March 2010
Congratulations to Emily Castleman for being March’s Member of the Month!
Name: Emily Ann Rose Castleman
Age: 23
Birthday: June 21, 1986
Job: Special Education Teacher
School: Master’s from UT at Austin, Bachelor’s from the George Washington University
Grew up in: Tolland, Connecticut
Fav. musicians: Needtobreathe, Casting Crowns, Toby Mac, Bebo Norman, Counting Crows, Guster, Dispatch, Jars of Clay, Jeremy Camp, MercyMe, Third Day, Midnight Jamboree, Newsboys, Nickle Creek, Regina Spektor, Shane&Shane
Fav. activities: Hanging out with friends, watching Gilmore Girls, hanging out by the camp fire, star gazing, aanndd sleeping
Fav. foods: chocolate, macaroni and cheese, and unsweetened tea mmmmmm : )
Fav. devotions: Divine Mercy Chaplet and Adoration
Fav. prayers: Magnificat and Hail Holy Queen
What does being Catholic mean to you? Since I converted to Catholicism when I was 16 years old, it has defined everything I strive to be and everything I’ve worked for.
Why is your Catholic faith important to you? Catholicism offers us so many rich tangible ways to connect to the Trinity. Personally, I need each and every one of them in order to stay close to God!! From Stations of the Cross, Adoration, the Rosary, Retreats, Divine Mercy, the Magnificat, to Fellowship in the Eucharist, the Extraordinary Form of the Mass, Fish Fry’s, Easter Vigil (a personal favorite : )……. there are so many parts of our Catholic faith that Jesus gave us to fully partake in His mystery.
What is your favorite part about the Catholic 20-Somethings? Small Groups, SPIRIT & TRUTH, and fellowship!
February 2010
Congratulations to Seth Neuman for being February’s Member of the Month!
Seth Neuman
Name: Seth Neuman
Age: 25
Birthday: September 9, 1984
Job: GIS Analyst with the City of Hutto
School: Texas Tech University (Undergrad); Texas State University (Graduate) Grew up in: Austin, TX
Fav. Movies: Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Fav. musicians: Matt Maher, Paul Simon, Mark Knopfler, Bruce Springsteen, Van Morrison, Eric Clapton, and James Taylor
Fav. activities: Playing the piano, swimming, reading, video games, and going to 20-Somethings events
Fav. foods: BBQ, Italian, and Seafood
Fav. devotions: Adoration
Fav. prayers: Prayer of St. Francis
Fav. scripture verse: “Faith is the realization of what is hoped for, and evidence of things not seen.” - Hebrews 11:1
What does being Catholic mean to you? Being Catholic means a lot to me. To know that as Catholics, through our Baptism, we are all connected with the ‘Mystical Body of Christ‘ and are called to be the hands and feet of Christ is important to me and it is what I try to live out each and every day.
Why is your Catholic faith important to you? My Catholic faith is important to me because it truly gives me something to hope for and to know that there is an ultimate goal in my life which is to be united with Christ.
What is your favorite part about the Catholic 20-Somethings? My favorite part about the Catholic 20-Somethings is the strong sense of community. Together, whether it is going to mass, going to adoration, helping out in service projects, or going to social events, everyone has the same mission, and that is, “to form a generation of Catholic saints (http://www.catholic20somethings.com/aboutus/mission).”
Slideshow 2009
Catholic 20-Somethings Slideshow 2009
Created by Ally Ramsey
(the sound may have been removed by YouTube for copyright purposes)
January 2010
Ally Ray
Congratulations to Ally Ray for being the Member of the Month for January!
Name: Ally Ramsey
Age: 27
Birthday: February 20th, 1982
Job: Doctorate Program in Naturopathic Medicine, working part-time as a natural health consultant while a naturopathic student, and other part-time gigs.
School: Current school- Clayton College of Natural Health pursuing doctorate, undergraduate from Incarnate Word University in Pre-Medicine/ Biology.
Grew up in: Austin, Texas.
Fav. Movies: Bella, Amelie, Chocolat, American Beauty, Man About Town.
Fav. Musicians: Gotan Project, Coldplay, Thievery Corporation, Peter Bjorn and John, Feist, Jem, The Strokes, Mat Kearney, Shakira.
Fav. Activities: Studying, working out, hanging-out with family and friends, drinking tea, eating/ cooking good food, reading interesting books.
Fav. Foods: Organic 80%Cocao chocolate. Organic salads and organic fresh fruit smoothies.
Fav. Devotions: Women’s devotions of any kind.
