News

Diocese sponsors events bringing Catholic youth and church together

By Amanda Lauer
Compass Correspondent

GREEN BAY -- "Kids are hungry. There's a spiritual starvation. We have the food, we have the means - we're just not giving it to them in a way that is nutritional for them."

That's the view of Rich Curran, director of youth and young adult ministry for the Green Bay Diocese. The diocese has been sponsoring events that address this issue, and also to expose Catholic youth to the workings of the larger Catholic Church.

On Oct. 28, St. Joseph Middle School in Appleton hosted Youth Jam 2007, which was attended by more than 200 middle school students from all 16 counties in the diocese.

"This was an opportunity for youth to gather with kids their own age and see that they are part of a bigger community, all sharing the same God, the same faith, the same rituals and traditions," said Curran.

Students from St. Joseph created and led the event.

"Our keynote speaker for the day was Vince Nims (a.k.a. The Banana Man) from California," added Curran. "Vince is a national Catholic presenter. He led the group not only (in) engaging songs, but also invited them to understand that they are part of the church, have something to contribute, and that all of their actions and behaviors can have both positive or negative consequences, based on what they do."

The day included Mass celebrated by Fr. Tom Long, vocations director for the diocese, a talk by Deacon Dan Schuster, a diocesan seminarian who will be ordained this May and music was offered by Xavier High School's Campus Ministry.

Ellen Riggenbach, youth minister at St. Paul Parish in Plainfield, took a group of students to Youth Jam.

"This is the first time that we went," she said. "We got six girls and myself and Roger Lederer willing to go. They had a fabulous time. We listened to the Banana Man's banana song all the way home. They all plan to come next year so I'm sure we'll double our numbers."

Meghan Meyer, an eighth-grader at Tri County Area School in Plainfield, was in the group. "It was fun from the beginning," she said. "We sang, we talked about having fun with Jesus."

On Nov. 14, St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Manitowoc hosted Youth XLT Night. Joel Stepanek, youth minister for St. Francis, explained the event as "a program that is an offshoot of Lifeteen. It was an opportunity for high school youth from around the area, including Oshkosh, Two Rivers and Manitowoc, to worship.

The event included praise and worship, a speaker, and Eucharistic adoration, led by Deacon Schuster.

Approximately 175 youth attended the event, which Stepanek said gave them a larger perspective on the church. "We're not just one parish," he said, "we are a church."

The event was so well-received that Stepanek is considering hosting a similar event bi-monthly.

Curran noted that youth ministry has a specific focus. "If done correctly," he said, "youth ministry brings young people back to the church or gets them more engaged in the church."

He added that the dioceses recently identified most diocesan parishes were not engaging young people in the life of the church. In response, he said, the diocese has started training workshops on VITAL youth ministry to help "parishes create the right environment so that a fruitful and disciple-making ministry can exist at that parish."

Another important aspect of youth ministry involves working more with the young people themselves.

"Kids hunger to be connected," Curran said. "They are very interested in God, it's statistically proven. What we know is that young people are not engaged in how the church is presenting the faith because it's in a language, so to speak, that is foreign to them. The challenge for us as leaders is to teach the 2000-year richness of the faith and transfer that in a way that they grasp and can understand and can absorb."

The majority of youth are not involved at their local parishes because there is no formal youth ministry there, noted Curran.

This month Curran chaperoned 94 high school students on a trip to the National Catholic Youth Conference. The students were invited to be a part of even a larger church. "There were 20,000 teenagers in Columbus, Ohio. It's all a part of a progression," said Curran. "When they're young adults, they can go along with a half million other young people to World Youth Day."

Curran said the diocese is "at the very early stages of helping areas establish youth leadership committees. After the first of the year, we're looking to establish a diocesan youth council that is specifically focusing on leadership development, one of the eight components of Renewing the Vision (the U.S. bishops' document on youth ministry)."

An event similar to Youth Jam for high school students - the Diocesan Catholic Youth Conference - is also planned for March 30 at Notre Dame Academy in Green Bay. Curran said this event is "much more geared towards leadership" and finding one's place in the church.

During the next year, there will also be mission trips, smaller youth conferences, and retreat experiences offered through the parishes over the summer. Xavier High School in Appleton will host "Alive in You," a national mission trip which will bring hundreds of teenagers from throughout the United States to work sites in northeast Wisconsin for one week.

Stepanek said that, with youth ministry, it is sometimes hard to judge the success. At least, short term.

"Sometimes you see an immediate effect," he said, "but sometimes kids will get something or it will affect them and you won't find out until years down the road."