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MANY parts.
​ONE Body of Christ.
​EVERYONE belongs here.


​For more stories on what UCYM is up to in the community and what members of our team are doing on behalf of UCYM, follow us on social media @unitedcatholicym on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok!

Holy Thursday Reflection

4/17/2025

 
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Maundy (or Holy) Thursday
Lisa Boris, Chief Finance and Operations Officer

Today begins the Triduum, the three most sacred days in the liturgical year.  On this Holy Thursday, we recall the institution of the Eucharist and the priesthood at the Last Supper, the washing of the disciples’ feet, Jesus’ prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, and His betrayal and arrest. Throughout all of these events, Jesus remains a humble servant of God (a theme we hear about earlier this week as well). 

Tonight, Jesus celebrates the Last Supper with the disciples, knowing that one of them will betray him. All were welcome at His table. During the meal, Jesus bowed down and washed their feet, which had walked through the dusty, dry, desert heat. This was a physically unpleasant task so humiliating it was not even asked of the lowest of servants. Jesus does it willingly as an example of how to treat others. 

After dinner, Jesus prays in the Garden of Gethsemane, where He asks God to take away the suffering He is about to experience. However, as a true servant of God, Jesus ultimately accepts it, saying, “Not my will, but Yours be done” (Luke 22:42). 

It can be challenging to follow the example of Jesus and be humble servants of God. During these next few days, when a difficult family member or someone who has hurt us walks through the door, will we welcome them to the table? Will we serve them with love, even when it’s uncomfortable? Will we humbly do the hard or unseen work to prepare our homes and hearts for Easter? Will we stay faithful, as Jesus did, even when the path ahead is uncertain or painful?

​This Triduum, may we seek to serve as Jesus served and to love as Jesus loved.

How Can We Help You?

4/8/2025

 
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Looking to build a retreat opportunity, a youth leadership program, or collaborate on creating digital content? Look no further - we are here to help! 

As parishes, schools, and other Catholic communities are shaping how they want their programming to look for the next year, consider a partnership with UCYM. Our service is completely free (donations absolutely welcome) and there is no contract or long-term commitments to work with us. 

What types of services do we typically provide?
  • Retreats
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  • Youth minister accompaniment
  • Digital ministry collaboration

You can also check out our featured programs to learn more about our most popular program templates. 

For questions or inquiries about becoming a site or partner of UCYM, contact us at [email protected]. For questions or inquiries about retreats, contact us at [email protected].
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Palm Sunday Reflection

4/8/2025

 
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Palm Sunday Reflection
Cynthia Judge, Board Member

​Storytelling is our natural language. We all respond to stories, because they open our hearts to life and love.
 
Palm Sunday is filled with stories. In fact, Palm Sunday is the only day where we hear about Jesus’ happy entry into Jerusalem, adored by huge crowds, and we hear the Passion story of Jesus’ suffering and death.
 
The first story begins with Jesus coming into Jerusalem, and when people saw Him, they cheered for Him, treated Him like a star and praised God “aloud with joy.” Imagine yourself as Jesus, being recognized and cheered by a huge crowd. It would be easy to feel that was the best day of your life!
 
Then, the story changes. Jesus knew that He was going to suffer greatly. He was truly human and he must have been scared. He prayed, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me; still, not my will but yours be done”. Imagine how frightened you would be. Imagine the courage you would receive by turning to God.
 
And through prayer, the strength of Jesus as truly God allowed Him to meet the challenge. He saw his friend Judas turn him over to the authorities. He saw his friend Peter deny three times that he even knew Jesus. Imagine how hurt you would feel if your friends did that. And then the crowds of people who claimed that they loved Jesus turned against him. Imagine how betrayed you would feel.
 
Yet Jesus pressed on, He carried His heavy Cross. Jesus was crucified, He hung on the Cross for three long hours, and finally said, “Father, into your hands I commend my Spirit.” Imagine loving humanity that much, to die for others, showing us how to live and love!
 
The Palm Sunday stories begin in joy and end in sorrow. We know, though, that there’s a great story – the best story ever – that we’ll hear on Easter. Until then, have a blessed Holy Week.

