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Spiritual Life

Contact Information
Thomas Fertal
tfertal@lchsyes.org
Steubenville East Youth Conference Click here for more information and a registration form.
LANCASTER CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL RETREAT PROGRAM, 2007-2008 The retreat program is a vital part of our students' experience at LCHS. Never content to rest on our laurels we review the programs annually, make adjustments where necessary and always keep an eye out for new, meaningful experiences. We are pleased to provide you with the retreat program details for the upcoming school year.

Click here to download information...
"Dear young people, proclaiming the Word of God is not the responsibility of priests or religious alone, but it is yours too. You must have the courage to speak about Christ in your families and in places where you study, work or recreate... There are places and circumstances where you alone can bring the seed of God's Word."
--Pope John Paul II,
World Youth Day VII
Mission of the Young Apostles
To help bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the students and faculty of Lancaster Catholic High School by their daily, humble example of a life lived in prayer, charity, and service to others. The Young Apostles assist the Spiritual Life department on a day to day basis with prayer services, and other activities sponsored by Spiritual Life. The also reach out to other parishes and groups in the diocese by providing spiritual life activities and retreats at grade schools. They are a vital part of the success of the Spiritual Life department.
Tom Fertal is the Director of Spiritual Life at Lancaster Catholic High School in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He has presented talks and workshops to teens, parents and youth leaders at the local, diocesan, regional and national level including the Fan the Fire Youth Rally and the National Catholic Youth Minister’s Conference. Tom is a musician and praise leader. He leads the school praise band "Final Hour" (www.finalhour.org). Final Hour performed at World Youth Day in August 2006 and the National Youth Conference in Atlanta in 2006. Tom leads praise and worship at the Lancaster Catholic Heart Work Camp held in the summer.

Tom is the organizer of the annual Wind and Flame rally for 8th grade students (with 700+ teens in attendance), and the Lancaster Family Fest a music festival that includes activities and speakers for the whole family. Tom has worked with youth and their adult leaders for over 10 years in a variety of settings including parish ministry, college campus ministry, and currently, Catholic high school ministry. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Penn State and has completed studies in theology at the undergraduate and graduate level. A wannabe golfer, vicious croquet player (mercy does not exist on the lawn of life when he has a mallet in hand), avid guitar player, and computer game junkie, Tom resides in Elizabethtown, PA, with his wife, Patty, and his five children, Bridget, Sarah, Bernadette, Jacob and Matthew and a child due in August of 2007.
Art Bamert, Jr is a 43 year old cradle Catholic who grew up in St. Louis, MO. He attended Catholic middle school and high school and then headed west to the Rockies to seek his fortune. He ended up learning how to ski, rediscovering his faith and meeting his lovely wife Donna. Art has worked with young people for over 15 years. He was a weekly volunteer at a Children's Hospital, and a counselor with a cancer camp for youth for 10 years. From 1997 -2006 he served as the Director of Youth and Family Ministries at Seven Sorrows BVM Parish in Middletown, PA. In 1998 Art and a fellow youth minister started the Catholic Youth Foundation with the intent to help bring quality Catholic resources to those who minister to teens and for Catholic youth. In 2006 he became the Associate Dir. of Spiritual Life at Lancaster Catholic High School. He also serves as the President for the Catholic Youth Foundation, and as the Editor- in- Chief of the online Catholic Youth Magazine, BeAttitude. Art has authored numerous articles, ministry materials, and prayers for Catholic youth, including a Stations of the Cross for teens. Art speaks to local, regional and national groups of youth and adults on a variety of topics as well as planing and running retreats for the Diocese and parishes. He is also a student of Catholic apologetics and loves to talk about anything to do with Christ or His Church. Art has been married for 20 years to his wife Donna, a pediatric Oncology nurse. They have two children: Rebekka and Noah and reside in the peaceful bucolic Borough of Elizabethown, PA.
FINAL HOUR is Lancaster Catholic's very own contemporary Christian praise band. The band, under the leadership of Tom Fertal, is comprised of current students at LCHS who earn their position in this ministry through annual auditions.

The band has released two full-length CD's and has performed at venues all over Pennsylvania and beyond including World Youth Day in Cologne, Germany and the National Catholic Youth Conference in Atlanta, GA.

To puchase a CD or to find out more about Final Hour, visit our website.
Links to local Catholic Schools Our Lady of the Angels
Our Mother of Perpetual Help 
Resurrection Catholic School 
Sacred Heart Catholic School
St. Anne Catholic School 
St. Leo the Great School 
St. Peter School
Lancaster Catholic High School • 650 Juliette Avenue • Lancaster, PA 17601-4387 • Phone: (717) 509-0315 • Fax: (717) 509-0312