Cover

1

This book is meant to be a guide to help you lead your team’s weekly

meeting & activities. There are 8 weeks of activities and one service

project per book. The final week is meant to be a hands on apostolic

service project with your team. Use your team leader guidebook as a

workbook where you plan and prepare your team activities. You will

find other helpful things for the activities on your Team Leader USB

and online resource center.

Each weekly meeting is an opportunity to help your team members

discover something new about God, themselves and the world

around them. We all have questions in our hearts and Challenge

gives you an time to work together to discover the answers to those

questions .

In Challenge, we have a special way to help the girls discover the

answers to their questions:

2

This book belongs to:

Hot Dogs for the Homeless

Snapshot & Explanation 6 Other Project Options 9

Week 1: Why do we believe and seek God? 10 Week 2: How is God a part of our lives? 20 Week 3: How do we know what to believe? 30 Week 4: Is the Bible true? 40

Week 5: What does it mean to have faith in God? 50 Week 6: What should I know about prayer? 60 Week 7: Why did God make us the way we are? 70 Week 8: Get out there! Project Finale 80

3

You will see these icons in the guidebook to help you:

Scripture texts in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity

of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. and are used by permission of the copyright owner. All Rights Reserved.

Indicates a moment to ask

the girls questions and

discuss YOUCAT #s of the

week

Indicates you will need a

computer or tablet to watch a

video segment online

Indicates there are additional

materials on the Team Leader

USB & online resource center

Indicates materials you

need for the activity

Indicates a team leader tip

to help you leading the

activity

Indicates a reference or

quote from the YouCAT

Youth Catechism

4

1 Team Time: (10-20 min) for icebreakers, snack and time to hang out.

2 Getting Started: (5 min) Start with a prayer & state this week’s question

3 Experience: (20-30 min) Hands on activity that helps the girls understand

the answer to the question. There are also video answers shown here.

4 Connect: (10-15 min) Gospel Reflection to connect to Christ & saint stories to

connect to the Church and the world.

5 Decide: (5 min) The girls should come up with a team promise of what they

will work on during the upcoming week

6 Project Time: Time get ready for your team’s project.

The Challenge Weekly Team Meeting has 6 parts:

5

Example of the Meeting Guide Sheets on the Team Leader USB

The Team Leader USB drive and online resource

center have weekly meeting guide sheets that you

can print out each week for your team. You can either

give the meeting guides out for the upcoming week

so the team members can study ahead of time or you

can print them for the week at hand. Each meeting

guide sheet has:

- The question of the week

- YOUCAT numbers that help answer the question

- A passage from the Gospel that helps answer the

question

- A recap or quote from the saint and stories of the

week that help answer the question

- Some team discussion points to help to discover

the answer to the question

- A place to jot down the answer of the week in

your own words.

The YOUCat (Youth Catechism of the Catholic Church) is the official Catholic catechism for young

people. It takes all the content of the Catechism and makes the teachings of the Church easily

understood through a questions and answer format. If we want to be strong Christians, we need

to know and love our faith. Youcat stands for Youth Catechism.

How will we use it in the Weekly Meetings? Each week we will cover a question that corresponds to a few numbers from the YOUCAT. By

then end of the year we will have studied 99% of the YOUCAT and learn the basic principles

and aspects of our Catholic faith. If possible all the members of your team should have

YOUCATs but if they do not, these handouts should be enough to help them go deep.

YOUCAT - Book Trailer

https://youtu.be/H1OnfvpV_uQ

YouCat Intro

http://youtu.be/hP3P3jL2hwI

6

Week by Week Suggestions

Each week you should try to work on getting ready for the final event of the project.

Week Suggestion to Get the Project Done! Your Plan

1 Present the Project and to the team and tell them about

specific needs that are happening locally.

2 Decide how to do the food drive or fundraiser to get the

necessary items.

3 Make flyers for the fundraiser or food drive. Decide on how

you will package the lunches.

