Featured Resources: November 2021
Whether you’re developing an attitude for gratitude or celebrating our saints, we’ve carefully curated our content and highlighted some sessions we believe will be useful for your ministry this month!
Use these sessions on their own, or as a complement to our Equipped for Life sessions.
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PARENT/YOUTH NIGHT
November 1 – All Saints Day – All Saints Day: A Feast for All
This Fifth Night session helps families learn about All Saints Day as a celebration of faith and to consider it as an invitation to deepen our own “sainthood.” The session has two main components. The first is about saints as we typically understand the term, holy men and women who act as our intercessors. The second focuses on our own role in the “communion of saints,” as we profess in the Creed.
EXTENDED SESSION / INTERGENERATIONAL
November 25 – Thanksgiving – Thanksgiving Scavenger Hunt Food Drive
It’s easy to get caught up in Thanksgiving traditions like football, parades, and feasting. This gathering provides a chance for youth to reflect on what it means to give thanks and do something to show their gratitude by serving others. Participants will work in groups to collect food for a Thanksgiving food basket for a family in need. This event can work well with small or large groups of youth and adults.
November 25 – International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women
Resources for learning, reflecting, acting, and praying on November 25th, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.
MIDDLE SCHOOL
November 3 –Serving with St. Martin de Porres: Exploring a Servant’s Heart
This session is designed to allow middle school participants to explore the servant’s heart of St. Martin de Porres. They will learn about the life of St. Martin de Porres and have a brief experience of service in the church. This will be used to connect with some of the tasks that St. Martin de Porres would have done during his time in the Priory. This session can be done with groups of all sizes.
November 15 – Vocation Awareness Month – We Celebrate Mission, Ministry, and Lifestyle
This session introduces middle school youth to the concepts surrounding mission, ministry, and lifestyle, including both marriage and the religious consecration of priests, sisters, and brothers. The Sacrament of Holy Orders is presented in this context. The session can also be used as a presentation on vocations.
November 25 – Thanksgiving – Clothed in Love: A Thanksgiving Offering
This service-centered session invites participants to consider how they can tangibly share their gratitude during Thanksgiving. The youth reflect on the meaning and celebration of Thanksgiving in their own lives, and consider how they can share the warmth of the holiday. The entire group will create care packages for the homeless. This session contains some small and large group sharing and also time for individual reflection. The size of the group is flexible.
November 28 – 1st Sunday of Advent – Advent Celebration: Exploring the Season of Advent with Parents and Young Adolescents
This session gives families an opportunity to focus upon the meaning of Advent and identify the significance of family traditions. Through prayer, reflection, sharing, and the creation of a family Advent wreath, family members celebrate the love, peace, hope, and joy of Advent.
HIGH SCHOOL
November 11 – Veterans Day – Honoring Our Veterans: The Cost of Service
We all benefit from the services and commitment of our armed forces. In this session, teens will reflect on the cost of service, and come to an understanding of what veterans of the armed forces have experienced. This session is designed for high school youth and may be adapted for any sized group.
November 15 – Vocation Awareness Month – Vocation: Living Out Love
We often talk about vocation in the same way we talk about choosing a career but the call to vocation is really very different. We all have a vocation and discerning that call is part of a relationship with God. Choosing a career, or college is about using our talents to earn a living. Both are service, but of very different kinds. This session will help youth see the difference between vocation and career and help them to begin discerning and deciding.
November 25 – Thanksgiving – Attitude for Gratitude: Thanksgiving Is More Than a Day, It’s a Way of Life
Participants will see the blessings in their life and recognize a sense of thanksgiving, especially before the start of the Christmas shopping season. This session is ideal for the season of Advent. This high school session is intended for groups of 10-25 participants.
November 26 – Buy Nothing Day – Consumerism: When Is It Too Much Stuff?
In this session participants explore the ideas of consumerism and consumption on both personal levels and global levels. They will reflect on what our Church has said about these issues in recent years and learn how to live more simply and consume less as an act of faith!
November 28 – 1st Sunday of Advent – The Pursuit: Advent Labyrinth Walk
Participants, through participating in a labyrinth walk, learn to see Advent as a pilgrimage during which we release the things that take up our time and energy in order to have our hands free for Jesus. This is an especially appropriate activity for the first Sunday of Advent or the week leading up it. This session is designed for high school youth and may be done with groups of 5-25.
