Sheldon parish forms youth ministry group

By KATIE LEFEBVRE, Globe staff reporter
Posted February 27, 2003

SHELDON - Faith, fun and community are all a part of the new Youth Ministry Program at St. Patrick's Parish. The junior high and high school students are given the opportunity to participate.

"We just thought that there was a lack of fun things for the kids to do in our parish," said Marie Kruger. "We decided that with our St. Pat's School, the kids have a lot of activities there and through the CCD program, but those two groups of children didn't get to see each other."

Along with the students from St. Patrick's there are also students from Ashton as well.

"There were about 20 people that were at our meetings to get this going," said Kruger. "There was a lot of preparation and coming up with ideas. We just started with what do we want for our children for a different group outside of the religious ed."

The idea for the group was formulated by a group of women from the senior high. They saw a need and decided to start calling other parents, she noted. The moms involved were Lisa Youngers, Linda Doherty and Karen Kirschbaum.

"We wanted them to get together so that they have the opportunity to get to know each other," she said. They also wanted to stressed "the fact that God can be fun, too. He's the ultimate so we wanted them to see that church isn't just prayer, service and worshiping God, it can be fun and being community too. We wanted them to get a sense of community."

The group was started last fall with a kick off event called "Mega Night." About 65 junior high and high school students signed up to come. The event included prayer, food, games, music and prizes.

"We wanted to see how many kids would be interested in this," said Kruger. "The adults went to area businesses and received a lot of prizes like video rentals, gas coupons, golf balls, cans of pop and gift certificates. They learned some songs that in case we wanted to use them later on in a Mass. We talked about what the kids would want out of a youth program."

The youth were encouraged to come up with ideas for activities as well as names for the groups.

At first the junior high and high school groups were together, but after a little while, it was decided to have them meet separately. The junior high group is called the Pope's People and the high school group is called In His Light Youth Ministry.

"Right now we are starting with the social events," said Kruger. They want the students to get to know one another. They have started to incorporate some religious aspects.

In October, the group held a Fear Factor/Survivor Night which examined students knowledge about their faith and the Bible. Their will power was also put to the test.

"We are trying to teach them things but make it fun," said Kruger. "It was just fun to see the looks on their faces with the Fear Factor/Survivor Night. They had to trust each other. Some of the stunts they had to be led by one another."

The junior high group held a lock-in at the local racquetball court. The group enjoyed pizza, roller-skating, reflection with guest speaker Father Tim Johnson, movies and games.

"They are loving it," said Kruger. "I can see this in the junior high especially because they are the most diverse because there are four schools involved. It is really fun for them to get to know somebody else - someone that they have seen at church, but they have never met. That's the best thing that has come out of it - the friendships.

In February, the group took a chartered bus to Mount Kato to go skiing for a day.

"We had a ball, the kids loved it," she said. "They want to make the ski trip an annual event."

The groups are also participating in different fundraising opportunities. The junior high is helping with a pancake breakfast, and they are also going to be selling Krispy Kreme donuts.