Keeping Faith

	SPIRITUAL NIGHT LIFE -- Ryan Gardiner (left) and David Nesseth, both 15, share refreshments and review hand-out materials in the Life Teen Center at the St. Gregory the Great Parish, Milwaukee. Participants regularly gather for discussion or social activities after a Sunday evening Life Teen Mass in a program designed to bring teens into the parish. (Photo by James Pearson)

While a family can raise a child, "it takes a village to raise a teen-ager," said Sr. Kieran Sawyer. A School Sister of Notre Dame, Sawyer, who sees hundreds of youths pass through her Tyme Out Retreat Center, Stone Bank, described village as a "community of adults." Laurie Kish, associate director for youth and young adult ministry for the archdiocese, supported Sawyer's belief saying, "Youth ministry is the responsibility of the entire community."

From Sawyer's Tyme Out Center to a regular Life Teen Mass at St. Gregory the Great and a "Breakfast Club" for youth at St. Anthony on the Lake, leaders involved in youth ministry say they are trying to ignite a spark and get youths excited about worshiping and living out their faith. By no means is this an easy task, they agreed, nor is it the same for every youth. There are no cookie-cutter methods here. Meeting youth within their own interests such as music, giving them a voice in how they will be taught, helping them to feel comfortable and connected to their peer group as well as the larger community, and having adults leading them who are authentic Christians, enthusiastic about their own faith are some approaches to youth ministry in the archdiocese.

Kish denounced the assumption that young people aren't spiritual. But Kish, who's worked in youth ministry for 12 years, said, "They're (teens) very spiritual. But it looks different than what we're used to. They find faith in listening to music, going to movies and listening to friends."

Kish said the sooner faith becomes part of their life, the more sustainable it will be.

Speaking from her own experience, Kish said her mother was a preschool coordinator for their parish in Illinois. "I can remember going with her. It was from a very young age. I could do something even if it was passing out scissors and crayons," she recalled. Eventually as a freshman in high school, Kish led her own parish preschool class with the assistance of a college student.

For parishes struggling with youth ministry, Kish suggested concentrating on "the junior high level. Kids are looking for things to do," she said. At that age, she noted, youth ministers won't be competing with students' work hours, preparation for college and other things high school students tend to be involved in.

While Life Teen works well for parishes like St. Gregory, Milwaukee (see below), Kish said, "when we talk about youth ministry it's a broader program than Life Teen. It's more comprehensive. It's not just catechetical," she said, citing "Renewing the Vision: A framework for Catholic Youth Ministry," which was expanded in 1996. According to Kish, that document, by the National Conference of Bishops, sees youth ministry as incorporating "evangelization, prayer and worship, peace and justice, community life events, advocacy for the needs and desires of young people, pastoral care and leadership development."

Support of a pastor, his staff and the entire parish is key to successful youth ministry, said Kish. "The kids need to feel supported and welcome, and feel there's a place for them," she said.

"It's also important teens have their own space in a parish, because that communicates they're special," she said. "But if they have only that and there's no interaction with the rest of the church, then they don't fit in the larger community of church."

Just as there are assumptions about teens' spiritual lives, Kish said there's also a myth that only young adults should do youth ministry. While teens need people involved in youth ministry in their 20s and 30s, they also need adults who are a little older, as well as senior citizens.

"Some of the most effective youth ministers I've seen are in their 60s, 70s and 80s," noted Kish. "It's important to have adults who are good witnesses, love God, love their church and know how to have a good time. They provide a tangible example of what it means to live your faith," she said.

Overall, Kish sees teen ministry as focusing on discipleship. "We're about helping young people be disciples in today's world."

Often Kish said, adults expect all teen-agers to be the same. "We don't expect adults to do this -- we allow them to plug into the church where their gifts are best used."

Kish believes it's important to realize that a program will not meet the needs of all the kids in the parish. A youth group may work for some kids, but some kids may not come due to work or other responsibilities with school and extracurriculars. So a parish needs to look at a variety of opportunities for kids to plug into a church. This might be an on-going service team, a Bible study group, a mission trip or a retreat.

Kish sees the sacrament of confirmation -- usually when a teen is a junior in high school -- as an opportunity to get kids excited about their faith and an opportunity to welcome them in a parish. "But it should not be the only thing we do for them. We need to make sure we're doing good ministry for them before and after (confirmation). If there's nothing for them after confirmation, of course they'll disappear. It's lifelong preparation," she said.

