Please Introduce Yourself to the Group...

[ksta...@diocese-sacramento.org]

This thread is for everyone to introduce themselves. Who are you?
How do you spend your time outside of ministry? How did you get
involved with Catholic ministry? What ministry do you do with youth
and young adults? What do you like the most about it? What do you
struggle with?

[Elizabeth]

OH! I FIGURED IT OUT! Finally! Hi everybody, my name is Elizabeth
Bjorklund and I am a youth ministry coordinator in Chico, CA. Maggie,
have you mastered this yet? I bet I beat her to it. :-) Thank you
for constructing this Kevin! It's a good idea and I'm sure it will be
successful once we (or I) iron out all the kinks and learn the ins and
outs of blogging.

[CWe...@diocese-sacramento.org]

I'm Carson Weber - the Director of Evangelization for the Diocese of
Sacramento. I'm 29, married to Rebecca Mary Weber, and we have a 9
month old (as of Nov. 20) daughter: Therese Mary Grace Weber. We live
in Antelope (a suburb NE of Sacramento) in a one-story house; Rebecca
is a stay-at-home mom and the regional representative for Lighthouse
Catholic Media (http://www.lighthousecatholicmedia.com). She's from
the San Raphael, CA area (Bay area), and I'm originally from Boerne,
Texas which is just north of San Antonio. I had my first conversion
on an ACTS retreat the summer between my 8th grade and freshman year -
and my youth group socially incorporated me into the Church through a
beautiful fellowship that was void of catechesis. So, when I had my
second conversion as a college student at Texas A&M University, I was
hungry! That eventually led me to pursue graduate studies in Theology
& Christian Ministry at the Franciscan University of Steubenville
(http://franciscan.edu) where I graduated in '04 (and Rebecca
graduated with her bachelor degree in theology and religious education
at the same time). I then worked at a parish (http://
brenhamcatholic.org) in Brenham, TX for 3 years as Dir. of Adult Faith
Formation & Evangelization. I was hired for my current position in
the summer of '07 and began September 4, 2007.

Evangelization is the primary mission of the Church. And no, that
doesn't mean getting together with other Catholics and discussing the
upcoming Sunday readings. It means spreading the Gospel to those
outside the fold and bringing them into an intimate communion with the
Father through Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit. It means
getting off our butts (Kevin, can I say butts?) and courageously
bringing the Gospel (which is counter-cultural) to those who are not
Catholic, setting them on fire and forming them as disciples. Yes,
yes, we need to do this among our own as well.

On Nov 20, 2:03 pm, Elizabeth <odsyouthminis...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> OH!  I FIGURED IT OUT!  Finally!  Hi everybody, my name is Elizabeth
> Bjorklund and I am a youth ministry coordinator in Chico, CA.  Maggie,
> have you mastered this yet?  I bet I beat her to it. :-)  Thank you
> for constructing this Kevin!  It's a good idea and I'm sure it will be
> successful once we (or I) iron out all the kinks and learn the ins and
> outs of blogging.
>

[hereiam...@gmail.com]

Greetings All!

My name is Edison Tapalla, I was born Catholic, Raised Catholic, and
like to say I reverted to Catholicism at least two times! First time
was in college, where my faith, like many fell to the way side, and
not until the darkest of nights did I find comfort in the Church, and
again after finishing college when I started working with the Youth,
and dating a non-denominational Christian girl, and was forced to
LEARN my faith, and the REASON for my faith to satisfy the reign of
questions i got from my Youth and my lady! I was born in the
Philippines, migrated to the US when I was a little over 4 years old,
lived in Sacramento the majority of my life until I moved to San
Rafael (Carsen Small World) to go to school at Dominican University.
After experiencing the wonderful world of work in San Francisco (the
new Sodom) I ran tail between my legs back to Sacramento.

Hrm...outside of Ministry, that's a good question, often times my
whole life seems as its spent in ministry (anyone else feel like that
lol?). I work the Youth Group and the 7th & 8th grade CCD classes for
Our Lady of Lourdes in Sacramento, and I'm also a member of Knights of
Columbus of 3rd degree. My involvement in Catholic Ministry began at
Dominican where I was a co-founding member of the Campus Ministry
Program, SPDI, Students Promoting Dominican Ideals, Study, Reflection,
Service and Community. In my day job, I run a Faith Based Financial
Services Practice. Again I see this as a ministry of sorts, I help my
clients marry their Financial Goals with their Spiritual and Faith
Based Values.

For me the best thing about serving in ministry is really helping
Young people come to an understanding of God's Truth and Love. You can
almost see it in their face in that first moment of clarity and
understanding that our God isn't just contained in a book, or is some
mythological figure that so far removed from everyday life, but that
He is a Living God that daily is with us. It's like their A-HA moment.
Also I love helping people understand what our Church Really Teaches,
and not what they feel or think it teaches.

Struggles that easy, its picking up that cross daily and doing not
what I want to do, but that which I hate.

[Kelly Risse at St. Rose of Lima]

Hi, Everyone!

I am the Coordinator of Youth Ministry (sounds important, huh?) at St.
Rose of Lima in Roseville. I have been in youth ministry about one
year and finally feel like I kind of know what I'm doing. Quit
laughing Andrea and Victor . . .

I have been married 19 years and have 3 children ages 13, 12 and 8. My
oldest son's enthusiasm for Edge is what brought me to serve in youth
ministry. It has truly been an adventure and a blessing. I have been a
stay at home mom for the last 13 years and am now lucky enough to be a
full time youth minister. Before having children I was a journalist,
specializing in music reviews. I have lived in the Sacramento/
Roseville area all my life except for 2 years in Seattle. In my spare
time (!?) I play clarinet in a community band and volunteer at my
kids' schools. My middle son is autistic, so our family is very active
in the autism community. But enough about me . . .

Love to all you guys in this crazy, amazing world of youth ministry!
Peace,
Kelly