City on A Hill Young Adult Apostolate

Catholic Challenge Sports' (CCS) motto is "more than a sports league," it offers six sports year-round along with five one-day events, such as wiffleball and cornhole tournaments, to name a few, all offered by a volunteer board of young adults. CCS offers a unique draft system to participants, making it easy to get involved with a sport even without knowing anyone already involved. This initiative lives out being "more than a sports league" as team captains are encouraged to pray with their teams before the games and invite players to unique socials, prayer opportunities, or service events. In the 2023 calendar year, CCS logged 1251 registrations for their sports, including 637 unique players, making it the second largest (and largest religious) multi-sport league in Kansas City for young adults that we are aware of. CCS draws these young adults in the Kansas City area into a healthy, active community where they can build friendships and get more involved with the City on a Hill community...and their Faith. CCS invites them into a setting where they can explore the Catholic faith through the witness of other young adults, and more deeply engage with City on a Hill's other offerings that offer inspiration, formation, and opportunities to encounter Jesus Christ. CCS thus offers a unique entry point to the City on a Hill community for young adults from all walks of life, and even non-Catholics as well. (It is estimated that 10-20% of participants are not Catholic.)

Tuesdays at the Boulevard is City on a Hill's longest-tenured, arguably "signature" event. Beginning shortly after the organization's inception in 2006, Tuesdays at the Boulevard has become synonymous with City on a Hill and remains an incredible avenue to welcome young men and women into a Catholic community. This event draws 1200+ young adults annually. The evening begins with volunteers readying to welcome young adults to a Mass, with a team of young adults serving as a robust hospitality team. The chaplains of City on a Hill hear confessions before and throughout the Mass, present a homily geared to the day's Gospel, and young adult musicians create a prayerful atmosphere to encounter the Lord. Following Mass, the evening concludes with a social gathering at Boulevard Brewing Co. Pizza and drinks set the stage for good conversation and the chance to connect with new and old friends. Young adult leaders in City on a Hill set up tables with additional information and ways to get involved in the various initiatives. Many attendees walk away eager to join a small group, sports league, or grab coffee with a new friend that will pave the way for future opportunities. Attendees often marvel at and are inspired by the number of young adults desiring to attend Mass on a weeknight. This evening is, for many, a first step into the City on a Hill community, providing a social entry point into the local Catholic young adult scene and the opportunity to invite young adults into conversion. Current numbers estimate that 1/3 of attendees at Tuesdays at the Boulevard are attending a City on a Hill event for the first time.

The Guatemala Mission Trip embarked on its fourth mission in 2023, taking a group of 30 including a priest chaplain to the remote town of San Andres Itzapa, Guatemala. Through manual work, the young adult missionaries provided homes, wood stoves, animal shelters and more to local families. Missionaries brought supplies to the sick and played with children at a school that serves the developmentally disabled. The work of the trip itself is secondary to the relationships formed with the families that are served and the spiritual growth that occurs within the missionaries. Missionaries pray together, play with children, and become Christ's presence to His children and our "neighbor". As missionaries encounter the material poverty yet spiritual richness of the families served, they reflect on their own poverty and wealth and are inspired to consider how to incorporate the encounter with Jesus in the Guatemalan poor back to our lives in Kansas City. A priest accompanies the trip to offer daily Mass, adoration, and confession to the missionaries, religious sisters, and others at the convent where the group stays. The group also embarks on a pilgrimage to the site where Blessed Stanley Rother, the first American priest to be beatified, was martyred for the faith (Santiago Atitlan, Guatemala). Participants either pay their own way or collect donations from family and friends to help them cover the cost of the trip.

City on a Hill has been hard at work this year, reaching and connecting with young adults age 21-39 throughout the Kansas City metro area, touching approximately 2,000 people. City on a Hill meets the key needs of young adults who are in a season of life that often lacks a sense of belonging, community, and purpose. Further, it is often observed that this demographic experiences high rates of loneliness and often lacks a connection with a religious community. City on a Hill provides the context where young adults can build relationships grounded in faith and mission. Through its community-building programming, City on a Hill seeks to create an atmosphere of hospitality, in which participants put extraordinary effort into and on making people feel welcome and valued. Secondly, the organization works to inspire and form these young people to live virtuous, faith-filled lives, pursuing holiness and lay apostolate. City on a Hill accomplishes these goals through large and small events, sports leagues, weekly small group meetings, and get-togethers, as well as opportunities like a trip or retreat for young adults to step outside of daily life. There are also many opportunities for formation of an informal or formal nature. Through these efforts, City on a Hill is building community among young adults with the desire to be a visible light and inspiration to all young adults in Kansas City, showing them that a life full of meaning, relationships, purpose, and even joy is possible for them. One other accomplishment we want to highlight is the Launch Retreat. Most City on a Hill initiatives are executed by young adults who commit to formal leadership roles in the community. City on a Hill seeks to invest in these leaders by inviting them all to a weekend retreat held at Prairie Star Ranch, for inspiration, formation, and some time in community. The weekend retreat includes almost 24 hours of silent retreat, talks, group discussions, Adoration, the Sacraments, fun around a bonfire, and an official "commissioning" ceremony. The topics center around the theme of John 15, when Jesus reminds the Apostles that He is the Vine and they are the Branches. The retreat invites the young adult leaders to stay firmly rooted in Jesus Christ as they prepare to bear fruit in the young adult community. The community becomes like the leaders, and this group of leaders truly has a central role in shaping the culture of the community. Therefore, this weekend is of the utmost importance for the community as it invites the City on a Hill leaders to give and lead from a place of abundance, rooted in their relationship with God. In 2023, 56 attended the annual Launch Retreat. This weekend had a powerful impact on attendees. For example, some young adults decided to create and commit to a "plan of life", an intentionally created plan to help them live out their spiritual commitments. Others commented on the opportunity for silence, and how it impacted them. Here is one particularly powerful quote from an attendee: "I didn't turn my phone back on for days, and when I did many of my friends texted me, asking me if I was dead. I should have replied, actually no- I'm more alive than I've felt in a very long time." We do not charge the full cost of the retreat to attendees, as we want young adult leaders to be able to attend. We believe that formation of our leaders is a key investment in them. And further, we know that investment in our leaders is investment in the young adult community.