Life Teen

"Sometimes we think of teens as the future church -- they are the church now," said Fr. Patrick O'Loughlin, associate pastor and youth minister at St. Gregory the Great Parish, Milwaukee. But, he added, many teens don't feel they are a part of the church. "We have to meet their needs, which include spiritual needs, belonging to something and feeling connected and being respected. If you talk community and don't have it, they see through it," he said.

A turning point came for O'Loughlin in February 2000 when he said he had had enough of his parish's religious education programs. "It dawned on me we have a big program with a lot of kids and I saw very few at Mass. Somehow that was deemed OK," he said."We have to realize Catholic religious education, which doesn't have the Mass and the Eucharist as the main components -- they miss the main thing. If you move kids through a program (religious education) and confirm them, but don't see them at Mass -- somehow you weren't successful."

In addition, O'Loughlin saw burn-out among adults leading religious education and confirmation programs. "This wasn't the fault of anyone who worked in the program before," he noted. "But we decided we weren't going through the motions anymore. We weren't getting the results."

So on Pentecost Sunday, June 11, 2000, O'Loughlin presided at the parish's first Life Teen Mass. The Masses are aimed at high school teen-agers, but at St. Gregory, families and other individuals are welcome.

"We maybe get 300 people and they sing like they're 600 people. There's something about the energy of the group that makes them enjoy it and want to be there. That makes all the difference in the world," said O'Loughlin.

Another part of Life Teen is Life Night or get-togethers held for teens after the Mass. Overall, the program, which began 1985 in Mesa, Ariz., is a comprehensive youth ministry program with a strong focus on the Eucharist and a relationship with God.

While Life Teen may not be the answer to every parish's attempt to have young people involved in the church, it excites people about their faith at St. Gregory.

After the teen Mass at St. Gregory, which is held nearly every Sunday at 6:30 p.m., teens gather in their special Life Teen Center for Life Night. Surrounded by old church pews and their own art work, they gather for a social or to discuss important topics and issues. Last semester's focus, was Christ, and what it means to be a disciple, said O'Loughlin.

After a recent Life Teen Mass, several teens shared their thoughts on the Mass and Life Teen.

Jessie Higgins, 17, who attends Pius XI High school said, the Mass "gives me an opportunity to go to Mass with my friends. It's great to see everyone taking part and the music is really great."

Caitlin LaPointe, 16, who is home schooled said she attends two Masses at St. Gregory on Sundays, one in the morning because she's in the choir and the teen Mass because she loves it. According to LaPointe, the Mass is special because,"they look for teens to be Eucharistic ministers and lectors," so it becomes a teen Mass.

Dan Kornowski, 15, who attends West Allis Central High School, said he's met a lot of new friends at the teen Masses. But a recent visit by the group to Repairers of the Breach, a nonsectarian day shelter for homeless people had the greatest impact on him. He and other teens donated socks to that group and helped sort clothes for them.

While O'Loughlin is aware some liturgists don't like Life Teen because it "somehow separates teens from the rest of the community, he said St. Gregory Parish stresses "this is a parish Mass."

Sometimes O'Loughlin is presider for the Life Teen Masses, but most often he can be found playing the guitar with the Life Teen musicians, which include vocalists and a drummer. O'Loughlin's sister-in-law, Chris, the lead vocalist for the group, was a professional musician who previously performed with the group Gerard in the 1980s. "What draws people (to the Masses) I think is the music. We run the range of Catholic liturgical music," he said. But they also draw from contemporary Christian music that serves the liturgical music, such as Amy Grant pieces. They also have psalms and Gospel acclamations, which incorporate reggae, acapella material and other hymns.

The sermon at the Life Teen Mass may be given by presider Fr. Ken Omernick, pastor of St. Greg or both Omernick and O'Loughlin together. Eventually O'Loughlin hopes to include teens as part of the homily in skits or other ways.

O'Loughlin would like Life Teen to form Life Line -- an outreach groups for teens, serving the parish and community. "I'd like to bring in people with service organizations and specific talents to help with this," he said. "So many of the kids are connected with service projects through the high school. We're now trying to get them connected through the parish to something closer to home," he said.

Teens at St. Gregory help run a baby sitting service for parents working or attending their parish festival in September and again in December when parents need time to shop for the holidays without little ones trudging along.

St. Joseph, Big Bend

On the morning a Catholic Herald reporter caught Barb Gawlick by phone for an interview, she had just received an e-mail from a college student asking a question about the Catholic faith. Gawlick is director of Christian formation ministry at St. Joseph Parish, Big Bend. She works with seventh graders through high school students.

