Youth Ministry E-VINE Announcement (April 14, 2014)

Youth Day

Please pass on the following information to your young people that attended Youth Day.

Thank you for supporting Youth Day 2014!

Youth Ministry E-VINE Announcement (March 20, 2014)

Youth Day Thank You and Evaluation

The Youth Day Coordinating Team and the Office of Religious Education would like to say a big THANK YOU for your support of Youth Day 2014 and the Religious Education Congress! The hard work and dedication of over 500 youth and adult volunteers, along with your efforts in the parishes and schools of our Archdiocese (and beyond!) made it possible for 15,000 participants to know they are "Never Alone, Forever Accepted." This great message was also carried around the globe through social media, where #YouthDay2014 actually TRENDED on Twitter! This was only possible with the participation of you and your young people. If you brought a group to Youth Day and have not already done so, please take a few moments to complete the evaluation at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/YouthDay2014. Your feedback helps us to know what we are doing well, and how we can continue to improve the day so that young people have the best experience possible.

Youth Ministry E-VINE Announcement (February 28, 2014)

Youth Day Updates

Special  E-VINE Announcement (February 10, 2014)

 Youth Day – Get Involved in Social Media

The first batch of Youth Day packets were mailed today and will continue to be mailed throughout the week. In the meantime, we invite you to connect with us on Social Media. You can post, tweet, share, like and/or create videos. We look forward to connecting with you online!  Click here to find out how.

Facebook: LAYouthDay
Twitter: @LAYouth Day
Vine: #YouthDay2014
Instagram: #YouthDay2014

Youth Ministry E-VINE (January 31, 2014)

Youth Day and Congress

Youth Day tickets will be mailed out soon, check the website for specific dates. If you still have not registered, don’t delay much longer. We anticipate Youth Day closing very soon and many Congress workshops have already closed.

Youth Ministry E-VINE (January 23, 2014)

Youth Day and Congress

The deadline to register for Youth Day and Congress at the discounted rate has been extended through the weekend – until Monday, January 27th. At that time, fees will increase to: Youth Day - $35 and Congress - $80. Don’t delay much longer and register today!

Youth Ministry E-VINE (January 17, 2014)

Youth Day and Congress

Don’t forget that the registration fees for Youth Day and Congress are scheduled to increase next Wednesday, January 22, 2014. If you have not submitted your registration yet, now is a great time to do so.

Youth Ministry E-VINE (January 9, 2014)

Youth Day Updates

Youth Ministry E-VINE (December 11, 2013)

Youth Day Updates

Youth Day 2014 is JUST 91 days away! Can you believe it? We are busy preparing a great day for you. Please check out the website: archive.recongress.org/yd for more information. Also, don’t forget the Youth Day iPhone App. You can download it directly from our website. Please remember to pass on to the young people of your ministry that there are two great opportunities for them to be directly involved in Youth Day. They can be part of the Arena Choir or they can be an Emcee and introduce speakers at our great day! Just download the registration forms and information from our website and please pass it on to any young person that might be interested! Thank you! – “Never Alone-Forever Accepted.”

Special Youth Ministry E-VINE (December 2, 2013)

New Associate Directors for the Office of Religious Education

Sr. Edith Prendergast has announced two new Associate Directors for the Office of Religious Education. Christina Lamas will be the new Associate Director who will lead the Youth Ministry Team and Paulette Smith, Congress Event Coordinator, has been named an Associate Director as well. These two have served the Office of Religious Education for many years and bring much expertise and wisdom to their positions. Christina will continue to work closely with Katie Zeigler and Heather MacDonald as they all direct the Youth Ministry efforts of our Archdiocese. Congratulations to both Christina and Paulette!

Online Registration for Youth Day and Religious Education Congress

Online registration for Youth Day and the Religious Education Congress has begun! You can find out more information and register at archive.recongress.org/register.htm. Don’t forget that Youth Day is Thursday, March 13, and Congress follows the next three days!

