Dear UCYM Community,
 
I hope the feast of Pentecost was a transformative moment for you and a reminder of the mission we are constantly called to by Christ.
 
Renew My Church was a process that called us all in Evanston to look at our mission and answer the missionary call in our communities. Five years ago, the four (legacy) Evanston parishes of St. Athanasius, St. Joan of Arc, St. Mary, and St. Nicholas came together and set out on a mission for a shared youth and young adult ministry in our region, which became United Catholic Youth Ministries. We set out knowing that this was the direction that our parishes would need to go: sharing resources, personnel to support the formation and mentorship of our youth and young adults, and getting ahead of the curve under one banner.
 
There is honestly so much to be proud of in these last five years and I am personally so grateful for the opportunity to have served our four, now two, parish communities through this ministry. As we also have seen in Renew My Church, change is a constant and I asked our pastors if I could please deliver the news to the parish communities of some important updates.
 
In March of 2023, the pastors of the unified Evanston parishes (Rev. Jean Philippe Lokpo, MCCJ of St. John XXIII Parish and Rev. Kenneth Anderson of St. John Newman Parish), Rev. José Ortiz (Associate Pastor of St. John XXIII Parish), Brian Romer Niemiec (Coordinator of Lifelong Faith Formation for Vicariate II), Dr. Molly Cinnamon (Principal of Pope John XXIII School), and I came together to discuss the future of UCYM as the parishes financial and pastoral needs started to settle. Fr. Anderson shared that it was no longer pastorally or financially prudent for St. John Newman Parish to continue having UCYM serve as its youth and young adult ministry and that they would be seeking alternative avenues for having ministry for youth and young adults. St. John Newman Parish will not be renewing the UCYM agreement and will be discontinuing its pastoral and financial support effective July 1, 2023. I pray for a successful next chapter for St. John Newman youth and young adult ministry.
 
Following this announcement, we were asked to downsize our staff and significantly reduce operational costs for the coming fiscal year as St. John XXIII Parish would be the sole parish supporting us. I want to thank our admin leaders for coming together and discerning for many hours how our staff would be restructured in response to the financial hardships of St. John XXIII Parish. I also want to thank our staff, especially those who lost their job and remain committed volunteers. Like any ministry, we would not be able to support our young people without the commitment of volunteers.
 
I would like to share with you who our employees are: 

• Oblate James Holzhauer-Chuckas, ObSB, Executive Director (full-time)
• Alex Roman, Pastoral Assistant (full-time)
• Mirka Gallo, Director of Communications (part-time - 5 hours per week)
• Barbara Escobar, Director of Development (part-time - 5 hours per week)
• Faith LaVoie, Assistant Director (part-time, benefits eligible)

I also want to thank our board of advisors, under the leadership of co-chairs Claire Labbe and Gabriela Zarate, for being committed to helping us discern how UCYM can maintain its strong ministry in our community.
 
I believe that, through the intervention of the Holy Spirit, our UCYM community will persevere through this time of change. I have been humbled by the commitment our leaders have shown and I remain committed to them and UCYM.
 
Please be assured of my prayers for the parish communities as they continue into the next phase of building the new reality and answering the call to missionary discipleship. UCYM stands ready to continue to serve our youth and young adults.
 
In Christ’s peace,
 
Oblate James Holzhauer-Chuckas, ObSB
​Executive Director

Dear UCYM Community,
 
We have fielded a couple of inquiries from community members this afternoon following the release of the report from the Attorney General office's investigation of allegations of child sexual abuse against clergy in the six Illinois Catholic diocese over a period of nearly 90 years. The report (named the Report) addresses both how dioceses responded to such allegations in the past and current policies that help ensure the safety of children and support the healing of survivors. 
 
These documents always hit me hard because children are our most precious gift. We, as Church, are called to teach, love, and protect God's children, but instead there are those who would do otherwise. To say it is heartbreaking is an understatement. It gives me pause and allows me to remember why I take on the extra work of being a safe environment administrator for multiple organizations besides UCYM. It gives me pause and calls me to pray for a conversion of heart for those who, especially in power, would use that power and their influence for evil against our children. It give me pause and calls me to prayer and a prayer that brings tears to my eyes as I know it brings tears to God's eyes when things like this happen. 
 
