“The more things change, the more they stay the same.”
At first glance, this is a lovely old saying that seems easy to apply to nearly twenty-five years of research on leaders of ministry to both youth and young adults. But is that saying true? Many of the findings identified in the first study, more than twenty years ago, have repeatedly emerged in each iteration and surfaced yet again in this qualitative examination of these pastoral leaders. However, something has changed; the responses to these issues are very different for newer generations of leaders.
Despite the march of time over the past several decades, the ministry fields with youth and/or young adults are regressing rather than progressing. However, reversing these trends is not too late, especially since the need for dynamic pastoral ministry is greater now than ever. Critical issues identified in the 2000 study still need to be addressed, such as defining the role of these leaders so that everyone is on the same page. Additionally, formation requirements and support need to be consistent.
Like many people in this research study, I was once a young person who participated in youth ministry and campus ministry before becoming a youth ministry leader myself. It was clear to me right away that many people did not understand what pastoral leaders like me did; frequently, it was minimized to “doing fun stuff with teens in the name of Jesus.” Of course, there is much more to what these Catholic ministry leaders do. When I went back to school for my doctorate, I started researching ministers like me to understand how what they do is valuable for the youth and young adults we serve and the communal body of Christ, both now and in the future. Here we are, forty years since I began my pastoral service to the church and nearly twenty-five years since this longitudinal research began, and the quote above rings very true.
R E F A C E
Although some have degrees, certifications, and certificates, there is no way to translate them among dioceses, much less parishes. While degrees might be transferable credentials, many question their value. Not because these pastoral leaders do not want to have them, but because they need help figuring out how to pay for them and find time for study amid ministry and family life. There is also the question of what value a degree adds. In the opinion of the leaders, while having a theological background was necessary, they do not think degrees add additional credibility or salary, only a mountain of debt to go with an already inadequate wage.
These are committed pastoral leaders who work in the church’s mission field in challenging conditions. Following the Second Vatican Council, the rise of lay ministry occurred when the world was quite different; many of the first lay ministers came with degrees paid for by their communities or dioceses before leaving religious life or priesthood. Others were married and could take either no pay or less pay because they had a spouse who could provide for their family. These conditions seldom exist today.
Different from their older lay ministry counterparts, pastoral leaders do not view ministry as a lifelong option for several reasons that you will read in this report. Why is this bad? There are three reasons: first, youth and young adult ministers have been one of the feeder systems of other lay ministries.
Two, frequent transitions or turnovers usually do not produce good things for the ministry. And three, the current system can be defined by consolidating roles on top of roles that already have been consolidated. Nobody in ministry today, it seems, does just one thing or focuses on one audience. This is not a criticism but the reality of the generalist model that has evolved. Because of this, it is hard to see who is importantly, who is being underserved. [1]
In 1976, when the authors and consulters of A Vision to think about how the world and church were chan a path forward for ministry with youth, they had occurring, especially in our culture. The same thing in time toward Renewing the Vision (1997) and Son Light (1997). Again, the field had to assess the te forward. Because young people are so immersed in them must constantly be in this process of ass charting its future.
I hope this report allows all of us to begin to dialogue about the future of this vital ministry of our church. Through Christus Vivit (2019), Pope Francis indicates that part of this shift is a renewed focus on enabling faith communities to accompany young people in faith and life. But who will lead this effort on the church’s behalf?
A phrase and concept reinforced in the field for many years by Dr. Bob McCarty, past Executive Director of the National Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry (NFCYM), when he said, “Maps only work when they match the territory; if the territory changes, it’s time to reassess and change the map. ” It is time again to reassess and reinvent. However, this time, we might face a course correction as a church not just a new direction if this ministry is to be sustained. After listening to these younger ministry leaders and some older generations looking toward retirement horizons, it is apparent that a seismic shift has occurred in ministry very different from the previous shifts. What do I mean? Ministry with young people and evangelization to the young will always be part of the church’s mission and will be guided by the Holy Spirit. As members of the Body of Christ, we are called to play a role in that mission and listen to the Spirit. As I look to the future, I see many of the structures we have in place from the past are falling apart. That is okay; everything has a shelf life, but what is being created to replace them? And who is even waking up to think about it?
The primary purpose of this qualitative research has been to inform the next research phase, which is to conduct an extensive nationwide study of pastoral leaders serving the young church. Thank you for taking the time to read this report. We hope that you will support the next phase of this research by participating in it or helping to fund it.
May God bless you and the work you do for His kingdom!
Dr. Charlotte McCorquodale, Principal Researcher Ministry Training Source
[1] For example, as interest, awareness, and the need for young adult ministry became more of a reality, often it was combined with youth ministry, and in rare cases, adult ministry. However, it is clear in the research through the years that the growth in the title of “ young adult ministry” did not always result in the increase of actual ministry to or with young adults.
Introduction to the Research
As in the previous seven decades, the past twenty years have shown considerable evolution in the fields of Catholic youth and young adult ministries. Starting from models of the Catholic Youth Organization (CYO) and youth groups, moving to a comprehensive programmatic ministry model, and today, a renewed focus on relational ministry and accompaniment. With these changes, one must wonder if ost in the transitions.
ons checking their networks for vulnerabilities, a review of the needed, especially in the rapidly shifting network of pastoral seeks to understand and identify ways to support these leaders al ministry for the church. Essential elements of this research o ministry, intent for future service, ministerial identities, and the ministry to young Catholics.
urce (MTS) has studied the leaders serving young Catholics 2000 using survey research, with data collection points in 2008 s study. However, the field has changed, so instead of employing ey, in 2022, MTS decided on a qualitative study to truly hear istries to youth and young adults throughout the country, to heir current realities. What is learned in this study will be used for a national online survey to be distributed in early 2024.
Photo by Jack Sharp on Unsplash
Another goal of this qualitative study was to examine two trends from past studies: the continuing expansion of ministerial roles and responsibilities and the differences between younger and older ministry leaders. Over the years of longitudinal research, youth ministry personnel at the parish and diocesan levels have increasingly been asked to add young adult ministry to their work. Additionally, the most recent study (2016) found leaders were increasingly being combined or given responsibilities for multiple ministry areas, including ministering to multiple age audiences. The impact of evolving job descriptions and additional responsibilities has profoundly impacted ministry leaders and those they serve. Ministry with young Catholics is just one portion of an ever-growing web of ministries for which these pastoral leaders bear responsibility. In 2016, the largest group serving in parish youth and young adult ministry, Millennials, displayed significant differences when compared to older generational counterparts in various aspects of ministry.
It has become increasingly evident that while many of us understand these concerns logically, the research is necessary to assist us in providing the evidence needed to make meaningful changes. By articulating and better understanding the evolution of the multi-role youth and young adult minister, as well as the experiences of the current Millennial generation and the first wave of Gen Z leaders, this research looks at some changes that could lead to ministry stability. This stability should, in turn, impact an increase in lifelong discipleship and hopefully turn the tide of youth and young adults leaving the church.
To this end, MTS has conducted interviews and focus groups with 127 pastoral leaders serving in ministries to the young church in various positions and contexts throughout the country from March to December in 2022. Based on the findings of this qualitative research, MTS will conduct in partnership with other organizations a nationwide online survey of pastoral leaders serving youth and/or young adults in 2024. The purpose will be to explore further issues identified in this report with the intent of generalizing them to the larger audience of pastoral leaders.
ResearchDevelopment Research Team
Planning for this research began in the fall of 2020 with the gathering of a research team by the lead researcher, Dr. Charlotte McCorquodale.The research team includes Dr. Bob McCarty, Joe Weyers, Brigitte Burke, Ken Johnson-Mondragón, and Rosy Hartz, who served as a ministry consultant. This team was involved in the development of questions and the conduct of focus groups and interviews. Additionally, Robert Feduccia, Paul Jarzembowski, and Dr. Kristin Witte joined the research team as analysts to assist with the coding and analysis of key themes, findings, and overall conclusions and implications.
Research Advisory Team
In addition to developing a research team, Dr. McCorquodale and Dr. McCarty sought early on to find organizational research partners to collaborate in the research development and sponsorship. Each organization contributed members to the advisory team that assisted in guiding the overall research. The following organizations were instrumental in ensuring this research occurred:
Ministry Training Source (MTS)
Mark D. Pacione Foundation, “Shine On” Grants
Viatorians, IHS
National Religious Vocation Conference (NRVC)
Bon Secours Young Adults, Sisters of Bon Secours, USA
Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, Albany Region
National Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry (NFCYM)
Project YM
EQ Saints
Life Teen
National Association of Lay Ministry (NALM)
National Institute for Ministry with Young Adults (NIMYA)
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) Journeying Together
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Youth and Young Adult Ministry
ResearchQuestions
The researchers and the research advisory team guided the research development and general direction, including the broad, overarching research questions listed below
How do they understand their ministerial identity?
How do they discern and understand their vocation to ministry or professional role?
What are their plans for a future in ministry?
Why or why not?
How are they formed for ministry?
What is their vision and practice of ministry?
What influences or shapes their pastoral ministry with youth and young adults?
How are they aligned with the pastor’s vision?
How do they measure success in ministry?
What are the challenges today in ministry with youth and/or young adults?
How are ministry leaders equipped to address or deal with these challenges?
What do they need to address these challenges?
What challenges do they face as pastoral leaders today in the church?
How are they supported in ministry?
How do they relate to the pastor and parish community?
ResearchMethods andAnalysis
Target Research Audience
The focus of this study was any person responsible for or in a leadership position of a Catholic ministry serving youth or young adults or both. This position may be volunteer or paid (stipend, part-time, or full-time.) Serving the young church may be the role’s only focus or one element of an umbrella role, such as faith formation, evangelization minister, or pastoral associate. Being the designated ministry leader for either youth or young adults or both in some capacity is the most distinguishing characteristic.[1] The ministry setting could be parish, diocese, school, campus, movement, religious community, organization, or other. The intent was to look at the broad spectrum of ministry leaders to these audiences. All but one of the focus groups were in English. There was a focus group option in Spanish, but only one occurred.
Throughout this report, you will see the following titles used: ministry leader, pastoral leader, or leader of youth and young adult ministries. All these titles are meant to represent the same broad target audience described here.
DevelopmentofFocusGroupQuestions
The research team gathered to develop questions around the four main areas of inquiry:
Ministerial Identity
Vision and Practice of Ministry
Challenges of Ministry with Youth and Young Adults
Experiences of Being a Ministry Leader Today
The focus group questions went through several drafts, including seeking input from the research advisory team.
The final version of the questions included follow-up questions for experienced ministry leaders, leaders from younger generations, and questions about the COVID-19 pandemic.
[1]Co-Workers in the Vineyard of the Lord: A Resource for Guiding the Development of Lay Ecclesial Ministry (Washington, D C : USCCB, 2005), describes lay ecclesial ministers as those designated for leadership by someone in ecclesial authority
Scheduling of Focus Groups and Interviews
Focus groups were conducted in two rounds of outreach. Round one began in March 2022 and concluded in June 2022. Participants were invited by someone in the research team’s network of ministry leaders or through direct solicitation via email. Also, the research partners, including the NFCYM, promoted the research online through their mailing lists. There was a broad reach in both rounds for the invitations. Initially, the plan was to set focus groups along specific demographic characteristics, such as age or geographic region. However, this strategy presented a challenge when attempting to fill up focus groups.
Round Two began in September 2022 and concluded in November 2022. Solicitation for participants was like Round One but with a new outlook from the research team: to be prepared to do more interviews than focus group facilitation. This round included partnering with four dioceses (Denver, Bridgeport, Los Angeles, and New Orleans), the USCCB Journeying Together process, Life Teen, and the NFCYM to assist with promotion and securing participants in the research. Again, various organizations, such as Project YM, helped to promote the research opportunity.
Research sessions were held using primarily Zoom meetings and were recorded with the participants’ permission. Upon completion of the focus group, participants were sent a thank-you discipleship resource worth fifty dollars from EQ Saints and/or a gift card for Life Teen and Diocese of Bridgeport participants.
Research
Sample
In total, 127 people participated in the research by being interviewed in one of fifty-one online research sessions and one of six focus groups held in person at the 2022 National Catholic Youth Conference (NCYC).
Research participants came from thirty-four different states.
Forty-eight participants, born before January 1, 1981, were part of Generation X and above.
The vast majority serve in parishes (73%), with ten percent of participants identified as working in a diocesan-specific role.
Seventy-five participants identified as being born after January 1, 1981, so they are part of the Millennial and Generation Z generations.
Five research sessions were from specific dioceses and often contained multiple focus groups inside the Zoom meeting room.
Eight of the research sessions were sponsored by and limited to only members of the Life Teen organization.
