Totus Tuus returns, ‘live and in person’

In the COVID-stricken summer of 2020, Mark Beukema was leading the Totus Tuus newscast from the basement of St. Albert the Great parish in Houghton, unsure if anyone was understanding his creative genius.

This year, the second-year, pre-theology seminarian was surrounded by youngsters on the parking lot of St. Albert the Great wanting to play catch and toss the Frisbee.

“While we made the best of a difficult situation last year,” Beukema explained,” this is the way Totus Tuus should be – live and in person. This program is intended to engage the kids. The kids need to be together and interact.”

Totus Tuus is a Catholic summer youth program dedicated to sharing the Gospel and promoting the Catholic Faith through catechesis, evangelization, Christian witness, and Eucharistic worship. This year the week-long program marked its eighth year in the diocese of Marquette.

The program offers a daytime session for grade-school children and an evening program for middle and high-school students. More than 70 grade-school students participated in the day session and roughly 30 middle and high school students came at night in its opening week at St. Albert the Great in early June.

Teresa Hoving is one of this year's team leaders. The engineering student at Michigan Tech, originally from Ypsilanti, Michigan, said this is her first year as a Totus Tuus missionary. She claimed Father Ben Hasse, vocations director for the Diocese of Marquette and her pastor at St. Al's, is the reason she got involved.

“He roped me into this,” she said with a smile. “However, it's been a good way to serve God over the summer.”

Hoving is one of eight missionaries, along with one intern, devoting eight weeks of service to the program in the Diocese of Marquette. The eight weeks include one week of training, six weeks of mission work at parishes across the diocese, and one week of retreat.

She added that she and her team have been promoting themes related to the virtues, the beatitudes, and Joyful mysteries of the Rosary.

“The kids have been attentive in classes and eager to learn about Jesus and Mary,” she added.

Fellow teammate Matthew Janowski shared a similar sentiment.
“I've been impressed with the older kids in our evening program,” he said. “They have some great questions and ideas.” 

Janowski claims he got the Totus Tuus leadership bug after he was a participant himself.

“I can remember doing the program in middle and high school,” said the Marquette native. 

“I loved it and knew I wanted to be a leader one day. So, here I am. It’s a way to give back to God during the summer.”

As week one of Totus Tuus came to a close, Father Hasse couldn't have been happier with the turnout and results.

“I was really happy with attendance. Coming back from COVID it was a great turnout.  We had a lot of fun; Mass was prayerful and ended with a bang with the water fight,” he said. “Our missionaries this year are full of faith and generosity, and it is beautiful to see them serve and be role-models for our youth.”