I pray for our clergy, especially those who champion protection of children. I know so many and I want to say thank you and encourage you to always go the extra mile where it counts. I pray for survivors of abuse and that they remember God's love, despite the betrayal from those who are meant to represent Jesus' ministry. I pray for parents and caregivers of survivors and abusers. I pray for our Church, that we continue to be a safe spiritual home for all. 
 
Please be assured of my unwavering commitment to the mandates and policies of the Archdiocese and steps we take here at UCYM to keep our children safe. I remain committed as does my administration and team. Please check our website (link below) to see what steps we take to keep our children safe. 
 
If you need to talk to someone, please do not hesitate to reach out. 
 
God's peace,
 
Oblate James Holzhauer-Chuckas, ObSB
Executive Director

Picture Credit: Josue Ortiz

“Black Lives Matter to God and to Us,” reads a large banner hanging over the entryway to the United Catholic Youth Ministries (UCYM) staff workspaces on the top floor of St. Nicholas school and parish in Evanston, Illinois. Through the doorway left of the banner is a meeting room with long tables and windows that overlook the parish garden and tree branches. A Pride flag hangs next to a crucifix above a counter filled with potted plants, a statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and a poster of St. Óscar Romero.

It is a lived-in space, with sunlight spilling through windows onto shelves of canvases. A waving fox colored in orange marker lives on the fridge, and a corkboard is home to flyers for various UCYM groups for interfaith, LGBTQ, and Latino/a communities and a leadership academy.

Evanston’s four parishes—St. Nicholas, St. Joan of Arc, St. Mary, and St. Athanasius—which merged into two parishes as of July 2022—came together in 2016 to think about how they were going to support their youth and young adults, knowing Renew My Church—an initiative by the Archdiocese of Chicago to regroup or combine parishes—was going to transform the Catholic landscape in the city in the coming years. UCYM was born from these conversations and launched in 2017.

James Holzhauer-Chuckas, UCYM’s senior director, says UCYM has four main focus areas: youth ministry, young adult ministry, campus ministry, and Hispanic ministry, which includes quinceañera ministry. The groups have weekly Saturday gatherings, retreats, small group sharing, and social events.
The canvases in the meeting space are from a recent Saturday meeting in which teens drew images of God. One has a silhouette of a person surrounded by pine trees, looking at the moon with their pets. Another has a smiling stick figure orbited by colorful items.

“We have been talking to [teens] about their image of God and putting that onto a canvas, demonstrating that every canvas looks differently because everybody has this different experience and image of God. No one is wrong,” Holzhauer-Chuckas says.

This emphasis on each person’s dignity, and affirmation of teens’ identities and beliefs, is part of UCYM’s mission of creating space for youth to “connect their faith to the sociopolitical environment all around them,” says Mary Miro, a young adult volunteer at UCYM. The organization is explicit about striving to create inclusive communities that are anti-racist and anti-oppressive within Evanston’s Catholic landscape and in the broader community.

“What UCYM is trying to do is think about 21st-century Catholicism in a global, anticolonialist lens,” says Miro. “If we do not explore those questions and challenge the institutional Catholic Church to do better, we are hitting a dead end.”
Having Black Lives Matter and Pride flags in UCYM’s space, Holzhauer-Chuckas says, isn’t a political statement—they “exist here not because we’re trying to go against church teaching, but because people who are Catholic who do identify as LGBTQ or who are Black, they have a place here,” he says. “[UCYM is working to] try to get our name out there more as a place people can count on, as a place youth can feel safe.”

Renew My ChurchUCYM working with and across four parishes was a model created with Renew My Church in mind. The organization works to unite Evanston’s four Catholic communities in an intentional way even though they have “widely different realities,” Holzhauer-Chuckas says. This has been a challenge, especially for adults who have been more entrenched in the life of a singular parish for years. But “our young people,” Holzhauer-Chuckas says, “don’t see parish boundaries the same way” as adults often do.

