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faith formation
Upper Room Workshops are tailor-made for diocesan youth ministry and faith formation directors, coordinators, and parish leaders. They include opportunities for networking, sharing, prayer, professional development, discussion, along with collaboration and feedback on diocesan efforts and initiatives.
Meetings begin with food and networking followed by prayer (usually including the celebration of Holy Mass and/or an opportunity for Confession. Then we eat lunch. Finally, the afternoon is for professional development which usually involves a speaker who presents on a topic relevant to youth ministry and/or faith formation. Before we depart we spend a little bit of time reviewing all that is going on throughout the Diocese.
Upper Room Workshops Run 10:00 am-2:30 pm
Participants are invited to come for the whole day or parts of the day if needed.
Learn more about Upper Room Workshops HERE.
Sign-up for Upper Room Workshops HERE.
Upper Room Meeting Archives
See below for a list of recent Upper Room Meeting topics and handouts.
2023-2024
Sep. 26, 2023: The Parish Year of Eucharistic Revival
Zach Rawson, the point person for the Parish Year of Revival, walked us through a discernment prayer exercise utilizing a method promoted by ACTS XXIX. To view all videos, see below. In the afternoon, Heidi Indahl discussed the importance of the Corporal Works of Mercy, and more information can be found at her website.
- Video 1: https://watch.actsxxix.org/why-acts-xxix/videos/our-three-fundamental-convictions
- Video 2: https://watch.actsxxix.org/why-acts-xxix/videos/the-first-essential-principle
- Video 3: https://watch.actsxxix.org/why-acts-xxix/videos/the-second-essential-principle
- Video 4: https://watch.actsxxix.org/why-acts-xxix/videos/the-third-essential-principle
- Video 5: https://watch.actsxxix.org/why-acts-xxix/videos/discernment-prayer-spiritual-exercises
2022-2023
Sep. 20, 2022: Implementing the Eucharistic Revival
We used the document HERE to walk through the plan for the Diocesan Year of the Eucharistic Revival and discussed why the Revival is important and how your parish can participate.
Oct. 25, 2022: Gender Dysphoria and Pastoral Care
Dr. Andrew Sodergren, head psychologist at Ruah Woods Institute, lead on in a discussion about gender identity and dysphoria and pastoral approaches to working with families struggling with their identity. For more information on this presentation, please email Dana at dpetricka@dowr.org.
November 22: Advent Retreat
Fr. Andrew Beerman discussed St. Ignatius' Rules of Discernment on how to discern whether it is God's voice or the voice of the evil one speaking to you. For more information, click HERE.
January 24: The 6 Types of Working Genius for Effective Leadership
Fr. Will Thompson, the Vicar General of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester, discussed how there are 6 types of "working genius" and each person has two of the six. See the Working Genius podcast HERE or the assessment HERE.
February 28: Evangelizing through the Sacraments
Bishop Barron led us in a morning open forum about evangelization in our diocese with young people. The afternoon session was led by Beverly Miller and Dana Petricka on the Sacrament of Confirmation as it directly relates to evangelization through Scripture and Sign.
March 28: Social Media and Effective Communication
Emily Smithley from the Diocese of Winona-Rochester's Communications Department led our discussion on best practices for Social Media use and communication with youth and families. See her presentation here.
Fire Archives: 2021-2022
Sep. 9, 2021: Missionary Discipleship and the Eucharist, Ministry Post (and during) COVID
At this FIRE Meeting, we discussed the need to use COVID-19 to our advantage and look at ways we can better walk with our youth, parents, catechists, and families to become intentional disciples of Jesus Christ. The below documents can help us identify where we are at in our relationship with Jesus Christ and therefore walk with others to meet them where they are and lead them closer to Christ. As coordinators, our primary responsibility is to walk with our catechists so they can walk with their youth and families they are ministering to.
5 Thresholds of Conversion: A working document to help leaders identify different stages of conversion in people's lives and adapt methods of ministry to meet the needs of youth and families at various levels of conversion.
7 Characteristics of a Disciple: A working document to help leaders identify where they are at and where they want to go in becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ.
Disciplines of a Disciple Guide: A universal document to outline common habits of an intentional disciple.
Oct. 14, 2021: The Family as Primary Catechists, Connecting Parish Ministry to Schools
In our morning session, Fr. The Hoang presented on the pillars of Family Ministry based on Pope John Paul II's Letter to Families. In the afternoon session, Sr. Strength of Martyrs presented St. John Bosco's creation of oratories for the young boys he was working, focusing on the preventative method of correction, developing a relationship with the youth and calling them to set high standards for themselves. See a video of the talks here: https://vimeo.com/639143995
Below you will find documents to further the discussion on connecting parishes ministry to schools and fostering an environment based on relationship in faith formation settings.
Connecting Parishes to School: A questionnaire to help evaluate your parishes connection to schools.
Getting to Know You: A sample document that can help catechists get to know their students.
Dec. 9, 2021: Retreat on "From Christendom to Apostolic Mission" book by the University of Mary.
Fr. Jason Kern shared points from this well-worded book and we discussed where we are at in our world right now (a Christendom vs. Apostolic era). We also discussed ways to minister to people in our world today.
Jan. 25, 2022: Foundational Characteristics of a Disciple: Identity and Prayer
Fr. Brian Mulligan presented on Relationship, Identity, and Mission as the foundation of who we are. We discussed ways to share the Kerygma (Gospel Proclamation) to parents, catechists, and youth and introduce them to prayer, which is how we maintain our relationship with God. For the complete presentation, click HERE. For our document on prayer, click HERE.
Feb. 22, 2022: Youth and Mental Health
Haylee Spronk (psychologist) and Ann Full (former youth minister) lead us in a discussion on the mental health needs of our youth and what our response should be as faith leaders. You can watch and listen to the discussion HERE. For a list of resources, click HERE.
March 22, 2022: Why Disciple? The Ins and Outs of Small Groups
Annie Grandell from YDisciple joined us for a discussion on how to move from program and large group-based ministry to small group discipleship. For more information on YDisciple, click HERE.