2025-26 Annual Theme

“Call upon the Lord,” the annual theme chosen by the Office of Youth, Campus, and Young Adult Ministries for this year of ministry, is rooted in the wisdom of St. Augustine who wrote in his Confessions, “Calling upon you is an act of believing in you.” Pope Leo XIV referenced these words in his dialogue with the young people gathered at the vigil during the 2025 Jubilee of Young People, and they are a great command for all of us as we head into this next year of ministry. Being from the Order of St. Augustine, Pope Leo frequently quotes him in his homilies and addresses. This specific quote reminds us that prayer is not simply a set of words that we recite, but a bold act of faith. When we turn to God in prayer, we proclaim with our hearts that he is real, he is near, and he is listening. To pray is to place our trust in the One who created us, loves us, and longs to walk with us in every season of life.

St. Augustine knew the struggles of distraction, doubt, and sin. The Confessions of St. Augustine is the testimony of a restless heart searching for God. In prayer, St. Augustine discovered that God was not far away, but closer than he ever imagined. When we “call upon the Lord,” we step into that same relationship: choosing to believe, even in our weakness, that God is faithful and present.

This theme encourages us to make daily prayer the foundation of our lives. Just as we call upon friends or family when we need support or encouragement, or when we want them to share in our joys and sorrows, so too are we invited to call upon the Lord in every circumstance. Prayer can be as simple as a cry for help, a whisper of gratitude, or a moment of silent trust. What matters is not the length of our words, but the faith behind them.

As disciples, we are called to build the habit of prayer each day, not only at Mass or in moments of crisis, but in the ordinary rhythm of our lives. When we wake up, before we begin our work or studies, while spending time with friends, and as we lay down to rest, we can invite God into our hearts with a simple prayer. Every time we do, we echo St. Augustine’s truth: “Calling upon you is an act of believing in you.”

For young people, this can mean pausing before a big test to ask for courage and focus, thanking God for a good practice or game, or silently calling upon him when facing peer pressure or difficult choices. It can be offering a quick prayer before meals, listening to Christian music that lifts the heart to God, or journaling a conversation with him at night. Prayer does not need to be complicated; God simply asks us to call out to him and let him be part of our daily lives.

The theme artwork depicts a boat sailing through rough seas to signify that no matter what storms we encounter in life, we can call out to Christ. He, “whom even the winds and the sea obey” (Matthew 8:27), is always present in our lives and eagerly awaits our calling out to him in prayer. This scene is set inside a stained glass window as a representation of spending time with Christ in prayer, which often takes place inside a church. We chose earth tones for the color scheme for this artwork, with the yellow most prominent as an homage to Pope Leo, corresponding with the yellow in the Vatican flag.

This year, let us grow together as a community of prayer, trusting that when we call upon the Lord, he hears us, he strengthens us, and he leads us closer to his heart.

Use of the annual theme in your ministry is encouraged! If you would like high resolution theme images for your ministry, please contact us at [email protected].

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, Campus, and Young Adult Ministries at 703-841-2559.