Parish Youth Ministers Persevere in 2021
Ellen Hales at the New Horizons Conference 2021
By Sam Sachse, Diocesan Youth Ministry Officer
Coming into 2021, youth ministry groups across the many Parishes in the Archdiocese of Adelaide had an attitude of being prepared for the potential challenges COVID could bring, but at the same time hoping for a better year to run their ministry. Although there have been many challengers in 2021, there have also been many successes despite COVID-19. Some new youth ministry initiatives have started while other existing initiatives continue to thrive in parishes and communities as youth leaders support young people in their journey of faith.
At the beginning of this year the Catholic Office for Youth and Young Adults ran the annual youth ministry conference ‘New Horizons’. We had guest speakers from the Paramatta and Lismore Dioceses in New South Wales who spoke about the vision of youth ministry, and the importance of accompaniment of young people in their journey of faith. “In accompaniment what we are doing is building a relationship in order for us to dialogue… and evangelisation is a dialogue… we walk at the pace of the young person but also lead by example.” (Ellen Hales, Diocesan Youth Coordinator of the Diocese of Lismore). I have seen many examples of evangelisation as a dialogue during this year with the youth ministry groups I’ve visited.
Jesus Youth at the ‘Unfold’ retreat
In the North
Jesus Youth, an international charismatic youth movement with a branch located in the northern suburbs, were able to run a retreat in February 2021 after having to postpone in 2020. The retreat’s theme was “Unfold”, and they explored the unfolding love of Jesus and His question to us, “Who do you say I am?” (Matthew 16:15). The retreat had over 60 people in attendance and was a very successful day! Jesus Youth also run-in person gatherings at the Church of Good Shepherd in Clearview most Monday evenings. Lydia Langlin is one of the adult leaders of the group and she reflected on the challenges of COVID-19 for their community, “Considering the changes Covid has brought about, Jesus Youth is very grateful that we have been able to hold our Monday youth and young adults meeting regularly, whether physically or via Zoom.”
Jesus Youth have also been going through the process of selecting a new team to lead the Monday meetings. Taking on a leadership role is a big step for some of the young adults and a bit of a challenge, but Lydia has hope that with the right support the group will continue to thrive: “there needs to be guidance and an understanding that this could be new to them. So we are encouraging the wider community to come together to support the young people, and look at building relationships and accompanying them in this journey.” Lydia has been doing a fantastic job at leading these young adults, engaging them with the community as well as having her own family to look after. She continues to walk beside them and provide the Monday meeting opportunities for them to discover more about their faith, she is an excellent example of what it means to accompany young people in our diocese.
Cathedral Young Adults Group
In the City
In the centre of our city at Saint Francis Xavier’s Cathedral Parish, the Cathedral young adults group meet every second and fourth Sunday of the month to do Bible studies, eat food, hear from guest speakers, and occasionally do social nights around the city. One of the youth leaders Samantha David shared about how one of the most difficult challengers at the beginning of the year was getting more than a few people coming along regularly and retaining some of the new members of their group by making them feel welcome. Samantha shared, “The reason we face this challenge is because the youth cohort we interact with are mainly students. Their life at this stage revolves around assignments, work, social life etc.” Young people are often discovering how to balance the many commitment in their life and working out their priorities.
Samantha and the other core group members are very good at checking in with the people in their youth group to make them feel welcome which helped solve the problem. They also approached it on a practical level putting more effort in their promotion. They decided to boost social media adverts and include the details of the youth group in the parish newsletter which was then read out at all masses in the Cathedral parish. This simple effort has helped increase their numbers. Samantha shared about her vision for the youth group saying, “It is and will continue to be a work in progress for us and we believe it is only God’s Grace that will help us reach out to more and more youths.” The young adults at the Cathedral have a great sense of awareness to the big parish they’re part of, as well as wanting to reach out to as many youth as they can to make them feel welcome and supported in the community.
Awaken Youth leader Tara (left)
In the Hills
‘Awaken Youth’ is a youth group in the Adelaide Hills Catholic Parish for young people aged 12 -17. This group have recently made their home in the newly built Parish Hall at the Bridgewater Church, which they meet in every month. Tara Pace one of the youth leaders for Awaken Youth commented, “This year we have 3 leaders, myself being one of them. A struggle we have faced this year is having a small leadership team, previously having 5 leaders. Especially since our numbers are growing faster than ever (up to 25 youth).” Although this is a happy problem, they have been challenged with the amount of the work they’ve had to do for their small team. One of the ways they’ve approached overcoming this challenge is by inviting the parents in the parish to volunteer to help make the gatherings happen.
“The families of our youth have been so supportive to us. From encouraging words to helping with meals and side jobs like that. When things like meals are taken care of, we find that it really takes stress of us so that we can focus on the youth.” The leaders are now able to focus on the relationships with the youth each session while the parents take care of the food. This has made the challenge of having limited leaders a lot easier! This shows that having a supportive Parish that is willing to volunteer their time to help the youth is very valuable.
Ellen de Souza Coordinator of the ‘Catholic Collective Youth’
In the Northeast
The ‘Catholic Collective Youth’ in Hectorville Parish have been running small, young adult discussion groups this year based on the new tv show ‘the Chosen’. The show is about the life of Jesus through the eyes of His followers. The group faced a few challengers before the meetings started happening. Ellen de Souza, the current coordinator of the Catholic collective youth shared, “During the planning stages, we discovered that our main obstacle for getting the group up and running was finding a suitable venue. Consideration also had to be given to the ever-changing COVID situation.”
They were searching for a more intimate space with a projector or tv, couches and good food so it would be appealing for young adults. After spreading the word a parishioner offered her house as a space for the discussions. Ellen talked about how kind she was in offering her home, “a parishioner who had heard about our dilemma was more than willing to offer her house AND to cook for all the young people at each session! Not only has she been kind enough to be so hospitable to us, but she has been invaluable in her contribution to our discussions, sharing her life experiences and offering support and encouragement as we navigate through our own faith journey.” Another beautiful example of people in the parish serving the young people.
What has stood out to me in seeing and hearing about the ministry of that these volunteers for youth ministry is that they have a big passion for bringing people closer to God. They can see the hunger for formation that the young people in their communities have and even when they feel inexperienced, they do something about it! There were many more youth ministers in parishes and community groups that have been doing amazing work with their young people this year, please keep these leaders in your prayers as they continue to serve youth in our diocese.