“What Renew My Church is talking about is unity,” he says. “It’s not merging things, it’s not corporate talk, it’s spiritual in nature. And I think our young people really get that. They’re so unified through school and sports and all these things that they walk into a youth group and are like, ‘Hey, I know those people!’ And it’s not so weird.”
“It’s good to aspire to connect people in a way they haven’t been connected before,” says Jason McKean, a parishioner at St. Joan of Arc and volunteer youth group leader. “Evanston is a pretty segregated community. [There’s] a part of town that is primarily African American, definitely a part of town that has a larger Latino/a population, a part of town that has a larger Eastern European population. Those areas are really divided, and that division shows up in the churches.”

Parishioners at St. Joan of Arc and St. Athanasius are predominantly white and less socioeconomically diverse than those at St. Nicholas and St. Mary, McKean says. “To have those four populations interacting in a way that they would not normally have to could be a real benefit for people’s social connections and their faith,” he says. “They could see [faith] lived out in different ways or with different priorities.”

Staff members at UCYM celebrate and welcome Evanston’s diversity—“racially, ethnically, and in terms of age,” says Mirka Gallo, UCYM’s administrative assistant, who joined the staff in 2019 after participating in their young adult ministries. UCYM partners with the group Evanston Latinos and Evanston’s interfaith community, which allows it to move outside of solely Catholic spaces.

Finding ways “that our Catholic faith can address segregation is really important,” McKean says. “It’s already becoming an important part of [UCYM’s] mission and direction, and actually doing the work to get there is going to be really positive.”

Reparations in EvanstonIn 2019 Evanston became the first city in the United States to approve a local reparations program. The Evanston City Council passed two ordinances supporting reparations. One ordinance, the monetary establishment of reparation payments up to $10 million to Black residents, focuses on housing. The other is an acknowledgment of how systemic racism and redlining played into the city’s residential zoning between 1919 and 1969.

The reparation payments give $25,000 to Black residents who lived in Evanston between 1919 and 1969. These funds focus on restorative housing to help repair homes or pay down mortgages, according to WBEZ, Chicago’s NPR news station. The funds are mainly coming from cannabis tax receipts, which average $250,000 a year in Evanston, allowing the city to monetarily help 16 people at a time once or twice a year. In addition, the Evanston Reparations Community Fund nonprofit was created to continue the ongoing funding of reparations after city funding is exhausted.
Evanston’s interfaith community is involved in and committed to supporting local reparations. The interfaith clergy group comprises 17 faith communities, including UCYM. It is the “first nongovernmental institution in the city to join the local reparations movement,” according to Evanston RoundTable.

Holzhauer-Chuckas is the representative for UCYM and Evanston’s Catholic parishes in the interfaith reparations committee. The faith communities have pledged to support local reparations through fundraising and community education, each in their own way and specific to their communities.

The interfaith groups have committed financially, relationally, and educationally to “truth telling and story sharing—to do the real soul work of reparations,” according to the Rev. Eileen Wiviott, senior minister at the Unitarian Church of Evanston.

Historically, although Evanston has a rich history of social justice activism, “faith communities [in Evanston] have been complicit or silent in the face of injustice,” Wiviott says. “We’re called by our faith, regardless of what faith community you belong to and what your tenets are, to the importance of justice and caring for our neighbor and centering the needs of those who are most marginalized in our community.”

The issues of “redlining, discriminatory housing, and putting people into particular areas and denying people the ability to raise and generate generational wealth” need to be addressed by faith leaders, she says.
For Holzhauer-Chuckas, committing UCYM and Evanston’s Catholic parishes to the city’s local reparations is part of what the Catechism of the Catholic Church “demands of us.”

“When there are things going on that pertain to needs for healing and repair and reconciliation, we have to be on the front lines,” he says. “Who better to do that and lead that than our youth?”

Most of the clergy members committing to support reparations are white, Wiviott says. “It is the congregations of predominantly white folks that need to do this work of reparations,” she says. “We speak to the clergy of predominantly Black congregations to say, ‘This is what we’re pledging to you.’ We didn’t do that outside of relationship.”

Working with other faith traditions and houses of worship in Evanston enriches UCYM, Holzhauer-Chuckas says. “A lot of the houses of worship that are part of the interfaith reparations program are just the best,” he says. “You’ve got people who are on this gospel-centered mission of reconciliation and healing and repair. That’s exactly what we want to be part of too.”

