The Office of Youth Ministry - Strengthening Youth Ministry

National Vocation Awareness Week

stlyouth — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 15:21:34 +0000

By Reverend Christopher Martin, Vocation Director

Every year the Church offers to the faithful an entire week dedicated to vocation awareness. What does this mean?

Certainly it is an opportunity for us as a people of faith to be grateful to the many men and women who inspire us by the very lives they lead. But, it is also a time for us to reflect on the fact that we all have a vocation.

The Church reminds us that Jesus calls us each by name to follow Him in faith and love by living our lives no longer for ourselves but for Him. This is what is referred to as the universal call to holiness. Beginning at baptism, each of us is destined for heaven. So becoming a saint is not so much an option for a few, but the pre-requisite for all to enter into heaven.

Jesus calls individuals to follow Him in three primary ways; priesthood, marriage, and the dedicated single life (including consecrated life).

Whereas it is very natural for young men and women to consider marriage and family life (though thinking of it as a call from God is not so common anymore), sometimes it isn’t as easy for them to think and pray about the priesthood or religious life. So we hold up these vocations in a special way this week and pray that all young people have a generous and open heart, and that parents lead their children to desire God’s will above all else.

So let us give thanks for and pray for vocations well-lived. For happy, holy marriages, for inspiring priest and religious, and for sanctified singles who generously give of their talents for others.

Maybe this week in addition to praying for an increase in vocations to the priesthood and religious life, we can give compliments and gratitude to people who live their vocations so well that they spur us on to holiness in our own.

Contact the Office of Vocations at 314.792.6460 or by Email

What is Truth?

stlyouth — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 22:44:25 +0000

by Fr. Mike Schmitz

Check out this keynote talk on Truth during Wk#1 of Steubenville Mid-America 2011.

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Discerning the Voice of Christ

stlyouth — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 22:58:40 +0000

by Fr. Brian Fischer

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Need to Getaway? Come take a Journey of Faith!

rosanne twellman — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 19:33:15 +0000

Have you ever seen that commerical. . . Life doesn't happen the way you want it to happen and you hear the voice over that says - "Need to getaway"? Well of course, we all need to get away. Sometimes in the midst of ministry we are the last ones to say, Hey, it's time to take care of myself - I myself have had trouble in the past saying that to myself, so I know we all have that same problem.

Well, it is time to get away! Fr. Dave Pivonka is inviting you to come getaway with God and take this Journey of Faith. He is planning a well rested weekend for you to spend time with God.

January 27-29, 2012 is the dates. The location is at Todd Hall in Columbia, Illinois, just 20 minutes from St. Louis.

This weekend is for anyone who ministers to teens, youth ministers, core members, volunteers, teachers, coaches, scout leaders, or campus ministers.

We have lowered the cost to make it as affordable as possible for all and any to attend. But space is limited to 64 retreatants so register now before all spots are gone.

Click here to register today. See you there!

For more information and the weekend schedule Click Here

Before the Cross | Parish youth ministers share Christ with young Church

Tom Lancia — Fri, 06 May 2011 21:00:22 +0000

Archbishop Robert J. Carlson Column

Dan Huss has been a youth minister at Incarnate Word Parish in Chesterfield for 13 years. He gave up his job as an accountant — and took a significant cut in pay — to share Christ with young people. He says he wouldn't go back on that life-changing decision for anything. He thanks God every day for the gift of his vocation as a husband and father of three children and as a minister to the young Church.

Growing up, Dan says that he learned about his Catholic faith and practiced it as best he could without really understanding it "from the heart." As a result, something was missing in his life. He credits two priests who reached out to him as a young adult for his conversion to active engagement in the life of the Church. He believes that he is called to hand on the Christian faith to teens who are like he was — on the margins of Catholicism without a personal relationship to Jesus Christ.

Dan believes that we are losing far too many of our young Church. "Too often," he says, "kids are confirmed and then don't come back." He argues passionately that this is a group that can, and should, be instrumental now. "They're not just the Church of the future; they're an important part of our present, and we can't afford to let them slip away from the faith. If we lose them, we may never get them back."