4 Do the fundraiser or food drive to get the needed items.

5 Make thank you cards for donors from the fundraisers.

6 Make holy cards or notes for the homeless people telling

them that the meal was made with love.

7 Make lunches or meal.

8 Deliver food to pantry or to the homeless.

What is the idea for this project ? Hot Dogs for the Homeless is a project where the high school team makes bagged lunches or a

meal for homeless people in their city or for a local soup kitchen or homeless shelter. The team

should find a local organization that helps to feed the homeless people so that they can get

specific needs and locations where the people go. Depending on the food needs, the girls can

organize a fundraiser or food drive to get the needed items. They should dedicate one day to

assemble the lunches and make the food and then go to the location where they distribute the

food. How is your team going to do it? ………………………………………………………………...……………………………………………………………….……………….

Who will you serve? Where? ……………………………………………….……..……………………………….……………….

When:?…………………………….……..…………………...…………………………………………………….………………………..

7

My Team Committees

Jot down all the things that you will need to

do to complete the project and have your

team sign up for the tasks and things they

would like to do :

Committee Tasks Who?

Each member on your team should have a

role in the project. Dividing them up into

committees or task forces can be a good idea.

Here are some suggestions:

1. Master Chef Committee: These members

should get the menu ideas from the

soup kitchen and make a list of all the

items needed.

2. Food Bags or Boxes Committee: This

committee should help get all the

packaging and the personal notes for the

lunches.

3. Food Supplies Committee: This

committee will take care of buying the

lit of supplies.

4. Fundraiser Committee: This committee

focuses on getting funds so as to be able

to buy the food and supplies for the

lunches. It could be a bakesale or

something else.

5. Thank you Committee: This committee

makes sure they thank everyone who

helped contribute in the fundraiser and

other support.

Getting everyone involved!

8

…………………………………………………

…………………………………………………

…………………………………………………

…………………………………………………

…………………………………………………

…………………………………………………

…………………………………………………

…………………………………………………

…………………………………………………

………………

How are you going to present it?

On the Team Leader USB

Presenting the Project to my Team: Getting your team excited about the project is important. Here are some suggestions about how to

get the girls motivated to do the project:

-Hot Dogs for the Homeless Logo

-Postcards and poster template

You could start off by having the guest speaker come in from the soup kitchen or homeless shelter and

explain who is there, what they do and what their needs are. You could start off by giving them the facts

about hunger and homeless people in their city. You can usually find these type of facts on Catholic

Charities website in your diocese. You can also look up statistics about homelessness in the USA or

Canada in general. There are over a million homeless people in the US and many are children and veterans.

How many soup kitchens exist? How many food pantries? Or you could ask them if they have ever seen

someone who is truly poor or went to a soup kitchen You could show them some pictures of the place

you will be going, the people that go there and all the work that the location does. You could help them

to see that for one reason or another these people do not have enough money for food. Explain the

different parts of the project and the different committees.

9

Option A:

Check out the optional

Projects on the Team

Leader USB drive and

online resource center.

Option B: Design your own team project!

If you see a need around you, talk to your club leader and

organize your own team service project.

Project Idea: …………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

Where and who will you serve?..............................................................

When:……………………………………………………………………………….…....

Goal:…………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Weekly Plan:

Week 1:

Week 2:

Week 3:

Week 4:

Week 5:

Week 6:

Week 7:

Week 8:

10

Before: Prep & Plan This section is meant to be a guide to help you prepare

this week’s meeting & activity for your team.

Week 1:

Why do we believe and seek God?

I need to have a new relationship with God.

God loves me and I can get to know

Him. I want to respond to God by loving Him .

We believe and seek God because he made us and we naturally want to love and know him.

The answer to this week’s question can be found in YOUCAT #1-6, #342 and #352- 355 which

are found on the Meeting Guide Sheet and are summarized below.

TIP: These ideas from the YOUCAT will help you answer this week’s question.

Highlight the main ideas that jump out at you so that you can have them clear.