Because Evanston’s local reparations program is the first of its kind in the United States, “all eyes are on Evanston and what we are doing,” Wiviott says. “Nobody is saying this is the perfect answer. But they are saying, this is a powerful and positive step forward. The feedback we’ve gotten is that the faith community’s support of it is a really striking and powerful statement that has meaning and value and weight.”

This month, on Martin Luther King Jr. weekend, the interfaith communities that have pledged their support of reparations made a public statement about collective funds raised and the efforts of education that have been accomplished since they formally pledged their support in June 2022. Their support will not end in 2023 but will continue for years to come.

“We are committed and ongoing,” Wiviott says, “not just with our actions but with our hearts and spirits.”
UCYM is in the beginning stages of developing an interfaith youth group that would participate with Evanston’s interfaith community. Youth, Holzhauer-Chuckas says, often “know more than a lot of us adults [do about justice and anti-racism]. They are so knowledgeable and find good information and are able to share it and educate us.”
Although UCYM has committed to fundraising for the reparations fund and educating Catholics around reparations, Holzhauer-Chuckas doesn’t want it to stop there.

“There are opportunities for spiritual growth around this, as well as acknowledging and understanding the history of religious affiliation with things that were done in the past,” he says. “There’s a need for the Catholic Church to be part of these conversations and movements, to show people that we exist in this world too. We don’t just exist in a bubble.”
Inclusive communitiesUCYM’s involvement in Evanston’s reparations initiative is part of its commitment to anti-racism as an organization. UCYM started an anti-racism pilot in collaboration with the Archdiocese of Chicago’s Office of Human Dignity and Solidarity. The pilot includes training for youth and parents or guardians on anti-racism education. Right now, it is in its beginning stages.

“We at UCYM do our best to try and support anti-racism not only through the Catholic Church and religiously but in how we carry ourselves individually and as a staff,” Gallo says. “We try to look at things holistically, so while we are talking about race, we also look at the intersectionality of race in different areas. We talk about gender, sexuality, socioeconomic status, and the history of how people of color and Indigenous people have been [hurt] by the Catholic Church.”

UCYM small groups and youth groups have open conversations and provide space for youth and young adults to process frustration with injustice and honestly engage with the “big disconnect with what [youth] want to see [in the church] and what the church [is],” Gallo says.

“I speak for the youth that I work with at UCYM. We are in a moment in time where Gen Zers and some Millennials are really challenging the church, and saying, ‘This is what we want to see, and this is what we’re seeing, and those two things are not clicking,’ ” Gallo says.

“We have a space for [youth] to say, ‘This made me angry, or this is what I support, or this is why this is important to me,’ ” she adds. “UCYM is a space where people are not going to say, ‘OK, then just leave.’ It’s going to be, ‘OK, this is what you want to see. What can we do about it? How can I help you? Let’s brainstorm.’ ”
Encouraging and helping youth feel like they can create the church they want to see is work that Gallo feels is rare in many church spaces. Some of these small-scale actions, she says, include helping youth join a care for creation committee, become eucharistic ministers, or learn about liturgy and work with a priest to help make Mass more inclusive.

If young people can feel like they belong in UCYM spaces, “that’s a huge win,” Holzhauer-Chuckas says. “When you think of the Catholic mission and identity, that’s the goal. St. Nick’s has been a place for a long time, whether it was Friday night open gym or whatever the case may be, where teens, whether they’re Catholic or not, can feel like they can belong here.”

UCYM, with its model of crossing parish boundaries and focusing on anti-racism and inclusivity for youth specifically, is fairly unique, Holzhauer-Chuckas says. “I’ve definitely seen [Catholic youth groups that focus on anti-racism], but I don’t know how many others would say they’ve built a mission around it,” he says.

Miro says UCYM is different than other Catholic young adult groups she’s been involved in because the faith programming is less about “becoming a good Catholic” and more about being “growth-minded, not focusing on adherence to a status-quo Catholicism but on the future of the church, and how the church can be reformed and reimagined to be inclusive, outwardly anti-racist, and how to disrupt the gender binary and hierarchy of the church.”
Gallo says she thinks it is difficult to find a model like UCYM where parishes come together to create a youth ministry and are willing to collaborate.