SampleDescription
Chart 1
Gender of Research Participants
Chart 2
Generational Breakdown of Research Participants [1]
[1] Michael Dimock, “Defining Generations: Where Millennials end and Generation Z begins,” (January 2019), pewresearch.org/short-reads/2019/01/17/where-millennialsend-and-generation-z-begins/. Gen X and above signify those leaders born before 1980, while Millennial and Gen Z leaders were born in 1980 or later
SampleDescription
Chart 3
EthnicitiesofResearchParticipants
Chart 4
Ministerial Settings of Research Participants
Research Analysis
Transcription of Sessions
All sessions were transcribed by machines first and then checked by an MTS researcher and coder. Comments from participants have been lightly edited for clarity and readability.
Data Analysis
Members of the research team gathered with other credentialed, experienced ministry professionals and researchers to analyze the qualitative data. Each of the seven researchers was given seven to ten research sessions to read and code. Researchers submitted a summary form of insights for each of the focus group questions, and that data was then gathered and shared. The group met in April 2022 for two full days to discuss the data and identify themes, findings, and patterns. This report is the fruit of their work.
Report
Structure
This report provides the preliminary findings of this research based on the focus groups and interviews with 127 ministry leaders. The researchers intend to confirm or refute these findings with a national survey online, still to come. The report has four significant areas of inquiry. Each section has a summary, followed by preliminary findings highlighted in bold. After the findings, a quote, or series of quotes to support the findings may be inserted.
The report ends with conclusions and implications. Conclusions are a set of overall findings that might be a group of findings explained earlier in the report to provide insight into the leaders or the field in which they serve. The implications are the researchers’ reflections on what these conclusions might mean for the ministry with youth and young adults and for the leaders of that ministry.
These conclusions and implications will all be part of the final section, For Further Study. This part of the report highlights different elements of this study, which will continue in Phase Two of this research. Also, additional areas that warrant study based on this research are identified.
Part One: Ministerial Identity and Formation
SUMMARY
The ministerial identity and formation have shifted significantly for ministry leaders today, regarding long-term commitment to ministry and formal ministry formation. Leaders of youth and young adult ministries include a broad spectrum of roles, responsibilities, and formation levels. The consistent aspects of their ministerial identity and formation include the call to ministry, often coming from the experience of ministry itself, and the general displeasure with their salaries, benefits, and life-work balances. Finally, ministry formation and professional degrees no longer seem to be linked as strongly to ministerial identity as they once were.
KEY FINDINGS
Ministerial Identity Ministry Formation
Ministerial Entrance or Pathway
Feelings of Marginalization “My” Vocation Ministry Begets Ministry
Long-Term Commitment to Ministry Clear Expectations Has Hiring Become a Circular Self-Fulfilling Prophecy That Creates Transition in Leadership? Expecting More
Formation is Episodic and Less Formal Formation Needs to Address Practical Needs Lacking Formation Options “To Get a Degree or Not?
Ministerial Identity
While their paths to ministry remain consistent, their formal formation for ministry has changed significantly. Other things evolving with younger ministers are more robust requirements of their workplaces, and, as a result, how they see their futures in ministry.
“Well, apparently, they needed a new youth minister back then, so he was like, ‘I need a new youth minister. Do you want the job?’ I’m like, how do you say no to a priest? Right? But I said, ‘I will do my best.’”
ery involved teen in my youth ministry program, and I went to college for s, and I came out of college a little broken, and I had been away from the or a while. And my therapist asked me, when was the last time you had joy? s obvious: when I was on a retreat in high school. This brought me back to ch, and I went back to the h h th t I i d t t d [ ] nteering. And I just like vo Somebody was already the ft. I was like, who’s going t who will do that? And Fath do you want to work here? my first position. I’ve been h I’m at now for eight year ond] parish, it’s because a who I had known through y had moved out of her you role into [a] CRE [position e hiring, and she knew me ged me. So, it’s been a lot odding and encourageme ers. ”
Photo by Elianna Gill on Unsplash
Feelings of Marginalization
Both males and females sometimes described a sense of marginalization because of their lay status. Female ministry leaders experienced a sense of being marginalized as a minister more than their male counterparts. Many lay leaders expressed issues with people not trusting their response and wanting to hear instead what the pastor had to say. The female leaders told stories that showed how they felt a lack of value. One example was if they were the only female in the room, always being asked first to take notes at the meeting.
“My”
Vocation
Feeling called or describing ministry as a vocation or the process of discernment were some words or phrases used to describe their entrance into ministry; this was especially true of the older ministry leaders. Spiritual directors, pastors, campus ministers, youth ministers, or family members facilitated the discernment or call to ministry. Often, ministry leaders would describe how they came into ministry by accident or chance, grew to love it, and realized their call during it.
“For me, it is a vocation. When I first got into youth ministry, I don’t think I ever saw current youth ministers who have been there for a year. The only thing I could think was, I want to be like them when I grow up, I want to be like them. I want to be in ministry until I’m tired of playing games, like once I don’t want to play games. That’s when I hope God calls me out. I think the reality is that God is calling me to do this right now, and I think I’ll do this until he calls me not to do it.”
“It’s like I’m on the battleground. And for these kids, and with Christ, for them, for their souls, minds, and truth. And so that’s my joy, you know, it is. And I know that this is the only job that I would ever want to do. And so even though it’s bad or funky, I’m not getting along, or I’m not getting paid the same as people at the In-N-Out Burger, you know, I’m doing what God wants me to do.”
Photo by Allen Taylor on Unsplash
“I guess I grew up in it, so I joined the ministry. You know, I was a young person and joined youth ministry.”
“Personal experience in high school and college, [so then I] realized ministry could be a career. ”
Ministry Begets Ministry
“It started when I got asked to go on a Life Teen upperclassmen retreat in my parish back in Arkansas. And that night, I remember being so moved by watching young people pray in front of the Lord and the Blessed Sacrament. And just hearing in my heart, I created you for this. From that moment on, every decision I made was getting through college and getting the education I needed to be the best youth minister I could be, and I went on to do that.”
When looking at the pathways to ministry, invitation by the pastor or by other ministers was second only to having experienced ministry as a young person in high school, college campus ministry, service immersion, RCIA, or starting as a volunteer and moving to a paid position. One thing is clear regarding leaders of youth and young adult ministries: beyond anything else, ministry begets ministry. When asked if they saw themselves staying in the field, one younger female leader said, “I do in some capacity. I do. Just because I do love it. Now, I don’t know if I’ll always be the leader of it. I think right now it is, ‘We need somebody; we think that you’ll be good for it. Will you take it on?’ And I did. It’s been a trial by fire.” Ministers often expressed their length of tenure based on their purpose, personal call, and sense of joy. One ministry leader said, “I’ll stay as long as creativity and innovation are welcomed in the parish,” and another, “ … as long as I feel I have a purpose in what I do.” Others were more pragmatic. hey would stay if they felt what they were doing mattered. Critical factors in the decision also include the pastor, his leadership, and the parish culture for ministry. They will stay until their pastor leaves, their children graduate, they retire (which was coming soon for many of the older leaders in the study), they are laid off, or their position is restructured. This fear was named only by a few in the study. More so, it was described as the reality of seeing many peers in ministry being laid off or leaving ministry for various reasons, often feeling like they are some of the last few remaining. One participant stated, “To see them through high school is kind of my goal. And then after that, see what else comes. ”
“I had a great youth ministry experience when I was in high school, and when I was about a junior, I decided I wanted to be a youth minister.” “ ... that she [my youth minister] had this amazing faith-filled relationship with Christ, that was what always radiated off her… she kind of made me feel welcome from day one and slowly, asked, why don’t you try this out … so, my overall goal is to just put it out there for the young people who meet Christ.”
Researchers noted that younger ministry leaders articulated clear expectations of the church as they reflected on the length of their ministry tenure; having a living wage and lifestyle that supports a family is essential. Another motivating factor for continued ministry was finding a sense of joy and purpose in their ministry.
Long-Term Commitment to Ministry
“But, you know, I’ve had options, but it hasn’t been until recently that I’ve gone, you know, maybe I don’t want to do it. And it’s just because of the treatment of youth ministers and how I’ve been treated like I’m not valued here. I know that, you know, even though when I took over this program, even looking at pre-COVID numbers, I’ve doubled the program in a year. I have more kids than they’ve ever had in this program. We are the highest-grossing program for teens in the city now. And yet nothing, you know, there’s no hey, like in the corporate world, you did that and would get a bonus. So, you’d get a pay raise or whatever. Here, it’s like, we ’ re threatening to take your hours away because we can’t afford it. It’s gone from I want this to be a lifetime career to now, well, maybe it’s time to move on somewhere else. And that’s just the honest-toGod truth when it comes down to it.”
“I think I have a desire for ministry. I can’t see myself doing anything else but ministry. But there are questions in my mind: is this sustainable for me with my family life?”
“I don’t see myself leaving. I think just like as a young woman, imagining if I become a mother in the next few years, I think that becomes harder, especially like the more kids you have, to work weird hours as a youth minister.”
“The newness of ministry continues to feed me and my creative side. As long as there is that creativity and young people around and there is retreat work to be done, that continues to feed me and keeps me going.”
“To stay, it’s that stability in pastoral leadership and continuity of vision I would be looking for.”
“I’m sure many of us have experienced that. It’s like, yeah, God’s about to lose you and then brings you back in because there’s a reason why you ’ re being called to it. So that’s where I’m at right now, but it’s just feeling well, and I hope to be in ministry for many years. We’ll see how that goes. I do have a one-yearold, so, you know, that can throw a wrench into things now. But I do hope to continue to minister in some way, shape, or form to the people of the area.
I’m sure it’s similar in other parts of the country, but especially in the Boston area, the church is dying fast and scarily fast. So, you know, we need some people to fight. So, I’m hoping, you know, for the opportunity to stay around and help keep people close to their faith for years to come. ”
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Clear Expectations
Younger generations articulated clear expectations of the church when asked what they needed to stay. For example, they seek a better salary and a living wage with benefits to support a family and time for a work-life balance, especially for those with families. There was a sense from some that they were always on due to technology and the many needs of young people in their ministry. They believe that in the long term, this simply is not a sustainable lifestyle. One leader explained it like this, “I guess it’s just always on my mind. I know. Like you wake up in the middle of the night, you think, ‘Oh, I’ve got this to do.’” The younger leaders tended to connect directly to their specific job and ministry. For example, if I leave my job, I leave the ministry, whereas some older leaders tend to see a bigger picture of ministry and vocation not connected to a specific job. In the past, youth ministry leaders left ministry mainly to do another form of ministry; however, that is no longer the case.[1]
[1] Charlotte McCorquodale, Passing of the Baton in Catholic Youth Ministry: A National Longitudinal Study of Catholic Youth Ministry Leaders (Washington, D.C.: NFCYM, 2016), 42. In 2000 and 2008, the most likely reason influencing their decision to leave youth ministry was to do another form of ministry (22% for both studies), but in 2016 it was surpassed by retirement. Inadequate pay as a reason steadily increased over the years of the longitudinal study from 14% to 17%.
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“Supportive parish staff, flexibility in hours/days in office, youth ministry being valued at the parish, by the pastor, by the diocese family. Basics like good pay, parishes see the importance of having youth ministry, having an employee in youth ministry, and that it’s not just a hobby. We commit to training and certifications from the diocese.”
IHas Hiring Become a Circular Self-Fulfilling Prophecy That Creates Transition in Leadership?
The experience of hiring younger ministry leaders is episodic, circular, and in some ways self-fulfilling. Some ministry leaders see this ministry as episodic, not a lifelong vocation. They are very excited about serving the church for two or three years, and part of the reason they think it will be so short is the salary and benefits. Repeatedly, ministry leaders said, “I can’t raise a family on this salary” or “When we have kids, I’ll have to do something else.” For many, it came down to sustainability, so they entered the job wondering if they would have to leave. “I think I have a desire for ministry. I can’t see myself doing anything else but ministry. But there are questions in my mind: is this sustainable for me with my family life?”
From the stories about the reasons for leaving a parish, how ministry leaders came to their positions, or why they will leave their jobs, a circular self-fulfilling pattern of hiring within parish youth and young adult ministries begins to appear. The pattern experienced in hiring results in quick turnover, frequent transition of leadership, continued low salary, and continued low expectations of success. t becomes circular because of the constant transition. From a parish’s experience, these ministry leaders are not staying anyway, so the salaries never go up. So, we get a self-fulfilling prophecy that sets up a transition in leadership from the moment of hiring. Some ministry leaders we talked to indicated, “I’m not sure how I got my job, and at first, I didn’t know what I was supposed to be doing.” If parishes do not pay them more because they are not expecting them to stay, they don’t stay, and it then becomes a circular self-fulfilling prophecy.