Youth Day iPhone App

Please download our YOUTH DAY iPhone application! It’s a great place to get updated information about our day and to have a chance to win lots of prizes. Please share this information with the young people and adults that are coming to Youth Day with you! You can download the app by clicking on AppStore.com/YouthDay2014.

Youth Ministry E-VINE (November 6, 2013)

Youth Day 2014

Planning for Youth Day 2014 is going great and we wanted to take this opportunity to remind you that you can find all the pertinent information about the day on our website right now. (Note that registration has not begun yet, but you can get a head start by looking at all the speakers and learning about the structure of our day.) Check it out at archive.recongress.org/YD. Don’t let the countdown on that page scare you when you see that there are only 133 days left before Youth Day 2014! Remember this helpful hint: It’s best for you to decide which TRACK you want to attend before registering. There are great benefits to Track 2 and Track 1, so read the materials and see what schedule best works for you! We also show you the readings for the day and our theme “Never Alone – Forever Accepted” and we hope you will share that with your group as you plan for the event.

Parish/School Videos for Youth Day 2014

The team that is planning the Youth Day 2014 Rally wants your group to make a video that could be used at our great event! The team would like any Youth Ministry, Confirmation Program, or Campus Ministry team to submit a 7-10 second video that demonstrates the Youth Day theme “Never Alone – Forever Accepted.” They will consider all the entries and possibly use them during the Rally at Youth Day. Just submit your short video to LAYouthDay14NAFA@gmail.com. We hope lots of groups will take advantage of this GREAT way to be involved in Youth Day. Share your creativity with all those attending Youth Day!

Religious Education Congress Guidebooks

The Registration Guidebooks for the 2014 Los Angeles Religious Education Congress has been mailed out. If you registered for Congress over the past two years you will automatically get a Guidebook. If you have moved or have never been to Congress you can see all of the information online at archive.recongress.org, or you can order one by calling (213) 637-7348. Online registration will begin toward the end of November, but you can mail in your registration form from the Guidebook starting now! Let the fun and games begin. Youth Day registration is now open for “mail in” forms, too.

Youth Day Choir/Musicians Needed

We are looking for young people to be part of the Youth Day choir or a musician for the liturgy at Youth Day. All young people are invited to be part of these groups. Ed Archer, from Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Santa Clarita, will be our music director and will lead this Archdiocesan choir! It’s a great opportunity for young people to share their musical gifts at Youth Day! You can find the flyer for registering to be part of this team on our website at www.archla.org/youth or by contacting Katie Zeigler at kzeigler@la-archdiocese.org. Please share this information with your young people and help us invite them to share their gifts at Youth Day. You can also find information on our website about youth being EMCEES for our great day.

Youth Ministry E-VINE (October 23, 2013)

Youth Day 2014 Youth Emcees

Every year we have a large group of young people that are registered for Youth Day who volunteer to be MCs for our day. They are assigned specific roles for the day and introduce speakers, lead rallies, and much more. Every young person wishing to be an MC MUST attend our audition/training day, which is scheduled for Saturday, January 11, at Holy Family Parish in South Pasadena. A special thanks to Dawn and Frank Ponnet for their incredible help with this part of Youth Day. To register young people for the MC training day please download the flyer from our website.

Adult Volunteers for Youth Day 2014

If you know of adults that are NOT planning to chaperone young people at Youth Day but would still like to be part of the day, we have the perfect role for them! Each year we have about 75 adult volunteers that come to Youth Day and help with crowd control, room directing, bus unloading, and so much more. If you know of any adults that are interested in being part of Youth Day and are not planning to chaperone a group, please direct them to the flyer on our website. Adults that volunteer must have fulfilled their specific diocesan Child Protection guidelines. An adult can check with their specific diocesan Youth Ministry office to find out what procedures are in place.

