SUMMER PROGRAM ~ About the Totus Tuus Program
Mission
The mission of Totus Tuus is to inspire in young people a true longing for holiness, a deep desire for daily conversion, and an openness to their vocation by constantly challenging them to give themselves entirely to Christ through Mary and by continually strengthening their prayer lives in imitation of Her.
Method
Totus Tuus calls upon college students and seminarians from the Catholic Diocese of Joliet and across the United States to carry this mission to every young person they encounter. Totus Tuus teachers are hired for their energy, enthusiasm, love for the faith, commitment to spiritual growth, ability to work with a team, and desire to work with youth.
Teachers are trained, grouped into teams of four, and sent out to a different parish every week for six weeks, where they conduct a week-long "parish mission,” teaching and inspiring the parish’s youth.
It is through the teams’ example of authentic Christian living, centered on prayer and the sacraments, that they are able to be witnesses. "Modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if he does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses” (Evangelii Nuntiandi, 41). The youth see that these teachers who are joyful and on fire with the Catholic faith and long for the same thing in their lives.
Additionally, the daily schedule of Totus Tuus revolves around the Mass, the Sacraments, and prayer. A summer given entirely to God and the young people of the Catholic Diocese of Joliet would not be possible otherwise.
The Five Pillars of Totus Tuus
1. The Eucharist
2. Marian Devotion
3. Catechetical Instruction
4. Vocational Discernment
5. Fun
The Eucharist has pride of place in the Totus Tuus schedule, for both team members and participants. Prayer—the Liturgy of the Hours, the Rosary, the Angelus, the Chaplet of Divine Mercy and Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament—provide the structure, but the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is the “source and summit” of the daily schedule. Totus Tuus catechists and counselors will lead the young people to Jesus for a week; however, Mary will lead them to Jesus for a lifetime. Therefore, Totus Tuus promotes Marian devotion. Meditating on the mysteries of the Rosary, we come to see how Mary always leads us to her Son. Praying with her and to her, we hear her say to us, “Do whatever He tells you” (John 2:5).