This cycle was described—especially for the younger generation of ministry leaders—as they reflected on their future as ministry leaders. “I think that we need to be allowed to say that we ’ re feeling burnout and what do I do to make sure that when I leave because I feel like it’s an imminent leaving, this ministry doesn’t fall apart.”
One leader explains the challenge of leadership transition in ministry and what makes the difference, “You know, part of the reality of being in youth ministry is that there’s a quick turnover, and when the youth minister leaves, usually the ministry dies with them, and then you have to restart all over. And when a ministry doesn’t die, when the leader leaves, you know there’s equal ownership with the parish and the different parish members and leaders in the community.”
Expecting More
Younger generations expected more of the church as an employer than earlier generations. These leaders are willing to leave if things do not change, which is unfortunate for the young people whom this transition will impact.
This repeating cycle of hiring or designating youth and young adult ministries leadership and then allowing predictable elements that lead to a transition in leadership is a challenge church leaders must consider and find ways to stabilize if they want these ministries to grow.
When asked what it would take to stay, one participant offered, “ ... it’s a living salary, I think realistic, like being able to live, like being able not to eat ramen every single day, like have a salary that allows me to live, still do the job, and get paid to do the job, I think is one of the realities. And then also, I think continually having the support and knowing from the parish standpoint that what I’m doing is important because I think when we start to forget a little, well like, well, what’s the point of me doing this if I don’t show up tomorrow? Will anybody notice other than the kids?”
“But being married with two children, I also have realized finances aren’t necessarily where I want them to be. It is. Well, I know there are other job opportunities within the parish that I could also go toward if needed down the road.”
“ ... structurally adequate support, adequate pay, and benefits for ministers so that they will want to stay. It’s logistically a job. It’s not competitive with the other things that are out there.”
“Logistically, the fact that the Catholic Church doesn’t have paid maternity leave is, to me, one of the largest hypocrisies in the world, and that’s maternity; obviously, it doesn’t have paid paternity leave either… our diocesan health benefits are not good if you are a family. People are in ministry for so many reasons beyond finances. But there’s also very much the reality that, like, people need to be able to live life if they’re working a job.”
“I have left once before because of money…. Our raises do not correspond with the rising costs of everything. Everything is going up but our salaries. I believe in vocation, and working in Catholic schools is a privilege, but on a social justice level, it would be nice to help with morale. If you want competitive teachers, you need to compete. It would be nice if there were more help with income.
Insurance and benefits are not great.”
“And it’s kind of always a touchy subject. We work for the church, a nonprofit, but I think working for the Catholic Church is very different. My job at a Christian church (Calvary Church) pays three times as much as I’m making [at the Catholic Church].”
Ministry Formation
Generally, leaders described formation that was less formal, less communal, more episodic and included less longterm commitment to degrees and certificates than was seen in previous studies. Mentoring and modeling by other ministry leaders fill some of the formation needs. Leaders made a resounding call for ministry formation that addresses practical ministry issues today, not just with information but with the skills to address today’s challenges with youth, young adults, and their families.
Formation is Episodic and Less Formal
By far, the most common type of formation described was on-the-job training through ministerial experience, which often came with positive experiences of mentoring and modeling by experienced ministry leaders. Also, leaders mentioned attending conferences, workshops, and webinars sponsored by dioceses or national organizations, movements, or resource agencies in person and online. Some ministry leaders described having formal degrees or certificates from universities, seminaries, national organizations, or resource agencies, but this group was by far the minority.
“So, I would say in terms of my formation, I have never had any formal training on theology and all of that. I come from a place where I think I’m an authentic witness, and I make that my base now. I’m always trying to do webinars and reading little articles, and I wish I had more time, you know, to spend sitting and watching an hour or an hour and a half video. So, I haven’t found not having a formal education has held me back. But of course, I wish my head was more enriched with, you know, the teachings of the church and all of that.”
One DRE, who leads youth ministry now and is looking for a youth minister, explained it this way, “We’re not going to have anybody that’s getting a degree in youth ministry that’s going to be working with us. We’re not going to have anybody that has any formal training.”
Formation Needs to Address Practical Needs
I need practical information to help with my ministry. This mantra best describes what youth and young adult ministry leaders needed most from the formation. Topics included useful topics ranging from budgeting to digital technology and social media platforms. Still, they primarily focused on the challenging issues of the time that young people want to learn more about, including pastoral care, racism, grief counseling, crisis management, cultural competence, family dynamics, mental health issues, gender and sexual identity, polarization in church and society, etc. However, there was not just a desire to learn about the issue but formation (skill) regarding how to deal with the issue practically in ministry, which seems to be at odds with the current predominant method of ministry formation: episodic events versus formalized learning experiences. Other ministry formation needs expressed included self-advocacy, networks of support and exchanging ideas, relational ministry training, training in mentorship, and the need for human formation in setting boundaries and being a healthy ministry leader.
“Many of our youth and adult ministry positions emphasize having a theological background. One of those challenges is I don’t know whether all our theology and academic formation includes the pastoral ministry components of accompaniment or some of the developmental or sociological ‘how to be with people …. ’ And those are the skills that I felt I had to call on far more frequently than … what order the ecumenical councils happened in … and the practical logistics, budgets, and event planning.”
One young adult ministry leader said, “I feel equipped with the young adults. The young adults are the easiest part of my job. But not dealing with church politics. It’s the navigation of other people, other ministries, especially, how can I put this, the older established parishioners, church hierarchy, clericalism, that type of thing.”
“We’re learning to be adults while also being in positions of authority, which can be very hard. Practical information: how to balance a budget, how to run a program, develop program content, plan, and how to work with other adults, sometimes adults that are older than you are. ”
Photo
RDNE Stock
Lacking Formation Options
Experienced ministry leaders lamented the lack of formation options today compared to previous decades. They noted this was especially true of diocesan offices, and many said that their dioceses “do not offer things anymore like they used to” because either the office has been eliminated or restructured into other offices.
There was a clear sense in the ministry leaders’ descriptions that there are the haves and have-nots when it comes to diocesan ministry formation nationwide, which is a significant pendulum shift from the ministry formation program offerings in the 1990s and early 2000s.
One ministry leader with no formation said, “I’m just kind of pulling it out of thin air at this point.” Another one said rather bluntly when asked why he has not sought formation, “Training doesn’t matter when the pastor is ‘king’ of the castle.”
One focus group discussed diocesan services, “The archdiocese had professional development days for youth ministers and was good at bringing in national speakers and training for that kind of thing. But I never worked in a community with the financial resources to send their ministers to professional development.”
“Not to put my dioceses on blast, but I’ve worked for the diocese for three years, and I don’t think we ’ ve ever had professional development anything offered to us. ”
“I think we don’t have a lot of great formation for adults. And I think we ’ re in a period where you can get yourself in trouble faster than you ever could have. I think young kids are coming to youth group that could have depression, [thoughts of] suicide, and all sorts of things are going on. ”
“To Get a Degree or Not?”
There was a general agreement that a theology foundation is needed, but not necessarily a degree, although a non-degreed ministry leader generally said this. Degreed leaders are more likely to see value in a degree. However, even some questioned the value of a degree because it did not raise their pay.
One youth ministry leader explained as she examined the value of a degree, “We just had a youth minister down the street who, man, she had her master’s. She had everything on paper, and she lasted ten months.”
“I think formation is essential. Personally, I would love to have lots more formation, but the biggest barriers to that are time and cost. Yeah, I would love to go get a master’s in theology, and I feel like that would benefit my kids, but it’s going to cost me twenty grand and four years. ”
“I guess one of the things that I struggle with, or at least I see in the church, because I think a lot of people will get like a master’s in theological studies or, you know, different master’s in theology, so they’ll have the content, but they don’t have the skills to share that knowledge.”
“I don’t think you need a certificate. I don’t think you need to attend a university and have a degree in ministry. You don’t have to change the truth of the church for kids to be engaged in it. We must change our rhetoric. We have to change how we present truth in a way that makes a kid feel safe and that they trust the information coming from you in a way that gathers them and then you bring them to the Eucharist. Then Jesus does the rest. If you could equip these ministers to do life with kids, I think it would be a much better use of time.”
Part Two:The Practice of Youth and Young Adult Ministries
SUMMARY
In examining the practice of ministry for these leaders, one will find a highly committed group with lofty hopes, visions, and goals both for the ministry and those to whom they minister. When understanding the daily life of a parish youth and/or young adult ministry leader, it is quite fitting to say, one size does not fit all. However, specific categories of work surfaced as common regardless of the ministry role, the ministry title, the ministry setting, or even the size of the parish. Finally, one cannot examine the ministry practice without considering how that practice is evaluated and measured. Engaging in this is a tricky reality for ministry leaders to determine for themselves, their field, and the church. Their honest reflection on this issue in this research is commendable.
KEY FINDINGS
Vision and Goals Ministerial Praxis
Accompanying Youth and Young Adults Toward Discipleship Personal versus Pastoral Goals Engagement and Integration within the Faith Community Agents of Change in Society Vocation and Purpose Need for a Shared Vision
How is Their Ministry Structured? What They Do versus What They Want to Do Justifying Their Job Communication, Communication, Communication Bleeding of Their Time and Work Volunteers Focused on Accompaniment
Measuring Success
It Is Not about the Numbers, or Is It? It Cannot Be Measured but Can Be Acknowledged and Seen A Ministry That is Growing and Expanding Sowing Seeds That One Day Will Grow Aha Moments!
Vision and Goals
The highest focus for those serving youth was to accompany young people as they grow in discipleship with Jesus. For young adult leaders, a frequently mentioned goal was helping young adults become engaged in faith communities. However, it is essential to note that both groups of leaders mentioned both goals of discipleship and engagement. In describing the goal of “discipling,” the leaders shared many different and beautiful thoughts and their passion for their ministry.
Accompanying Youth and Young Adults Toward Discipleship
Most want to accompany youth and young adults to understand God’s love and mercy for them and to foster a relationship with God, or as one participant put it, “to hold space for young people to recognize when God enters their lives.” This discipling of young people was described in many powerful and beautiful ways. One leader put it this way, “Here is my elevator speech: leading teens into an encounter with Christ in some way, you know, and whatever it takes to do that.”
Accompanying Youth and Young Adults Toward Discipleship
“Having that safe space for the kids to come and be able to discuss their doubts about their faith or the passions they feel about their faith or the questions they may think that are stupid to ask any teacher or their parents.”
“A goal would certainly be to meet a current teen within their landscape and their life. And showing them that Christ can meet them there and that Christ is there, and Christ can be cultivated there.”
“Our overall goal is that every person deserves to encounter the love of Jesus Christ through the church, that we can be a place of encounter that helps us facilitate that, and that people come to know that they are loved, they are seen by a God who desires to know them and died for them and wants them to be with them in heaven. They should feel welcomed. So, we foster the idea of a safe space and this idea of mentorship and discipleship.”
“Our goal is intentional encounters and community building. My goal in youth ministry is to create a space and an environment where a child or a young adult not only feels safe to thrive but also feels a part of a community that is loved and amplifies everything that the Gospel teaches and everything that God has shared with us through Jesus Christ.”
“My goal is to give our teens or young people enough foundation that they continue in their faith into adulthood.”
“Get the kids to stay engaged in their faith, or the goal is always to have the kids get to Heaven.”
Personal versus Pastoral Goals
Most of the goals that ministry leaders mentioned were personal. However, some said their ministry goals had been influenced by their parish, pastor, campus, or other setting. For example, an experienced leader noted his goals changed based on his pastors, “Each pastor has their vision of where they want to see things, and then you incorporate that around the pastor. And I worked for thirteen years, I had three different pastors, so we adjusted.”
“To give them a positive experience of religion and faith and Jesus and the Catholic Church because they’re just kind of over it … their honesty about their experience of religion is heartbreaking to me. ”
A parish young adult ministry leader said, “I would say the overall goal for our parish young adult ministry is integration into the community. And that came from them, you know, it’s not just that we ’ re doing young adult programs. We’re doing specific events for young adults; there can be some socialization, socializing, and community building. You know, that’s fine. Still, it’s ultimately getting them on a path to further integration and finding their place at the table, finding their place in the church.”
Engagement and Integration within
the Faith Community
Many leaders noted that their goals in ministry centered on engaging youth and young adults in the community with their peers and parish adults. Others focused on outreach to those who are not involved in the faith community, as well as continuing to find ways for youth and young adults to be more authentically engaged in the life of the faith community, including more active participation in weekly Mass, parish-wide experiences, and in sharing their gifts in the parish.
“Put directly, one leader said, the goal is [for them to] attend weekly Mass.”
One experienced ministry leader from Chicago said she wanted them to feel they belong to the church: “And my goal is to make them know that they have a place in this church, however they choose to do it.”