Youth Day 2014 Outdoor Support

The Youth Day Coordinating Team (YDCT) is presently looking for a parish or school ministry group that might be interested in leading some interactive activities/ entertainment for those people waiting in line for the Arena both before the morning and afternoon sessions. This is in the beginning stages and could be developed by the group that volunteers. It would be beneficial if the group planning this part of our day had young people that have attended our diocesan leadership programs in the past (Christian Leadership Institute or Signed, Anointed to Witness), but is not a requirement. Also, please note that volunteering for this role would mean missing parts of Youth Day, since the group would be busy during most of the day. If you would like to learn more details about this opportunity please contact Christina Lamas at clamas@la-archdiocese.org. There would be some meetings required for the coordinator prior to Youth Day.

2014 Religious Education Congress Registration Guidebook

The Registration Guidebook for the 2014 Religious Education Congress will be mailed out by the first week of November. You can presently review information online at archive.recongress.org. Online registration will begin later in November.

Youth Day 2014 Information Online

Presently, all of the Youth Day information is available for viewing online at archive.recongress.org/yd. You can check out the schedule for the day, see who will be our speakers and musicians, and begin to learn about the different workshops that will be available for your group. Online registration will NOT be available until later in November, but you can get a head start on reading the information. Registration by mail will begin the first week of November when the Registration Guidebooks are mailed out.

Youth Ministry E-VINE (October 16, 2013)

Youth Day 2014 Opportunities

Youth Day 2014 will be on Thursday, March 13! Exactly one year – to the day – when Pope Francis was elected. What a great day to celebrate with 15,000 friends. The Religious Education Congress Registration Guidebooks will be mailed out in a couple of weeks and the online registration process will begin mid-November. As the Youth Day Coordinating Team continues to plan our great event we wanted to remind you of a few ways youth can be involved in our day. We are always looking for youth that would like to be MCs and introduce speakers and we also need youth to be singers or instrumentalists for the choir at Mass. Flyers for these roles, as well as adults that would like to volunteer for our day (and are not chaperoning a group), can be found on our website at archive.recongress.org/YD.

Youth Ministry E-VINE (September 18, 2013)

Youth Day Emcee Training Day and Adult Volunteers

Youth Day invites young people to be MCs for our day. Emcees are the people that introduce speakers, lead us in prayer, and lead other parts of our exciting event. Our annual MC training day will be on Saturday, January 11, at Holy Family Parish in South Pasadena. We would like to extend the invitation to any young person that is coming to Youth Day (they must be registered to be an MC) to be part of this team. The flyer for MC Training Day can be found on our website and at www.archla.org/youth. Please note that registration for Youth Day will begin in late October. Also, any adult that is interested in being a volunteer for our day AND IS NOT chaperoning a group can do so by filling out the volunteer form on our website, too. We can definitely use youth-friendly adults who want to help our day run smoothly. Please pass on this information to adults in your parish that might want to be part of an exciting day for over 15,000 high school students.

Youth Ministry E-VINE (September 11, 2013)

FEE INCREASE for Youth Day and Congress

The GREAT news is that our office has chosen a wonderful company to do the online registrations for Youth Day and Congress. This new process will actually impact everyone – even those who still register through the mail. We had to choose this new company because we have grown so much that the system we’ve been using for registration is no longer capable of handling our event. There will definitely be improvements in the process both in advance and on site (for Congress). The BAD news is that in order to financially make this work, we have to increase fees for Youth Day and Congress. We apologize for this inconvenience and for the fact that we are announcing this so late in the year, but it was unavoidable. The fees for both events will go up $5, so Youth Day will be $30 per registrant and Congress will be $70 per registrant. Again, please know that we made this change only because it will be better for participants in the long run. Thank you, always, for supporting our event.

Youth Ministry E-VINE (August 8, 2013)

Youth Day 2014

The theme for Youth Day 2014 will be “NEVER ALONE, FOREVER ACCEPTED.” We thank the great Youth Day Coordinating Team for their work this summer in praying over the readings for our day and coming up with this great theme. You’ll hear a lot more about our day in the future, but we wanted to get you this information as soon as we could. We also have the same readings for our day as this past year - Esther C:12, 14-16, 23-25 – Psalm 138: 1-2ab, 2cde-3, 7c-8 – Matthew 7:7-12. Please feel free to start using those readings as you begin to plan your participation in Youth Day 2014 on March 13!