#1: For what purpose are we here on earth? We are here on earth in

order to know and to love God, to do good according to his will, and to go

someday to heaven. To be a human being means to come from God and to

go to God.

#2: Why did God create us? God created us out of free and unselfish love….Out of the

“surplus” of his love he created us. He wanted to share his endless joy with us, who are

creatures of his love.

#3: Why do we seek God? God has placed in our hearts a longing to seek and find him. It

is natural for man to seek God.

#4: Can we know the existence of God by our reason? Yes. Human reason can know

God with certainty. The order, the beauty, and the development of the world point beyond

themselves toward God. Every man is receptive to what is true, good, and beautiful.

#5 Why do people deny that God exists, if they can know him by reason? To know

the invisible God is a great challenge for the human mind. Many are scared off by it. Another

reason why some do not want to know God is because they would then have to change their

life.

11 Week

Print out the Meeting Guide from the Team Leader USB drive or online resource center for this week. The Meeting Guide Sheet for the team members has the complete numbers from the Youcat, gospel quote, saint stories and team discussion questions to help answer the question of the week.

#6: Can we grasp God at all in concepts? Is it possible to speak about him meaningfully? In order to express something about God, we

use imperfect images and limited notions.

#342: Are we all supposed to become “saints”? Yes. The purpose

of our life is to be united with God in love and to correspond entirely to

God’s wishes. We should allow God “to live his life in us” (Mother Teresa).

That is what it means to be holy: a “saint”... Holiness, however, is not some

sort of self-made perfection; rather, it is union with the incarnate love that is

Christ.

#352: What is the meaning of the commandment, “I am the Lord, your God” (Ex 20:2)? Because the Almighty has revealed himself to us as our God and Lord, we must

not place anything above him or consider anything more important or give any other thing or

person priority over him. To know God and to serve and worship him has absolute priority in our

life. God expects us to give him our full faith; we should place all our hope in him and direct all

the strength of our love toward him. The commandment to love God is the most important of

all commandments and the key to all the others.

#353: Why do we worship God? We worship God because he exists and because reverence

and worship are the appropriate response to his revelation and his presence. Worshipping God,

however, is also beneficial to men, for it frees them from servitude to the powers of this world.

When God is no longer worshipped and when he is no longer thought to be Lord over life and

death, others assume that position and put human dignity at risk.

#354: Can people be forced to believe in God? No. No one may force others to believe. A

person can make the decision to believe only in complete freedom. Christians, however, are

called to help other people, by word and example, to find the way to faith.

#355: “You shall not have strange Gods before me.” What does that mean? This

commandment forbids us: to adore other gods and pagan deities or to worship an earthly idol or

to devote oneself entirely to some earthly good (money, influence, success, beauty, youth, and

so on) to be superstitious, which means to adhere to esoteric, magic, or occult or New Age

practices or to get involved with fortune telling or spiritualism, instead of believing in God’s

power, providence, and blessings, to provoke God by word or deed .

12

Before: Prep & Plan

Week 1:

Where do I fit in ?

13

Computer to show videos

Youcat Meeting Guide Sheet Book 1 Week 1 printed out

Shaker Maker Moves printed and cut up in hat

Shaker Maker Sheets printed and attached to shoeboxes

Shoeboxes and shoelaces for each girl

Shaker Maker Sheets and Moves.

Book 4 Week 1 Youcat Meeting Guide

TIP: Getting ready is the first step to a great weekly meeting and activity with

your team. Remember – your whole meeting should be a series of activities

and experiences that help the girls on your team answer the question of the

week. There should not be a “talk” where the girls are just listening.

This Weeu’s Meeting at a Glance

Team Time

Get Started: Prayer & Question

Experience:-Activity: Shaker Maker Game

Videos/ Team Discussion

Connect-Gospel Reflection: Jn 1:35-43

Saints : St John Eudes/ Frank Parater

Decide: Team Promise

Project Time!- Hot Dogs for the Homeless

Wrap Up

Week

14

Team Time What is the plan this week for the beginning of the meeting? A game?

