Young Life: A Tool to Revitalize Youth Ministry

by Deacon Nathan Gunn, Coordinator of Catholic Relations, Northeast Atlantic

As we begin 2020, I’m encouraged by what I’m witnessing here in the Eastern United States. Young Life is invigorating the work of Catholic youth ministers as they share the Good News with teenagers, and Catholic teenagers are using Young Life as a tool to evangelize their peers. This movement isn’t widespread yet; it’s just beginning in New Hampshire. The picture of the mustard seed comes to mind. Jesus said, “Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree…” (Matthew 13:32). In November, a group of Catholic priests, directors of religious education, and youth ministers from the Diocese of Manchester, N.H., gathered with Young Life staff members to discuss what it would look like to do ministry together (see photo above). At this meeting two youth ministry workers from St. Michael Parish shared how they are serving the kids of their parish while they do outreach in the community as Young Life volunteers. They shared stories about teenagers’ lives being changed as they use Young Life methods, and they talked about what it’s like to take Catholic kids to Young Life camp. “All of the people on staff, program team, and the work crew were incredibly welcoming and humble. They truly represented Jesus. We felt wanted and loved,” said Sammie Moore, who leads middle school students at St. Michael and has taken her kids to a Young Life camp. “Wyldlife camp has given me the opportunity as a youth minister to connect with some of my youth in a way that I was previously not able to.” The Catholic students and leaders at St. Michael have found that they can use Young Life’s outreach Club meetings for high school students and the WyldLife meetings for middle school students as venues to evangelize and share their personal faith. During the meeting in Manchester, the group talked about a paradigm of evangelization or “encounter” in middle school and how that could be followed by an opportunity for discipleship and formation through the high school years. Lisa Zolkos, who works for the diocese’s Catholic Schools Office, shared that she is a former Young Life kid who had a great experience with both her Catholic parish and Young Life as she grew up in Tampa, Fla. Since the meeting in November, there have been conversations about how Young Life could be used in Catholic schools throughout New Hampshire to bring the “New Evangelization” to bear in those critical venues. The November meeting was organized by Bishop Peter Libasci and Kelly Goudreau, the diocesan director of parish faith formation. Under Bishop Libasci’s direction, the Diocese of Manchester has adopted a “restored order” around the sacrament of confirmation. And as the diocese moves forward under that direction, people are enthusiastic about how Young Life can play a critical role in revitalizing youth ministry across the state. What could happen to young people across New Hampshire if parishes and Young Life worked together to ensure that “every kid” had the opportunity to at least hear that Jesus made them, knows them, and loves them? Can we even imagine a “tree” that could come from New Hampshire and bless us all?