Decisions that young people make today make a real difference — in their individual lives, in their family circumstances and in the the world. We can't afford to let our young people drift away in the hopes that they'll come back someday when they're older and have families of their own. Too much is at stake. Someone has to be Christ for them. Someone has to speak His words of invitation to discipleship and to a personal relationship with Him.

The responsibility for youth ministry begins in the family, but it is shared by the entire parish. Pastors have a serious obligation to make sure that youth are being introduced to the person of Christ through their participation in the sacraments, through their religious instruction, through fellowship and through engagement in outreach to the wider community. Parish youth ministers assist parents and pastors in carrying out this serious responsibility.

What is the greatest challenge youth ministers face today? Dan says it is "the world and what it offers — promoting the desire for selfish things." What Christ has to offer is freedom from selfishness and sin over the course of a whole lifetime. What the world offers is immediate gratification, pleasure that soon fades away, leaving us feeling empty and alone. Only by developing a personal relationship with Christ, and living as He lived, can we be really free to reach our full potential as human persons.

How can we help our youth ministers share Christ with the young Church? Dan says, "Pray. Genuinely pray. Believe that by praying for the young Church we can help them discover Christ." Dan also recommends that we be strong advocates for youth ministry — especially when financial pressures force parishes to cut their budgets. Make sure that everyone knows what a difference youth ministry makes in the faith lives of our teens and in the vibrancy of our parish communities.

Youth ministry is essential to the evangelizing mission of the Church. By building strong relationships with young parishioners, by letting them know that they are welcome and needed, and by encouraging them to develop a personal relationship with Christ, parishes carry out the work of evangelization. Mass and the sacraments come first, Dan says. "Retreats, eucharistic adoration and participation in the sacraments are not old-fashioned. They are fundamental and ever-new. I always say to the kids: 'Come to Mass!' It's important. That's where we meet Christ face-to-face in the Eucharist. Everything else we do starts here."

Sharing Christ with the young Church is also where we most effectively promote vocations — to the priesthood and diaconate, to the consecrated life, to marriage and to the dedicated single life. Parish youth ministers help members of the young Church better understand God's call, and they help teens begin to discern their personal vocations in a safe environment. By inviting members of the young Church to grow in their relationships to Christ and His Church, parish youth ministers share their faith and help hand on the Gospel to those who will be our leaders and our faithful parishioners — both in the years to come and right now!

Ordained to Transitional Deaconate Today!

Tom Lancia — Fri, 06 May 2011 20:38:52 +0000

Article By Barbara Watkins | bwatkins@archstl.org

Archbishop Robert J. Carlson will ordain five seminarians to the transitional diaconate for the Archdiocese of St. Louis at 10 a.m. Friday, May 6 at Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis. Four of the men to be ordained at Kenrick-Glennon seminarians. The fifth, Donald Anstoetter, attends Pontifical North American College in Rome.

Transitional deacons are seminarians in their last year of preparation for ordination to the priesthood. A transitional deacon may baptize, distribute Holy Communion, witness marriages and lead rites for Christian burial.

The Kenrick-Glennon seminarians are expected to complete their master of divinity degree by spring 2012 from Kenrick School of Theology at Kenrick-Glennon Seminary. Each is also working toward completion of a master or arts intheology. Anstoetter is completing a bachelor's degree in sacred theology from Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and in the fall is expected to begin working toward a licentiate in sacred theology with a focus in sacramental theology from the Pontifical Athenaeum Sant Anselmo in Rome.

For more information and profiles check out the St. Louis Review

Behold the Pierced One: A Meditation on the Cross

Tom Lancia — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 20:53:42 +0000

(from Archbishop Carlson's Pastoral Letter on Penance, Jesus Christ, the Divine Physician)

The human heart is converted by looking upon him whom our sins have pierced.

