The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis is seeking 12 men and 12 women ages 18 to 26 to serve in its annual Totus Tuus (“Totally Yours”) summer missionary program, working with youth in first through 12th grades. In addition to working with youth, the missionaries can form leadership skills and lifelong friendships with their teammates, said Nancy Schulte Palacheck, family and laity outreach coordinator at the archdiocese’s Office of Marriage, Family and Life. And they are paid.
The young adults receive a week of training before spending a week at each of six assigned parishes, staying with a host family each week. They have off the week of July 4. Their summer’s work ends with a retreat.
Nancy Schulte Palacheck
“It’s a beautiful program,” Palacheck said. “They’re learning a lot, growing in their faith and we want them to be able to reflect on that.”
Palacheck recently joined “Practicing Catholic” radio show host Patrick Conley to discuss the program for a segment airing 9 p.m. Jan. 14 on Relevant Radio 1330 AM.
Two women and two men make up each missionary team, with six teams serving 36 parishes this summer. The list of parishes that want to be part of Totus Tuus is usually full by Dec. 1, Palacheck said. And even though the number of teams this year increased from five to six, four parishes are already on a waiting list.
“It’s really growing,” she said. “Parishes really want this program. It’s a beautiful program. So, we need more help and more missionaries.”
Palacheck said the missionary positions are a great way for young adults to grow in faith and still get paid for something fun — working with children “and enjoying what you’re doing for the summer.”
“It’s an exhausting summer, but it’s a great summer,” Palacheck said. “The feedback that I get from these young men and women that have served (is) … it was the best summer of their lives. They didn’t think they had any more to give, but they gave more. And the fruits are just amazing.”
Many people have the misconception that Totus Tuus is focused on only elementary-age children, Palacheck said, but the program also works with junior and senior high school students, encouraging them to think about a vocation before they head to college.
“Where’s the Lord calling me in my life, what vocation am I called to have?” she said the program asks. The missionaries themselves are discerning that vocational call, she noted.
“And it’s a great ‘touch point’ for those high schoolers to really see people living their life, discerning that,” she said.
To learn more about the program — including how much a Totus Tuus missionary gets paid for the six weeks spent in parishes and one week of training — or to apply for summer 2022, visit archspm.org and search for “Totus Tuus.” Two videos are posted on the site, including one on how the program operates at a parish.
To hear the full interview, listen to this episode of “Practicing Catholic.” It also airs 1 p.m. Jan. 15 and 2 p.m. Jan. 16 on Relevant Radio 1330 AM.
Produced by Relevant Radio and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, the latest show also includes interviews with Archbishop Bernard Hebda, who takes a look back at 2021 and a look ahead at what’s coming in 2022; and clinical counselor Joseph Lundsten of Novare Counseling Center, who describes self-care from a Catholic perspective for the post-holiday doldrums.
Listen to all of the interviews after they have aired at
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