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Archives Youth ministry committee develops diocesan plan

 

By Mary Lou Kilian
Editor

Father Christopher Carrara, pastor in Lowville, Glenfield and Houseville, Youth Committee“put his money where his mouth is” when he hired Siobhan Fagan as a full-time youth minister for his parishes June 1.

Father Carrara has served as the point person for the diocesan goal “establish youth ministry, in accordance with diocesan standards, in 25-30 parishes with competent, qualified leaders (adults and youth) by June 30, 2015.”

The first order of business for the priest and the Youth Ministry Smart Goal Committee was to survey the current youth ministry environment in the diocese.

To their surprise, no full-time youth ministers were employed by parishes in the diocese.

That all changed with the arrival of Ms. Fagan.

“In our survey of the priests, we discovered a lot of good stuff was going on,” Father Carrara said, “with selective individuals, and parish priests overseeing youth ministry, but it was eye-opening that we didn’t have more part-time or full-time youth ministers.”

In the process of developing a new diocesan plan for parish youth ministry, “pastors were challenged by committee and by me as a pastor to look at youth ministry as not just important but essential,” Father Carrara said.

“I knew that I also had to put money for youth ministry in the budget,” he said. “I was able to hire full time youth minister with a small budget. Not everybody can do that but pastors, at least, need to put something in the budget and determine that it’s going to be spent on youth ministry.”

The committee
Father Carrara said that the committee members with whom he worked to enhance youth ministry in the diocese “brought great gifts to the work as well as a deep love for young people.”

“They represented a cross-section of different ages, educators, youth ministers, clergy, lay people as well as a cross section of the diocese with very strong youth ministry/Guggenheim background,” he said.

The committee members are Deacon Brian Dwyer, diocesan director of youth ministry; Father Scott Belina, parochial vicar of St. Andre Bessette parish in Malone; Seth Conklin, teacher at Immaculate Heart Central School in Watertown; Kelly Donnelly, teacher at Seton Catholic in Plattsburgh, Krystle Drollette, St. Alexander’s Parish, Morrisonville; Samantha Poulin, St. Andre Bessette Parish, Malone; and Christine Woodley, St. Mary’s, Clayton.
“The team traveled to Tupper Lake until the weather turned and then took part in two hour Skype meetings,” Father Carrara said.

“More often than I care to admit, I didn’t know where an individual meeting was going to go,” he said. “It was led by the Spirit and the input of those people which was phenomenal. 

“The diocesan vision was the result of their combined wisdom and the Holy Spirit,” he said. “These people really were the core of the vision. They brought such great gifts to bear and they love youth. Just look at what they are doing - teaching at our Catholic high schools and leading youth ministry in parishes.”

The vision
The group was charged with developing a diocesan vision for parish youth ministry. (See highlights of the vision here; the complete document may be found on the pastoral documentation site of the diocesan website, www.rcdony.org)

“We were asked to come up with a model of what parish youth ministry would include,” Father Carrara said.

“Nothing would be mandated but we were asked to including training children in discipleship, knowledge and service, locally and on a larger scale.”

“We came up with a few recommended programs and gave the pros and cons,” he said. “The pastor can look at his team, evaluate the programs and develop his own parish program.”

Developing standards for certification as youth ministers was another responsibility of the committee.

“We looked at what is currently being required for certified catechists and we knew that the Formation for Ministry folks have a youth ministry tract,” Father Carrara said. “Deacon Brian (diocesan youth director) is on our committee and has offered classes for Formation for Ministry.

“We took those, modified them, built on them,” Father Carrara said. “Now the catechists, Formation for Ministry candidates and parish youth ministers will all be on the same page.”

A training weekend to be held Nov. 6-8 at Wadhams Hall will offer four of the eight classes necessary for certification as well as a spiritual component and Mass celebrated by Bishop LaValley. (See ad on this page)

Presentations to priests
After developing the Diocesan Vision for Parish Youth Ministry, the team presented the vision and the certification process to the priests at deanery meetings across the diocese.

“We wanted it to be practical, doable,” Father Carrara said, “To date, 39 parishes have begun to review their own youth ministry in their parishes, compare it to the diocesan vision and come up with one or two practical things that they are going to do to get their own efforts in line with the diocesan vision.”

“Another positive aspect of the process is that there has been a lot of conversation across the diocese with priests asking what we can do with other local parishes to hire personnel,” he said.

“Every pastor thinks youth ministry is important but they have all been challenged to think of it as essential,” he said. “In that same way as ‘if roof leaking, you fix the roof.’”

“Youth ministry must be taking place in every parish,” he said, “granted, how you do it in your parish can differ greatly from others. City parishes have more people, resources might to a more robust program. Little country parish might work just with volunteers and have a more modest program. That’s absolutely fine but it’s essential that we all do something.

“I’m hope-filled with the response of parish priests about how we’re going to work together,” Father Carrara said. “Hopeful that we’ll have a positive change, improvement of youth ministry in the diocese.”

In the words of the diocesan vision:
“Pastors should acknowledge and establish youth ministry as essential. Parishes must serve young people as the future of the Church. The pastor leads by establishing the focus and communicates it with those who collaborate with him: Pastoral Council, Finance Council, staff, parish groups and the whole parish. If the roof were leaking, we would not think fixing it optional, rather essential. We all need to agree, the roof is leaking.

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