Feature
Are you gonna go my way?
Dave Mullin
‘As Jesus with the disciples of Emmaus, so the Church must become today the travelling companion of young people, who are often marked by confusion, resistance and contradictions, in order to announce to them the ever-astonishing “news” of the risen Christ.’ Saint Pope John Paul II, World Day of Prayer for Vocations, 1994.
The word ‘companion’ literally means ‘one who breaks bread with another’. In the story of the disciples of Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35) Jesus is recognised in the breaking of the bread. In the context of the above quote, the Emmaus experience asks us see young people as belonging with us on a journey.
When thinking of being a travelling companion for young people the image of a hitchhiker comes to mind. Hitchhikers represent an unknown person on the side of a road, thumb up and sign out, pleading for us to take them in. If they fit our view of acceptable and are heading in our direction we consider stopping – though on our terms and for as long as we can keep up the effort.
Instead, shouldn’t the image that comes to mind be the young people we know best: our own children, nieces and nephews, grandchildren, godchildren, friends’ kids, our friends? The problem is they seem to be on another road. They don’t have their thumbs up and signs out asking for our help, to go our way – and especially not in terms of faith. So we hope, and sometimes pray, someone will get them back on our road.
The Church’s own response, ministry with the young, seems to be in a time of flux. Most acknowledge the world in which young people live is dramatically different to days gone by. The terrain has changed so markedly that we need to commission a new map. It even seems as if the old maps westill use in ministry add to the ‘confusion, resistance and contradictions’ St John Paul talked about. The new map we need doesn’t change the core purpose of ministry – to ‘announce the ever-astonishing “news” of the risen Christ’. Nor does this new map require a new people to read it. It requires us and it requires us to act.
My plea is to recognise young people are not ‘out there’ in the wilderness and the Church somehow ‘in here’ with everything ordered, correct, and worked out. All of us are on a journey of faith together. Perhaps the idea of a pilgrim people rather than a lone hitchhiker should be our guiding image?
Whatever image or metaphor we choose, we need to find new ways to have faith communities –parishes, schools, youth-serving organisations and movements – and parents and young people actively working and walking together.
Let’s form our leaders of whatever age to explore new ways of providing faith experiences that engage and educate. We can’t assume ministry is a one-way street and we have to expect we too will be changed. A pilgrimage is a demanding journey but the adventure will be worth it – especially with companions!
The challenge for me remains: will I have the faith to become a travelling companion of the young people I know, supporting them on their life and faith journey? Or will I leave them waiting on the side of a road, their signs and thumbs invisible to me because they aren’t heading my way?
David Mullin is a husband and father of four younger Catholics. He works as Director, Support Services for the Archdiocese of Wellington.
Smells like… sheep?
Dr Chris Duthie-Jung
David Mullin introduces a great metaphor in his article on this page. If you haven’t already read it I encourage you to do so and then come back to this one.
Hitchhikers – we’ve come to fear them today largely due to media sensationalising of the odd unsavoury incident. The funny thing is hitchhikers happen to be wary of drivers too! Where I grew up in rural Central Hawkes Bay, hitchhiking was a form of public transport and so, like most who have tried it, I have a story or two of rides I wish I had never accepted! It cuts both ways.
But as David suggests, imagine spotting a hitchhiker that was family. No need for introductions and tiresome small talk. With family we tend to get straight down to the topics and issues held in common – things of mutual interest. Like David, I suspect this is where ministry with young people is most in need of change. It is true that variety is needed in youth ministry – new people, new stories, new adventures – these are the stuff of youth!
But underpinning it all is the family; in ecclesial terms it is the domestic church – for most of us it is simply what we know (knew) as home and family. It is also true today that the shape and make up of that home can vary markedly but, for most, it is that primary place of formation – the location for learning about life’s basics.
Politics, values, interests…and faith are things almost always incredibly influenced by Mum and or Dad. If ‘tentative’ or ‘uncertain’ are the right descriptors for parents’ ability to live and speak about faith, why would we imagine their children would grow up with a strong religious connection to their Church? We have a lot of work to do here – youth ministry in fact starts with new parents. This is a reality that we would do well to remember as we consider submissions/contributions to the second session of the Synod on the Family later this year.
Assuming we can make some real progress with young parents and their ability to pass on faith, how might we expect young people to want to express faith community today? Dare I risk suggesting that, as things currently stand, Sunday Mass attendance is not going to be the answer? Yes, Eucharist is central – our heart and soul – but doesn’t that just underline the imperative to consider how, when and where we celebrate it?
I can’t help but think that there is relevance for all of us – not just our clergy – in Pope Francis’ fascinating Chrism Mass appeal to priests to avoid being ‘collectors of antiquities or novelties’; but instead to ‘be shepherds with the smell of sheep’. Combining this idea with 1990s American rock band Nirvana’s famous hit song Smells Like Teen Spirit – we can arrive at a useful question: what might faith community look and smell like if it exhibited youthful spirit?
I venture it will be diverse. It probably won’t hold dear to what older Catholics might wish it did but the key principles will certainly apply. The mission of the Church is for this time, this place and these cultures.
Times have changed and we need to respond in a co-ordinated yet open and inclusive manner. One thing is for certain, if it works with sheep – and lambs – it will smell of sheep.