“I think that more parishes want to look at and be like UCYM, at least in terms of their youth and young adult ministry,” Gallo says. “I feel like it has been very challenging for families to find a space in the Catholic Church that is accepting of their youth no matter where they come from. I think that some parishes can be a turnoff. We try, because we’re in such different parishes, to be inclusive to all.”

Being inclusive to all can be difficult and fraught to navigate. Recently, UCYM advertised for an LGBTQ-friendly event and got pushback by people from the church who were upset with the Pride flag on the flyer, Gallo says.
“We are very LGBTQ friendly [at UCYM],” she says. “We want that group of people to feel comfortable and confident in a space that has not always been open to them, or in a space that has been abusive toward them. [UCYM] is a great group of people that understands that it is frustrating and upsetting [to navigate pushback/homophobia] and [thinks about] how we can strategize for a longer-term struggle of acceptance.”

Being involved in reparations work in the local community is unique in Catholic parishes, mainly because Evanston is one of the first cities to have a reparations program. Gallo hopes UCYM can provide a model for other churches as more cities follow Evanston’s lead in reparations work. Catholic religious communities, including several communities of women religious, have committed to reparations efforts on a larger scale.
At UCYM meetings and in Evanston’s parishes, “we have a wide range of people with different identities,” Holzhauer-Chuckas says. “We have people who are very much more traditionally Catholic, we have people who are progressively Catholic. And people can be in the same room together. We don’t have screaming matches because people respect one another.”

There is a strong sense of togetherness among staff, volunteers, and those involved with UCYM, Gallo says. Journeying through faith together is a constant call, and youth understand community across boundaries in ways that adults often have to relearn.

In the leadership academy McKean leads, in which teens meet and get involved in a number of ways in Mass and the life of the parish, they had a session recently where McKean asked the group, “When you envision Jesus, what’s he like?”

“One teen, which I thought was brave, said, ‘It’s kind of awkward to do this, to imagine it and say it out loud,’ ” McKean says. “We are talking to somebody who we know is present but not a physical presence. It is awkward, and it’s good that you can recognize that and say it, because we can work on it together. To connect with our teens well, and be present with them, and answer their questions even when it feels really awkward, that’s the right thing to do. That’s the way you’re going to get the body of Christ to continue on.”

UCYM is committed to serving the community beyond the church and creating safe spaces for teens, even when it’s awkward.

​“Christ didn’t have any boundaries to where he went, and that goes for us,” Holzhauer-Chuckas says. “It’s the gospel of Jesus. It’s just what we’re supposed to do.”

Statement of Cardinal Blase J. Cupich, archbishop of Chicago, on the death of Pope Benedict XVI
 
We join Pope Francis and Catholics across the world in mourning the death of Pope Benedict XVI who has gone home to the God he served faithfully.
 
Throughout his life as a scholar and as a churchman, he showed us what it means to fulfill the ancient command to love God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind. As the last pope who attended the Second Vatican Council, he has served as a bridge to the future, reminding us all that the reform and renewal of the Church is ongoing. Resigning in 2013, the Year of Faith, Pope Benedict XVI taught us that belief in God means completely placing our trust in Divine Providence. Today we pray as Pope Francis did earlier this year, “May St. Joseph help us to live the mystery of death in the best possible way. For a Christian, the good death is an experience of the mercy of God, who comes close to us even in that last moment of our life.”
 
Lord, let your perpetual light shine on your servant Joseph Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI, and may he rest in peace. 
 
