By Renae Kranz
As Catholics, we come to know Jesus and the Church through Mass and the sacraments, but we can’t forget about the importance of community. God made us for community, both with each other and with him, and it is through community that we grow in our faith.
As our Lord and the Church call us to deeper conversion, we see over and over that this happens most effectively and most often through our relationships with others. That is the essence of missionary discipleship: walking with others to grow closer to God and to true conversion of our hearts and minds.
The many programs provided by the diocesan Church support those efforts to build community, discipleship and ultimately conversion. And those programs can’t exist without the generosity of the people of the Diocese of Sioux Falls through the Catholic Family Sharing Appeal (CFSA).
Two examples of these ministries are D-Camp and the School of Missionary Discipleship. Through community, encounter and education, these ministries guide our youth and our adults into a deeper relationship with Christ and his Church.
Discipleship Camp
Discipleship Camp, or D-Camp, is a four-day youth camp run by the Discipleship and Evangelization Office of the Diocese of Sioux Falls. The four days include fun and competitive games, talks from college missionaries (often from the Lumen Christi missionary program of the diocese), and making new friends from parishes across the diocese.
It’s a time for fun and friendship, but it’s also a time for teens to encounter Christ and immerse themselves into a community of young people who know our Lord. And if they don’t quite know him yet, they will have ample opportunity to find him in small groups, adoration, Mass, confession and more. It can be a time of great transformation.
“The greatest gift these youth receive from meeting Jesus is freedom,” Thomas Clinton, seminarian for the diocese and former camp counselor, said. “We witness actual overnight transformations. A young person who arrives reluctant or indifferent leaves the next day energized and excited, not just for meals, but for every activity. They become truly alive, more themselves, and deeply comfortable with their identity. This self-acceptance is crucial for our young people today, and Jesus Christ has facilitated this for dozens, if not hundreds, of youth at Discipleship Camp.”
Nick Ahrens, theology teacher at O’Gorman High School and past D-Camp director, found himself bored with the faith at 14. When he had what he describes as an “eye-opening experience” at a youth conference where he discovered that Jesus was real and wanted great things for him personally, everything changed, including his desire to help other youth.
“I got involved in directing D-Camps because I have a desire to help young men and women know that Jesus is real and is the fulfillment of their deepest desires and questions,” he said.
Nick has seen transformation from “head knowledge” to “heart knowledge” in the campers. They come to understand that knowing Christ changes the way you live your life.
“There are countless campers that I have met who have shared with me how their eyes were opened to both the real spiritual realities of prayer and the sacraments, as well as the authentic joy to be experienced in community with other Catholics,” Nick said.
The experience as director helped Nick grow in how he shares the Gospel with others making the impacts seen through D-Camp extend beyond the youth who attend.
“I think it is easy to be excited about your faith on a private level but never learn how to share that same faith with others in an attractive, compelling way,” Nick said. “D-Camp has been an awesome experience of building relationships with the youth by goofing off in games and skits, but also in sharing deeply the truth of who they are and who the Lord is.”
Ministries like D-Camp don’t happen without the generous support of the diocese through the Catholic Family Sharing Appeal. It ensures every Catholic kid who wants to go can go, with no financial burden to their family. And other benefits of that support are not lost on Thomas and Nick.
“It ensures that the generous individuals who invest tremendous energy planning and coordinating these events are compensated appropriately, allowing our fantastic leaders to support their families through their dedicated ministry without needing to seek outside employment,” Thomas said. “Ultimately, it means the diocese is able to love and support our youth, filling gaps in local ministry and demonstrating its concrete commitment to caring for and investing in our future.”
“It is definitely encouraging to see the diocese support a fruitful apostolate like D-Camp, where it seems like the Lord is clearly working and the youth of the diocese can go deeper in the faith,” Nick said. “As great as these religious experiences are, these apostolates have real financial needs and cannot operate without those needs being taken care of. Thanks to these financial contributions, I am happy to have experienced firsthand how the Lord has been working in our diocese and in our youth.”
School of Missionary Discipleship
Bishop DeGrood (and Jesus before him!) has called us all to become missionary disciples, but how do we do that? The dollars you give through CFSA support programs like the School of Missionary Discipleship (SMD), which is available to every Catholic in the diocese who wants to grow in their lives of prayer and knowledge of the faith.
SMD was developed in 2021 by Father Scott Traynor and Dr. Chris Burgwald in the Discipleship and Evangelization Office in response to the bishop’s desire that the diocese offer something to help the lay faithful grow as missionary disciples. This was all in response to the diocesan vision to build a culture of Lifelong Catholic Missionary Discipleship Through God’s Love.
In its current iteration, SMD is a two-and-a-half-year format, but there is some freedom to pick and choose when a particular component of the program is taken.
“At present, SMD is a program through which participants are invited to grow in their lives of personal and relational prayer, in their knowledge of salvation history and in their familiarity with Church teaching, all meant to empower them to deepen their own relationship with God and to help others do the same,” Dr. Burgwald said.
SMD has already had a profound impact on those who have gone through the program. For Noel Lais, the small group format provided him with a new group of faith-filled friends who have become mentors and prayer warriors. And the benefits didn’t end there.
“I learned much about prayer, my Catholic faith and the Catechism of the Catholic Church,” Noel said. “Although I attended Catholic schools for most of my primary education, there was so much that I didn’t know. I am so much more prepared to be a missionary disciple now.”
“Many participants have described SMD as life-changing in that it has transformed their own relationship with God, it has informed their understanding of how he works in their lives and in the lives of men and women throughout history, and it has given them some basic tools on how they can share their faith in ordinary and everyday ways,” Dr. Burgwald said.
Programs like SMD are a crucial part of the Set Ablaze initiative. Without programs like it, we won’t have the tools necessary to evangelize and inspire those around us to seek Christ and the Church. Your contributions to CFSA make all the difference.
“Without the generosity of the people of the diocese through their gifts and prayers for the Catholic Family Sharing Appeal, none of the impacts I described above could happen,” Dr. Burgwald said. “I have had multiple people over the years tell me how they have been changed by SMD, and I know that were it not for the good people of East River, that never would have happened.”
A call to give
We’ve talked many times about the impact of the ministries of the diocese. I hope the testimonies of your fellow Catholics on these pages show you their true benefits.
“Without the support of the Catholic Family Sharing Appeal, I might have never gone to D-Camp, which radically changed my own life,” David Livermont of Sioux Falls said. “CFSA makes these camps accessible and well-run, giving young Catholics a real chance to encounter Christ. I’m so grateful for CFSA because it didn’t just support a camp, it supported a true conversion for me and others.”
“I feel amazingly proud that our diocese supports programs like SMD with the CFSA dollars that are generously given from the diocesan faithful,” Curt Lauret of Sioux Falls said. “CFSA helps turn what would be a financial roadblock into an opportunity for those interested in learning more about the Catholic faith and living out what it means to be a lifelong missionary disciple in eastern South Dakota.”
Pray for the success of the Catholic Family Sharing Appeal this year. And if you can give, give generously. Thank you for supporting the many beautiful ministries of the diocese.