Chris Duthie-Jung is a parent of teens and Co-ordinator, Certificate in Catholic Youth Ministry, TCI.
‘Dear young people, have a great soul! Don’t be afraid to dream great things!’ Pope Francis, April 24, 2013.
Fr Tony Alex
Since 1988, the Institute of World Evangelisation (ICPE) Mission New Zealand, based at St Gerard’s Monastery in Wellington has provided a great opportunity for young people to ‘have a great soul,’ step out of the ordinary and ‘dream great things.’ Every year it runs a School of Mission, a five-month, residential programme to train Catholics between ages 18 and 35, from around the world. It trains young people to be ‘activated in their Catholic faith, discover a personal relationship with God and be instilled with a passion and zeal to be witnesses of the good news to the ends of the earth’.
The School of Mission contributes to spiritual, emotional, relational, intellectual and mission-oriented growth in a participant’s life – a personal encounter with God and discovering one’s identity in Him. There are liturgies, personal and community prayer, lectures, spiritual reading, development of Christian leadership values and embracing the Church’s richness.
Community life, sharing rooms, duties, assignments and projects, facilitates faith and learning into action. The programme culminates with the new ‘Missionary Disciples’ sharing knowledge with parishes, schools, colleges, homes, rest homes, and on the street, through music, skits, mimes, sign language, testimonies, dance and teaching.
This year’s programme started on 22 February and runs to 12 July 2015 with 21 participants from 10 different countries. Over the years, hundreds of participants from more than 25 countries have taken part in our programme. Today, they are pastoral leaders, itinerant missionaries, committed witnesses in their respective workplaces or full-time ICPE missionaries. A participant becomes a full-time covenanted missionary after having lived in a community for a year and undergone a two-year formation in the Mission Spirituality.
Please visit us at www.icpe.org or email us for more information.
Fr Tony Alex is a formator for the Institute of World Evangelisation (ICPE) Mission New Zealand.
Br Doug Dawick FMS
The Marist Young Adult Ministry (MYAM) has been operating out of ‘The Grove’ community in Lower Hutt for 14 years. The Grove was set up by the Marist Brothers in 2001 as an outreach to young people aged 19–35 years. Young adults, perhaps looking for a challenge or new direction in life, come and live in a supportive Catholic environment for a year, paying a nominal fee to cover costs. Our community offers opportunities to get involved in community service and faith-based ministry that fit in with residents’ usual work, study or social interests.
‘Marist’ is a way of being Christian in the world and for the world; a role open to both Brothers and lay people. The community is commited to personal and community prayer, hospitality and outreach to disadvantaged people, including prisoners at both Rimutaka and Arohata prisons.
This year we are taking an added direction called Champagnat Partnership Ministry. Our aim is to keep alive the spirit and mission of Marist Brothers founder, St Marcellin Champagnat. We plan have three Marist Brothers – Brs Kieran Fenn, Carl Tapp and myself – as well as three lay people sharing community with an emphasis on ‘partnership’. In this partnership, we sharing responsibilities, planning initiatives, and so on.
Esther Saldanha has joined while continuing her role as Archdiocesan Co-ordinator for Seasons for Growth and serving in Hutt Hospital chaplaincy. The community is open to another female and male within the lay partnership. To learn more email me or call (04) 972-6926 or Esther Saldanha (phone (04) 972-6926).
Meanwhile, our academic support for students at St Bernard’s College continues as will running two lay Champagnat Marists’ groups – one for young adults in Wellington and one for older people in Lower Hutt. The Grove’s involvement with young adults will continue. Our newsletter will resume shortly; email to subscribe to subscribe.
Br Douglas Dawick FSM is one of the founders of The Grove Community at 7 Birch St, Lower Hutt.
A Beginner’s Guide to Catholic Youth Ministry
Kathleen Field
People in the Diocese of Palmerston North’s Catholic schools and parishes are surprised when I tell them I’m a youth minister. But their surprise often follows with ‘I didn’t know the Church had youth ministers’, then ‘what do you do?’
If today’s young people are tomorrow’s Church, we need to encourage them to develop faith through all avenues. Catholic youth ministry connects young people in Church community, within and between schools and parishes, universities, Catholic orders, organisations, movements, families and groups. Through peer ministry, and young people are invited to share their gifts by ministering in some way and spreading Christian community – the love of God in word and action.
In Palmerston North we have a team of three youth ministers: a diocesan co-ordinator, a college and parish chaplain and a tertiary chaplain young-adult co-ordinator. Across the diocese we link with college chaplains in most secondary schools; youth ministers in some parishes; and co-ordinate youth ministers and tertiary chaplains across regions. Every youth-based event offers a mixture of faith development, service and hospitality.
Youth ministry is local – a small youth group meeting in the parish hall on a Friday evening, or a couple of young adults helping at the local parish-service café. But the network of Catholic youth connected to the Church is national. Every diocese has Catholic youth ministers and many events attract young people from other dioceses.
Our guide to Catholic youth ministry is actually a guide to a living Catholic Church. People can link to our events or those in their own diocese and we are always looking for volunteers to help run programmes, youth groups and events. Contact me in Palmerston Northme in Palmerston North or Dan Siave in Wellington in Wellington.
Kathleen Field is Co-ordinator of Youth and Young Adult Ministries for the Palmerston North Diocese.