St. Thomas Aquinas Young Catholics (STAY Catholics) Sunday Nights are focused on building and strengthening our overall community. This is done through teen small groups which are broken down by age and gender (i.e. 7th grade girls, 8th grade boys, etc). Each small group has two small group leaders that are consistent and present with the teens every Sunday night. Any teen from 7th-12th grade can come get plugged into a small group and begin growing with their STAY Catholics community.

Our STAY Catholics Summer Camp is an opportunity for our community to come together during the summer to grow in their relationships with the Lord and each other. Our summer camp is our launching point into the next year and is the best opportunity for our teens to encounter the Lord through fun, community, and deeper prayer. We know that Summer Camp changes lives and we hope every teen from 7th-12th grade will join us this summer!

We have partnered with the St. Thomas Aquinas School and other schools in the area to engage with teens during the week. We spend time in the classrooms, on the playground, in the cafeteria and on retreats with the teens and teachers. We reaffirm the love and gospel message that they learn in their theology classes or bring the love and gospel message into schools where they do not teach theology.

Retreats and Conferences are a vital part of our St. Thomas Aquinas Young Catholics (STAY Catholics) ministry. They offer teens a chance to step away from their hectic and busy lives and discover more about who they are and who they are called to be. Retreating gives teens the chance to focus on their relationship with God without any distraction or stress. We highly encourage every teen in our ministry go on at least one retreat or conference every year.

We believe serving in the community is a crucial pillar of living out our Catholics faith. We offer two major ways for teens to serve their community:

Family Service Saturdays are service projects we offer once a month with a group in the greater Dallas community. We have served with C.C. Young Retirement community, In My Shoes, Bonton Farms, and so many more. If your organization would like us to come out and volunteer, please contact Meagan Barras at barras@stadallas.org.

High School Leadership Team is offered to any teens from 9th - 12th grade. It is a commitment to weekly Mass attendance, daily prayer, monthly discipleship small group, and a monthly mentorship meeting. By committing to the High School Leadership Team our teens can take a step deeper in their faith and are given a mentor to help walk them through this journey. These teens in our High School Leadership Team are then able to serve our community through helping on Sunday Nights, playing in our worship band, or leading our STAY Catholics Summer Camp.