Fav. Prayers: Respect for Life Prayer, Prayer for the Strength to Forgive
Fav. Scripture verse: Psalms Chapter 5:
You are not a god who delights in evil; no wicked person finds refuge with you;
6the arrogant cannot stand before you. You hate all who do evil;
7you destroy all who speak falsely. Murderers and deceivers the LORD abhors.
8But I can enter your house because of your great love. I can worship in your holy temple because of my reverence for you, LORD.
9Guide me in your justice because of my foes; make straight your way before me.
What does being Catholic mean to you? Everything. Being Catholic is engrained in me to the core of my being. However, the Catholic faith is subsequently and tremendously vast and deep always leaving something to learn. It also means forgiveness, and the strength to relinquish control to God to control one’s fate along with one working hard in life, and doing good deeds as often as possible. It also means having some of the best female role models such as Mother Teresa, Mother Mary, and many others.
Why is your Catholic faith important to you? The Catholic Church to me is the most complete church. I have tried other churches and it reins rich to me and full of everything true, pure, and amazing.
What is your favorite part about the Catholic 20-Somethings? One of my fav. parts of the 20something is all the different personalities and occupations. If you need a lawyer, an engineer, a teacher, a nurse, a future naturopath/ currently natural health consultant (me), a chef, and so many more one can find it all in the 20somethings. Also these people have shown me true love, acceptance, joy, faith and happiness that I cannot even begin to describe in words. This group came into my life at a time when I desperately needed it. I was in small group awhile as well and have many fond memories of this bonding experience. I look forward to sharing more blessed times with my fellow 20something members, and hope I can extend as much love/ acceptance/ forgiveness/ strength in faith to them as they have to me.
God bless. God knows all. In God everything is possible!!
New Year, New Leadership Team
New Year, New Leadership Team: A Message from Justin Golbabai
It is my great pleasure to announce some exciting changes to the Catholic 20 Somethings Leadership Team. For those who don’t know, the Leadership Team is the team that meets once a month, behind the scenes, to coordinate the happenings of our ministry and keep us focused on our mission to form the next generation of Catholic saints.
Coordinator Position: Trey Ange replacing Justin Golbabai
In probably the worst kept secret in the 20 Somethings, I am very proud to announce that Trey Ange will be taking my place as Coordinator and Leader of the Catholic 20 Somethings. Leading this ministry of amazing people and my closest friends has been one of my life’s proudest accomplishments and I feel so privileged to have been given this opportunity for the past year and a half. Through that time, Trey has been instrumental in every aspect of our ministry, and behind the scenes, my go-to guy. As you all know, his boundless energy, dedication to the ministry, and most importantly his joyful spirit and deep Catholic faith make him a great asset to our ministry and a natural fit as the next coordinator. As a leader of a ministry I love so much, it gives me no greater pleasure than to turn over the reigns to someone that I think can do a better job than I, and take this ministry to the next level. Join me in congratulating Trey! Next time you see him, and make sure you let him know how much you appreciate everything he does, and that how much we all know he will do a great job, and that we are all here to support him in his new position.
Spiritual Chair: Justin Golbabai replacing Christine Songy
As for myself, I am very humbled to replace Christine Songy as the next Spiritual Chair of the Catholic 20 Somethings. Christine has worked tirelessly as a faithful servant to make the love of God permeate all aspects of our ministry. Christine led a spiritual core team whose fruits included an active prayer team, leadership for the 40 Days for Life cause, and small groups that brought people together in learning faith. Behind the scenes, Christine helped mentor me as a coordinator and helped transform the Catholic 20 Somethings into a ministry burning with faith. But Christine’s most enduring is her bringing the love of the Eucharist to our ministry. Christine made praise and worship Adoration part of our culture, bringing it to our annual retreats and being the architect of 20-Spirit. Today, Christine has brought her love for the Eucharist and praise and worship to the entire diocese, leading Spirit and Truth on Monday nights. Make sure that next time you see Christine, you thank her for everything she has done for our ministry! And so yeah, to say I’m humbled to follow in Christine’s shoes is a bit of an understatement…
Service Chair: Hailey Allen replacing Alana Abernathy
What Alana Abernathy has done as Service Chair of the Catholic 20 Somethings has been nothing short of amazing. Taking off from where her predecessor Christy Hall left off, Alana has taken the service aspect of our ministry, which has traditionally struggled with finding a focus or having volunteers, and transformed it into the aspect of our ministry that most concretely does the work of Christ in the world: helping the poorest of the poor. In Alana’s tenure as Service Chair, we started bringing dinners to the Catholic Worker House to eat with men and women that are sick and homeless. We also started volunteering once a month, as a ministry at Micah 6, a free food pantry by UT that provides free groceries for the poor and homeless. Finally, the Catholic 20 Somethings Ministry also started taking out a Mobile Loaves and Fishes truck once a month to deliver food and clothing to the homeless. By getting these service projects off the ground, Alana has helped transformed our ministry from one that talked about helping the poor in theory, to one that actually does so in reality. Starting in January, Alana is leaving for 4 months to do volunteer work on a ship providing medical care in Africa, and she will be missed greatly until her return.
