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TOTUS TUUS
"Totally Yours"
TOTUS TUUS is a Catholic youth program dedicated to sharing the Gospel and promoting the Catholic faith through catechesis, evangelization, Christian witness, and Eucharistic worship. The goal of TOTUS TUUS is to help young people develop their relationship with Jesus Christ so that there is an intimate friendship whereby he may lead them to the Father in the Holy Spirit. To accomplish this, we emphasize a devotion and love for our Lord in the Eucharist and for Mary our Mother. We strive to help young people to understand their faith through catechesis so that they may live it in today’s world. We do this in such a way that it is fun for both teachers and youth alike. A TOTUS TUUS teacher helps to make the faith real to the youth as a way of life and love and not simply a set of rules and obligations.
The program calls upon college students and seminarians from across the United States to carry out this mission. Those hired are trained and put onto teams of four (two men and two women) to go out into a parish for a week, putting on a "parish mission" in order to teach the faith and inspire the young. They do this for seven weeks. In addition to trying to communicate our faith and translate that into daily life, we also strive to foster Christian vocations. It is our firm belief that vocations, callings from God, can only be heard and responded to if one is living a Christian life. We strive to foster this, first and foremost, in our teachers by providing them with an understanding of the faith, a strong prayer life, and an opportunity to witness to their faith. The teachers sign a “covenant” in which they promise to be open to God’s will for them and to actively discern it. Because the teachers are striving to live an authentic Christian life and are actively discerning their vocation, they can better help the youth to do the same.
TOTUS TUUS is Latin for “Totally Yours” and was the motto of Pope John Paul II. Taken From
St. Louis de Montfort’s great work, True Devotion to Mary, it represents our desire to give ourselves entirely to Jesus Christ through the hands of His Immaculate Mother. TOTUS TUUS, then, reminds us of the tremendous and sometimes difficult call to spend ourselves for Christ while relying on the intercession of His Mother, and to preach the gospel to all nations.
This challenge to be TOTUS TUUS is accepted with great joy! The teams come to know and love the vitality, faith, and courage of all the youth they encounter. The youth are seeking not just role models, but HEROES who are striving to live and proclaim, “Lord, I will be totally yours”. With joy and honor, TOTUS TUUS serves these youth and shares with them the blessings that God has given them. Therefore, the teachers dedicate their summers entirely to the youth, leading the youth of our Church through the New Millennium.
TOTUS TUUS is very proud to celebrate Twenty Two years of teaching thousands of youth. This program was founded in Wichita, Kansas and is continuing to spread across the country. It has been in the Duluth Diocese since 2007. The foundation behind what is taught is formed by an authentic catechesis, which is an orderly and systematic initiation into, and explanation of the revelation that God has given of Himself to humanity in Jesus Christ. This revelation, stored in the depths of the Catholic Church’s Sacred Tradition and in Sacred Scripture, is constantly communicated from one generation to the next by a living, active tradition.
The methodology, structure, content, and enthusiasm of TOTUS TUUS are concerned not only with teaching the faith but also setting it on fire within the hearts and lives of our young people.
If you would like to be part of a team or have a team come to your parish - or just more information please contact:
Shawna Hansen, secretary
Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry
at
shansen@dioceseduluth.org
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