High School Youth

General Information for Youth Group Activities
• For information about youth group, contact Deb Malcom at the church office, or call/text 918-408-1144.

• All activities are open to St. Benedict youth AND their Catholic or non-Catholic friends. Youth are always welcome to bring a friend with them to youth group!

• All participants must have a liability form on file with Deb. Liability forms are updated once a year (usually during the summer). Liability forms can be found on the youth table in the Commons, or downloaded from http://www.dioceseoftulsayouth.org/ (click on “Consent Forms”, then Form D).

• We need adult covered volunteers to help at all youth group activities. If you are 18 or over and would like to volunteer, please contact Deb.

High School Youth Group:
Our high school youth group meets on Wednesday nights. Most activities begin around 6:30 p.m., but locations and times can vary depending on the activity. For more details, check the youth calendar on this web page, or call/text Deb. Activities vary between:
• Service projects at Day Center for the Homeless, Birthright of Tulsa, Joy in the Cause, or Catholic Charities,
• Spiritual activities such as Praise Nights or bible study,
• Social activities like lock-ins, swim parties, and “squad wars”

Special Events
• TYME High School Retreat: Every Spring, 9th through 12th-grade youth go to Camp Loughridge in Tulsa for a weekend retreat. Retreat activities include talks, small group discussions, games, canoeing, campfire, Adoration of the Eucharist, Reconciliation, and Mass.

• Shadow Stations of the Cross: Youth read and act out the Stations of the Cross for the parish community on a Friday during Lent.

• Theology of the Body Retreat: A fun and informative retreat based on the teachings of St. John Paul II. All 9th grade RE students are required to attend, but ALL high school youth are welcome to join us.

• Frontier City: On a Wednesday in June or July, our youth travel to Frontier City amusement park in Oklahoma City for a day of fun.

• 30 Hour Famine: Youth take the challenge to go 30 hours without food! During the famine, youth participate in games and activities, service projects, prayer, and Mass.

• DCYC: St. Benedict youth join with youth from around the Tulsa Diocese for DCYC (Discipleship Catholic Youth Conference). Nationally known speakers and musicians, inflatables, Reconciliation, Adoration, and Mass with Bishop Konderla! DCYC is held on a Saturday in October.

Mission Trips:
• Catholic Heart Work Camp: Most summers during June or July, St. Benedict youth travel to a location in the United States to attend CHWC. At CHWC, youth are divided into work groups with youth from around the country and assigned a service site to work at Monday through Thursday during the day. In the evenings, CHWC staff lead games, devotionals, and praise and worship, and priests offer daily Mass, Reconciliation, and Adoration of the Eucharist to our campers. Friday is “free day” to visit a fun site in the area. For more info about CHWC, visit www.heartworkcamp.com.

• Catholic Heart Work Camp: Most summers during June or July, St. Benedict youth travel to a location in the United States to attend CHWC. At CHWC, youth are divided into work groups with youth from around the country and assigned a service site to work at Monday through Thursday during the day. In the evenings, CHWC staff lead games, devotionals, and praise and worship, and priests offer daily Mass, Reconciliation, and Adoration of the Eucharist to our campers. Friday is “free day” to visit a fun site in the area. For more info about CHWC, visit www.heartworkcamp.com.

• Steubenville Mission: St. Benedict youth attend the Steubenville youth conference every summer. For a three or four days before the conference, youth do service work in Springfield, MO., or in another area that is on the way to the conference. For more information about the Steubenville conference, visit www.steubenvilleconferences.com.

• National March for Life: St. Benedict youth travel to Washington, DC with youth from the Diocese of Tulsa to participate in the National March for Life every January.

• Lourdes, France: St. Benedict youth (16 and older) and young adults will travel to Lourdes, France in June 2021. This trip is truly a mission because our group will care for the sick who are making a pilgrimage to Lourdes for ten days while they are there. For more information, visit www.lourdesvolunteers.org.

Fund Raising
Often our high school youth need financial help attending the mission trips and other St. Benedict youth activities. Youth can participate in a variety of fundraisers, including Breakfast Burritos, bake sales, etc. Some fundraisers are reserved specifically for the Lourdes Mission or World Youth Day trips; some of these fundraisers include selling Christmas wreaths, Amish Jam, religious statues, etc.

TYME Leadership Team
St. Benedict juniors and seniors can apply to be part of the TYME team. TYME stands for “Total Youth Ministry Experience”, and its mission is to engage our 5th through 12th-grade youth in catechesis and community. The TYME team plans and facilitates religious education classes for our 5th through 10th-grade students once a semester, as well as a Saturday retreat for 5th/6th graders, a lock-in for 7th/8th graders, and a weekend retreat for high schoolers each year.