“Their [the parish] goals are what I call, you know, the church’s precepts. They want people at weekly Mass and Sunday Mass. So, if they don’t see youth and young adults in that weekly Mass, they ask themselves, why are we investing money in this? And they want to see people have money in the collection, time, talents, and treasure.”
“I would like to see more young adults excited about not just Mass …. But I would like them more to use their gifts and talents. And I would like to see them integrated into the entire parish.”
Agents of Change in Society
One youth ministry leader summed up this goal the best, “what ministry looks like for me is empowering youth within the church and the world to be agents of change.”
While many described this goal as focused on empowering young people to serve as those change agents, they also emphasized the importance of helping youth and young adults embrace God’s mercy, as well as Catholic social teaching.
“My ministry is focused on engaging youth in service and Catholic social teaching and the Corporal Works of Mercy. And so, I think a main aspect of what ministry looks like for me is empowering youth within the church and the world to be agents of change.”
“To offer young people experiences of God; to help others take on the mantle of leadership, evangelization, or I have agents of change in society, which is what they wanted every day. I’m hoping to leave them to have some experience of God to make sure they’re not closing the door for teenagers. It’s helpful, the identity and love doing. They identify with and love doing service. We help people because of the Sermon on the Mount, blah, blah, blah. But I think our Catholic social teaching and Corporal Works of Mercy [are important]. Mercy ministry looks to me as empowering youth within the church and the world to be agents of change.”
“Every day, I hope I’m leaving them with having some experience of God, to make sure they’re not closing the door. For teenagers, it’s helpful. They love doing service. We help people because of the Sermon on the Mount and the Corporal Works of Mercy. We can connect Jesus and something tangible to them.”
“Empowering them to be agents of love and knowing that that aligns with church teaching, with the young adults that I minister to and serve as well and helping them know they can be leaders.”
“I would like them to be excited about their faith, you know, and then not only about their faith but also their actions reflecting it. There are so many bad things going on. I’ve just got so many bad things all over the place but using their gifts and talents with their faith to make those life choices, those decisions to think outside the box, to think and say, you know, this is wrong. This is not what I stand for. And, you know, stand for what they believe and, you know, just carry that through life, and make the world better.”
“And for me, I love seeing how they have built the community as they do everything together. It doesn’t matter what they’re doing. We do a lot of service and they do it and they do it with such joy. And they’re so happy to know that they’ve helped other people. And I’ve had kids come up and say, that’s so rewarding.”
Vocation and Purpose
A smaller portion of leaders of youth and/or young adult ministries articulated goals around helping young people figure out how God is calling them now and, in the future, to find their life purpose.
Need for a Shared V
The issue of having a vision for ministry also came out when asked, “What do you need to address the challenges you ’ re facing today?” They said a clearer vision. Some wished the church had a universal vision because that could address things like racism and gender issues.
Interestingly, many did not reference the goals of Renewing the Vision or Sons and Daughters of the Light in their own goals or vision, and only a few mentioned RTV as an influence on their vision. But even more than a universal vision, parish leaders wished for a shared vision and goals with their pastors. One leader explained it this way, “And so then an understanding of like my vision, his vision, I think that’s where I feel like maybe that we could grow a little closer. We’re still kind of trying to see or to meet shared visions.”
“My goal: respond to the needs of students, [make them] feel very comfortable, welcome, supported, and encouraged, and support their goals for the future.”
“My goal: I facilitate them by creating their own thought process. “
“Accompanying and helping [young] people connect with what is true, meaningful, and real for them. Yeah, simply put, like explain their meaning and their purpose. ”
Image by Sasin Tipchai from Pixabay
Ministerial Praxis
In reflecting on their ministry praxis, participants shared several pain points about their work, including often having to justify their role or ministry. They wished for less paperwork, an administrative assistant, and a more experienced volunteer base. These leaders spend a lot of time on various types of communication and desire to spend more time in direct relational ministry.
How is Their Ministry Structured?
Ministry leaders shared a combination of activities they engage in daily, weekly, monthly, or annually. A task overlap exists in the various major task groupings of the ministry leader’s work. This overlap is especially true in communication and relational ministry or accompaniment, with these two actions sometimes being interwoven into all other ministry-related tasks in which they engage. Because of these overlapping tasks, tracking and measuring work tasks can be difficult for some ministry leaders. One person seemed to sum it up the best: “The three things: email, whack-a-mole, putting out fires. Number two is planning and logistics, and three is just being with students.” Appendix One provides a breakdown of the structure to be used for additional research in this area for youth ministry leaders.
What They Do versus What They Want to Do
Paid ministry leaders reported spending much time on administrative tasks such as permission forms, email, and meetings. Those same leaders shared they wanted more time to do more relational ministry or accompaniment with teens and to help others do the same. Time spent on other tasks outside of this core area is painful for some and not what they signed up for in many ways. However, they also stated that having others see this as valuable and getting others to participate is challenging.
“I don’t always know what the pastor wants. I don’t know what he’s expecting, so I’m always wary of that.”
Justifying Their Job
One clear area of struggle for youth ministry leaders was that they often felt the need to justify their job or explain their ministry to pastors, parents, the parish community, and other parish leaders. This lack of understanding regarding ministry has been an issue in the past for ministry leaders; in 2016 forty-six percent of leaders said it was significant.[1] A deeper exploration of this common issue that surfaced is the quantity versus quality assessment of ministry. Leaders value quality interactions, while pastors and parish staff—at times—seem to look for the number of young people involved as the measurement of value.
[1] Passing the Baton, 22
Communication, Communication, Communication
Ministry leaders explained that they use various communication tools (including email, texting, and multiple forms of social media) to communicate with different people (including youth, young adults, parents, staff, Catholic Schools, etc.) for various purposes. Because texting and social media are communication tools used for outreach and promotion as well as connection and relationship, it is hard to assign them only to the communication category. They could fall into both the relationship or accompaniment category and the programs or direct ministry category, and, in that case, take up a considerable amount of their ministry time in these categories. It is also interesting that ministry leaders mentioned ways to keep up with current communication technologies and social media when asked what they need in ministry formation.
Bleeding of Their Time and Work
“Social media and digital evangelization have been a key in our ministry.”
As with any job or role, when others discover that individuals have talents in certain areas, they are asked to take on additional responsibilities. The same is true for leaders of both youth and young adult ministries. While there were various examples of this type of ‘bleeding of work,” the two best examples would be social media and technology and building management. One youth ministry leader said, “They said to me, you ’ re the last person in the building, so why don’t you take over building management, and before you know it, I’m working on the furnace at the parish, but I’m the youth and young adult minister.” Sometimes, this additional work came with additional reimbursement, but frequently, it did not.
Volunteers Focused on Accompaniment
The small sample of volunteers in the study indicated that their ministry practice focused on relational ministry and accompaniment. They ran programs, engaged in direct ministry, and had some administrative tasks, but that was not the focus. Usually, they had a staff liaison to assist them with administrative tasks, such as bulletin announcements, budgets, or safe environment forms, such as the DRE, pastoral associate, or parish secretary. It is fascinating that the volunteers mentioned what many paid leaders longed for as their main focus of ministry.
The first thing volunteers mentioned as to what they do in their ministry practice was relationships. One of the volunteers said, “All I do is pray with and serve young people,” when asked if they do any administrative work as part of their role.
“So, just being aware that these teens need someone to invest in them, care for them, and walk with them through whatever they may be experiencing. And that’s the primary function of ministry. Yes. It was bringing them to the sacraments and teaching the theological side of things. That’s good. But really, just letting them know that there’s an adult besides their parents who wants them to get into Heaven.”
Image by Jacquelynne Kosmicki from Pixabay
Measuring Success
One of the most challenging and fascinating parts of the conversation focused on how these ministers and others around them measure the success or effectiveness of their ministries. Some wondered if ministry can even be measured. It was a sensitive issue for this highly committed group of ministers.
It Is Not about the Numbers, or Is It?
There was a tenderness about the “numbers” discussion, due to the perception they were being judged on the number of young people participating. Leaders try not to make it about numbers because they see the one-on-one transformations in young people and adults they work with regularly. However, they know, at least publicly, that it is about the numbers. One leader flipped the conversation when asked about numbers, “So my pastor [asks], like how many people were at the event? So, I’m like, well, how many people were at yours, Father? How many people went to confession on Saturday? My job is to bring people to Christ, not to count people.” However, one ministry leader made this observation, “other people see it as numbers only because they lack connection to the young people, so for other people in the parish, youth ministry is just a number.” One leader proposed that if we make it about the numbers, social media contacts should be included in these number measurements because, for so many ministry leaders like him, this is part of their job.
“Like they got what they wanted, and they won’t come back. And that’s where I feel like we fail. So, where I feel successful is again, seeing them come back, seeing them engage, seeing them want to be part of the parish community.”
““We struggle with using numbers as a measure of success, but if one kid shows up, that kid is important there. They took their time to come. Maybe their parent brought them by themselves and they’re important and we ’ re meant to be there enriching their life, too, [even if] it’s one, right?”
It Cannot Be Measured but Can Be Acknowledged and Seen
Ministry leaders questioned whether this could even be measured because they felt transformation and discipleship were at the heart of this issue, which was God’s to measure and judge, not ours. However, acknowledgment seems to be a clear sign when pushed further regarding signs that the ministry is going well. “If my pastor would just tell me I’m doing a good job, that would be good for me. It’s hard to do youth ministry. And if we do not even have the support of our pastors, even verbally, well, I’m not asking for a million dollars at Christmas time, but even just a card that says, ‘Hey, we appreciate what you do.’ It would be nice to get a word of encouragement occasionally.” Other leaders indicated that positive comments from parents and parishioners were also signs that things were going well.
A Ministry That is Growing and Expanding
A common way many leaders described measuring success or effectiveness was when they saw young people continuing to come back and bring their friends. Another sign of success was when a community of young people was formed along with a growing number of committed volunteers in the ministry. Another sign of growth was when youth and young adults took on leadership responsibilities in ministry and the parish. One leader described leadership development as his measure regarding his volunteers. He used the images of working himself out of a job or a coaching tree because they could do the ministry without him.
“You know because young people want to be at church. That’s it when they find their community; when they find their faith.”
Sowing Seeds That One Day Will Grow
The challenge most noted by ministry leaders in this area is that they are planting seeds of faith that one day will grow hopefully into lifelong faith, but there’s no way now to measure that longterm impact. However, those with tenure in the field did share that the ways they were able to measure success were by seeing their young people come back as volunteers, getting married in the church, to see them discern a vocation to religious life or priesthood, or seeing them regularly going to Mass. In many ways, these leaders feel like they are sowing bare fields with seeds of faith that one day will produce big plants of faith in the future.
Aha Moments!
For the majority, it came down to their ministerial goal of growing disciples. They measured their success when young people began to take the initiative in their faith and integrate their relationship with Jesus Christ into their lives. When young people have those aha moments, they know they are loved by God and forgiven. While most acknowledge these things were tough to measure, they saw them regularly and knew that this was part of the measurement equation of the ministry.
“To see them continuing, practicing their faith, and they share their journey when they come back.”
“I have been doing this for about fifteen years now, and for many years, I have been asking, you know, am I making a difference or, is what I do important or stuff like that? But seeing some of the teens that I started with, especially when I was beginning the ministry, now coming back, getting married, or, starting their own families, having kids, I’m experiencing the joy of some of the seeds planted back then because I was questioning a lot. But now, seeing them as adults, it’s very gratifying that some seeds stayed and grew with them.”
Photo by Helena Lopes on Unsplash
Part Three: Joys and Challenges in Ministries with Youth and Young Adults
SUMMARY
Respondents were open about naming the challenges they face in ministry with young people, which were only eclipsed by their enthusiastic sharing of what brings them joy in ministry.
Accompanying young people as they experience life and faith transformations is the best way to sum up the many joys heard. Mental health and personal wellbeing were the most common challenges, followed by other sensitive issues in today’s culture, including immigration, racism, and sexual and gender identity.
Joys and Challenges Key Findings
Joyful Accompaniment and Transformations
Mental Health and Personal Well-Being
Issues within the Lives and Culture of Young People
Disconnect with Parents
Working with Immigrant Families
Relevance of Faith Relationships
Distractions and Competition
A Faith Community Challenge
What Do Ministry Leaders Need to Address These Challenges?