(CCC, 1432; see Jn 19:37, Zech 12:10)

By contemplating the cross we can come to a greater understanding of the wonder of God’s love for us, especially of His ardent desire to heal us. The cross reveals to us both God’s character and the human situation.

To understand how the cross is a revelation of God’s character, we can ask: who must God the Father be “who so loved the word that he gave his only Son…that the world might be saved through him”? (Jn 3:16-17) And we can ask: who is the God revealed to us in Jesus, who willingly endured suffering for the sake of our salvation? The face of God revealed on the cross is a face of mercy, “the most stupendous attribute of the Creator and Redeemer.” (Pope John Paul II, Dives in misericordia, #13.)

To understand how the cross reveals the human situation, we can ask: who must we be such that this—the cross—was necessary for our salvation? The situation must be dire if something as drastic as the cross was needed for our rescue. We can also think about situations in which we sacrificed one thing for the sake of something that was even more valuable to us and, from that experience, ask: who must we be such that God deemed us worth the price of the cross? God must value us greatly to be willing to sacrifice so much for our sake.

The cross reveals the merciful face of God, the gravity of the human situation, and the glory of the human creature’s worth.

In quiet reflection ask: How do I sense my worth in God’s sight? When I look upon the cross of Jesus, what do I notice?

“[I]f self-knowledge and the thought of sin are not seasoned with remembrance of the blood and hope for mercy, the result is bound to be confusion.” (St. Catherine of Siena)

(from Archbishop Carlson's Pastoral Letter on Penance, Jesus Christ, the Divine Physican)

Steubenville Goes LIVE Again!

Tom Lancia — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 18:06:29 +0000

Every year tension is high for group leaders as they register for Steubenville St. Louis Mid America. Spots are limited and registration is full in no time (which is why we continue to work on improving this process and finding more space…that’s what brought us to the Q Arena). We all know there are lots of reasons why this conference is so awesome and powerful, but the #1 Reason is Jesus Christ!

I remember the first time I took my youth group to “Set Free” in Steubenville 2002, because Jesus stirred something in each of us that we didn’t want to lose. We also wanted it to grow in our lives and in the lives of those we cared about. After that year, I not only saw a change in the teens that went, but I also saw them invite others to be a part of that change and sharing Christ with them. So as Steubenville started to sell out and add another conference, I also experienced a great desire for my teens to participate more and more in our youth group events and meetings, along with Steubenville. When I think of why that happened, it was because those teens kept Jesus Christ in their sights throughout the year and not just once a year at a conference. I think Steubenville is one of those events that motivates you to make Jesus a bigger part of your life, but it must be a stepping stone to more prayer individually and with others.

Good News, I have an exciting way you can do this with the Steubenville 2010 or 2011 Mid America LIVE CD! When you listen to these CDs you not only hear some great music, but you can be reminded of that moment you had with Christ and pray along with these powerful words of worship! Another thing about music, you can turn it up and share it with your friends (maybe it's that first step in sharing Jesus with those you care about…it may, along with your repeated invitations, help them decide to go to youth group, Mass, or that next retreat).

Plus, if you Pre-Order the Steubenville Mid America Live 2011 CD NOW you can get it 20% OFF and the first 150 orders will get a FREE download of last years LIVE 2010 CD!

Finally, I wanted to invite all of you who love or like Steubenille St. Louis Mid America to become a Fan of us on Facebook and Like us! If your new to the Steubenville world or have no clue about us, join us anyway and see what the excitement is all about!

P.S. I have attached a flyer of the new CD, feel free to share it with your youth group, family, and friends!

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Bieber Fever

Tom Lancia — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 16:59:08 +0000

Enjoy this movie review of Never Say Never

By Christopher Stefanick

Okay, I admit it. I have Bieber Fever. I caught it from my preteen daughter after I took her to see Never Say Never. It’s a low grade fever, though I’m thinking of starting a men’s support group. It’s not his music (which is decent), it’s his potential as an accidental evangelistof millions of pre-teens that has me excited about him. Did I say millions? I meant tens-of-millions.

