TOTUS TUUS (Totally Yours) is a fun and energetic parish based summer catechetical program, for both grade school age children and junior and senior high school youth. We gather together college students and seminarians onto teams of four in order to train them and send them out on the road to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ in various parishes throughout the Archdiocese of Omaha. Their youthfulness, energy, and ability to witness to the Faith make our teachers particularly effective with children and young people.
Throughout the years TOTUS TUUS has succeeded in reaching out to children and youth in order to help them know and love the Lord Jesus Christ. 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 grow in the understanding of, and strengthen their faith in, Jesus Christ. It is only by establishing a real and personal relationship with Him who is “the way, the truth, and the life” that we can be led to the love of the Father in the Spirit and so be made sharers in the life of the Holy Trinity, for “no one can come to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).
Totus Tuus seeks to foster openness to vocations in both the young people we serve and the team members. This is accomplished by placing special emphasis on the importance and necessity of prayer, Eucharistic devotion, and Marian devotion, in addition to catechetical instruction and formation in the Catholic faith.
High School and Junior High Summer Conferences
The team serves for a week in each parish by putting on a program Sunday-Thursday from 7:00-9:00 p.m. for high school and junior high youth. Our goal is to put the youth in contact with the Lord so that they can develop a deep personal relationship with Him. To this end, we have a night of Adoration and the opportunity for the Sacrament of Reconciliation, catechetical instruction on topics important to young people, and a night of fellowship with the team members.
Grade School Summer Conferences
The teams also present a grade school program (grades 1-6) that runs Monday-Friday from 9:00 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. Our time is spent on catechetical instruction, songs, games, daily Mass, the opportunity for the Sacrament of Reconciliation, lunch, recess and more! The week ends with a large water fight with the children in celebration for the week. The focus is on imparting an understanding and love of the Eucharist, devotion to Mary, catechetical instruction, vocational discernment, and providing an enjoyable experience.
The team also enjoys getting to know the parish and its members. In order to do this, they stay with families of the parish, eat with different families throughout the week and invite the entire parish to a “potluck” dinner on Wednesday night.
