Totus Tuus participants grow in holiness, share Gospel

BY BILL DOYLE
CFP CORRESPONDENT
 
When Worcester diocesan seminarians Ricky Reyes and Liam Daigle visited St. Joseph Parish, Charlton, in June for a youth ministry volleyball game, they asked Father Robert A. Grattaroti if he would be interested in bringing a Totus Tuus program to the parish.
St. Joseph’s had already scheduled its annual Vacation Bible School for July, but Father Grattaroti jumped at the chance to hold Totus Tuus as well.
“Vacation Bible School is good, but it doesn’t go far enough,” Father Grattaroti said. “This goes far enough.”
St. Joseph had prepared for Vacation Bible School all year and about 70 elementary students took part. The parish had less than a month to arrange a Totus Tuus program for Aug. 7-11, the final week the program was offered, and Father Grattaroti was pleased that 30 children signed up. Totus Tuus also accepts students in junior high and high school, and Father Grattaroti hopes to attract such students next year.
Totus Tuus, pronounced “TO-tus, TU-us,” is a Latin phrase meaning “Totally Yours” that was the motto of Pope John Paul II and signifies the desire to give yourself entirely to Jesus Christ through Mary.
The program shares the Gospel and promotes the Catholic faith through evangelization, catechesis, Christian witness and eucharistic worship.
The diocese held Totus Tuus for the first time last summer, but the program has been around since 1987 when it debuted in Wichita, Kansas.
Father Grattaroti was impressed with Totus Tuus, which lasted from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily, three hours longer than the Vacation Bible School.
“Fabulous, fantastic, a real gift from God for our kids,” Father Grattaroti said. “I was just blown away by how wonderful it is in every dimension. I say that when we relate to God, there are the four i’s. There is ‘inform, inspire, include and invite.’ Some of the other programs have three of them. They inspire, they include, they invite, but they don’t inform. This one did all four.”
Five of the children who participated in Totus Tuus at St. Joseph’s hadn’t been baptized and about a dozen hadn’t made their first Communion yet, but Father Grattaroti and Diane Cetin, the parish’s Totus Tuus director, expect them to do so now. On the final day, Mrs. Cetin handed out registration forms for the sacraments.
“What I really liked about the program,” Mrs. Cetin said, “was that it incorporated more prayer and catechesis than a regular VBS that we’ve had before.”
Totus Tuus included daily Mass, confession and an opportunity for adoration. The children also said the rosary together. The theme this summer was “Salvation History” with a focus on the “The Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary.”
Mrs. Cetin was assisted by associate director Pat Lawrie.
Father Grattaroti would like to see Totus Tuus include a program for adults.
Mr. Reyes and Mr. Daigle served on the missionary team with local college students Courtney Romeo, a parishioner at Our Lady of Hope Parish in Grafton, and Katie James, who attends St. Louis Parish in Webster. They were “models of holiness,” according to Father Grattaroti.
“They were able to command the kids’ attention,” Father Grattaroti said. “I couldn’t believe it. This is really an act of God’s grace.”
Mr. Daigle attends Theological College in Washington and Mr. Reyes attends St. John’s Seminary in Brighton. Ms. Romeo is a rising senior at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts and Ms. James a rising junior at Champlain College in Burlington, Vermont.
“The missionary team worked well together,” said Darlene Farland, associate director of the diocesan Office of Religious Education. “They bring joy and energy and enthusiasm, and they make the summer programming in the parishes a lot of fun for the kids and they’re very engaging.”
“Not only did the children learn the Gospel,” Father Grattaroti said, “which they did, but they also were brought to a level of reverence, a level of respect and holiness for the sacred things. When they were at church, they were so holy. Here are little kids at Mass and they’re not yelling or screaming. This is incredible. They’re praying and they’re devout and they’re genuflecting. This was marvelous.”
Nearly $800 was donated to feed the children lunch and snacks each day. The parish’s Knights of Columbus, Mary Martha Guild and other ministries served the meals.
The team members also organized football, volleyball and many other fun games for the children.
On the final day, the children played water balloon games and the Charlton Fire Department brought a truck, gave the children plastic fire helmets and invited them to run through water they sprayed.
Mary, Queen of the Rosary Parish in Spencer, Holy Family of Nazareth Parish and St. Cecilia Parish, both in Leominster, and St. John, Guardian of Our Lady Parish in Clinton held Totus Tuus programs for the second year.
Our Lady of Hope Parish in Grafton joined St. Joseph’s in holding one for the first time this summer.