I’ve been in youth ministry for 13 years and I’ve never seen a craze sweep through teen culture like the one this kid has started. I simply mentioned his name during a talk at a recent junior high rally. I’ll never do that again. The 60/40 split of ecstatic cheers verses infuriated “off with his head” screams was literally deafening. It took some time to regain control of the room.

No one is neutral in the world of pre-teens. They love or hate him with a strange obsession. Perhaps the obsession is because pre-teens feel that he alone represents them in the realm of the famous. And perhaps their feelings run so high because this generation seems to think that realm is all that matters—though that’s a cultural tragedy for another article. But whatever the reason, pre-teens are obsessed. His video for “Baby” is the most viewed youtube clip of all time, with 471,280,334 hits as of today. It’s steadily climbing toward a billion.

Given the potential impact this kid can have on countless young souls, I breathed a sigh of relief after seeing Never Say Never. Thank God, he’s on “our side” for now. Bieber isn’t trying to evangelize. He’s just a good Christian kid who is trying to be himself, and his movie sends some messages that teens need to hear.

Unlike “faith-based” movies that sometimes ungracefully insert Christianity into the picture, Never Say Never presents faith as a very natural part of daily life, and it does so without trying. The teen icon and his mom pray multiple times throughout the movie. He even leads his friends in grace in a public restaurant. It’s clear that faith is a part of who he is and that he’s not ashamed of it.

The movie highlights the preeminent importance of family life. Justin’s family isn’t a perfectly intact one, but mom is ever backing him on the road and his grandparents love him to death. The movie also accurately depicted how the proud tears of his dad meant more than the screams of a million fans.

In an era where kids make gods of their pop stars, Never Say Never portrayed Justin Bieber as a human being. Once he steps off the stage, he’s just a kid. It showed him playing with friends, trying hard to stay normal, and studying with a tutor on his tour bus.

This movie sends a clear message that success isn’t free—a much needed lesson for a generation that tends to think that the world owes them something. Sure, Bieber displayed an unusual amount of God-given talent from age two and was “discovered” on youtube, but he works like a dog, and the pop-umentary makes it clear that if he didn’t, his talent would take him nowhere. It depicts his painful desire for a normal life. It shows him sick as a dog for days on crowded tour bus. There’s even a scene where his vocal coach offers him an out if he wants to stop sacrificing so much. He chooses to press on, knowing that ongoing success and ongoing sacrifice will continue to go hand in hand.

The most powerful message from the movie comes from Justin’s mom, Pattie Mallette: "I want Justin to be able to find his identity and worth, not from what he can do, but from who he is.” Pre-teens are often so desperate to be someone that they tend to forget they are someone.

I’m not holding Justin Bieber up as a preeminent theologian. I’m not canonizing him either. Nor am I saying he’s beyond falling. But if Christians just let him be a good, God-loving kid without trying too hard to make him their poster-child, if the record industry doesn’t force him into the confines of a cookie-cutter liberal agenda, and if the family who loves him is able to keep him out of temptation’s way on the road, Justin will be an accidental evangelist for years to come.

Those are some big “ifs”. I’m praying for you little brother.

Speaker and author Christopher Stefanick is director of Youth, Young Adult and Campus Ministry for the Denver Archdiocese. Visit chris-stefanick.com.

Dysfunctional Love Songs

Tom Lancia — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 16:22:08 +0000

Recently Chris Stefanick, speaker from last year's Steubenville Conference, shared an article with me that he wrote. I love Chris's straight forward and honest words, so if you like people who bet around the bush, don't read any further:

Dysfunctional Love Songs

By Christopher Stefanick

The lessons packed in the love songs that are getting the most radio play today all seem to have a similar theme: if it isn’t dysfunctional, it isn’t love.

Take the song Grenade for instance, wherein Bruno Mars sings a litany of pains he’d endure for his beloved, ranging from catching a grenade, to throwing his hand on a blade, to taking a bullet through his brain. His beloved is evil, it seems. According to the song she’d “smile in (his) face then rip the brakes out of (his) car.”