Masses of Remembrance for Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI
Bishop Robert Casey, Vicar General
 
As we mourn the death of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, all are invited to a special Mass to be presided over by Cardinal Cupich on Monday, January 2 at Holy Name Cathedral at 8 a.m. Auxiliary bishops, priests of the archdiocese and the public are invited to attend. 
Additionally, Masses of Remembrance for Pope Benedict XVI will be presided over by our auxiliary bishops in each vicariate on January 4 and 5. The public is also welcome. Times and locations are as follows:

• Vicariate I: Thursday, Jan. 5 at 7 p.m. at St. Theresa Parish, 455 N. Benton St., Palatine.
• Vicariate II: Thursday, Jan. 5 at 7:30 p.m. at St. Joseph Church, 1747 Lake Ave., Wilmette.
• Vicariate III: Wednesday, Jan. 4 at 7 p.m. at St. Hyacinth's Basilica, 3636 W. Wolfram St., Chicago. Mass will be said in three languages: English, Spanish and Polish. 
• Vicariate IV: Thursday, Jan. 5 at 6:30 p.m. at St. Cletus Church, 600 W. 55th St., La Grange. Mass will be in English and Spanish.
• Vicariate V: Thursday, Jan. 5 at 7 p.m. St. Albert the Great Church, 8000 S. Linder Ave., Burbank. Mass will be said in three languages: English, Spanish and Polish.
• Vicariate VI: Thursday, Jan. 5 at 7 p.m. at St. Thomas the Apostle Church, 5472 S. Kimbark Ave., Chicago.

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord and let perpetual light shine upon him. May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed through the mercy of God Rest In Peace. Amen.
 

Declaración del Cardenal Blase J. Cupich, arzobispo de Chicago, sobre la muerte del Papa Benedicto XVI

Nos unimos al Papa Francisco y a los católicos de todo el mundo en el duelo por la muerte del Papa Benedicto XVI, quien se ha ido a casa con el Dios al que sirvió fielmente.

A lo largo de su vida como erudito y eclesiástico, nos mostró lo que significa cumplir el antiguo mandamiento de amar a Dios con todo el corazón, con toda el alma y con toda la mente. Como el último Papa que asistió al Concilio Vaticano II, ha servido como puente hacia el futuro, recordándonos a todos que la reforma y renovación de la Iglesia está en curso. Al renunciar en 2013, el Año de la Fe, el Papa Benedicto XVI nos enseñó que creer en Dios significa depositar completamente nuestra confianza en la Divina Providencia. Hoy oramos como lo hizo el Papa Francisco a principios de este año: “Que San José nos ayude a vivir el misterio de la muerte de la mejor manera posible. Para un cristiano, la buena muerte es una experiencia de la misericordia de Dios, que se acerca a nosotros también en ese último momento de nuestra vida”.

Señor, haz que tu luz perpetua brille sobre tu servidor Joseph Ratzinger, el Papa Benedicto XVI, y que en paz descanse.

Misas de recuerdo del Papa Emérito Benedicto XVI 
Obispo Robert Casey, Vicario General
 
Mientras lamentamos la muerte del Papa Emérito Benedicto XVI, todos están invitados a una Misa especial que será presidida por el Cardenal Cupich el lunes 2 de enero en la Catedral del Santo Nombre a las 8 a. m. Los obispos auxiliares, los sacerdotes de la arquidiócesis y el público están invitados a asistir.
Además, los obispos auxiliares de cada vicariato presidirán misas de recuerdo del Papa Benedicto XVI los días 4 y 5 de enero. El público también es bienvenido. Los horarios y lugares son los siguientes:
Vicariato I: jueves 5 de enero a las 19 h. en la parroquia St. Theresa, 455 N. Benton St., Palatine.
Vicariato II: jueves 5 de enero a las 19:30 h. en la Iglesia St. Joseph, 1747 Lake Ave., Wilmette.
Vicariato III: miércoles 4 de enero a las 19 h. en la Basílica de St. Hyacinth, 3636 W. Wolfram St., Chicago. La misa se dirá en tres idiomas: inglés, español y polaco.
Vicariato IV: jueves 5 de enero a las 18:30 h. en la Iglesia St. Cletus, 600 W. 55th St., La Grange. La misa será en inglés y español.
Vicariato V: jueves 5 de enero a las 19 h. Iglesia de San Alberto Magno, 8000 S. Linder Ave., Burbank. La misa se dirá en tres idiomas: inglés, español y polaco.
Vicariato VI: jueves 5 de enero a las 19 h. en la Iglesia St. Thomas the Apostle, 5472 S. Kimbark Ave., Chicago.

Concédele el descanso eterno, oh Señor, y brille para él la luz perpetua. Descanse en Paz su alma y las almas de todos los fieles difuntos por la misericordia de Dios. Amén.