Youth Ministry E-VINE (June 20, 2013)

Youth Day 2014 Theme

This past Saturday, June 15, about 30 young people and adults gathered to read the readings of the day for Youth Day 2014 and came up with a great theme. Our 2014 theme will be “NEVER ALONE, FOREVER ACCEPTED!” A special thanks to the team that gathered to do the hard work of praying over the readings and discerning a theme! Our readings for 2014 are the same as we had this year (the Thursday of the first week of Lent). We hope you will help get the word out about our great day – Thursday, March 13, 2014 – and we encourage you to use the readings and theme as you prepare for that day. More information will come out this fall!

Youth Ministry E-VINE (March 27, 2013)

2013 Youth Day Evaluation Summary

Thank you to everyone that filled out the online evaluation for Youth Day 2013. We, again, had a very quick and overwhelming response to our request for comments. We have created a quick-look summary of those evaluations. We continue to use your evaluations to create the most positive day we can. We were especially happy to hear that the new format for Youth Day continues to be a positive change and a big hit. Thank you, again, for supporting Youth Day!

Youth Day 2013 Evaluation
1. Do you feel that the overall content of Youth Day 2013 met the needs of your group?
     Yes  96%      No  4%

2. Do you feel that the new format for Youth Day continues to work?
    (41 responded from Track 1; 49 responded from Track 2)
      Yes  92%     No  8%

3. How did your group react to the Rally in the Arena?
     They were engaged  59%
     They were somewhat engaged  34%
     They were not engaged  8%

4. How did your group react to the keynote presenter (Fr. Tony Ricard)?
     They liked him very much  84%
     They thought he was okay  13%
     They did not like him  3%

5. What did your group think about the Mass?
    (21 responded from morning, 28 responded from afternoon)
     They loved it  48%
     They liked it  51%
     They thought it could be better  4%

6. What did your group think about the Opening/Closing Session in the Convention Center?
    (Hall B Morning – 21 responses; Hall B Afternoon – 19 responses;
    Grand Ballroom Morning – 7 responses, Grand Ballroom Afternoon – 7 responses)
     They loved it  41%
     They liked it  43%
     They thought it could be better  19%

7. How many Youth Days have you attended?
    (percentages rounded up)
    0 - 1        13%    12 responses
    2 - 5        35%    33 responses
    6 - 10      20%    19 responses
    Over 10   33%    31 responses

Youth Ministry E-VINE (March 13, 2013)

Youth Day Collection and Donations

The Youth Day Coordinating Team would like to continue to thank everyone that helped to make Youth Day 2013 so wonderful. We especially would like to pass on the information that our collection at liturgy was over 11,000 dollars. What a great testimony to the wonderful generosity of our young people and chaperones. We were able to donate five thousand dollars to the Mission Doctors Association for their One Million Patients Project and we also gave two thousand dollars to the Catholic Youth Foundation USA - to help fund scholarships and grants offered by that wonderful organization. The rest of the money will be used here in the Archdiocese to support leadership programs for young people! Thank you for your great support. Please pass on this information to your young people that attended Youth Day. We’d also like to thank you for filling out the online evaluation of our great day. We continue to look for ways to improve Youth Day and your compliments and constructive criticism definitely help. Thank you very much! Remember, Youth Day 2014 will be held on March 13, 2014!

Youth Ministry E-VINE (March 6, 2013)

Youth Day Thank You and Evaluation

The Youth Day Coordinating Team and the Office of Religious Education would like to say a big THANK YOU for supporting Youth Day 2013 and the Religious Education Congress. The weekend was a huge success and this Youth Day seemed to be one of the best ever! The new format for the day continues to be a big hit and we thank you for all of your cooperation in making that run so smoothly. We will continue to find ways to improve our day. A link to our online evaluation was sent to all Contact People from the registration forms, but here is the link if you missed it: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/GBSR7RC . Feel free to let us know what you thought of the day and thanks again for supporting Youth Day!

