Let’s face it, there can be no less thankful role in parish ministry than the youth leader or coordinator. With comments from parents asking you to do more and preach less to parish staff members wondering what you do all day, it can be a thankless role. I really don’t know of many youth leaders who are doing this for the thanks, but with so many people at times questioning your every move it still can make a negative impact with your confidence. Here are 3 things if you do them for a week,
Some parishes place too little value on relational ministry with teens. (Teens are relational in nature, if the Church doesn’t foster relationships with teens, they will find relationships elsewhere.)
I have heard countless times in the past ten years how important it is to be present to teens. I have always understood and agreed that presence is essential in developing relationships centered on Christ. After all, Jesus was present to everyone he encountered, and this is the model that we should follow.
The word supper often evokes images of Jesus breaking bread with the Apostles (especially when you put the word “last” in front of it), but today I’d like to reframe “supper” in a new context.
A few days ago the mother of a teen at my parish invited me to have dinner with their family. Being a single young man from a big family, I miss shared mealtime, so I accepted. When Wednesday evening came, I was exhausted from a long workday, but I went anyway.
It was wonderful.
I recently met to plan music for a funeral with a family who has been away from the Church for a long time. Unfortunately, they view the Church as a dictatorship full of rules and regulations they do not understand. Their Mother passed away and she was the only member of the family who remained Catholic. I do have to say that it was noble of them to honor her wishes and celebrate a funeral for her in her own Church and faith tradition since she had held close to her heart. We did not celebrate