Nevertheless, we are very lucky to have Hailey Allen taking over the leadership of our Service Team. Hailey has been one of our longest active 20 Somethings members, leading our retreat two years ago, and serving several years as a small group leader. Her leadership experience in our ministry and her passion for service are a great asset to our ministry, and we are very excited to have her on our leadership team!
Social Chair Sabrina Vega and New Member Chair Kelly Dupen replacing Kimberley Williams
We joke with Kimberley that she has done such a good job that we had to get two leadership positions to do what she does. As Social/New Member Chair, Kimberley has done an excellent job making the Catholic 20 Somethings a friendlier and more welcoming place. Between organizing social events like the one at Main Event, new member happy hours, new member board game nights, and greeting new members at mass, Kim’s gift of her warm and welcoming personality has helped us attract and retain members of our Catholic 20 Somethings family. Of course, perhaps greatest contribution to our ministry was her leading our Catholic 20 Somethings retreat this past summer. She coordinated the schedules, meals, talks, in addition to picking the retreat location. All this work she did behind the scenes made for an amazing and unforgettable experience for all of us who attended. Thank you Kim for all your service!
We are so blessed to add two amazing leaders in Sabrina Vega and Kelly Dupen to our leadership team. Sabrina has done great things in bringing us all closer together, including coordinating the first ever Dinners for 5 and coordinating events as the women’s book swap. Her role as Social Chair will be to coordinate activities that will bring us closer together as a community in friendship and in Christ. Kelly Dupen is a shining star in our ministry, who has helped coordinate the pumpkin carving contest and been a friendly, welcoming presence in our ministry. Her position as New Member Chair is to be a point of contact for new members and make sure they feel welcome when they meet us for the first time. Please congratulate Sabrina and Kelly on their new positions!
Passing Thoughts from a Departing Coordinator
If you have read this far into this email, you are truly a dedicated Catholic 20 Something. In my year and a half as coordinator of this ministry, one thing that I’ve learned for certain is that this ministry of ours is truly special. I have never seen a young adult ministry like this, where a group of friends have come together as cohesively as ours, in an effort to live our lives in holiness and service to others, and to do so with fun and joy. We are friends with a purpose, and that purpose is Christ. And what has struck me is that this ministry is special and amazing because you all are special and amazing. You make this ministry what it is. Each one of you has contributed your talents and gifts, been a listening ear to a friend in need, and a source of comfort in the loneliness that can be this young adult stage of life. We have created a culture where we encourage one another to live virtuously in holiness and we have made sin a behavior that is frowned upon and discouraged. Do you know how rare that is for a bunch of 20-Somethings? You all are amazing, thank you for helping make my life and all those around us better and happier.
Sincerely,
Justin Golbabai
Former Catholic 20 Somethings Coordinator
New Spiritual Chair for the Best Young Adult Ministry in the World
Twenty-Somethings Actually, the Movie
Twenty-Somethings Actually (part 1/2)
Twenty-Somethings Actually (part 2/2)
December 2009
Age: 27
Birthday: 8/27/82
Job: Electrical Engineer
School: Univ. of Notre Dame & Univ. of Michigan
Grew up in: Wichita, KS
Fav. Movies: The Matrix, Memento, 21 Grams, Pulp Fiction
Fav. musicians: Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Metallica, Foo Fighters
Fav. activities: weightlifting, running, swing dancing, poker
Fav. foods: steak, BBQ, spaghetti
Fav. devotions: adoration
Fav. prayers: St. Michael’s prayer, Catena Legionis
Fav. scripture verse: Matthew 20:1-15 (The Parable of the Vineyard)
What does being Catholic mean to you? To me, being Catholic means belonging to a worldwide group that shares the same beliefs. I really like the fact that no matter where you go in the world, Catholics share the same faith and celebrate the same Mass.
Why is your Catholic faith important to you? My Catholic faith is important to me because it gives me an ultimate goal to work toward throughout my life.
What is your favorite part about the Catholic 20-Somethings? My favorite part about the Catholic 20 Somethings is having a group of people my age I can share my faith with. I’ve met a lot of great people here and I really like the sense of community the group has. The new member game nights are also a lot of fun, especially the mafia games!
