This year’s Totus Tuus summer program for youth couldn’t have been more beautiful at Nativity of Our Lord Parish, leaders said.
"The Archdiocese (of Denver) has just done a beautiful job with making something beautiful and making it more beautiful," said Diane Irby, director of religious education for the parish in Broomfield.
Some 160 children in first-eighth grades and about 92 youth in seventh-12th-grades gathered for the program offered at parishes across the archdiocese and nation. Totus Tuus ("Totally Yours") is a time for faith formation, prayer, friendship and fun led by youth and St. John Vianney Theological Seminary men studying for the priesthood.
"It’s big here," Irby said. "Now that the seminary is taking it over, it’s just so good. The kids just learn about their faith in such an enjoyable way."
The parish’s former pastoral communications associate, Jacquie Fankell, also witnessed the community coming together for the youth program that joins children who attend Nativity School, are enrolled in religious education or are homeschooled.
The program includes daily Mass and confession, skits and games and lessons from youth leaders on the faith. The track for older youth includes an hour of eucharistic adoration. The youths end the program with a water fight and bonfire.
"They just learn a lot," Irby said. "Everything was beautiful this year."