Fifth Sunday of Lent

4/6/2025

 
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Fifth Sunday of Lent
​Pat Tomich, Assistant Executive Director for Mission Integration

As our Lenten journey draws ever closer to Holy Week, the readings draw us more deeply into the mystery of transformation and renewal. Throughout this sacred season, we are invited to recognize the newness God continually pours forth. Yet we live in a world weighed down by division, uncertainty, and despair, and it can be hard to perceive this promise. We hear Isaiah’s words call out to us: “See, I am doing something new! Now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?” (Isaiah 43:19). Even in the barren places of our lives—times of grief, struggle, or regret—God is making a way.

Our journey of faith reminds us that renewal often comes through struggle. Psalm 126 assures us that those who sow in tears will one day reap in joy. Life is full of these cycles—seasons of waiting and wondering if change is possible, yet faith calls us to trust that God is at work, even when we cannot yet see the fruit. The earth, too, longs for restoration, groaning for healing from the harm inflicted upon it. Lent invites us to enter into God’s renewing work—not only within ourselves but in the world around us.

Paul urges us to let go of what is behind and press forward in faith: “I continue my pursuit toward the goal, the prize of God’s upward calling in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14). How often do we cling to past failures, old wounds, or patterns that keep us from growing? Lent calls us to transformation, to release what burdens us so we can move freely toward the life God desires.

Jesus embodies this call in his encounter with the woman caught in adultery. As the crowd gathers, ready to condemn, he responds with radical compassion. “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone” (John 8:7). In a world quick to judge, what if we chose compassion instead? What if we let go of resentment, self-condemnation, and fear, stepping instead into the newness Christ offers?

God is doing something new. The question is, will we have the eyes to see it—and the courage to step into it?

Fourth Sunday of Lent Reflection

3/30/2025

 
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Fourth Sunday of Lent
Jason McKean, Board Member
It’s the fourth Sunday of Lent, which means we are just over halfway through the season. Maybe the season has begun to feel like a bit of a slog. Happily, the Church puts before us the story of the Prodigal Son this Sunday, in which the father celebrates his son’s return: Fresh clothes! A ring on the finger! A feast! And music! And dancing! It’s good to be reminded that for all the challenges of the season, its closure will bring joy (and feasting!) greater even than the parable’s father figure.

I’d like share a reflection, though, that while this story may remind us of the closing celebration, we can find other ones along the way when we pay attention. I am sponsoring my nephew for his confirmation next month, and we were asked to meet to talk with each other about our experiences of our Catholic faith. There were two pages of single-spaced questions to answer. At first a bit annoyed by this task, as we went along I realized: I’d not previously understood the depth of his faith, and was impressed – and humbled. I saw a question that I needed to answer: am I living up to what Lent, and Jesus, is asking of me?

The answer, perhaps unsurprisingly at this point in the essay, was “erm, not really.” In many mentoring relationships, the mentor learns as much and maybe more than the mentee.​

As we kept talking, we began to plan out additional ways to connect over our faith. We’ll be reading a book together (Seven Last Words by Fr. James Martin), and he and I are choosing a method of praying that we’ll do together (maybe a Rosary, or a lectio divina session…TBD). I’m sure those will benefit him as a confirmand, but they are also going to benefit my Lent, and my relationship with Jesus. And so, this Prodigal Son both looks forward to concluding Lent with Easter’s risen Christ and also appreciates the gift of conversion on the way there. My prayer is that you find yours along the way, too.

Third Sunday of Lent Reflection

3/23/2025

 
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Since January 1st, 74 people have been killed in Chicago. In January, Southern California dealt with devastating wildfires that killed at least twenty-nine people and left thousands homeless. Recent tornadoes and other storms in March across six states killed forty-two people and blew several homes away. Ukraine is entering the third year of its war with Russia, and the cease-fire between Hamas and Israel has ended, leaving continued death and destruction in the Gaza Strip. One may cry out where God is in all this loss and devastation. Was their misfortune Karma? Did they deserve what happened to them? What about the innocent victims? Who is to blame?

