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Youth and Young Adult Ministries

The ultimate thrust of Youth and Young Adult Ministries is to engage young people in an intimate and dynamic relationship with Jesus Christ. Once established, our diocesan office strives to empower young people for the mission they have been given by the Lord Jesus Christ, a mission that includes full involvement in the life, mission and work of the Catholic Church, especially at the parish level.

We believe that the most effective ministry to youth and young adults occurs on the parish level. Primarily, we assist parishes through programs, events and outreach to build and maintain a strong connection between youth and the Church from young adolescence through young adulthood up to age 35.

We promote the eight components of youth ministry called for by the bishops of the United States in their document, Renewing the Vision, namely, Advocacy, Catechesis, Community Life, Evangelization, Justice and Service, Leadership Development, Pastoral Care and Prayer and Worship.

These components form the basic structure for youth ministry. In our diocesan programs and outreach, we teach and model these components directly.

The office reaches out to young adolescents in 7th and 8th grade as well as high school youth and their adult leaders. Because of our commitment to parish youth ministry, we sponsor programs which model activities that can be imitated on the local parish level or support or enhance parish programs. Special bilingual programs are available for Hispanic youth.

We also collaborate with other diocesan offices, such as Vocations, Family Life/Respect Life, Religious Education, Radio and Television to enhance our offerings to youth in all aspects of faith and human development.