A few weeks ago, I was contacted by an old friend from high school. She told me that when her father died years ago, I had told her “God doesn’t give you anything you can’t handle”. It encouraged her during that time, and helped her to cope. My first reaction to reading this was, “Wow I’m so glad something I said helped!” But I sat and thought about it for a minute. Does God give us anything we can’t handle? I can remember many times in my life where I have been in situations that I couldn’t handle. My parent’s divorce, a break up, the loss of a friend.

Do you know that moment when your are sitting a certain way and you feel one of your legs fall asleep? The feeling in your leg just slowly slips away, almost to the point of you not noticing. And you sit for a while, then you stand up and realize your leg is asleep.

I would start off this blog with something like; “It’s that time of year again!” followed by a description of how this time of the year is always crazy due to certain holidays, events, or circumstances. However, I cannot bring myself to begin as such, since it seems like it is always that time of the year. You know what I’m talking about, that time where everything is piling up and your to-do list seems miles long and every time you get down time you feel like that means you are forgetting something (and you usually are)!

About two months ago on our way home from the John Bosco conference we had the chance to sit down with one of our good friends, J.P. Quinn. J.P. was a youth in my first youth group as a youth minister. He graduated A&M as a rocket scientist and was instrumental in the beginnings of CCFM. 

A few weeks ago, during my daily prayer time, I had a heavy heart to offer up to the Lord. I was filled with concern, concern for the young people that I minister to and love so dearly. As ministers, we are reaching out to youth who are immersed in a world on the verge of war, a culture that glorifies infidelity and promiscuity, a nation that prides itself in separating morality from the common good, a generation of broken homes and families… the list goes on and on.

Love is such a fickle word. Normally when we see it, we go straight to a wedding scene while they read first Corinthians and get all misty eyed over all of the wonderful things that love is (which apparently includes a picture of the bible with two fish hooks shaped around the quote...). St.

Well the time has finally arrived…(drum roll please)…The final piece to my summer blog series! I want to thank everyone who has followed it so far and given support and feedback...In this final leg of the journey, I want to talk about the spiritual side of the struggle.

So for the past month at almost every gathering I've been to, the theme or idea of personal prayer has become part of the conversation, if not the main topic. I'm gonna take it as inspiration from the Holy Spirit that I should write something about it (not because I'm past my deadline and need something to write about!).

My name is Jeremy Stavinoha and I am the new ministry leader for the JSAY program at St. Anthony’s Catholic church in Bryan. I am excited to be a part of CCFM and to see what the Lord is going to do this year in the youth's lives and in my own life. It’s been five years since I graduated from Texas A&M with a degree in Horticulture. While in college my faith came alive in a way that I never thought was possible. I was filled with the Holy Spirit and became really excited about serving in the church.

Recently in my life, running has become a thing for me. When I was little, I really enjoyed playing sports, but when training and practice started to get more intense and difficult, I was out of there quick. I didn’t like to be told when to run a mile or that I had to sprint under a certain time. I wanted to run on my own terms, not because a coach wanted me to, and with that attitude, I hightailed it out of athletics real fast.  

July has been a busy month. I’ve realized that the end of July really means the beginning of the end of summer. Here at CCFM, we’ve already begun planning (and re-planning) a year’s worth of youth nights, trying to consistently deliver evangelization and catechesis. It isn’t easy but we’re up to the task.

Welcome back for Part II of my blog series on summer swimsuit struggles! I want to thank everyone for the Facebook feedback that I’ve gotten. It’s really encouraging! If you’ve read Part I of this blog series, then you know that I began by sharing my relationship journey with the bikini as summer swimwear. In this second portion, I would like to share some research that I have discovered.

A few weeks ago during Camp BASIC, St. Joseph’s annual middle school summer camp, one of our youth leaders said something in a testimony that’s really stuck with me. He was talking about his Confirmation saint and his reason for choosing that particular saint. He said that while he was researching possible patrons, he came across St. Francis Xaiver, who was a missionary throughout much of Asia. This teen said it was likely that Francis Xaiver had converted his ancestors, who lived in India. Then he said - “If it weren’t for St.

When most Christians see the word tithe, they immediately are lead to the number 10%. This is how we understand God’s claim on our material goods. This isn’t a bad thing, it’s even biblical. We know, as good Christians, that we are meant to at least return 10% of our earnings to God in thanksgiving and support of His church. But what happens when tithing and stewardship become mingled with individualism and materialism? Well, this is what happens.

"Summer lovin' had me a blast, Summer lovin' happened so fast"

There is no greater grace than finishing your first year of ministry. When I was a NET (National Evangelization Team) missionary in Canada a year ago, I distinctly remember this time of the year. My team was leaving the parishes that we had been stationed at for the past year, having started and built youth groups, events, and fantastic relationships. I remember hating that we would leave without finishing our work, because surely it wasn’t finished. It is so very clear to most ministers that ministry is not possible in a single year.

This entire past semester at St. Joseph’s, the middle school group focused on the sacred scripture. We started out with basics, how the Church formed the Bible and what books make it up. Then we zeroed in on the gospels, learned what parables were and looked at a number of Jesus’s teachings and miracles.

The more and more I get involved with ministry the more appreciative I become of all the people involved in making a ministry effective. The youth minister of course has a big job but without the volunteers, parish priest, and meal teams it would definitely not run as efficiently! In rereading that last sentence you may notice that I left out one important group, this group is left out a lot in ministry not because they are not wanted, but because they remove themselves from the sentence. I left out the parents.

I distinctly remember that, when I left home and had arrived in my new freshman dorm, I was all too happy to be there. Not that I didn’t love my home or parents, but being the youngest in my family, I always felt like I needed to be as grown up as my older brothers. It was the greatest. I was in a dorm with a bunch of new freshman. I had already made new friends in addition to some old ones. And my classes were not half bad (well except for one professor...). One of my classes even taught me how to breathe (how much is tuition?…)!

 On Saturday, April 27th, CCFM and a team of local ministers will be hosting Revive, a youth rally for teens in the Brazos Valley area. There will be 4 different bands and song artists represented, David Thies, Dave Moore, David Casper and Soundwave. There's going be a ton of free SWAG - sunglasses, frisbees, drawstring bags and more. The Knights are cooking. There will be talks and games. And, as if all that wasn't enough, Reconciliation is going to be available and we'll have Mass and Adoration!