Youth ministry meeting discuss vital message

By JULIE KEANE, Globe staff reporter
July 29, 2004

Family support was one of the main topics discussed at the three diocesan meetings held in Spencer, Moville and Carroll this month to help inform parishioners of the value of effective youth ministry programs.

"A key component to youth ministry is parental support," said Kay Morrissey, who led the youth ministry meetings. "Everyone talks about those families who are supportive and their kids are involved. They make faith formation classes or community events a priority. They can count on the kids to follow through and those kids will be involved."

Morrissey said families should put their children's faith on the same level as other things they are involved in such as band, sports and choir.

"I challenge parents to really consider what are their priorities and what will best prepare our young people to move toward responsible adulthood," she said. "I think faith is more caught than taught. Hopefully, when people are reading this in the summer, they will sit down as a family unit and talk about how might we simplify life for ourselves and where is the faith perspective in all of this."

Another important topic discussed during the youth ministry meeting was the idea of hosting mini-afternoon retreats for middle school youth. Morrissey asked those in attendance if they would be willing to host this type of retreat to get more youth involved in their faith. She said some parishes are already offering this retreat while others agreed to give the idea some thought.

"Often, when some people think of youth ministry they only think of high school," Morrissey said. "We really need to think of early adolescence and include those who are in middle school. The reality is there are needs of early adolescence that are different than latter adolescence. Each side had good conversation about what we are doing for our kids that are in middle school."

Morrissey said when a child is in middle school they are in-between stage, which is hard for parents, people in ministry and obviously for the child.

"When none of us want to go back there (middle school) and no one wants to stay there, that shows to us in ministry that there are opportunities there and we need to be attentive to them," Morrissey noted. "The key is that we are trying to provide some opportunities for youth."

Another key topic which was discussed during the three meetings was the diocese's CORE Group. The CORE Group is composed of adults and key youth leadership in the diocese. This group plans diocesan level youth ministry events such as the Youth Rally.

Morrissey noted the three meetings went well and she was encouraged by the number of people who attended. There were 10 people from Spencer and the meetings in Carroll and Moville both had seven people attend. She said those in attendance were very receptive to the ideas presented.

"I think the meetings were received well," Morrissey said. "People networked as they began to say out loud 'I do this, and I do that.' They can network in the future."

Morrissey will no longer be in her position after the end of July, but she said there are people willing to assist in diocesan ministry who will continue to put emphasis on the importance of youth ministry.

"We do have some really wonderful, dedicated people," Morrissey said. "I am grateful for those who serve. Many of them have served for years. Overall, there are ways of learning for parishes, parents and youth ministry personal. I appreciated their coming and I think they appreciated coming."