Youth and young adults

“I assure you that the Spirit of Jesus today is inviting you young people to be bearers of the good news of the Gospel. Never forget that the church, in fact humanity itself, all the people around you now and those who await you in the future, expect much from you young people, because you have within you the supreme gift of the Father, the Spirit of Jesus”. (Pope Benedict XVI, Message for World Youth Day, 2008)

Powerful words from our Holy Father. Like Pope Benedict, many of us today challenge our young people to “step up to the plate,” to be not the church of the future but the church of today. How often we, like St. Paul, say to them “When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became an adult, I gave up childish ways.” How frequently we say to them, as did God to Jeremiah, “Say not, I am too young … See, I place my words in your mouth!”

And yet, as much as we call upon the young to be present, to be active, to be church, we at the same time do not always provide them with the support they so very much need, so very much want. We ask them to fly while we clip their wings. Altar servers, sure. Lectors? Maybe. Sit on the parish council? Oh please! Be serious!

Young people in our church are no different than us “oldies.” They seek answers to life’s questions; they cry out against injustice; they want to serve their God. They, like us, want to be the Christian adult that Paul challenges them to be. They yearn to say to us, “I am NOT too young. I hear God’s Word like you do, and I want to share it, want to live it.”

In the early planning stages of the diocesan strategic plan that would eventually take form as the Road Map, each of the vicariates said loudly and clearly that youth and young adult programs should be a major focus of our diocese. In five of those vicariates, it was the number one priority. In focus group after focus group, the need to develop strong parish and diocesan level programs that minister specifically to young people was made known in no uncertain terms. Clearly, our diocese sees the need to reach out to these demographic groups. Thus, it should come as no surprise that one of the major components of our strategic plan — the Road Map — is to develop this area of community life in our diocese.

But the achievement of this goal “requires attitudes and structures that enable youth and young adults to participate actively in the life of the church, not merely to be ministered to.” (Road Map). To foster this effort, the diocese has chosen to establish an Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministries. It is hoped that this new diocesan resource office, working with our parishes to fund, hire, and train leaders and offer vibrant programs and activities, will result in increases in the number of youth and young adults who actively participate in parish life and ministries.

The task force that I chair has been given the job of laying the framework for this new office. Currently, we are developing a position description for the director of this office, with a search for a viable candidate slated to begin by January 2009. At the same time, the task force is outlining the major responsibilities of the director and the office. Finally, we are establishing criteria for viable, productive parish and diocesan programs separated by age within a coordinated framework and planned to meet the differing needs and issues of youth up to age 18 and young adults ages 19 to 30, single and married.

It is my hope that what we will come up with is the foundation of an ever growing, dynamic force in the diocese, an office and a movement that will hear the call of the young people of Hawaii, and, inspired by the hope, the promise, and the wisdom of the young, give our worship communities boundless life in the Spirit of the Lord.