Rebuilding Ministry
Support Networks
Formation in Courageous Conversations
Repair Disconnected Relationships
More Faith-Filled Adults to Accompany
Joyful Accompaniment and Transformations
Many things gave joy to those in ministries with youth and young adults. Most can be categorized as accompanying them and seeing transformations. These ministers talked about this joy with a sense of passion and privilege to do this ministry, one going as far as to say how she has fallen in love with the ministry and the work she does. “I ended up falling in love with what I talked about at the beginning of being able to accompany these young people through their academics, through their family lives, through their spiritual life, through their social life. And it was when the students were celebrating their confirmation, I had this moment of like, oh, my gosh, I love this work.” One shared a beautiful image: “And you can see that in lifelong progression, and I think that’s exciting. I love seeing when someone ’ s life is transformed, and sometimes it’s a small transformation. Sometimes, it’s just a small aha moment that they have, and they connect the dots, and things just make sense to them. But I think for me that joy just really comes with that transformation of heart that we, as youth ministers, get a front-row view of that, and it’s a blessing to be able to have a front-row seat and a glimpse into someone ’ s life when Christ transforms their hearts.”
One young adult minister explains the idea of transformation, “What brings me joy? I would say relationships with young people, especially my work with young adults. I love being afforded the opportunity to journey with people and get to know their stories, their joys, their hopes, and their struggles. I can see how God is working in their lives and how they mature and transform as they grow older.” This youth minister explains how they experience this joy in accompaniment, “And so the biggest joy is accompanying those young people to encounter them to feel, to build relationships with them and to see their journey, and to challenge them and just to really help them, first of all, to have a home, to make them feel at home. So, to help them feel that they belong, that they’re known, that they’re always welcome in our ministries, but also in general, the community or the parish, there’s always that welcoming attitude, that’s the first thing.”
“Watching them grow in and learn about their faith. The trust level that they have with us as they struggle with their sexual identity and parents. There is somebody that they trusted to ask these questions in the church.”
“When the teens have that moment of breakthrough, and they’re willing to step forward and do it themselves. Teens on their own start going to daily Mass, teens on their own choose adoration, can share their faith with other teens, and they’re inviting other teens regularly to the program. ”
“ ... it’s encountering teens and that idea of those transformations, but particularly just learning our teens’ stories.”
“Those times when you hear them talk about their faith in a way that, you know, like they’re embracing and living life as a disciple of Jesus and also, like getting to hear them, being excited about sharing their faith with their friends.”
“The identity formation and the development that happen and being a companion during this time is such a great gift and joy.”
Mental Health and Personal Well-Being
Most leaders identified the challenges surrounding young people’s mental health and personal well-being. Again and again, ministry leaders from every corner of the country, regardless of position, described a younger generation that has been set back mentally, psychosocially, and emotionally due to COVID-19. However, some believe it began before COVID-19 and the pandemic sped up this new “hidden pandemic” among our young people.[1] There were many stories of gathering in person again and about high school students as they struggled to relate to others, lacking the soft skills they would have learned years earlier. They also discussed other areas of well-being that many teens are dealing with, including grief, brokenness, depression, isolation, and the need for resources beyond themselves. Additionally, a few leaders noted the challenges of working with young people who need special accommodations or have special needs, especially the growing number of young people on the autism spectrum. Finally, the word over was used quite a bit regarding youth and young adults. Respondents described them as being “overwhelmed, over-committed, and over-scheduled” with pressure and anxiety.
“Given the mental health issues with young people, I think for me, it’s constantly remembering that I need to go to them.”
“A cultural challenge I’ve been finding now, which is, I think, there’s a lot of situations with COVID and things like that, is young people are having real struggles socializing, and it makes it difficult when you try to do things in bigger groups because a lot of people are very uncomfortable. They don’t feel comfortable sharing. So, in a sense, it’s like we kind of have to, work with them almost one on one, but you can’t do that. You don’t have the structure to do that to help them first. And then feel comfortable to be open. And the bigger [group], you know, sometimes you ’ re doing things in a group of seven, and one person doesn’t feel comfortable.”
Mental Health and Personal Well-Being
““There’s something with the isolation with COVID, there’s another situation is also how do we address the fact that a lot of people struggle with mental needs, I mean, you know, mental health. Yeah. And do we in our ministries, do we speak, do we address, do we listen or, show compassion? How do we reach out? It’s a very touchy subject, but it’s just an area that we don’t discuss as much … what do we do for those young people we know are struggling. We don’t offer anything right now, and how can we reach out to them?”
“”We already had students who were over-committed preCOVID, and now I think they’re even more overcommitted than they were. Like, I know students that can’t even like to find time to eat because they are going to so many meetings. Now, the dynamics of loneliness that come from this. And the social skills of students aren’t where they used to be, and I think that’s a direct result of the isolation of the pandemic. Increases in aggression, stress, and anxiety.”
“Youth post-COVID have [taken] a huge immaturity back step, dealing with emotions, dealing with big feelings, dealing with how to make decisions, [and] dealing with mental health.”
Center for Disease Control and Prevention, October 2022: Adverse Childhood Experiences During the COVID-19 Pandemic and Associations with Poor Mental Health and Suicidal Behaviors Among High School Students Adolescent Behaviors and Experiences Survey, United States, January–June 2021 “Concerns about poor adolescent mental health and suicidal behaviors preceded the COVID-19 pandemic (10) but escalated during the pandemic. For more than a decade, suicide has been the second or third leading cause of death among adolescents aged 14–18 years. This analysis highlights the ongoing, urgent need to address adversity experienced before and during the pandemic to mitigate its impact on mental and behavioral health” cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/mm7141a2.htm?s cid=mm7141a2 w
Issues within the Lives and Culture of Young People
The second group of challenges focused on addressing the hot-button or sensitive issues within the culture and church today, especially the ones resulting in polarization in church and society. These included, but were not limited to, racism, sexual identity, gender identity, violence, social media, relativism, immigration, ecclesiology, papal preference, right to life, and the mixture of church and politics. Ministry leaders are looking for education and formation on these sensitive issues, not just about the topic but about listening and having courageous conversations. Again and again, leaders said, “I just don’t know how to talk about that.” Some felt they needed to be permitted to discuss some of these topics with youth.
““Hot button issues, including ministry with special needs youth, and especially young people dealing with gender identification issues, the LGBTQ+ young people.”
“And then also a lot of like gender identity issues our teens struggle with, but they also know people who struggle with it and kind of reconcile that with authentic church teaching versus what their parents think. Church teaching has been a big struggle for many of the teens in our community.”
“I fear that with new youth ministers that they could be just thrown into the fire with some of this stuff and just think, I’m going to talk to some teenagers about Jesus. And then they get people asking them all about gender identity and abortion and more. I think it could be beneficial to have at least some clear-cut, not necessarily brief responses, but ones that youth ministers can go and pick up and say, this is how I’m going to help, this is how I’m going to answer these things. I worry that they don’t have a pulse on the teen culture enough to just be able to speak to them about these issues in ways that the teens will understand.”
Disconnect with Parents
The next group of challenges focused on working with families and parents. Ministry leaders shared frustrations about parents prioritizing other things before their children’s faith. There was an evident disconnect with parents, with some noting the difficult challenge is when parents have yet to accept the truth themselves. Some ministry leaders did not see families as part of their audience, and honestly, they did not know what to do with parents or families to address these issues. The stories at times conveyed an us versus them mentality and, at times, an undertone of judgment by the ministry leaders about the choices of parents. This issue continues with the findings from an earlier study in 2016 that found Millennial youth ministry leaders working in parishes experienced challenges in working with parents.[1]
[1] Passing of the Baton, 26-27 “When youth ministry leaders were asked how significant parental involvement in youth ministry would be over the next three years (see Table 11), two-thirds (66%) said it was significant (35%) or very significant (31%).”
“Parents do not always want to partner with you like you want to partner with them.”
“I think it’s so important for the future of the church because sometimes we evangelize families through youth ministry. Obviously, we hope that the teens are being evangelized by their parents, but it is not uncommon that the parents in some ways are being evangelized by the teens.”
“I think more on resources that do not say, ’Hey, parents, this is what we talked about tonight, but resources on how to teach parents. How to do catechesis with the parents?”
Working with Immigrant Families
A few leaders discussed the challenges in their parish working with immigrant families because of language issues, fears of deportation, and other cultural norms and expectations, especially when working with first-generation parents. “Parents, language barriers, and cultural barriers.”
Relevance of Faith Relationships
This challenge articulated their experience of dealing with youth and young adults who do not see the church as hospitable or relevant but instead as judgmental and hypocritical. Young adult ministry leaders especially noted this regarding young adults’ church experience. Additionally, some ministry leaders indicated that it was not just their relationship with the church that some of these young people struggled with, but even their relationship with God.
“Okay. So, my challenge is relevance: making what we do relevant to the youth. And when you see that they truly need what they need, we don’t have a structure. We don’t have a way to minister to or encounter them in that way. And so, the challenge is how do I see their needs and how we ’ re not meeting them. And so, that’s challenging. Every time we face that, it’s like, oh, you know, sorry, but we don’t have this. Yeah, we should, or it would be good to have that. So, it’s hard when they have all these other needs, and I’m kind of like with my hands tied where it’s like, it would be good to do that. And that’s a challenge when the structures don’t allow that flexibility to change.”
One young adult minister explained, “But the big problem that I think keeps young adults away from our ministry and a lot of ministries is the canonical rules about marriage. There’s a lot of young adults who have been married outside of the church that then come back to the church and then are informed that their marriages are invalid. And this happens a lot here in the way that I don’t know if there’s a local culture, but there’s a lot of messy marriages canonically speaking …. But when it comes to some of the things that the church requires, when you want to get your marriage validated, these people have been living together for ten years. Let’s not make them wait another year. They want to get married. What are we doing? I’m trying here and you (the church) are making it impossible. And it’s happened to at least seven or eight couples that I know that were in our ministry. that’s really, hard and frustrating thing for me because there’s no pastoral care given in the meantime. I get the rules, I get needing to understand the sacramental value, the sacramental nature of marriage, but not taking care of these couples in between is in my it that that is negligent and that’s what’s going on and we ’ re losing young adults because they’re like, well, this church doesn’t care about me. ”
“I think the hardest part so far is figuring how to connect and keep them [the young people] engaged.”
“It’s hard for a parish youth minister to compete with a Catholic campus minister because they offer the same things. Parents even say my child goes to X, Y, and Z school, and they get this retreat, so why should they go to the parish retreat as well?”
“The real challenge is managing priorities. Youth are so busy and overwhelmed. The church would be lucky to be in the top five!”
“I think the other thing is the way to connect with the teens. And now there’s this sort of instant gratification that our teens need because everything’s in their hands. They can get everything on the Internet within seconds, you know, social media and stuff. And so, I think the biggest challenge is just trying to … have them slow down and realize that there’s not an instant gratification or that, you know, you ’ re not going to get your prayers answered as soon as you ask, you know.”
A Faith Community Challenge
Many of the interviews surfaced the challenge of the changing landscape of parishes. The decline in church affiliation, the rise of the “ nones ” and “dones,” and now the “ never affiliated” in both young people and their parents have significant consequences. They noted we are in an era where faith is an option—not a given—and the challenge is to make a case for faith. Why is faith important? Why is God important? Why is church important? We are back to fundamental questions. One leader summed it up this way, “We don’t have just a youth issue. We have a faith community challenge about how we pass on the faith!” Sadly, a few used the metaphor of dying to describe the landscape of the ministry setting. Many said it was hard to get young people to return to programs; they were just not interested. “I’m sure it’s similar in other parts of the country, but especially in my area, the church is dying fast and scarily fast. So, you know, we need some people to fight. So, I’m hoping that you know, the opportunity to stay around and help keep people close to their faith for the years to come. ”
What Do Ministry Leaders Need to Address These Challenges?
Ministry leaders indicated that they needed to rebuild their support networks as well as the trust and confidence that others have in the ministry they do. They also discuss the need for formation and resources focused on practical outcomes. See Appendix Two for a list of some of the things leaders commonly needed to address these challenges.
Rebuilding Ministry Support Networks
Ministry leaders repeatedly said that their diocesan offices had been closed or consolidated and that they generally needed more direct diocesan support, especially in these areas of challenge. Those with fifteen or more years of experience lamented the days of diocesan offices that provided regular support and inservices on topics relevant to the culture and church of the day.
“I guess it’s just that there’s no support, at least in my diocese. There’s no support at all. It’s whatever. But we don’t have a diocesan director for youth ministry.”
“I wish I had that support system. Yeah. Just from other adults, other lay people.”
“When I first started in youth ministry, the diocese offered us opportunities to get together as youth ministers, which was extremely helpful. And then that kind of went by the wayside. And so, I will say some of us, you know, just started doing that organically on our own and getting together as friends and then talking about what we were doing and talking about ways that we could collaborate because we like it.”
