Seminarians’ summers spent as missionaries and team leader for Totus Tuus
Bella Bailey
Multimedia Correspondent
Every summer since becoming a seminarian, William Fuller has served as a missionary for Totus Tuus, a Catholic summer youth program which provides fun catechesis for children and teenagers. Missionaries travel from parish to parish each week, staying for five days at a time and relying on host families for housing.
This summer, Mr. Fuller was asked to serve in a leadership role as a Team Support Person. Rather than traveling with the missionaries, Mr. Fuller provided support for each Totus Tuus team out in the field, commuting daily from his summer assignment at Blessed Sacrament Parish, Ft. Mitchell.
“I just got inspired by the Holy Spirit to take up this labor,” said Mr. Fuller. Joining Mr. Fuller in the Totus Tuus experience were his brother seminarians Joseph O’Bryan and Evan Ihrig, who served as missionaries for the program. This was Mr. O’Bryans second summer as a missionary and Mr. Ihrigs first.
This year at the Seminary Ball, Oct. 16, the annual seminarian video will highlight the seminarians’ experience as missionaries for Totus Tuus and provide insight into what the summer of a seminarian looks like.
“Everyone who has joined seminary after us has done Totus Tuus at least during their first summer,” Mr. Fuller said. “It definitely seems that that’s the current plan, to get all the seminarians through Totus Tuus,” he said. “It’s a great formational thing. It teaches you a lot about self-sacrifice, how to be totally yours for people, how to interact with parishes you know nothing about. In every area of formation, it grows you.”
Totus Tuus is a Latin phrase meaning “Totally Yours,” and the missionary program was inspired by St. Pope John Paul II’s papal motto, “Totus Tuus Maria,” meaning “Totally Yours Mary.”
The goal of the program is twofold, explained Mr. Fuller. “There’s catechesis, of course, to get the kids to learn about their own faith, to grow in prayer, to grow in their own spiritual life,” he said, “but also just provide a place for kids to be kids, to have fun, to be children of God. I think Totus Tuus does a great job of that.”
“Totus Tuus integrates the fun in a way that feels more authentic and is more authentic. The catechesis is also fun,” he said.
Two parishes in the Diocese of Covington participate in the Totus Tuus experience — Immaculate Heart of Mary, Burlington, and St. Thomas Parish, Ft. Thomas. In all three years of his Totus Tuus work, Mr. Fuller has spent time at St. Thomas Parish and has watched the students grow from third graders to now sixth graders.
“They grow in every way,” he said, “but especially in their love of Jesus, the Lord … I could tell these kids are holier. They’re in a better spot than I was, at least at their age and a lot of people I’ve known at their age. And I think Totus Tuus is a big part of that.”
Seminary Ball tickets are still available. Join the other Diocese of Covington faithful at the diocese’s largest social event in supporting the education and formation of our future priests. Visit covdio.org and click on the Seminary Ball web banner.
