Faith in the Flesh: Young Adult Missionaries Devote Their Summer to Ministry
- Guest Contributor
- 1 day ago
- 4 min read
By Pattrica Serrano-Bann
When summer comes, most people head to the mountains, start their vacation time or finally get rest. But across Colorado, a different kind of movement takes shape each summer: missionary work.
Year after year, young missionaries spend their summer in gymnasiums, parish halls, camps and even on Denver’s sidewalks, putting their faith into action in everyday places.
Camp counselors, missionaries and seminarians leave their quiet parish roles to work on basketball courts and hiking trails. Their work is simple and tough, but it matters because they meet people where they are and show them that Christ is already present among them.
Seminarian Jack Brustkern gives a talk to boys gathered for practice. Archbishop Golka visited a basketball practice led by seminarians this summer. Seminarian Jack Brustkern models proper T-ball technique to young players.
(Photos courtesy of Highlight Catholic Ministries)
Seminarian on the Court
For seminarian Jack Brustkern, starting his third year of formation, summer began with a request from his vocation director, Father Jason Wallace. He was asked to serve with Highlight Catholic Ministries, a program that helps youth grow in virtue through sports and adventure.
Brustkern didn’t hesitate. He was thrilled.
On the court, he saw kids learn that competition and discipleship go hand in hand.
“Sports naturally draw kids out of themselves toward excellence,” he said. “Showing up to practice or putting in the work when no one is watching isn’t too different from showing up to prayer.”
Camp leaders call these moments “virtue muscles,” and Brustkern saw them in action: teammates cheering each other on, helping after mistakes and choosing sportsmanship instead of frustration.
“Loving your neighbor becomes an immediate necessity when you’re down by a lot in a game,” he said.
But Brustkern’s biggest lesson came from a setback. He spent hours preparing his opening talk for the first day of camp, but it didn’t pan out.
“It was humbling,” he admitted. “But as I got to know the campers and counselors, I realized that spiritual fatherhood begins with friendship. You have to know the flock before you can speak to them.”
Rita Green (left) with her Totus Tuus team. Totus Tuus missionaries lead a game. Rita Green (right) with her Totus Tuus team.
(Photos provided)
Totus Tuus: Finding Her Voice in Parish Halls
A similar story unfolded miles away at Totus Tuus, where eighteen-year-old Rita Green began her missionary work among young children and teenagers. It felt both familiar and completely new.
Green grew up watching Totus Tuus missionaries at Sacred Heart Parish in Roggen. She looked up to them, copied them and eventually joined them. But when she started training this summer, she felt very nervous.
Then, suddenly, she felt a sense of peace.
Her summer soon filled with small acts of courage. Every Monday night, she stood before teenagers and shared her story, even when her voice shook. Over time, she saw the kids open up, listen and start asking questions they had never asked before: Why do Catholics pray the Rosary? What does the Mass really mean? How do I know God hears me?
“They started getting excited about daily Mass,” she said. “It was beautiful to watch their faith come alive.”
The schedule was tough, but Green found strength in praying with others, saying the Rosary every day, spending time in quiet prayer and sitting on the sanctuary floor to talk to God. When she returned home, the experience changed her. She spent less time scrolling on her phone and more time having real conversations and praying often.
“It made me want to do so much more with my life than I had originally planned,” she said.
Annunciation Heights: Encounter in the Mountains
At Annunciation Heights, high above Estes Park, college missionary Haley Stephan spent her summer leading campers on hikes, around campfires and through meaningful spiritual moments. The mission there moved at a slower pace, shaped by the mountains and the campers.
Annunciation Heights focuses on four key relationships: with God, with others, with yourself and with creation. Stephan saw these relationships grow every day.
One camper, a middle-school girl whose friends mocked her faith, asked Stephan one night if they could talk. Sitting under the stars, she poured out her fears: Should I leave my friends? How do I stay strong in my faith?
Stephan listened, shared Scripture and told her the story of Our Lady of Guadalupe, a moment that left the girl feeling seen, known and loved.
Another camper, a fourth-grader with ADHD, had trouble sitting still during Mass and prayer. Stephan spent the week gently helping her, choosing patience over frustration. During silent Adoration, something happened that surprised Haley: the girl was calm and fascinated by being there.
“She said, ‘I wish we could stay forever,’” Stephan recalled. “It was one of the most beautiful moments of the summer.”
For Stephan, the summer confirmed what she had been thinking about for years: a call to religious life. She joined the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia in early August.
Christ in the City: The Missionary on the Pavement
Meanwhile, on the hot sidewalks of 16th Street, missionary Tim Galster spent his summer walking with people in Denver through Christ in the City. His work brought the mission into the city, where every meeting happened one step at a time.
Every day, Galster met people whose biggest struggle wasn’t a lack of money, but loneliness.
Using Mother Teresa’s words as inspiration, he said, “The poverty of loneliness in the West is sometimes worse than the leprosy in Calcutta.”
The people he encountered weren’t statistics or strangers. They needed someone to talk to, someone to remember their name and someone to see them as beloved children of God.
At home with his fellow missionaries, Galster found the strength to keep going.
“Every human person only exists so far as we have relationships with others,” he said. “Community gave me hope, the kind of hope that reminds you that even if you’ve never met them, there are people out there who truly love you.”
Faith Beyond the Camp Walls
Whether it’s a seminarian on a basketball court, a young woman speaking up in parish halls, a missionary leading campers near Longs Peak or a young man walking Denver’s streets, Colorado’s young adults are showing something important: their mission may change locations, but not purpose.
Faith isn’t meant to stay boxed up. It’s meant to be lived out in hard work, in fear, in friendship, in discomfort and in joy.
By leaving their comfort zones and choosing connection, these missionaries did more than bring Christ to Colorado this summer.
They discovered he was already there, waiting for them in real life.