Her response to his “loving” rant is total indifference. He goes so far as to lament that if his body was on fire she’d watch him burn in flames. Yet, despite all this, at the end of the song he still sings, “I would die for you baby, but you won’t do the same.”

It seems that Bruno has so effectively broken the stereotype of the emotionless, standoffish male that he has become the psychotically needy girlfriend. Good boy, Bruno. Contemporary, feminized society has trained you well in the ways of “manhood.” The lesson of this song is clear: if it isn’t codependence it isn’t real love.

In a recent drive to work I turned the radio dial in a vain attempt to avoid Grenade only to find it on three other stations. Moving on…

In one of the most popular songs of 2010, Breakeven, singer Danny O'Donoghue laments after a hard breakup, “I’m still alive but I’m barely breathin’.” Everyone who has had their heart broken can relate with those words. But he goes on to sing, “What am I supposed to do when the best part of me was always you?” Romantic words? Yes. Emotionally healthy words? No.

No offense Danny, but if the best part of you was her I can see why she dumped you. While a couple is called to unity, individuals still need to maintain autonomy for a relationship to be stable and lasting. If people lose themselves in one another, soon there is no self to give to the other. The lesson of Breakeven: if it isn’t enmeshment it isn’t love.

In the song Animal by Neon Trees, vocalist Tyler Glenn sings, “We’re sick like animals…I won’t be denied by…the animal inside of you…Take a bite of my heart tonight.” Tyler, you and anyone who looks like you won’t be dating my daughter. The lesson of this song is echoed in countless others: if it isn’t promiscuous it isn’t passion.

And Miranda Cosgrove, a Nickelodeon (i.e. children’s TV channel) actress, in Kissing You sings to her boyfriend before an audience of millions of pre-teen girls, “When I’m kissing you it all starts making sense!” And answers to questions like, “Are you the one I should trust?” become “crystal clear…when I’m kissin’ you.”

The lesson of this song is that physical intimacy is the way to discern if a given relationship is the right one. I hate to break the news to you, Miranda, but that feeling you’re getting while kissing him is oxytocin. It’s a neuro-peptide released during physical intimacy that decreases your ability to reason and increases your ability to bond. It produces the polar opposite of clear thinking. Furthermore, when you’re engaging in heavy kissing with your boyfriend, Miranda, I can almost guarantee that he’s not thinking, “You’re the one I should trust.” It’s more likely that he’s thinking, “You’re the one I should do more with than kiss.”

I’m not even going to attempt to tackle what most rap songs say about relationships because their content, packed with sexual deviance and hedonism that border on violence is more fitting for a hard core porn magazine or a Law and Order SVU episode than the radio.

I don’t mean to sound like an emotionless Spock of a man. The songs I mentioned, with the exception of Animal, do have some redeeming themes, and they all have great melodies. But they dismantle the prerequisite for love in the minds of the desperate pre-teens who are listening: self possession. If a person is stable enough to stand on his own two feet without falling into enmeshment and codependence, then, and only then, can he give himself in love to another.

And if love is contained by modesty, chivalry and purity during dating and engagement, then, and only then, can it become an internal fire that nothing can put out. In the words of John Paul II, the “fire of pleasure … burns quickly like a pile of withered grass.” But the flame of purity creates a fire that doesn’t consume its host.

Thanks in large part to misguided love songs, teens tend to mistake things like codependence, enmeshment, and promiscuity for love. It’s funny how the things they come to look for in dating relationships are precisely the things that set them up for failed marriages.

Parents: Pay attention to what your teens are listening to and turn those songs on your car radio into teaching moments. You might get eyes rolled back at you in reply, but what that really means is: “Thanks for looking out for me, Mom and Dad.”

Speaker and author Christopher Stefanick is director of Youth, Young Adult and Campus Ministry for the Denver Archdiocese.Visit www.chris-stefanick.com.