The Youth Ministry program of the Archdiocese of Newark has identified three goals of an effective ministry to young people. These goals follow guidelines established by the Renewing the Vision document of the NCCB.

• Youth Ministry seeks to empower young people to live as disciples of Jesus Christ in our world today.
• Youth Ministry seeks to draw young people to responsible participation in the life, mission, and work of the Catholic faith community.
• Youth Ministry works to foster the total personal and spiritual growth of each young person.

History of Catholic Youth Ministry

Although youth ministry today seems to be a relatively new concept in the Catholic Church, organized Catholic outreach to young people has a long and star-studded history. Before anyone ever conceived of a youth retreat or an icebreaker, religious sisters, brothers and monks were ministering to youth in schools across Europe, Africa, Asia and America. Jesus, himself, made a point of welcoming the children of His day into His circle of friends. (Mt 19:14) Moreover, Jesus commissioned His disciples to "teach all nations everything that I have commanded you" (Mt 28:19-20). Over the centuries, visionary saints and religious communities lived out these scriptures by establishing Catholic schools where children and teens could be educated and formed in the Catholic faith.

Although ministering to youth through schools continues even to this day, a new need to reach out to young people outside of the churches and schools and in the streets became increasingly critical in the past two centuries. This new model of youth ministry took its focus under the leadership of St. Don Bosco. Today, much of our youth ministry efforts follow the ideas of Don Bosco: respond to the immediate needs of the youth; build relationships with the teens in order to earn the right to invite them to attend formal youth ministry programs; go where the teens are; and seek to meet the teens need for spirituality, fun, education, fellowship and socialization. For more about Don Bosco, see www.sdb.org.
 

Components of Youth Ministry

Ministry of Prayer and Worship

• Promotes authentic participation in the liturgy in ways appropriate to the rites.
• Provides opportunities for young people to be trained as liturgical ministers, schedule periodic youth even liturgies.
• Attends to the diversity of cultures and ages in the assembly.

Ministry of Catechesis

• Recognizes that faith development is life-long and provides appropriate content and processes around key themes.
• Teaches the core content of the Catholic faith in order to provide a solid foundation for growth.
• Utilizes the life experience of adolescents, fostering a shared dialogue between the life of the adolescent, with its joys, struggles, questions, concerns and hopes, and the wisdom of the Catholic Faith.
• Provides for real-life application of learning by helping adolescents apply their learning by living more faithfully.

Ministry of Community Life

• Creates an environment that nurtures meaningful relationships among young people and between adolescents and adults.
• Develops friendship-making and friendship-maintaining skills.
• Provides avenues for young people to participate as members of the faith community and opportunities for the faith community to acknowledge, celebrate, and value its teens.

Ministry of Pastoral Care

• Develops the life skills of adolescents, such as relationship building, assertiveness, nonviolent conflict resolution, decision making, and planning.
• Guides young people in making important life decisions, such as career and college choices, and discerning their particular vocation.
• Fosters the spiritual development of young people and the healthy interaction of their sexuality and spirituality.

Ministry of Justice and Service

• Engages young people in discovering the call to justice and service in the Scriptures, in the life of Jesus, and in Catholic social teaching.
• Develop assets, skills, and faith of young people by promoting gospel values in their lifestyle choices; by increasing their discovery of their gifts and talents and helping them realize that they can make a difference in the world.
• Incorporates doing the right thing with attention as to why and how we do what we do.

Ministry of Evangelization

• Proclaims Jesus Christ and the Good News so that young people will come to see Jesus and His message.
• Witnesses to our faith in Jesus Christ in all aspects of our lives.
• Invites young people personally into the life and mission of the Catholic community.
• Challenges young people to follow Jesus in a life of discipleship.
• Calls young people to be evangelizers of other young people, their families, and their community.

Ministry of Advocacy

• Affirming and protecting the sanctity of human life as a gift from God and building societal respect for those who most need protection and support.
• Standing with and speaking on behalf of young people and their families on public issues that affect their families.
• Empowering young people and giving them a voice and calling them to responsibility.
• Developing partnerships and initiatives for building a healthy community.

Ministry of Leadership Development

• Utilizes adult and adolescent leaders in a variety of leadership roles necessary for comprehensive ministry; program leaders planning teams, coordinating teams, etc.
• Develops a leadership system that invites, trains, supports and nourishes adult and adolescent leaders.
• Empowers young people for leadership and ministry with peers.
• Develops and nurtures adult leaders with relational and ministry skills to their roles with adolescents.

Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry
499 Belgrove Drive
Kearny, NJ 07032
201-998-0088