Hey Everyone,

Below is our survey for the AG in Winnipeg. If you went we'd appreciate it if you could give us your feedback! 

Also, this is an open call to anyone with photos, videos, or who wants to write a guest blog post about their experience to please submit them to Core! Email then to iamwcacym@gmail.com

Peace!

-Colm

Hello WCACYM Members (past & new) & AG2013 participants! 

Peace be with you & Happy New Year!

We are now 8 days away from our Annual Gathering! Are you excited? We are! There are some important/urgent details we need to address before the start of the Annual Gathering and our Annual General Meeting. Please be patient and take 6 minutes to read!

1) If you haven't done so already, please register for the AG. We are almost over 50 beautiful souls coming to join us! We look forward to seeing all of you at our Annual Gathering, especially as we celebrate 25 years of WCACYM! 

• Registrations must be done online at www.wcacym.ca by 10 am MST on Thursday, January 10. Registrations after this time will not be valid as we require to give final numbers to the Hotel.

• If you are still looking for people to room with at the conference, please email ekinsella@archwinnipeg.ca to see if there are others who are also looking to share a room.

• If you require transportation to and/or from the airport to the hotel, please email your name, flight dates/times/airline/flight numbers to Erin at ekinsella@archwinnipeg.ca (if you didn't indicate on your registration)

• We're asking you to take 10 seconds to select your workshop preferences before attending our AG. All are sure to be awesome! http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/V58XS96

• The success of the Silent Auction for Summer Seminars depends on the support from you and your communities. Remember to bring your cheque books and try to be generous. If you have items you would like to contribute, they are most welcome! Please arrange to have them to us by the start of the AG, but no later than Friday, January 18

• Parking for those who are driving will be available at a rate of $6 per day. Please see the front desk before each time you exit the parking garage in order to have your pass validated.

• If you are unable to come, but wish to record a message to share at the conference, pass on photos/videos/stories email them to Jeannette Manser @ jmanser@rdcrd.ab.ca

2) If you are a past member of wcacym, make sure you are registered and renew your membership today. Please visit our newly-refreshed website (www.wcacym.ca) and register/renew online. We need your voice as we vision the next 25 years!

3) If you are a past member and eligible to vote, you need to be registered as a member and at least indicate that your membership fee is in-transit or paid by January 15, 2013 in order for you to be eligible to vote at this year's AGM. If you are not able to attend the AGM, then you must assign a proxy for your vote and notify us of who your proxy is. (If you need clarification on this point, do not hesitate to ask us).

We look forward to seeing you there to help us celebrate our faith and our call to serve as agents of evangelization to the youth.

Thank you!

Erwin Fung, Secretary - WCACYM Core
#iamwcacym

By: Jeannette Manser

Hello!! This is Jeannette Manser reporting on the NCCYM. You might be asking yourself ... what the heck is that?  Well, just like WCACYM will be celebrating their 25th year of being the Western Canadian Association of Catholic Youth Ministers in January at our annual AGM, the states have their National Catholic Conference for Youth Ministry Bi-annually.  7 of us Canadians represented, and 4 of us were WCACYM's finest!

Myself: Jeannette Manser - Alberta, Erin Kinsella - Manitoba, Clay Imoo - British Columbia and Deanna Beaudoin-British Columbia!

The NCCYM was held this year in Orlando Florida at a beautiful hotel and conference center in Disneyworld Resorts - The Dolphin! With shuttles and boat rides and monorails away from Disneyworld's theme parks, we were able to enjoy our stay quite well.

It is amazing to see how alive and active our catholic faith is all over North America. And how inspiring and affirming it is to be with other youth ministers that are totally the same way as you!
Thurs. Nov. 29th was our first day at the conference with opening liturgy followed by a session by Bob McCarty and his wife, who are really the hands and feet of making this conference possible.
After Deanna, Erin and I enjoyed dinner in Downtown Disney, we headed back to the conference center for Opening Ceremonies and a flash mob practice!!! Yes, that's right, I said Flash Mob practice. The MC's for NCCYM were a hilarious duo - Jesse Manibusan and Judy Mcdonald! (They're famous Catholic Super stars!!!)

On Friday morning as we had our opening praise and worship session, all of us involved in this massive flash mob stationed ourselves throughout the room ready to go before our morning speaker! It was wonderful!! I along with Erin, Deanna and Clay, were with all these famous Catholic Youth Ministry people!! I felt pretty special!!

Each day, we had opportunties to attend 2 break-out sessions on various topics in youth ministry. For example, on Friday I chose to attend Multimedia in your office, and Athletics - Renewing the Vision.  On Saturday - 10 techniques in music prayer ministry, and Campus and High School ministry.  They were all fantastic!! Each morning we would have praise and worship, a speaker, and then after lunch we would have Mass followed by a speaker.

The evenings varied. Thursday was opening ceremonies and speaker, kind of like a rally. Friday night was the Youth Extravaganza showcasing some of those famous Catholic Super stars leading skits and songs about ministry, which really helped everyone there appreciate what we do and laugh about what we sometimes have to deal with on a regular basis.  On Sunday night, we had our final mass which was the 1st day of advent, and awards for youth ministry efforts were given out. This made me think, we should really do this for WCACYM - have awards for those really fostering the faith in young people in western canada and be recognized.

Couple of other bonuses to the weekend was the fact that there was a resource expo hall filled with many catholic organizations, missions, orders, clubs, and resources for us to check out. There was also a stage with various catholic performers featured as well! It was a great place to network and gain new ideas for ministry!

The Upper Room Adoration chapel was a place I spent saturday afternoon in during the conference. It was beautiful with different types of art to look at and reflect on. A prayer intention candle table, adoration and the sacrament of reconciliation. I loved the fact that we had the opportunity to just go there and spend time with Jesus whenever we wanted!

I love the fact that we all have a chance in the evenings to socialize and visit with one another. And of course with being in Disneyworld, Downtown Disney was our destination for dinner or late night snacks. Deanna, Erin and I stayed an extra day, and decided on Universal Studios as the theme park we wanted to go to. What a great last day! So much fun!

Anyhow, I am truly blessed as a youth minister that I can take these opportunities to attend such amazing places and gain so much wonderful knowledge of my ministry and to be affirmed in what I'm doing. It certainly has helped me truly re-charge and come back to my school ready to go!

I hope to see you all in Winnipeg! Thank-you for all that you do to bring young people to God! You ARE making a difference and Jesus is smilling down on you!! Thank-you!!

Jeannette Manser
Youth Ministry Coordinator
Notre Dame Highschool
Red Deer Catholic Schools