A measure of St. Joseph Parish's success with youth ministry is the number of youths who went through the confirmation process who return to be youth leaders for this year's confirmation candidates, said Gawlick. "I also have kids who come back just to ask questions," she said.

Gawlick said, "I think it has evolved to the point where kids decide what they're going to do." But she said basically the program has the same curriculum suggested in the archdiocese's "Renewing the Vision," but they (youth) asked for it in different ways than adults.

For example, she said, "Renewing the Vision" said saints should be incorporated in the seventh and eighth grade curriculum. It also calls for study of specific saints. But kids at St. Joseph asked who are the saints and how are they important in our lives?

Overall, Gawlick broke down the Christian formation curriculum so eight topics are covered, six each semester, but with different youths each time. The topics are understanding myself, prayer, meeting Jesus, the sacraments, the saints, social justice, being Catholic, and one which really catches the kids attention -- "The Devil Made Me Do It."

Gawlick, who enjoys working with teen-agers, said, "Any program working with kids needs volunteers who have the same passion you do.

But at the high school level she's found it's usually best not to have parents of those teens leading those groups. Teens, she said, want to develop their own faith away from their parents.

St. Anthony, Pewaukee

According to Kathie Amidei, director of Christian formation at St. Anthony on the Lake, Pewaukee, she and those who assist her are "relating to teens on many different levels, inspiring them to want to be here." She's broken the Christian Formation Program for high school students into components. These include a content category which is offered mainly for those students attending public high schools. This content area is broken down into mini-courses, where students can select various topics from scriptures to sexuality.

The other three components: confirmation, retreats, and service, as well as an optional component: social activities, are open to all high school students in the parish.

But since St. Anthony Parish serves seven different school districts, Amidei said even though social activities are optional, they're important because students from the different schools need to meet and interact with one another.

"Part of our program is really community building so teens can get know and care for each other, she said. "For the sacraments and the church to make sense to them, they need to have a sense of community with their peer group.

Teens interested in the social aspects have formed an informal group called the "Breakfast Club." Last December, they hosted an event called "St. Nick at Night" for the feast of St. Nicholas. About 30 teens, with the help of adults, cooked and served macaroni and cheese and hot dogs to nearly 450 families with young children. They then put on a play about St. Nick and afterwards led younger kids in doing a St. Nicholas craft.

TYME OUT Retreat Center

Youths from around the archdiocese visit Sawyer and her staff at the TYME OUT Retreat Center, Stone Bank.

"Our philosophy is, faith grows best in a community where people care about each other," said Sawyer. "So we try to help build that community. Kids have to feel they belong to that community," said Sawyer one recent rainy day, as she reflected on teens and the center.

She pointed out the adults who come with youth at TYME OUT are "adult participants not chaperones." According to Sawyer, it's important during the interactive activities for middle school and high school students that adult leaders are authentically themselves as Christians. That's "so kids understand the church is made up of human beings struggling to love one another and God," she noted.

"If you have a discussion group which doesn't work, it's because they're (adults) trying to tell kids what to do. They'll (teens) shut down immediately when someone tries to preach to them."

Teens have three challenges said Sawyer. One is to learn how to belong in a family. The second is learning how to belong with their peers and still keep their identity, and the third is learning who they are. "Those three are in conflict almost all the time," she said.

Sawyer said adults and parents working with youth walk a "delicate balance" between telling them the answers, to helping them figure out the answers in their life and faith.

At TYME OUT retreats they try to "engage teens' minds and hearts.

We do a lot with building community and also helping kids get in touch with their personal relationship with God," she said.

But first Sawyer and other adult leaders try to make the youth comfortable and enthused about being there. "Then we call them to get in touch with their hearts." Sawyer and leaders may spread kids out in different groups on bean bags on the floor, play some music and have them reflect on who God is and what He does in their life. "We invite them to hear God speak," she said. Sometimes they'll use scripture, sometimes they'll write God a letter. "What we want them to realize is that God loves them," she said. If kids didn't get anything out of reflecting on a scripture passage themselves, they may get something out of it when they discuss that passage among their peers." Sawyer said perhaps a friend's insights, opens that scripture reading up for another teen.

Another approach to help youths realize how much God loves them is to have a meditation on God being present in their hearts. Then the staff at TYME OUT ask them to invite their parents and best friend to live in their hearts.

Music is often incorporated into activities at the center. One of the songs they use, which Sawyer especially likes, is "Here I Am" (Standing right beside you) by Tom Booth. Or often they'll use a contemporary song and convert it into a God song.