​In the readings, God introduces Godself to Moses and invites him to lead the Israelites out of four hundred years of being enslaved to the Egyptians. God has heard the people’s cries and is ready to keep the promise made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Paul tells the Corinthians that while God is merciful and patient, we must do our part, repent, and strive to live sinless lives. In the gospel, Jesus reminds us of natural tragedies and accidents that kill or hurt people at random. It is not due to the guilt or innocence of the victims. Others, like wars, are due to the hardness of the hearts of those who started them. Both the righteous and the unrighteous are affected.

The important lesson is to ensure your heart is right with God. Conversion of the heart is key, so when these tragedies occur, we are prepared to stand in victory despite it. We hope that when God calls us home, we are ready. God invites us to be in a relationship with him and one another. The Psalmist tells us, “He pardons all your iniquities; He heals all your ills. He redeems your life from destruction; He crowns you with kindness and compassion. Merciful and gracious is the Lord, slow to anger and abounding in kindness.”  Use this time to recommit to your relationship with God and experience God's mercy and love for you.

Second Sunday of Lente Reflection

3/16/2025

 
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Second Sunday of Lent Reflection
Sister Belinda Monahan, OSB, Spiritual Advisor and Board Member

​What is your mountaintop experience?
               
Many of us has an experience similar to the one recounted in today’s Gospel.  It may not have been on a literal mountaintop, it may not have involved the sudden appearance of Moses and Elijah.  Nevertheless, we have encountered Jesus in a new way—in a way that brings us closer to the reality of who Jesus is.  We are awakened from the dullness of our daily lives into a more complete experience of Jesus. 
               
This awakening is the invitation extended to us in this season of Lent.  We often think of Lent as a trip into the desert.  And it’s true that we are—as Jesus was last Sunday—invited into the desert for prayer, fasting, and generosity.  These practices lead us, as they lead Jesus and his disciples this week, to mountaintop experiences; to a deeper recognition of who Jesus is:  the chosen Son to whom God’s voice reminds us to listen. 
               
And when we do listen? When we come down from the mountaintop?  When we have classes to attend, and work to do, and errands to run, and friends to talk to?  How do we bring that mountaintop experience back down into our everyday lives? 
               
Abram in the first reading chooses to believe in God’s promises, even when they seem to be completely outside of the realm of possibility.  Paul urges us to—as he has—stand firm in the Lord.  The disciples in today’s Gospel at first remain silent and fail to tell anyone, but must later have recounted it.
               
Because once we encounter God in his fullness, we are changed.  And even as we travel down the mountain, we carry with us the light of that encounter and share it with others. 
               
​What is your mountaintop experience?  

Ash Wednesday Reflection

3/5/2025

 
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Ash Wednesday
Lisa Boris, Chief Finance and Operations Officer

Growing up, I always looked forward to Ash Wednesday because we got to sing my (then) favorite hymn, Hosea. "Come back to me with all your heart. Don’t let fear keep us apart. Trees do bend, though straight and tall; so must we to others’ call.  Long have I waited for your coming home to me and living deeply our new life."

The first lines of the song Hosea beautifully capture the meaning of Ash Wednesday. Yesterday, we began the liturgical season of Lent, our forty-day journey of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, with a reminder: “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” 

Ash Wednesday is not a Holy Day of Obligation, but rather a Holy Day of Invitation. We receive an invitation to, as we hear in today’s first reading “return to” God with our “whole hearts”.

We do this through the practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. These Lenten practices are invitations and opportunities to rid ourselves of distractions and examine our hearts so we can be people of greater love, mercy, and integrity. Amid the division, injustice, and noise of the world today, Lent calls us to true conversion and change of heart. 

The song Hosea is based on the biblical prophet Hosea. The book of Hosea uses the imagery of an unfaithful wife to remind the Israelites that God’s love for his people never fails. God did not abandon the Israelites even when they turned to idolatry and injustice, instead he longed to bring them back to into a loving relationship with Him. The same holds true for us today. God never stops calling us back even when we often fall short. We can always repent and journey back to God. 

The song continues: "the wilderness will lead you to your heart where I will speak. Integrity and justice with tenderness you shall know."

