Youth Ministry
HIGH SCHOOL YOUTH MINISTRY PROGRAM
Youth Minister
David Palmerino
Youth Board
Paul Cain, Rod Chandler, Sue Chandler, Fr. Steve Rock, Dan Knowles
Fr. Ed Malone, David Palmerino, Anne Rand, Paula Williams
The Saint Agnes High School Youth Program is a Catholic, Christian group that welcomes youths of all faiths and encourages the equality of persons and religions and a diversity of beliefs and philosophies. Youth group members are expected to be open-minded, helpful and compassionate towards others while allowing love of God, of our Church, and of one another to be present in the lives of all.
Throughout the year, the High School Youth Group meets every Sunday and Tuesday nights from 7pm-10pm. Sunday night meetings are designed around Spirituality, which is aimed at enlightening and introducing prayer in different ways of understanding and by "getting in touch" with the youth’s Catholicism and faith. Basically, it is guided towards developing personal spiritual growth. Bible themes and messages are introduced and combined with everyday occurrences that happen in the lives of our youths in order for the messages to make sense. Some Spirituality meetings may be simple and fun experiments in order for the youth to explore themselves and each other, while other meetings may involve general topic discussions, games or interactive events. Sunday night Spirituality is a main ingredient in our program and I encourage the youth to attend.
Tuesday night meetings are less structured as the youth are encouraged to "hang out" with friends and listen to music, play pool, play ping-pong, talk with each other or watch television. There is no formal or general meeting held on Tuesday, however, Leadership, a group which consists of five youth group members voted in by their peers within the group, meets on Tuesdays to develop and plan future curriculum and events for the entire group.
The goal of the Youth Group is to develop personal relationships and confidence in the Youth Minister by the youth, so that the Youth Minister, in turn, builds their confidence in the Church by finding out what is important to them -- from a church stand point and from a personal stand point. Once it is understood what is important to the youth, the Youth Minister can refine and channel that information back into them so they can use it in their lives.
The strategic importance of our Youth Group or a second "home" is so our youth can come and feel free to express themselves during a very difficult growing period in their lives. In past years, there were few places for teens to meet in order to "hang out" or be with friends without being under the auspices of parents, guardians or adults. With this in mind, we have strived to create an atmosphere where the youths feel free to be themselves and to talk with the Youth Minister about religion and life as well as confide in the Youth Minister about their ordinary day-to-day activities. The relationships between the Youth Minister and the youth have risen to higher levels because of this approach. Though a few of our youth need little guidance, most need some form of direction and corrective suggestions from an objective observer -- someone who is not a parent, relative, teacher or guidance counselor. A person they trust and believes what is said about the Word of God
The activities and events run for the group are focused on building relationships of trust between the youth and the Youth Minister. While God and religion are our reasons for gathering, it is just as important to build up the character, confidence, morals and ethics of our youth during our meetings. We find ways to reach the youth and build the relationship first before we can delve into our religion, otherwise the Youth Minister becomes a representative of authority and discipline instead of an outlet for the youth. Authority and discipline are important, however because the youth receive it from other outlets, the Youth Minister is someone who listens, counsels, suggests and trusts in the youth.
Our activities include a monthly Youth mass. Every third Sunday of the month, the 10:30am mass is reserved for our Youth Mass. For a couple of years, the Monthly Youth Mass was eliminated in order to accommodate a monthly Confirmation Mass, however, we have reinstated the youth mass in which our confirmed youth sing, read the Word and minister the Holy Eucharist to the congregation. While we currently have 7 youth singers, we are expanding and increasing the group to include youth musicians as well. It has been an important way to encourage teenagers to attend mass, as well as to make the parish aware of the gifts teenagers have to offer the parish community.
We also schedule the very popular annual ski trip to Vermont. This trip has expanded the youth group more than any other event offered by the Youth Group. In fact, the ski trip has been so successful at bringing in additional youth; we have also added annual camping and whitewater rafting trips during the summer
Our youth also attend CLI. The High School Youth program sends, on average, five (5) youth to the Archdiocesan’s CLI or "Catholic Leadership Institute", which is a weeklong leadership-training program. The training helps the teens develop their leadership skills for service within the Youth Community, the Confirmation program and the parish.
We have started an annual summer musical, which was started during the summer of 2001. The youth group began what will become an annual tradition with our "Mid-Summer Night’s" musical performances Last year’s performance was the very successful Godspell. 100% of the money raised during the performances goes directly to the Reading Food Pantry which helps feed our community’s hungry.
In what has become the most anticipated "event" the youth group performs is the staffing of the Confirmation retreats. Our confirmed, older youth help create, staff and run the retreats. The staffing of the retreat usually attracts former Confirmation candidates who normally would not join the youth group.
Our youth also look forward to spending a weekend away with other youth groups throughout the Archdiocese of Boston as they escape for a weekend of prayer, fun, dialogue, talks, mass and Jesus.
The Youth Group performs monthly service projects aimed at helping the needy. We have cooked and served breakfast for Lazarus House, sung songs and handed out gifts to the infirmed and collected books for Massachusetts’ prisons.
Along with hundreds of thousands of other youth throughout the world, five (5) of our youth traveled to Rome in 2000 and shared the experience of mass with the Holy Father, Pope John Paul II. This year, ten (10) of our youth will travel to Toronto and take part in the confraternity of our youth’s faith. And finally, in another newly created event, the underclassmen celebrate and thank our graduating seniors with a night of prayer, fun, roasting, gifts and homemade movies during our Senior’s night.
The youth minister’s primary goal of reaching more youth throughout the parish in order to spread Jesus’ message has been accomplished. However, many more youth need to hear His word.
MIDDLE SCHOOL YOUTH MINISTRY PROGRAM
Middle School Youth Ministry Program (MSYMP) provides middle school students (grades 6-8) with spiritual, social, and educational activities in a supportive Christian atmosphere. These activities are integrated with the cathechetical and sacramental foundation of the Catholic faith.MSYMP provides the above activities in a structured and supervised environment with the Middle School Youth Coordinator and or Middle School Youth Board Members present. Age appropriate activities for middles students take place on a regular basis 2 times per week (in the Youth Center) and off site (with parental/guardian permission)."Fun and Faith Fundamentals," is the motto of the MSYMP. Middle School Students (MSS) are to demonstrate Christian behavior and values amongst peers. Engage in positive social relationships and events. Enhance spiritual growth via organizing, implementing, facilitating, and participating in group/educational discussions and community service projects. Respect peers and youth leaders. Communicate youth center concerns or issues to Youth Coordinator or Youth Board Volunteers. Express, channel feelings and communicate ideas in a positive manner (Asking oneself the question of WWJD- what would Jesus do?) Assist in maintaining youth center.
MSYMP is a program that welcomes middle school students to foster and nurture his or her faith in a social structured atmosphere. Middle school students who have participated in the MSYMP would have sowed the seed of Christianity as pre-teens and hopefully continue to fertilize his or her faith foundation when moving onwards to the high school youth program.