Do you have a few minutes?

I have a favor to ask of you! First, please allow me to be a bit nostalgic. Next year we will celebrate 25 years since Fr. Quinn Mann and Fr. Luke Strand founded CYE in 2002. It has grown and developed beautifully throughout the years. Almost 20 years ago we had the first ever summer staff in 2007 which was also the first summer that I attended CYE as a high school student. Then in 2009 We moved to St. Joseph’s Formation Center, and Mother Mary Catherine arrived as the women’s staff lead. This led to CYE taking the general form of what it has been ever since. Over the years we have added silent retreats, other formation opportunities, and have been blessed to be a part of so many of your lives. CYE has become such a staple in the Diocese of Green Bay and beyond, and this leads me to the very simple favor that I am asking of you. There is an elusive question that is totally fair, and is frequently asked. Anyone who has spent time up here knows it, and knows how hard it is to answer. “So…what do you do up there?” What makes it so challenging to answer is that the real beauty of CYE is interior, not exterior. CYE has been such a huge part of our diocese for so long now, that many people really want to understand it at a deeper level. People at the Diocese, my brother priests, and many laypeople see the good up here but haven’t been able to experience it. I could think of no better way to help them come to a deeper understanding of the beauty of this ministry than by asking all of you, who have come up here to encounter Our Lord since 2002. Can you please help me answer that elusive question? I have put together a page on our website with a few questions on it. You can fill it out sort of like a survey, and submit it so that we can keep all of the answers in one place. Would you please take some time to prayerfully fill it out? Whether you only attended once 15 years ago, or whether CYE has been home for you at some point in your life, we would love to hear from you. After a couple of months I will take whatever answers have come in, and I will compile them in a way that will help describe the impact that this ministry has had, and continues to have. This is the best way I can think of to tell the beautiful story of this ministry, and I think it will be a great way to celebrate 25 years of the Lord’s good work. Thank you in advance for your help!