Veritas formation for life

On the northwestern edge of the Bismarck Diocese, there are well over 30,000 souls that live and work within the areas of the Churches of St. Joseph in Williston, St. John the Baptist in Trenton and St. Boniface in Grenora, including a substantial Hispanic population with many other diverse nationalities.

Over 1,600 of these souls are in high school. The Church has a duty “to see that a well-organized course of parish religious education is provided for both grade and high school students” (Statute 239 §2). Since parents are unable to entrust their children to a Catholic high school here, “they are obliged to take care that suitable Catholic education is provided for their children outside the schools” (Canon 798). To help parents in this religious mission, “pastors of souls have the duty of arranging everything so that all of the faithful have a Catholic education” (Canon 794 §2). Providing this opportunity for high schoolers after they receive confirmation is not an option: “it is a proper and grave duty especially of pastors of souls to take care of the catechesis of the Christian people so that the living faith of the faithful becomes manifest and active through doctrinal instruction and the experience of Christian life” (Canon 773).
    
The COVID pandemic and its aftermath put our youth group in jeopardy. At one point, gatherings were occurring about once a month with only a few high schoolers invested in the group and a single adult minister serving. A desire to develop the appropriate apparatus to serve the souls of all our teenagers from all three parishes became crucial.
    
“Every parish must provide all Catholic children of school age not attending a Catholic elementary or secondary school a parish course of religious education on a regular basis” (Statute 239 §1). When I served last year at Trinity High School in Dickinson, I was inspired by the opportunities all the high school students had daily to form relationships with various priests and religious sisters–opportunities I did not have in public school. Their priests served them in church, taught them at school, visited them at home and cheered for them during their various activities. The Church’s vision for education is not merely imparting information, but passing on a rich lifestyle of a living, steadfast union with the Holy Trinity on earth; in other words, enjoying God more and more together as a spiritual family of disciples. Holy Mother Church desires a wholistic, structured, and “complete formation of the human person that looks to his or her final end…” with lifelong growth to full maturity in Christ (Canon 795; cf. Gravissimum Educationis, §2). Confirmation is not a graduation—it is an enrollment toward spiritual maturity.
    
Inspired by this greater vision at our parishes, we decided to re-organize our youth group into what we have named “Veritas Youth Formation” with the purpose of pursuing the wholistic formation of all high schoolers at a higher and more intentional level. Veritas is Latin for truth. We now have a strong team of young adults who are invested in serving our high schoolers on a weekly basis for an hour and a half with the priest as a spiritual father and the youth minister as a spiritual mother.

But it is not just the great snacks, the deeper conversations with boys and girls separated and the quality presentations; there is more to enjoy. “A pastor is to take care in a special way that the faith of youth and adults is strengthened, enlightened and developed through various means and endeavors” (Canon 777). With a new surge of desires and zeal, we enjoyed an all-saints murder mystery and a relational prayer retreat. Soon, we aspire to enjoy a Christian seder meal, a know your Bible competition, service to the poor, a Medora hiking trip to visit historic parishes as well as Michelle Duppong’s grave and even offer a Rome pilgrimage.
    
Most recently, our Veritas Youth Formation was able to enjoy a unique National March for Life Pilgrimage to Washington, D.C. Instead of driving overnight on a large bus, we saw an opportunity to take another route. Since our pastor Fr. Paul Eberle and I have many connections in St. Louis from our time at Kenrick-Glennon Seminary there, we decided to rent cars and drive with the group through St. Louis.

On our way there, my parents, Tim and Gloria Wanner of Mandan, generously hosted a hearty breakfast at their home as well as a roast beef feast for supper on the return trip. While in St. Louis, our Bismarck Diocese seminarians, Deacon Eric Artz, Deacon Ryan Martire and Colton Steiner, hosted us for morning prayer and Mass at the seminary as well as breakfast with a royal tour. On the way home, we enjoyed the historic Old Cathedral of St. Louis (which used to be our Cathedral in 1826-1851 before the Bismarck Diocese was established) as well as the new Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis, the “Rome of the West,” which I think is the most beautiful church in the Western Hemisphere.
    
In Washington D.C., in addition to enjoying the various national monuments and museums as well as the St. John Paul II National Shrine, we were able to attend the opening Mass of the National Prayer Vigil for Life with three cardinals, 15 bishops, over 100 priests and the entire Basilica Shrine of the Immaculate Conception packed with pilgrims. After Mass, my older brother, Jon and, his wife, Elena Wanner, hosted Veritas at their home in Alexandria, Virginia for a homemade supper. He taught us about the theology of Gregorian chant and performed two pieces for us.

During the March for Life, Veritas group members proudly spearheaded the very front of the marching crowd next to the rest of the groups from the diocese. In our Veritas blog, Jocelyn Ortiz, a junior at Williston High School, wrote this about the march, “I feel very blessed for being able to come to this trip and as a high school student. With so much more to come in life, it opened my perspective of life in so many ways that life matters so much. We have to protect the gift of God and receive it with so much love and I hope I can share the same message to others with my experience!”

To read more from our Veritas Youth Formation blog, find it on our parish website for the Church of St. Joseph in Williston under the “Faith Formation: K-12: Veritas” tabs. The youth, in union with Christ, are the hope of the Church. Please join us in prayer that all our high schoolers pursue Veritas formation for life.

The author, Father Wanner, was ordained in 2022 and is parochial vicar of the Churches of St. Joseph in Williston, St. John the Baptist in Trenton and St. Boniface in Grenora.