“God became one of us so that we may become more like God.” Growing up, this quote from St. Athanasius of Alexandria always pointed me to ways of finding hope, especially in times when there was plenty of reason to lose hope. Living an authentic Catholic faith hasn’t always been rainbows and butterflies, but it’s not always supposed to be. The Apostle Peter, Jesus’ right hand, was the best among the Apostles and models for us that, even in moments when we doubt or even deny Jesus, we can always turn back and follow Jesus again. Sometimes, this can be scary. Life can give us plenty of reasons to find an easier way than faith to guide us, but it is our hope that leads us to the love of Christ and how that love becomes alive in our daily decisions.

The love of God has had many faces on my journey. Starting with my moms, who embody God for me, adopted me, chose me, just as God chose me. The lessons they taught me, the way they put forward their faith as a guide in their actions was something that rooted faith in me. It wasn’t always through going to church, but the constant return to the Gospel that always gave me such hope. As I got older and my family started to fall away from the church for very just reasons, specifically parish life, I had fears that I would lose my way, but I kept my hope in many things and, as my interest in studying theology grew, I turned to the Word of God. A fun fact: the phrase, “Do not be afraid” is written in the Bible 365 times. For me, especially after discovering this, it became a daily reminder from God to live fearless and not just to trust in God’s mysterious ways, but to be aware and be in touch through discernment. That was a daily choice, and it still is. Every day, I wake up and have hope in God through my relationships with family and friends.

My relationship with the Church has been complicated. Due to my strong advocacy for the LGBTQ+ community, women’s rights and ordination, and tensions with the idea of not only existing within but serving in a patriarchal hierarchy that has often resulted in alienating those who I love, I often found myself clashing with my peers, teachers, clergy, and others who hold stronger to the traditions of the Roman Catholic Church without any considerations for reform. I also found in the Church, however, many friends, mentors, clergy, and, eventually, my religious community (The Order of St. Benedict), who had common elements on their journey that allowed for mutual accompaniment. In the same vein, I also learned the importance of the universal call to accompaniment of my sisters, brothers, and siblings in Christ who don’t share my views and that, though our approaches may be different, we are to work together for the common good.

​My parish growing up starts its mission statement with “All are welcome.” In the Body of Christ, we are all welcome because we, though different, form one body together. This is something I have held onto and will never let go of. That welcoming, that togetherness in Christ, is faith because though we do not all worship the same, have the same theological approach, or follow the same vocational calling, we are all bound to each other by the love of Christ, the same love that we are supposed to embody for others so that they, too, might have hope in a world that severely needs something to believe in, something to place our hope in. Every day, I strive to give hope to anyone whose path I cross.

Dear UCYM Community,

Change is inevitable and, while not always all easy, I want to take this opportunity to update you on some shifts in our staff. 

Andrea Infante-Martinez has been appointed the new Executive Director of Puerta Abierta Preschool in Evanston! This incredibly exciting and we are so proud of Andrea's accomplishments. Andrea will transition out of her role with us June 30th. Andrea has served in the capacity of Interim Director for UCYM since December and has been helping keep all of the pieces together from administration to ministry. We wish Andrea well! 

Josue Ortiz has been appointed Deputy Director of Digital Strategy for the City of Chicago! Josue is a seasoned and incredibly talented digital media professional. Josue has been serving as our Associate Director of Digital Engagement and is responsible for the wonderful videos and much of the professional photography UCYM produces. We wish Josue well! 

Chris Radmacher has been accepted into a grad school program for teaching through Dominican University where they will be teaching in their own classroom! Chris joined us just a short time ago as our Coordinator of Young Adult Life and has been instrumental in helping us create a solid base for ministry with young adults. We wish Chris well! 

We are very fortunate in that all three of these wonderful people will be staying on as volunteers! 

Please join us in welcoming Mireya Dominguez to our staff as the Senior Coordinator of Quinceañera Ministry! Mireya is a seasoned non-profit professional and volunteers with many non-profit organizations in the area. Mireya is also a catechist assistant in the Religious Education program at St. Nicholas Parish. Mireya will be taking on leadership of the Quinceañera Ministry, which provides faith formation and accompaniment to over 50 young women a year. ​

I want to especially thank our outgoing staff. They are all moving on to incredibly impressive next chapters and I will, again, say we are lucky they are staying on as volunteers. 