This Lent, spend some time in prayer listening to God speaking in your heart. Give generously to those in need and work to bring more love and empathy into the world through your almsgiving. Fast from selfishness, indifference, hopelessness, and judging others and focus on integrity, justice, and tenderness. 

May the ashes you received yesterday be more than just a mark on our foreheads. Let them be marks on our hearts as we begin the grace-filled, transformative journey towards Easter. ​

Black History Month 2025 - Reflection #1

2/10/2025

 
PictureDr. Carter G. Woodson 1875-1960
“If a race has no history, it has no worthwhile tradition, it becomes a negligible factor in the thought of the world, and it stands in danger of being exterminated.”- Dr. Carter G. Woodson

When Dr. Carter G. Woodson introduced Black History Week in 1926 through his organization, The Association of Negro Life and History, he was inspired by two events; teacher Mary Church Terrell convincing leadership in the Washington D.C. school district to set aside an afternoon for students to learn about the life and legacy of Fredrick Douglass whose birthday is on February 14th and the Lincoln Jubilee celebrations in Bronzeville Chicago in 1915 commemorating 50 years since the Emancipation Proclamation freeing enslaved Africans in 1863.   

Dr. Woodson believed that the teaching of Black History in schools ensured that Black people would be better able to survive and thrive in a country that only sought to marginalize the community. Black men and women were recognized for their accomplishments and contributions to the country, and young children in schools learned about the history of slavery in this country and the sheer determination and reliance on God that it took to overcome it. Negro History Week also served as a counterbalance to the notion of the Lost Cause ideas that were circulating throughout the country during the 1920s & thirties. The Lost Cause mythology maintains that Black people were content being enslaved, and if it were not for the aggressions of the North, the Civil War would not have occurred.

Dr. Woodson chose for Negro History Week to take place during the second week of February. This was due to Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass's birthdays being only two days apart, and both were widely celebrated in the Black communities during the late 1800s. First, it met with lukewarm responses; it was through the encouragement of Black newspapers at the time that the idea was put into the hands of mayors in cities across the country. By the 1960s, Negro History Week was widely celebrated across the country. In 1969, Kent State University proposed to extend Negro History Week to be celebrated an entire month. With Kent State taking the lead, educational institutions nationwide began to follow suit, and President Gerald Ford recognized February as Black History Month during the country’s bi-centennial celebrations in 1976.

Today, The Association for the Study of African American Life and History continues to encourage and uplift the story and legacy of African Americans through African American Heritage Month by introducing focus themes. For 2025, the theme is African Americans and Labor in the Past, Present, and Future.

The celebration of Black History Month also inspired other marginalized and ethnic groups to create recognition months of their own to highlight their unique experiences as Americans and what they and their ancestors have contributed to the fabric of our country.

Today, Black History Month is observed in at least four countries, including the UK, Canada, Ireland, and the U.S.

​To learn more about the Association for the Study of African American Life and History or Dr. Carter G. Woodson, visit ASALH | The Founders of Black History Month.

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Tina Carter is a public librarian and works at the King Branch on the south side of the City of Chicago. Tina volunteers as a catechetical leader at her parish Our Lady of Africa in baptismal and Confirmation sacramental preparation. Tina is a member of the UCYM Board of Directors and is part of the Faith Formation and Evangelization Team and Accountability Board. 

Closed on Sunday is Returning!

2/8/2025

 
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​Dear UCYM Community,

As the world around us continues to become more polarized and people experience hardships, it is important to be a voice of support, prayer, and advocacy. UCYM is proud of its Closed on Sunday podcast program that was built by our young adult community. As we are making decisions about our priorities, we have decided to revamp this program and make it stronger than ever to demonstrate our support of a world where wisdom in thought, courage in voice, and love in action prevail. 

If you are interested in joining our podcast content or production teams, please contact our Podcast Program Leadership Team at [email protected]. 

If you would like to make a donation to our program to help us improve and purchase new equipment and editing software, please click the giving button below or contact us at [email protected]. You can note "Closed on Sunday" in the notes section.

Blessed Carlo Acutis, pray for us! 

Your UCYM Mission and Ministry Team
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