Formation in Courageous Conversations
Accompanying young people was often described as being with them, listening, and sometimes being willing and able to have courageous conversations with young people and their parents about issues teens face. The pastoral leaders were not looking only for information about the challenging issues they raised but also formation to help them deal with these issues on a pastoral level. They indicated that they need skills to lead a conversation of faith that can speak to both sides of the issues and be authentic. Because this type of conversation requires one to deal with the complexities of the issues, many felt that adults at all levels accompanying young people need to learn these skills. Some hesitated to deal with these issues directly because of their complexity and felt ill-equipped, while others needed permission to discuss some. “There’s just so many social-emotional needs right now within our youth, especially coming out of COVID. Uh, yeah. And I don’t know if ministers are equipped for that.”
Repair Disconnected Relationships
Leaders surfaced disconnected relationships at several levels in the challenges of ministerial leadership. One level pertained to young people, especially young adults, feeling unwelcome and judged by the church, making this relationship challenging to repair and making it difficult to reach out to young adults. Additionally, parents and youth ministry leaders are not on the same page. We heard ministry leaders criticizing parents for not prioritizing their children’s faith and not working in partnership with them. When asked what they need, this leader said, “1000% help trying to get the family involved in helping us with their youth and continuing it at home and taking it home.”
The third disconnected relationship we heard about was pastors and ministry leaders struggling to find a shared vision for ministry to youth and young adults. The sources of these disconnected relationships need to be examined and resolved. Otherwise, there will be a continued vulnerability in the systems that support young people and faith. Another disconnect named was between dioceses and ministry leaders. Many leaders reported a decline in offices serving them directly. One leader said, “Oh, there’s no support from the diocese. The only time they call is when they want something. They want to know your numbers. They want that stuff.”
Image by Lars Nissen from Pixabay
More Faith-Filled Adults to Accompany
Ministry leaders wished for more volunteers and adults to help accompany young people. Many realized they could not do it alone, yet they discussed the challenges of getting volunteers.
“I guess more caring, faith-filled adults to walk with them, walk with me with them. Or maybe, you know, being able to equip their parents, too. Because you know, I’ve met some young people that don’t have that kind of relationship with their parents where they can be open enough to talk about the talk about faith to talk about struggles.”
“I wish I could multiply the youth ministers because that whole accompany part, like the last few years I have been more intentional about that, too. But again, to be able to set time for it for each of them individually, you know, you need more adults ministering to them or walking with them. And that’s always been my struggle. Like, I wish I could multiply myself to be here for everybody. And I wish there would be more adults saying, yes, I will mentor, but it’s more of my dream.”
Part Four: Serving as a Ministry Leader Today
SUMMARY
The leadership of youth and young adult ministries has evolved from being a CYO leader to a coordinator of youth or young adult ministry and now to a slasher of multiple ministries, sometimes in multiple settings. Ministerial understanding and support from pastors, parents, and parish communities are important and often lacking for some ministry leaders. Sadly, ministry leaders shared the need to explain their work and, at times, must seek their support networks on top of what they would describe already as a very demanding and multifaceted job.
Key Findings
Ministerial Support and Understanding Understanding and Expectations
Gap
Demanding, Multifaceted, Time-Consuming Role
Ministerial Support Scale
Supportive Pastors
Sources of Support
Leadership Challenges
Pastor Transitions
Multi-Parish and MultiPosition Roles
Ministries with Youth and Young Adults in Unique Settings
It is Time to Reinvent Ministries for the Young Church
Experiences of Marginalization
Lessons from COVID-19
Ministerial Support and Understanding
Understanding and Expectations Gap
Ministry leaders experience varying levels of support and understanding of ministry. However, support generally looks like someone who trusts them to do ministry, is present at events, is available for sacraments, is a sounding board, and provides financial support for their salary and the ministry. The gap between the pastor and the ministry leader’s expectations and understanding of ministry appears even more wide now than in previous years. This understanding gap is not limited to pastors and leaders but extends to the parish community. The evidence of this gap is seen earlier in this research by the leaders who indicated they spent a lot of time justifying and explaining their jobs and what they do with young people in the parish.
Ministry leaders had much to say about the pastor’s lack of understanding of youth and young adult ministries. One youth and young adult ministry leader said, “Pastors have an understanding of the ministry that they think is true but not in reality.” Another stated, “The pastor might understand ministry but not young people.” One leader put it even more bluntly, “The pastor’s lack of understanding of what I do is a lack of interest or concern in our young people.”
“I don’t always know what the pastor wants. I don’t know what he always expects, so I’m always wary of that. “
“Although the pastor is supportive of it, I don’t think the pastor would necessarily be able to define the mission of the ministry.”
Understanding and Expectations Gap
“The main challenge is pastoral understanding. If you don’t have a pastor who understands what ministry is and why it’s important, it will be almost impossible for a parish to have a vibrant program. In a parish close by, their pastor doesn’t care for youth ministry or see its value. Their youth minister gave plenty of time notice that she would be leaving, and they still haven’t hired a youth minister. It’s been almost eight and a half months. And so, I’m seeing this program dying because there’s no pastoral or parish understanding. So, I think a huge challenge for ministry is just that understanding between the two worlds.”
“So, the administration has one thing that has been hard because, you know, case in point, it sounds foolish, but doing appreciation for my leaders at the end of the year couldn’t go on this past year, even though I don’t have a budget, I don’t have anything, you know, that says, this is the money you haven’t spent. But when I went to my pastor and said, hey, I want to do this for my leaders, oh yeah, yeah, that sounds like a great idea. So then, when I submitted, this is what we will do and what it will cost. Oh, no, no, no. I thought you were just going to do a pizza party for them. Is that a pizza party for a year? No, no, no, no, no, no. You know, things like that. Words. They don’t understand our job. They don’t see our job. They’re not here.”
“I have a supervisor and she’s great, helps if I need things, she’s always there. So, we ’ ve had a little difficulty because she’s done it for twenty years and wants to do the same thing. And I’m like, we can’t. We have to change it so that’s been a little shaky communicating and I want it to work well. But there are moments that I feel like we ’ re stagnant and we can’t continue being stagnant because we ’ re not going to have any growth. And that is just my biggest thing, so continued prayer and conversations and words to know what to say, when to say them, and direction, I guess. ”
Image by Andrew Martin from Pixabay
Demanding, Multifaceted, Time-Consuming Role
Leaders noted two things about the ministry that they wish most people understood. First, their job is so multifaceted that they need more time to meet all the needs presented to them daily and find themselves working extremely long, unsustainable hours as a result. One focus group was lamenting about how their parish staff does not understand youth ministry or what a youth minister does, with one person summing it up this way, “No one understands the hours it takes. People must know and understand that it’s harder than you think.”
“Second, others must understand that youth ministry is more demanding than one might think or than it looks. It is not just playing games with kids or taking them on trips. It is dealing with some real-life issues of things like depression and suicide, racism, gangs, and next-level bullying, while trying to help parents who are overwhelmed by all of it. That is before you get to the rest of your job, which is running programs and anything else the church might have you do to justify your salary.” One ministry leader described it this way, “ ... youth ministry has to be valued by the families in the parish. The parishioners must think this is important as well. It’s not just the parish leadership; the parish itself must be supportive because some parents think that we ’ re like their babysitting service. And so, parents must embrace youth ministry as a valuable parish service.”
“I think we do have to talk about it. You know, and I think it’s something as a church that we ’ ve kind of just—and I’m not even talking about abuse—I’m just talking about general workplace. You know, it’s limitations that I’ve heard it too much; you hear it, and it just breaks the heart that you have someone who is just on fire for their faith and on fire for the Lord and wants to share that with the teens and the youth of their parish. And they’ve met every kind of brick wall that they can by their priests and by their pastors. And they find out no way. So, they just leave. They leave the church. They leave the ministry. And it’s hard to see. ” There is a sense of hopelessness for the ministry by some in the study.
One leader noted this reality, “There’s a lack of people willing to do this job at the parish and other levels. And part of that is it takes a lot of fortitude because you ’ re just walking into animosity a lot of animosity or lack of support. So, a lot of people are leaving, and a lot of close friends are still young and are leaving not only their parish but also their ministry. And it’s pretty sad because then you feel like you’ll be the last one standing where no one else wants to do what you do. Because I mean, you want to do things well, but it’s hard to do things well when it seems unsustainable, or other people are doing other things and just leaving the work.”
“It feels like I am burning the candle at both ends, and people are actively trying to blow both ends out. I feel pretty unseen a lot. But when things don’t go as planned, I feel I am under a microscope. Things can go great, and no one says a word. Things go marginally wrong, and it’s as if I set the church on fire.”
Ministerial Support Scale
As ministry leaders described the support provided to them and their ministry by their supervisors, it was clear there was a scale of indirect to direct support. Some ministry leaders said their pastor or supervisor supported them by letting them do what they wanted with the ministry.
One male leader explained it this way, “You know what, for the most part, I’ve been supported as far as like at our parish and people. I think the people I work for and with have a little bit of an idea of what is done. And for the most part I’ve been blessed with having kind of free reign over what is done. There’s trust in me and what I do and what I bring. The selling point of that is the numbers that we bring in. I’ve never been a numbers person, like I’ve never judged. I’m not crazy about saying, oh, you know, this ministry has, oh, 300 people coming every night. because of my numbers, you know, and more so on like my pastor side of things. If he sees a lot of people coming in, if he knows we ’ re one of the biggest ministry programs in the diocese and sees that happening, you stay off the radar with him. So, I’ve always had kind of a free reign in what how to do the program. ”
However, others lamented the lack of direct interaction between the pastor and youth except for sacramental needs such as confession or Masses. On the opposite end of the scale was the pastor, who was very present at events, not just for sacraments. In these situations, it was clear the pastor and the ministry leader had a shared vision and understanding of the ministry. However, it’s important to know there is a difference between the support of the ministry and the support of the minister. Many report that that they are “doing it all by myself.”
Image by Arek Socha from Pixabay
Supportive Pastors
Some ministry leaders shared the experience of having a very positive working relationship with the pastor.
One female leader shared, “I’m very fortunate because our priest is all about the youth. He has a vision of what that looks like. And so, he shared that vision. So, I know what the expectations are. I think him sharing what his expectations are and then me saying, okay, this is how it’s going to work, and these are the needs I have. He’s been very accepting of it, so I’m very fortunate that I do have somebody who is all in and all involved in it. I’ll say that he’s all involved and all in all parts of the church. He came in and said, these are the things that need to change, and these are the things that we need to do, and our parish has grown exponentially because of his leadership.”
Those who described their pastors as very supportive also reported that they shared a common ministry vision, had a relationship based on a level of trust where they felt heard, shared a similar ecclesiology, and had common ways of measuring success or effectiveness. These ministers also were likely to talk about financial support positively as well.
“My pastor shows that he values what I do by how he financially supports me and my ministry.”
One leader said, “I heard someone say, ‘A budget is a theological statement,’ as he was talking about the value or lack thereof placed on youth ministry based upon the money invested in it.”
“My pastor came from the youth ministry world, so I think he understands it in the world that he grew up in. And so, there’re some positives to that. So, I don’t think he always understands today’s world, which is very different. Regarding support, he very rarely says no to any crazy idea that we may have, so he lets us do it. And so, I have to be very thankful for that because I have been in places where that’s not been the case. ”
Sources of Support
Many said family, spouses, and their volunteers were great sources of support. Some mentioned local or national networks for support, including other staff members or leaders in nearby parishes. One ministry leader from the northeast said it simply, “And so I think one of the valuable things that I’ve learned is to stay connected with other people in ministry.” However, the big takeaway is that their formal support was occasional and something they had to seek out, not necessarily something provided to or for them, especially by the diocese. When asked what they needed from the diocese in terms of support, one leader said, “The diocese? We have no one in ministry right now. ” One youth minister even mentioned begrudgingly that she had to go out and form her support group of ministry leaders, which just gave her one more thing to do.
“I will say for us that I’ve been fortunate that the diocese has somebody that’s over the young adults and youth. And so, she has reached out, offered her support, and has tried to connect me with other youth ministers within our dioceses, to help with that support.”
“For me, where I go personally is other ministers. I have ministers that I created friendships with by actively being ministers with them, and then some now are no longer active ministers, but they’re still active people that I reach out to and talk to and they’re the ones that kind of like when things get difficult in ministry, they’re the people that I lean on because a lot of them, even some are veterans where they’ve experienced things. In those times when I’m struggling, [they say] I know exactly what you ’ re going through because I went through it last week and having that and having those people has been the biggest help.”
Leadership Challenges
The leadership challenges explained included having multiple responsibilities, working with pastors, working in unique settings with youth and young adults outside of the parish, and feelings of marginalization experienced by female leaders. Finally, when discussing COVID-19, several leaders believed that the pandemic helped fast forward several of the issues young people face today regarding their mental health, anxiety, and social issues. Some leaders think the pandemic also fast-forwarded the current ministry challenges with youth and young adults regarding low numbers at programs and events. While COVID-19, in their opinion, can explain some of the drop-offs, they believe this was coming already with the arrival of Generation Z. As a result, many called for a revitalization or rethinking of the ministry for youth and young adults with a new focus on accompaniment.
