmarks of how a disciple relationship differs from a program. We especially like that he outlines a way to do this most effectively in small groups and not in a one-on-one relationship. The full article can be downloaded here.

Downloads

If you are interested in reproducing this postcard for your youth ministry program we have provided two versions for your convenience. The first is a pdf you can download and send to a printer to print your own copies of the postcard or you can download an 8.5 x 11 version that can easily be printed at your home or office.

If you have any questions on downloading or printing this resource please contact the Office of Youth Ministry at 703-841-2559.