Whether professionals or volunteers, those who work with youth will get a chance to renew themselves at Sabbath by the Sea.
Sabbath by the Sea, which begins Jan. 10, combines professional development for youth ministers on Thursday and Friday with a weekend retreat for anyone who volunteers with youth.
Offered by the Division of Youth and Young Adult Ministry, Sabbath by the Sea takes place in Ocean City. Sabbath is a term that derives from a Hebrew word meaning “to rest.”
Robert Feduccia Jr., founder of the Youth Liturgical Leadership Program at Saint Meinrad School of Theology and general manager for spiritandsong.com, will offer professional development sessions for youth ministers. Father Jim Donohue, C.R., chair of the theology department and associate professor of theology at Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, Md., will direct the weekend retreat.
About 30 people are expected to attend each part, with some participants overlapping.
“The retreat is really geared toward anybody who works with youth,” said Kristin Witte, coordinator of pastoral care for the Division of Youth and Young Adult Ministry. “We do have people who bridge that line between professional and volunteer.”
But no matter where they fall, she added, it’s important they take this time to renew themselves. “Ministry comes from your personal groundedness in your faith – you can’t give what you don’t have,” she said.
The retreat comes at a good time, she noted, when volunteers and professionals alike have worked hard throughout Advent and are looking ahead to Lent.
“It’s just one of those things where people need the opportunity to fill the well before you draw the water again,” she said.