Fun idea for snack? Special occasion? Icebreaker?

Getting Started Start off with a prayer. You can say a Hail Mary, Glory Be or the Holy Spirit Prayer.

Who is there this week ?

Let your team know the question of the day: Why do we believe and seek God?

Let them know what else you have planned for the meeting.

Experience – Activity:

Explanation: Give each girl on the team a shoelace and a shoebox

one of the Shaker Maker sheets (which can be printed off the Team

Leader USB) taped to the bottom of the shoe box. They cannot

look at the bottom of the box yet and they cannot let other

people see. Have them pick out of a hat one of the “Shaker Maker

Moves” which you can find on the USB. They are actions that the

girls must do with the shoebox tied to their foot (like jumping on

one foot, doing the twist, flapping like a bird). The goal of the game is to find their maker – half

of the team has an invention on the bottom of the shoe and the other half of the team has the

maker. Only two rules- no talking and they have to be doing their action or dance move the

whole time. The first team to find their pair wins. Then you can have each pair explain their

invention and inventor to everyone else.

Discussion: St Augustine once said –”You have made us for yourself, O Lord,

and our heart is restless until it rests in you. “ Just like all of these

inventions, they had a creator and inventor. Otherwise they could have never

existed. We are no different and our maker is God. We seek him because we

came from him and only he knows how to make us truly happy. He is a part

of us and we need him in our lives or we feel incomplete.

Week 1:

15

Explanation: Watch the videos which touch on the topic of the week. You can

choose the ones that you think would best reach your team. After watching the

videos, get their feedback and how they think the videos relate to the question of the week.

Explanation: Since this is year we are focusing on doing a YOUCAT

study each week , we will take a moment each week to actually talk

to your team about the question of the week and the numbers

from the YOUCAT found on the Meeting Guide Sheet.

1) The first thing to do is to read the numbers from the YOUCAT with everyone. You can

assign each girl to read one of the numbers.

2) After each number ask if anyone has any questions about what it means. Give examples of

things you maybe did not understand at first and take advantage of the definitions and

explanations found throughout the YOUCAT in the margins to help better explain.

3) Ask how each number of the YOUCAT helps answer the question of the week. Go through

and help them see that the Church does help us find answers to our deepest questions.

Week

Your Notes

Catholic Integration Agency -

YOUCAT Introduction

http://youtu.be/ZozxFh-9pqg

Weekly YouCat 2

http://youtu.be/Qg6kVlgAeIk

Weekly YouCat 3

http://youtu.be/rhakMiln7CQ

Created to be HAPPY (Youcat 1-3)

http://youtu.be/7zJOHh4sIDI

Weekly YouCat 5

http://youtu.be/9TMQe3zOYcI

Weekly YouCat 6

http://youtu.be/ObbbVau5MMw

16

Explain the gospel passage to your team so that they can better understand the life of Jesus

This passage takes place right at the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. He was just

becoming somewhat of a local celebrity and teacher – preaching, curing people, doing

miracles for those in need. John the Baptist was his cousin and they probably grew up

together and were friends because they lived relatively close and were only months apart in

age. The River Jordan was not too far from where Jesus and John lived and John had become

a type of prophet and teacher in those parts. He would even baptize people in the river. He

had disciples - which simply means followers. So Jesus went down to the river and saw John

and two of his disciples. One of John’s disciples was Andrew – who was Peter’s brother.

Andrew is looking for someone to lead him and he went after Jesus to talk to him. They

spent the day with Jesus and it changed their lives forever.

Andrew was a seeker who was trying to discover God and found that

Jesus was the key. So Andrew went directly to Peter to share this treasure

he had discovered: Jesus. Peter came right away. His name was originally

Simon and Jesus named him Cephas – which means rock.

The next day John was there again with two of his disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk

by, he said, “Behold, the Lamb of God.” The two disciples heard what he said and followed

Jesus. Jesus turned and saw them following him and said to them, “What are you looking

for?” They said to him, “Rabbi” (which translated means Teacher), “where are you staying?”