Special YOUTH DAY Youth Ministry E-VINE (February 20, 2013)

The Youth Day Coordinating Team and the Office of Religious Education staff will be praying for all of you that are coming to Youth Day 2013! Please remember our theme “Keep Calm – God’s Got This!” This will certainly be our mantra for the day!

Youth Day and Congress Live Streamed

Just a reminder that if you are unable to join us for Youth Day (or for the Religious Education Congress) please know that it will be live streamed on your nearest computer. Just head to archive.recongress.org/LIVE to be part of all the fun. Please share this with your young people and their families – so parents can see what all the fun is about, too!

Youth Day App and Giveaways!

Please remember that the iPhone app “Youth Day 2013” is the place for everyone to get important information about our day and it is also where you can win prizes! We’ll have Catholic Youth Bibles, Youth Day T-shirts, gift cards, and more for our wonderful giveaways. Check out the app today and make sure you spread the word.

Arena and Convention Center Etiquette

So, some simple reminders to help you have a great day. In order to get into the Arena for your specific track – whether in the morning or the afternoon, you will want to line up outside the EAST DOORS (the ones nearest the fountain) of the Arena. You’ll see some stanchions set up in that area to help create an organized line for getting in. In the afternoon, please note that the line will be wrapped around the outside of the Arena. PLEASE follow the directions given for exiting the Arena. We need to load out and load in the entire space in 30 minutes (last year we did it in 12 MINUTES because of your great help). Please assist us in helping to have the Track 2 Arena events start on time. LASTLY, please remember you cannot save seats. We really ask your help in making sure groups adhere to this guide. We have enough space for everyone, so please make sure you don’t save sections of seats. Thanks so much for your help with this issue.

Opportunities at Congress

We’d like to remind you of a few things happening at Congress. Don’t forget that Spirit and Song (a division of Oregon Catholic Press) will have a Prayer Jam on Saturday night at 9:30pm in the Anaheim Marriott Hotel, Grand Ballroom. Admission is free and the evening will host the Paschal Mystery Tour – including Tom Booth and band, Santiago Fernandez, Steve Angrisano, and Curtis Stephen. Come by and check out the evening. Also, don’t forget that there are many GREAT and innovative items highlighted at the Tech Booth inside the Exhibit Space. We want to make sure you know that there will be online courses shown, great ministry friendly apps highlighted, database materials unveiled, and much more. Check it out in the center of the Exhibit Space and also see the schedule in the program book! We hope you will take advantage of that great part of our event. And remember that the Office of Religious Education booth is just across the aisle. Come say hello and rest your feet! We’ll be serving coffee and have very comfy chairs!

Youth Day 2014!

Please mark your calendars NOW for Youth Day 2014 – which will be held on March 13, 2014. The Religious Education Congress will continue March 14-16! We look forward to seeing you there!

Thank you VERY MUCH for helping to make Youth Day 2013 so wonderful. We look forward to celebrating in the light of Christ with you tomorrow! Please remind your bus driver that all bus parking AND unloading should be done at the Disney Toy Story Lots off of Harbor. Just let the people know as you enter the lot whether your bus is staying for the day or just dropping off!

This Youth Ministry E-VINE is an email reminder/notice of important information in the field of Youth Ministry for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. To be deleted from this list please contact Christina Lamas at clamas@la-archdiocese.org. Don’t forget to visit our website for more information and links to additional resources.

Follow us on Facebook: Youth Ministry Division of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles

Christina Lamas
Associate Director
Office of Religious Education
Archdiocese of Los Angeles
(213) 637-7674
clamas@la-archdiocese.org

Youth Ministry homepage: www.la-archdiocese.org/org/ore/youth
Calendar of events: www.la-archdiocese.org/calendar

See eVine from Youth Day 2012