08/07/2026
Highway to Heaven: Totus Tuus gives children path to encounter Christ
By Diane Gasper-O’Brien
The Register
A television series in the mid- to late-1990s featured a probationary angel who was sent to earth to help people in need.
“Highway to Heaven” featured good moral values while always offering a message of kindness and humanity.
Parishes in the Salina Diocese are helping their youngsters travel their own highways to heaven by offering summer Totus Tuus programs for school-age students.
The diocese sent out five teams of college-age missionaries to conduct the week-long summer programs in a record-number 29 parishes this year.
“I think this program is an incredible investment in the life of the future Church,” said Jen Bentzinger, mother of four children who took part in Totus Tuus at Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Goodland. “This is an intense week for kids, and there is nothing like it; so much can be taught.”
“Our rural community is limited in its access to Catholic activities and opportunities,” she continued. “We do not have a Catholic school. We do not live close to Catholic summer camps or other activities offered year-round in larger communities. So Totus Tuus is a huge gift to the kids in our small parish. It helps to meet the desire in our children to go deeper in their faith and to live their lives more fully in Christ.”
One June morning in Goodland, Landon Vorhies, a co-leader of the diocese’s Team 5, was busy telling students in the second/third-grade class a story about a man having several choices to take a path to a church.
The students listened intently as Landon explained how our vocation of trying to get to heaven is much like that.
“Ultimately, we get to choose,” he said. “But we need God to help us make good choices.”
Landon’s next question got an eager burst of hands in the air: “What are some ways we can ask God to help us?”
Landon later explained how God has helped him in his faith journey, particularly during his first year as a college student at Kansas State University in Manhattan.
His emphasis of study is mechanical engineering, so he plans to get some hands-on, practice experience with internships in that field in future summers.
But this year, he said he wanted “to use this summer to grow in faith and learn how to be good with kids and to serve the Lord.”
Landon’s hometown is Olathe (population 150,000) which is in the Kansas City Archdiocese. But he became involved at St. Isidore Student Center at Kansas State this past year, becoming familiar with the Salina Diocese. So he chose to work at Prayer and Action out west this summer.
He said he has thoroughly enjoyed the change of pace from city life. His team’s assignments this summer were at mostly small communities in the diocese.
“I’m not used to everyone knowing everybody and having connections everywhere,” he said. “It’s been a great experience. I’ve been impressed with how well versed the kids are in their knowledge and their faith.”
The other co-leader of that team was Jane Letourneau, a native of Beloit and a senior-to-be at Benedictine College in Atchison.
Jane, who graduates next year with a degree in elementary education, is the oldest of nine siblings. But she relished the chance to get more experience with youngsters.
“I have really learned how to improvise this summer,” she said with a laugh. “But what I have really enjoyed is learning a lot from the kids, letting them teach me as much as I teach them. They are so full of knowledge as well.”
Totus Tuus programs in 2026 stretched from Sharon Springs near the Colorado border to Hanover in northeast Kansas, just 7.5 miles from the Nebraska border – and everywhere in-between.
“The continued growth of Totus Tuus in our diocese is a reflection of something much bigger than a successful summer program; it is a sign that our local Church is alive and growing,” said Jamie Kuhlman, assistant director of youth ministry for the diocese.
“Families are looking for opportunities that help their children build a relationship with Jesus from an early age. There is a genuine desire to pass on the Catholic faith, and Totus Tuus gives children the opportunity to experience it in a way that is joyful, engaging, and meaningful.”
The Bentzinger family can certainly attest to that.
The Bentzingers had started opening their house to a couple of missionaries, even before their oldest daughter, Clare, was old enough to participate.
About four years ago, Justin and Jen Bentzinger decided to host the entire team.
“It is such a gift to have those missionaries come into our home to share laughter and chores and faith, to have our kids see the faith lived out in young adults they look up to and to watch them practice kindness and discipline,” Jen Bentzinger said.
The Bentzinger home on a farm about a mile west of Goodland is a full house during Totus Tuus week.
Jen’s sister, Sarah Fipp, brings her four children from Arvada, Colo., to visit their cousins – and to participate in Totus Tuus.
“We are blessed with space and enjoy opening it up to others,” Jen said. “It’s a synergetic relationship, and Totus Tuus is a gift to our family. It’s always a highlight of our summer and is a super enriching week.”