He said to them, “Come, and you will see.” So they went and saw where he was staying, and

they stayed with him that day. It was about four in the afternoon. Andrew, the brother of

Simon Peter, was one of the two who heard John and followed Jesus. He first found his own

brother Simon and told him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated Anointed).

Then he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of John;

you will be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter).The next day he decided to go to

Galilee, and he found Philip. And Jesus said to him, “Follow me.”

Connect To Christ: Gospel Reflection Remember – the gospel reflection is a moment to help the girls understand how

Jesus responded to this week’s question with his life or his words in the gospel.

Choose one of the girls to read the passage. TIP

Week 1:

17

What do you think Andrew saw in Jesus when he followed him?

What do you think Jesus talked about or did with the two disciples that made

them want to run out and bring all their friends and family to him?

Have you ever discovered something you just could not keep to yourself and had to share?

Why did you want to bring others to experience it too?

Do you think that the apostles were seekers ?

Do you think they were trying to find God and their places in the world?

Do you think they found meaning in life after meeting Jesus?

Do you think they would have ever imagined what their lives would be like or the impact they

would have on history?

Week

Christ answers the question by showing us that everyone seeks God and we look for people

who will help us grow in that faith. He shows in this passage how God crosses their path and

seeks them out too because he is interested in our friendship too.

St John was born in France in 1601 and went to school with

the Jesuits. He became a priest and used his gifts as a

preacher and confessor to travel and give parish missions. He

saw that parish priests needed support in becoming men of

prayer and action. He held conferences for them in which he

outlined their duties. Later, John started his own society of

priests called the Congregation of Jesus and Mary. The

members were dedicated to promoting good seminary

training, which would form Christ like priests.

He worked as a volunteer, caring for the victims of the

plagues. Saint John Eudes has been called the Apostle of the

Sacred Heart because he revived devotion to the Sacred

Heart of Jesus. He died in France in 1680. He was canonized

in 1925. His feast day is August 19th.

Remember – your team and you are not the only people in the world who

have asked the question. Let’s talk about other people who have asked

themselves this same question and found an answer. TIP

Connect Saints and Stories

St John Eudes

18

Connect Saints & Stories Frank Parater

Francis Joseph Parater was born into a devout Catholic family in

1897 in Richmond, Virginia. His mother was a convert to

Catholicism from the Episcopalian faith. He grew up in a close knit

family and in the large Catholic Community. Frank's father was a

city employee who cared for the park across from their very

modest home. He also took care of the garden at the Monastery of

the Visitation located two blocks from their home. From their

home Frank could easily walk to the monastery for daily Mass

where he served as an altar boy from the day of his first

communion until he left Richmond for college. Frank was educated

at the Xaverian Brother's School in Richmond. He graduated in 1917, top in his class and

valedictorian.

In his late teens, Frank became very active in youth groups. His involvement was so exemplary

that he was asked to serve in roles of leadership even at his young age. As a scout, he achieved

the rank of Eagle. A remarkable young man, Frank was known for his ideals and practical

judgment. At a time when the Catholic faith was not considered to be a social asset, Frank was

well thought of by Catholics and non-Catholics alike. In fact, newspaper accounts note his

achievements, his natural talents and his gifts of heart and mind.

In 1917, Frank began studies for the priesthood at Belmont Abbey Seminary College in North

Carolina. He continued to lead a very devout life as is detailed in the journal he kept while there.

His stated goal was: "To strive by every possible means to become a pure and worthy priest. "

During this period, he continued to go to Mass and receive Holy Communion daily, prayed the

Rosary and Memorare daily, and went to confession weekly. During the summers, while at

Belmont Seminary College, he was active in the Knights of Columbus summer wartime activities

for youth and was director of the summer camps. Frank was sent to study to be a priest in the

North American College in Rome. Frank was instantly popular among his fellow seminarians and

displayed a warm sense of humor and cheer as he continued to deepen his spiritual life.

