Connections

The Archdiocese for the Military Services (AMS) has hosted two Catholics Seeking Christ (CSC) peer leader trainings in the past few months. Forty-nine young adult leaders from all four branches of the Armed Forces gathered for three days at Trinity College in Washington, D.C. Each leader was chosen by their Catholic chaplain to implement a pilot process of CSC at their military installation.

Catholics Seeking Christ is a movement to help young adults in the military address their spiritual hungers, to see the Catholic faith as a way to God and to build a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. This movement has been developing over the past year and a half due to the initiative of Archbishop O’Brien. The planning team has developed the resources, the Catholic chaplains have been briefed, and now the first group of peer leaders is trained.

Among the attendees were peer leaders from Norfolk Naval Air Station in Virginia.

These peer leaders come from Fort Hood, Texas, Langley AFB, Virginia, Beaufort Marine Corps Air Station, South Carolina, Great Lakes, Illinois, Fort Belvoir, Virginia, and the Norfolk Naval Air Station, Virginia. These leaders have all volunteered to implement the CSC movement. Additionally, they will offer constructive critique so that the process may be fine tuned before being launched throughout the U.S. military.

Peer leaders will invite young adults at their military installation to large group gatherings. These sessions are designed to create a sense of hospitality and to engage interested participants to consider questions with a deeper meaning. Those gathered will be invited to join a small group, led by a peer leader that will further explore those questions. The topics include:

• How do Catholics read the Bible?
• Why should I go to church?
• Can a Catholic have a personal relationship with Jesus?
• How do I choose from right and wrong?
• Do Catholics really pray to saints?
• So, it’s not all about me?

Small groups will gather for six weeks to discuss these topics and together learn more about the Catholic faith.

Resources developed to assist the peer leaders include a Leader Training Retreat and a Leader Training Manual. DVDs with interviews of men and women in uniform grappling with the same questions along with theologians providing answers is also provided. Each participant will receive booklets with information about the above-mentioned topics. The AMS has recently hired a director of peer ministry to be a resource and guide to the peer leaders. This position will begin in the spring of 2005.

Bishop Estabrook presides at the closing liturgy and commissions a new peer leader.

Peer leaders are not expected to have all of the answers. Questions will arise that no one in the group will be able to answer for certain. Additional resources such as postings on the AMS website and a direct question and answer section will be available for each group. These questions will be forwarded to the planning team and answers will be returned via electronic communication. The peer leaders have been trained to look for answers in appropriate places. While logging on a search engine is quick and easy it does not always provide the most accurate answer to a serious question.

Archbishop O’Brien welcomed all of the peer leaders at Trinity College. He told them that this initiative is the most important thing that he will implement in his entire priestly ministry. Bishop Estabrook presided at the closing liturgy giving each participant a CSC commemorative coin and a blessing to go out and share the Catholic faith.