Pastor Transitions
One of the most notable challenges ministry leaders discussed regarding pastors had to do with pastor transitions. Almost all leaders discussing pastor changes explained how the successful transition in leadership is critical because when pastoral transitions did not go well, stable ministry efforts were jeopardized. Sometimes, this seemed exacerbated if the ministry leader and the new pastor had differing visions or views of church or ministry.
One leader provided an example of positive a pastor change, “With my new pastor, I’m fortunate enough that he used to be a youth director back in the Philippines when he was in formation before becoming a priest. And then, when he got here in the US, he was the DRE in his old parish. So, like, he has a lot of exposure into ministry with young people, and I think that validation I saw from him wanting to retain me in this in this job shows that and the flexibility he allows me to run with the ministry as we see fit, as we see the youth and young adults need in our parish, and also the patience to know that we can’t do everything at the same time all at once. ”
Multi-Parish and Multi-Position Roles
In trying to understand the structure of youth and young adult ministries, only one word can describe most parish roles: multiple. The growing diversity of roles combining multiple positions serving multiple audiences and now multiple parishes into one job role is a more common practice than not. The network of ministry leaders serving the young church is a complicated web of leadership positions lacking standardization but allowing for local customization. Unfortunately, these multiple responsibilities often result in a lack of focus, feelings of never being done, and burnout. Also, the lack of standardization of roles challenges church leaders in providing effective formation and better salaries and benefits to these ministry leaders.
“I am literally starting to have two full-time jobs right now because I know that if I didn’t say yes to it, we wouldn’t have a youth ministry. And that’s not a world I can live in because I love teenagers. And so, out of love for teenagers, I’m going to stretch myself so thin. But I wish there were a resource or something that existed to help people who work in the church set boundaries like this is your job, this is your faith, this is your free time because it all blends together. And burnout is a real factor that faces people working in the church. And, you know, priests get designated time off, lay ministers don’t.”
Ministries with Youth and Young Adults in Unique Settings
To say there is no typical parish youth ministry or young adult ministry effort is truly an understatement! However, ministry with young people outside the parish setting presents unique challenges that ministry leaders identified. Some included ministries on a military base, ministry with youth through movements or religious communities, working with youth through leadership programs, social justice-oriented programs through nonprofits or universities, or working in a Catholic school or campus setting.
It is Time to Reinvent Ministries for the Young Church
As these leaders shared their ministry experiences during COVID-19, challenges and opportunities arose for youth and young adults and the church’s ministry. Some reiterated that COVID-19 shed light on and sped up many things already beginning to happen, such as the challenges surrounding young people’s mental health and wellness. The need for change was articulated by some, stating it was time to reinvent our approaches to ministries with youth and young adults.
“They model our behavior! They’re busy because we ’ re busy, and we ’ re not teaching them other ways. And post-COVID there’s a huge disconnect right now of trying to begin again in relationship with students. They are grieving!”
“But we were broken in our ministry. We just heard it; he was broken, too, and there was no help. There is no help for our ministers at all on how to have a sustainable ministry, and how to play the long game. It is totally gone. So that would be my number one. That needs to happen. Yeah.”
“However, we must evolve. We have to do things, be willing to go that extra mile, to do that extra thing, to see that what worked twenty years ago is not going to work today. We need to try different approaches and we ’ ve got to be willing to do it and not just throw in the towel because nothing’s worked. Nothing’s worked. What do you do? You’ve got to figure out what to do next. And I feel like we just stop. I think that as ministers and as parents, we’ll sell our kids short because we ’ re not giving them what they need.”
Photo by Marscella Ling on Unsplash
Experiences of Marginalization
Female ministry leaders often shared their experiences of being marginalized, unseen, and unheard. The stories of these dedicated women should be heard and seen by the male and clerical church. It was clear by listening to their stories and pain that their experience, education, and giftedness are valuable to youth and young adult ministries and the church. These female ministers called for church leaders to find ways to acknowledge their contributions. One female campus minister explained it this way, “Students are tending to want to talk to a priest, to a religious person, and so I definitely feel that especially as a woman in the church, a woman working in liturgy, that it can be challenging right now to be respected and valued.”
Male and female ministry leaders also experienced marginalization because of their lay status. Many people, at times, often want to wait for the priest to get there to answer a question or to decide and do not respect the authority of their role.
“I have a big one. I feel like it’s a big one for me in all the positions I’ve been in. I definitely feel, as a layperson and as a woman, that my opinion carries less weight and less value than a male counterpart with the same educational background. I don’t like to ring the bells of clericalism, and I don’t experience that with my pastor, but with our associate pastor, he’s very correcting, and I’ve experienced it in other parishes where it’s just like, well, you ’ re a woman, why are you in the church? And I’m like, so grateful to Pope Francis to have come out and said something about lay ministers because it is the direction that the church is going. But I feel like we have a long way to go in supporting that. This ministry is a calling and a job that we have value in the church. And like she mentioned, that includes being paid a living wage, being treated with dignity and respect for who we are as people, and that the Lord has called us to this moment in this time and salvation history.”
Lessons from COVID-19
Beyond realizing that it is time to reinvent ministry, the pandemic taught other lessons. For example, relationships are key to ministry; technology is a ministry tool but works better if relationships are formed before use. Also, resiliency was heard in the comments of ministry leaders who could weather the pandemic effectively. The bottom line is that COVID-19 taught ministry leaders the value of relationships in ministry.
“The reality is that difficult doesn’t mean impossible.”
“Yeah, for me, the biggest lesson is just the importance of the one-to-one. The human encounters, the relationships formed, and how vital it is for people to come together. Just come together to be there and to listen to one another. I think that the biggest thing I did not realize before the pandemic is the importance of listening to their experience and being more sensitive to their experience of things and how they experience things because it could be very different.”
“Well, piggybacking on what Brother said, that whole, the relationship part of it, because if your ministry wasn’t about all that, then the pandemic shut you down. But if you had those small groups, those intentional relationships with them even being shut down, it can continue. You will always find a way to be able to communicate. I mean, we ’ re blessed now to have the technology to still communicate with each other, even if we ’ re not physically present.”
“But the biggest lesson is that God will still show up in different ways than we had expected when given the chance.”
“In-person time is very, very important. I need to have real-time with young people to do much more. ”
Photo by Marscella Ling on Unsplash
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Ministries
Stakeholders
The conclusions examine key findings by stakeholder audience and what was learned about them and these ministries. The implications offered identify needed changes or paths toward how change could occur. These conclusions and implications must not be read as a “list of shoulds” or a “list of failures” but rather a list of opportunities to address the needed changes in these ministries so that youth and young adults are better served and accompanied.
About Pastoral Leaders
CONCLUSION 1
Pastoral leaders of youth and young adult ministries are a conundrum of joy-filled ministers serving at times in a bleak post-COVID mission field. As in decades before, youth and young adult ministry leaders find great joy in ministry, even though they articulated that serving in their roles today is difficult due to various issues. The pragmatics of being a leader in ministry in today’s church were often described as hard due to being on all the time, programming, communication with youth and young adults, or the multiple audiences being served. Conditions they mentioned included insufficient pay and benefits and the need to justify that lower standard of compensation, which often consists of an inadequate work-life balance. An aspect of this conundrum is those who fear for their jobs, while, at the same time, are called to help revive ministry in a bleak post-COVID church.
These leaders described either extreme understanding, affirmation, and support or extreme lack of understanding, affirmation, and support at times from the pastor or supervisor, parish communities, and parents for the ministry they lead. The responsibility for explaining and justifying these ministries often fell to the ministry leader, who was already overwhelmed with the ministry tasks. So, usually, this was not done, leaving a trail of misunderstanding and confusion among pastors, parents, and parish communities regarding ministry with youth. Yet, amidst it all, when asked to speak about the young people they serve, they told stories filled with great faith, passion, and joy.
About Pastoral Leaders
IMPLICATION 1A
These ministry leaders articulated the need to be accompanied and resourced. Who accompanies these ministry leaders? This is a valid question for the church to examine when more diocesan offices are closing or consolidating. Leaders repeatedly mentioned the need for more diocesan support but often said that no diocesan office or direct staff member for youth ministry and especially young adult ministry exists in their diocese.[1]
Other national organizations and entities mentioned throughout currently accompany and provide resources for these leaders. However, these organizations do not provide any comprehensive plan for formation or support at the local level to ensure that leaders are not left out or left to fend for themselves. There is an opportunity for more dialogue among the organizations providing support and resources to identify the gaps in support and how collaboration among organizations, dioceses, and parishes might address these gaps.
IMPLICATION 1B
Understanding and support from pastors and supervisors was praised by those who had it and bemoaned by those who did not. Those who did not have it questioned how to move toward more support and understanding in these relationships and the ministry. Many leaders indicated that job descriptions, regular supervision, or annual performance appraisals were not part of their employment. The support they seek must include just compensation (living wage and benefits) and a supportive work structure that facilitates a better work-life balance.
[1] Charlotte McCorquodale, A Fifteen-Year View of Diocesan Directors of Youth and Young Adult Ministry (2005, 2015, 2019) (Washington, D.C.: NFCYM, 2020), 19
For Pastoral Leaders
CONCLUSION 2
Ministry formation is considered valuable for leaders of all ages. They are seeking practical education focused on helping them address current ministry issues and less on formal educational paths. This study affirmed three things experienced formation leaders already knew.
Formal ministry formation is down, as are the opportunities for this formation, especially through dioceses.
Ministry leaders are asking to be better equipped to do the hard work of ministry in today’s culture, and they want this learning to be practical. While they value theology, they ask not to be overburdened with degrees that result in more debt, but not more pay, competence, or authority.
IMPLICATION 2
A reassessment of formation at all levels of youth and young adult ministries leadership is needed so that formation can be more responsive to leaders’ needs. Ministry formation entities and dioceses would benefit from reassessing their efforts and identifying ways to take unified action to help ensure that leaders are prepared for their service.
Lay ecclesial ministry formation can often be a chicken-and-egg question regarding what comes first: formation or ministry. It usually continues to come second for lay ministers, including the individuals in this study. The type of formation and content is often the determination of the individual, unlike other ministries of the church where it is set and supported by the community. There are definite learning needs among these populations of ministry leaders. It is time for reassessment and unified action toward meeting those needs in affordable and accessible ways, not only for the benefit of the ministers but also for the youth and young adults whom they serve. It is time to consider reversing the trend so that ministry can come after formation and with the community’s support and guidance. One of the greatest challenges will be determining how to form ministers to serve in these multi-audience or multi-focus roles.
About Pastors and Ministry Leaders
CONCLUSION 3
Pastors are incredibly integral to the church’s work with young people. And ministry leaders can feel helpless about working with and talking to their pastors.
The pastor’s engagement with youth and young adults is particularly significant to the ministry’s success, as described by these leaders. The significance of the leader’s harmonious working relationship with the pastor also cannot be understated. There does not seem to be a one-size-fits-all for how this pastor-leader relationship should look; however, there appears to be one theme that was heard repeatedly: shared, common, or together. This ministry leader said it the best, “I would love to feel one day that I’m not working for a pastor. However, working alongside a pastor in the nets is like a mission together.” The pastor was often cited as one who calls leaders to step into ministry but also as the one who can cause a person to leave the work. The transition of pastoral leadership was often articulated as a reason for moving on from a parish or ministry by leaders, sometimes due to different visions or differing views of the church. While knowing the importance of the pastor’s role, ministry leaders voiced helplessness at the inability to influence pastors who were uninterested, too busy, or had differing ministerial visions, understandings, or views of the church. Many needed to learn how to start the conversation or overcome age or cultural barriers. This sense of helplessness was stronger relative to pastor transitions because those situations were out of their hands, and no one in the diocese seemed to be paying attention to the need for helping with pastor transition processes.