Please keep us in prayer as we plan for our new year, which begins July 1st. Please be assured of our prayers as well. More change are coming and we are working hard to continue being a ministry that is available to all young people!

Easter Blessings,

James Holzhauer-Chuckas, ObSB

p.s. see our leadership opportunities page for new volunteer and paid staff opportunities. Come join us! 

Today is International Transgender Day of Visibility. United Catholic Youth Ministries stands in solidarity with our transgender siblings and, especially on this day, we affirm that we see you and we love you! In a Theology on Tap talk, (then) Archbishop Wilton Gregory addressed the question of LGBTQIA+ persons and their participation in the church and he said, "You belong to the heart of this Church. There is nothing that you may do, may say, that will rip you from the heart of this Church." Today, around the world, we recognize your human dignity and want to remind you that you do belong to the heart of our ministry. 
 
We offer this prayer (adapted by James Holzhauer-Chuckas, ObSB):
 
God of life and love that resides within and among us, we enter this moment with all that we are, with an open heart, and with a love for justice.
 
We hold in love and prayer all transgender people, so many of whom live under the weight of violence, fear, and intolerance. 
 
We hold in love and prayer all the ways that transgender people have survived and thrived in a hostile world. 
 
We hold in love and prayer all who recognize the significance of gender justice for all people.
 
We pray for the dawn of a new day when the very humanity of trans people is no longer called into question or ignored. 
 
We pray that physical, emotional, and spiritual violence will come to an end. 
 
We pray that a spirit of compassion and care will fill us to overflowing, that we may have the capacity to listen, learn, and grow not only in our awareness but also in our willingness to act. 
 
We pray for teachers, spiritual leaders, social workers, lawyers, and all people who heed the call to support Trans liberation, Trans leadership, and Trans visibility. May they ultimately lean into the Light of truth and justice, offering hope to Trans and gender nonconforming youth and adults. 
 
We make this prayer through Christ our Lord. 
 
Amen.

UCYM Covid-19 Guidelines  
As of February 11, 2022
 
Mask Mandate (from the Archdiocese of Chicago)
In light of the recent decision by City of Chicago officials to lift the city’s mask mandate on February 28, and the relaxation of COVID mitigations in Oak Park and Evanston, all archdiocesan parishes, churches, schools and offices, will transition to mask-optional environments on February 28.
 
As our parishes and schools transition to mask-optional, please note the following:

• Parishioners and Religious Education families should be reminded to report any COVID positive cases (instances when the individual has been on parish property within 48 hours of symptoms or positive diagnosis) to the parish office so appropriate communication can be shared with close contacts.
• Everyone is encouraged to vaccinate, boost when eligible, and wear masks, if preferred. N95 masks are highly effective at preventing transmission of COVID regardless of whether the wearer is around masked or unmasked individuals. We support everyone in their mask use decisions. .
• Our isolation and quarantine protocols are not changing. Even in a mask-optional environment, anyone – regardless of vaccination status – must isolate if they are symptomatic or test positive. Unvaccinated close contacts must continue to quarantine per current guidelines. In addition, people coming out of isolation or quarantine must wear a mask for an additional five days per CDC guidance.

Masks may be required during periods of high community infection. We will continue to assess metrics and, based on infection levels, we may again require parishes, schools, offices and Religious Ed programs to temporarily require masks.

Vaccination
Vaccination is no longer required for program participation, however, we strongly encourage everyone to be vaccinated and boosted against Covid-19, the flu, and all other preventable illness. 

Programming
All programming returns to normal schedule.

Food During Programs
Food and drink during programs has been fully reinstated.
 
UCYM Center and Office Operations
The UCYM Office return to normal operations and is open to the public.
 
If you have any questions, please direct them to our Covid-19 Task Force at covidtaskforce@ucym.org. We thank you in advance for your cooperation as we seek to keep everyone safe and healthy. We will keep you in prayer and we hope you keep us in prayer as well.