In late January 1920, Frank Parater got rheumatic fever causing him

tremendous suffering. He was taken to the hospital and the director of the

seminary explained to Frank that his illness was grave, as he administered

Last Rites. Frank Parater died the following day.

Week 1:

19 Week

This is the part of the meeting when you help your team to come to

a decision to live their lives differently after discovering the answer

to the question of the week and connecting to their own life. Ask them these

questions as a recap of the meeting & come up with a good team promise. TIP

Decide Team Promise

What do we need to work on this week during the meeting for our project? (Check back to page 4 for your week by week plan)

What do we need to work on after our meeting to be ready for next week?

Project Time!

What did we find out in the activity, gospel and saints? What is the answer to the

question of the week? We seek God and believe in him because he is our creator and maker. Our hearts yearn for God

because he is an important part of our past , present and our future. The YOUCAT numbers

explain that it is natural for man to seek God. The gospel shows us that Jesus seeks us out too.

How can this meeting and question effect my life this week and in the future? Every day I have the opportunity to conscientiously acknowledge that I need God.

What are we going to decide together to do differently this week? What is our team

promise? (Ask the girls first because it needs to be their decision. If there are no Ideas, then here is a

suggestion: Share your faith in God with someone who you feel is seeking more in life.

What was our team promise last week? Did we do it?

Don’t worget to end the meeting with a prayer!

20

This is a one week sample of this book

from the Challenge High School

Curriculum.

If you are interested in the entire

curriculum series, please visit

www.challengeyouthministry.com

21

Week 8:

A Story to Inspire Your Team… St Benedict Labre

Benedict was born in France in 1748 and was the oldest of eighteen children.

His uncle was a parish priest and helped him start studying to be a priest. At

the age of sixteen, he approached his uncle about becoming a Trappist monk,

but his parents told him he would have to wait until he grew older. When

Benedict was about eighteen, an epidemic fell upon the city, and uncle and

nephew busied themselves in the service of the sick. His uncle died of the

sickness as well and Benedict tried to join different orders of monks but all of

them refused him because he was too young, to frail, and other reasons. So he

joined the lay Third Order of Saint Francis and settled on a life of poverty and pilgrimage – which

means he would go from one holy place to another living on what he could find. He set out on foot

and made a pilgrimage to the major shrines of Europe like Loreto, Assisi, Paray-le-Monial and

others. He lived on what little he was given, and often shared the little he did receive with others.

He is reported to have talked rarely, prayed often. He was also said to have cured some of the other

homeless he met and to have multiplied bread for them. He finally settled in Rome in 1774. There

he lived near the Coliseum and earned fame for his sanctity. Benedict was devoted to the Blessed

Sacrament. He died in Rome when he was 35 and was canonized in 1881. Benedict is patron saint

of the homeless.

Gospel Reading Matthew 5:40-42

Should anyone press you into service for one mile, go with him for two miles. Give to the

one who asks of you, and do not turn your back on one who wants to borrow.

Short & Sweet Reflection: In Hot Dogs for the Homeless we are going our of our way to help those who are in need.

Let’s have generous hearts that do this project with joy!

Gospel Reflection

This week is special because you are going to be doing your project with the team. If you have

time before you start the project, gather your team to read the gospel passage below and tell

them the saint story. Make sure they realize that this project answers an important question:

“Can I make a difference in the world?” and the answer is YES!!!

Week

22

After the Project

Make sure you congratulate your team on the good job they did and

celebrate! Take pictures, do a slideshow and jot down other celebration

ideas here:

Celebrate…

After the project, talk to your team to see what went

well and how you could make it better next time.

*What was our goal? Did we reach it?

*Did we work together as a team?

*What could we have done better?

*How many people did we help?

*What was the best thing about this project?

Evaluate…

Communicate… Let people know the good things that you all did. Start off with your

family and friends and even tell the community!