IMPLICATION 3
Fostering a positive collaborative relationship between pastors/supervisors and leaders of youth and young adult ministries is something both parties can attend to through continued dialogue. With good intent assumed on both parts, it is time to develop resources that facilitate conversations between pastors and ministry leaders, as well as seminary and lay formation programs to address these issues. However, for the lay leader, it is not just a matter of competence or skill but also confidence. With this research again affirming the critical nature of the pastor’s relationship with youth and young adult ministries, ways must be found to address this issue and set all parties up for success. This is one of the reasons additional study of pastors/supervisors of youth and young adult ministry leaders is needed so that their voices can be added to this conversation. (See Section of this Report for Further Study) [1] See the For Further Study section of this report, recommendation on Pastor Research
For Parish Communities
Stabilizing youth and young adult ministries is a faith community challenge, especially with ministerial leadership trending toward episodic, rather than long-term service. Younger generations of youth and young adult ministry leaders see ministry as something other than a lifelong career or vocation but instead as episodic service. Leaders described these frequent transitions in leadership as very detrimental to the stability of the ministry with youth and/or young adults. The confirmation of this viewpoint on short-term ministry service presents the ministry with a real threat and the church with a challenge in effectively dealing with the transitions in leadership for youth and young adult ministries. CONCLUSION 4
For Parish Communities
IMPLICATION 4
Church leaders need strategies to reduce transitions in leadership among leaders of youth and/or young adult ministry. The primary role of the pastoral leader must continue to be clarified if the ministry is to be sustained, especially since leaders wished they could do more direct one-on-one ministry with youth and less administration and meetings. Reflection on how leaders spend their time led researchers to question the role of ministry leaders and whether it is to accompany youth and young adults directly or to empower others in the community to accompany them. This issue may be at the heart of ministerial leadership sustainability, as well as the sustainability of the ministry itself. Role initiation is not a new issue in the fields of youth and young adult ministries.[1] Unfortunately, this issue has not been resolved and just continues to evolve. Am I the doer of all ministries or the one who empowers ministry? The conversation relates to their ministerial identity, pathways to ministry, and their joys in ministry, but also some of their pain points. If a ministry leader’s greatest joy is that which they spend the least amount of time on, then there is a big disconnect. This disconnect between joys and pain points must be explored further to see how much it contributes to the church’s challenges in retaining these ministers or furthering their burnout.
[1] Two early symposiums for regarding Catholic youth ministry, Hope for a Decade (1980) and Faith Maturing (1985) first identified this issue for the field and it continues today. Charlotte McCorquodale, The Emergence of Lay Ecclesial Youth Ministry as a Profession in the Roman Catholic Church: An Executive Summary of a National Research Study on Professional Lay Ecclesial Youth Ministers in the Roman Catholic Church in the United States (Dissertation, Louisiana State University, 2001) pp. 19-20.
IMPLICATION 5
Measuring the success of ministries with youth and young adults is an issue that church leaders must address to sustain these ministerial endeavors.
The discussion regarding how the church measures the success of the ministry and its sustainability is the second part of the issue regarding the need for new accompaniment models. Ministry leaders made the case for transformation being the measuring stick, so to speak, for the success or effectiveness of their ministry, not just the number of people who show up to programs. This model, described by some leaders, produces much personal fruit for those young people and the leaders involved. They believe that should not be discounted or undervalued. One issue discussed was whether parishes can afford to pay just salaries and benefits to ministry leaders accompanying small numbers of young people annually. However, they admitted that it does not appear to be a sustainable model in the eyes of the parish or pastor because they measure success differently.
For All Youth and Young Adult Ministries Stakeholders
CONCLUSION 5
Three converging realities point to examining new models for parish communities, schools, campuses, and movements to accompany young people in faith. First, parish communities and leaders identified the need to make the case for faith to young people and young adults. Second, there was a call from ministry leaders, especially post-COVID, to reinvent ministry and remember the importance of relationships. Finally, the primary goal of ministry with young people is discipleship and accompanying them on that discipleship journey. The convergence of these three findings points toward the need for new models or examples for parish ministry, as well as how to help adults accompany young people in new and different ways toward discipleship. This accompaniment needs to include making a case for faith while at the same time building a relationship that the young person or young adult experiences as authentic and non-judgmental. One leader summed up the need for change this way, “One of the things I just love to dwell on is creatively bringing the Gospel, you know, looking at all the creative things that we can do to pivot, to meet teens where they’re at, to bring it to an area and a level that teens can understand and connect with.”
“In short, the lack of clarity that surround[s] the role creates a situation of potential misunderstanding or conflict. The situation puts (the leader) in the anomalous situation of being change-agents in the very institution and structure on which they depend for support, i.e., they become Role Initiators. It is a tragedy to lose competent (leaders) because the institution is not adequately prepared for their ministry.”[1]
So, what is the same, and what has changed? The above conclusion could summarize some of the findings of this study, but it was in fact written in 1985 by John Roberto, a pioneer in the field of Catholic youth ministry, to share what was discussed at a National Symposium on Catholic Youth Ministry and the role of coordinators of youth ministry. It is somewhat alarming that forty years later, research on the leadership surrounding the church’s ministry to youth and young adults continues to struggle to find stability in its role, and that the leaders themselves continue to have to be the ones to justify and chart the path for the church in this area. However, these same issues are now being experienced and discussed more frequently, which makes the calls for responding more urgent, especially by the younger generation of leaders.
The urgency for change articulated by these leaders, is, in fact change itself. If these ministries are to continue to exist and grow, those responsible could benefit from a pause, to assess the current realities and plan for a new future, where all young people and families are accompanied in faith. This is something that as a field and community we have done often in the past.
We are in fact, a web of ministries serving a vast population of youth and young adults ranging in age, culture, faith development, and other needs. Our web and network do have a shared mission, and it is time to examine the vulnerabilities and work together toward our common call. The shared mission is to help young teens through young adults in all life stages to experience discipleship and connect to their faith communities. Ministry leaders, pastors, campus ministers, movements, national organizations, religious communities, councils, boards, and parish communities all have the information needed to work toward change in order to support evangelization with the young church.
AN EPILOGUE
BY DR. CHARLOTTE MCCORQUODALE
PRINCIPAL RESEARCHER FOR THE LONGITUDINAL STUDY
[1] John Roberto, Faith Maturing: A Personal and Communal Task Proceedings From the Second National Symposium on Catholic Youth Ministry, (Washington D C : NFCYM, 1985).
It is common in the church to wait for the hierarchy to act and lead change, whether it’s bishops or pastors, and their role is important and clearly named in this report. However, this is also clearly one of those “if not us, who” moments for everyone who has a stake in the future of the church’s ministry and accompaniment of our young members. One young adult minister captured the urgency when asked what he needs to address the challenges they are facing: “Instead of asking a pastor or a bishop to fix it, we just need to fix it on our own and just create mechanisms to work on addressing those problems. Because I can’t wait on the bishops. So, let’s just go s this, the needs that people have. And I know it’s kind of way out there, but I j set.” To this end, the researchers are developing a dialogue tool to help everyon en, and then respond. To think strategically about how collaboration amo nts, and the broader faith community, can respond to the issues tha only when individuals and communities decide together on a commo ues and changes that are being called for by ministry leaders in this study. first step toward collaborative and lasting change.
In the next phase of this research, the voic ll be surveyed using the insights from this study to develop meaningful question udy attempted in many ways to reach out to the broad network of these ministrie first phase of outreach, we are not giving up, and honestly, this is why we need y p y ping our researchers include your part of the network in the next phase of our research. We are looking for partners to help us find and access youth and young adult ministry leaders from throughout the broad web of ministries. If you or your organization, diocese, campus, parish, school, movement, etc. can assist us in this outreach or if you want to be updated on this research, please join our efforts by visiting ministrytrainingsource.org to sign up for free updates and to get a copy of the dialogue tool to begin to act in your local setting. May God bless you and all you do to evangelize the young!
Appendix I:
How do ministry leaders spend their time?
Please Note: This list is not meant to be exhaustive or a job description for any one ministry leader. In most cases, it represents items heard many times; however, in some cases, it means things heard only once or twice. It will be the basis for how youth and young adult ministries leaders are asked to describe how they spend their time in ministry in the upcoming national study.
Administration Leadership Development
Budget
Safe environment
training and forms
Permission slips
Securing program space and deposits
Finding adult volunteers
Finding youth
Forming and training youth leaders
Forming and training adult leaders
Communication
About events
About youth ministry (what it is) and its value
To build relationships
To accompany youth
Email with parents
Social media management
Content development
Posting content
For youth ministry
For young adult ministry
For the entire parish
Reviewing posts and following up with posts
Appendix I:
How do ministry leaders spend their time?
Leading
Programs or Direct Ministry
Events
Campus ministry retreats
Youth group
Parent and family programs
Catechetical gatherings
Confirmation
Youth nights
Youth liturgies
Retreats
Trips, camps, and conferences
Planning and Preparation for Programs or Direct Ministry Events
Creating or finding relatable content
Planning meetings with their teams
·Shopping for program materials
Event promotion
Creation of promotional materials of promotional materials
Communication about the event including social media
Evaluation and follow-up
Relational Ministry or Accompaniment
Pastoral care in times of crisis
Meeting with youth or families or groups of young people
Communicating one-on-one with the young person
Within youth group or through programs
Hang out time at the church
Hang out time on campus
Go to where the kids are, such as sporting events
Visiting with adults/volunteers
Email, telephone calls, texting, social media with and from students
Email, telephone calls, texting, social media with and from youth
Email, telephone calls, texting with and from parents
Email, telephone calls, texting with and from volunteers
Personal prayer for youth and families
Appendix I:
How do ministry leaders spend their time?
Meetingsor
Collaborations
Working with other parish ministries
Working with other university offices
With supervisor
With the pastor
With other offices
With a parish of staff
With the parish council
With Catholic school
With their peer ministry leaders
Planning meetings with their teams
Planning meetings for parish-wide projects
Miscellaneousor UrgentMatters
Tasks related to other roles they might have in the parish
Tasks related to other roles they might have in the diocesan office
Responding to email that require immediate response, i.e., pastoral care crisis
Responding to urgent issues or actions needed around parish life
Responding to urgent issues or actions needed around campus
Responding to any issues from previous night or weekend programming
Appendix II:
Examples of what ministry leaders indicated they need to address these challenges.
Please Note: This is a list of items that ministry leaders asked for when asked what they need to address the challenges of ministry with youth and/or young adults or as a ministry leader in the church today. Again, it is not meant to be exhaustive or in any priority order.
More Faith-filled Adults to Accompany
“I guess more caring, faith-filled adults to walk with them, walk with me with them. Or maybe, you know, being able to equip their parents, too. Because you know, I’ve met some young people that don’t have that kind of relationship with their parents where they can be open enough to talk about the talk about faith to talk about struggles.”
“I wish I could multiply the youth ministers because that whole accompany part, like the last few years I have been more intentional about that, too. But again, to be able to set time for it for each of them individually, you know, you need more adults ministering to them or walking with them. And that’s always been my struggle. Like, I wish I could multiply myself to be here for everybody. And I wish there would be more adults saying, yes, I will mentor, but it’s more of my dream.”
Helping the Understanding and Articulation of a Vision of Youth Ministry by Pastors
“I think there are too many priests and pastors out there that don’t know what they don’t know, and they don’t know the value of youth ministry. They don’t know the statistics on vocations coming out of youth ministry. Like, I almost wish there was some kind of outreach, directly to priests, a conference just for priests, something where, you know, youth ministry and priests could meet not as a selling point in a program, but in the idea that youth ministry radically changes lives and radically changes the church.”
Advocacy with Bishops and Pastors
“I think even to take it a step further and not even just pastors, but that higher up with bishops, because we ’ re fortunate to have a bishop right now that is supportive. But we ’ ve had bishops that are just ‘meh.’” Yeah. Develop something where they can go to a bishop and say, let us come in and do a clergy day for your clergy, and let’s talk about what youth ministry looks like, what it is because I think that so many of them don’t know And then how can you support your youth ministry staff or, you know, or whoever, even in just affirming ways? But I think even starting at the top with bishops and working your way down would be great.”
Resources and Education on Working with Families
“I especially love the parent site that Life Teen has. I direct my parents to that often so they can read blogs and keep up to date with teen culture. Because I feel like there’s a real disconnect between teens communicating and their parents understanding what they’re communicating versus what they think they hear.“
Examples of what ministry leaders indicated they need to address these challenges. Appendix II:
Social Media Resources
“I also really appreciate the fact that social media does exist. Some incredible creators are on TikTok and Instagram, and our youth are already on these platforms. And so, you know, encouraging them to follow Sister Bethany on TikTok, as she explains the Catholic faith and, you know, follow Matt Maher, and see what new music is coming out and then just go into the breach with them. We have a parish TikTok account, which I never thought I would say, and we create videos about Holy Days of Obligation and what Advent is about on a platform where teens already are. And so just having resources available to our youth to access where they already are, I think, is just an invaluable tool because I can have tons of templates and books and whatever in my office, but if they’re not coming, they’re not getting it. Whereas having stuff online is an easier way to give them the tools that they need.”
Other Needs or Resources Frequently Mentioned
Relevant youth Scripture engagement resources
Opportunities to rebuild mutual trust
Resources and training in mental health response: bereavement, grief, suicide, crisis management, isolation, etc.
Resources and training on hot-button sensitive issues
Formation for all ministry leaders on courageous conversations about these issues
