Welcome to all Youth Ministers, both veteran and new! Thank you for responding to the call to reach out to teens and lead them closer to Christ. Youth ministry is more than just a program, a group, or an education: it involves the whole parish and empowers teens to be missionary disciples in their own communities.1 Every person is invited into relationship with Christ, and that invitation is extended in a unique way to young people.
Let us echo the words of Pope Francis in his apostolic exhortation Christus Vivit in the way we approach our youth ministries as he says, “Christ is alive! He is our hope, and in a wonderful way he brings youth to our world, and everything he touches becomes young, new, full of life. The very first words, then that I would like to say to every young Christian are these: Chris is alive and he wants you to be alive! He is in you, he is with you, and he never abandons you. However far you may wander, he is always there, the Risen One. He calls you and he waits for you to return to him and start over again. When you feel you are growing old our of sorrow, resentment or fear, doubt or failure, he will always be there to restore your strength and your hope.”2
If you are new to Youth Ministry in the Diocese of Richmond, please contact Katie Yankoski ([email protected]), the Associate Director of Youth & Young Adult Ministry, to find out when the next New Youth Minister Orientation is and to be connected to our community of Diocesan Youth Ministers.
Church Documents on Youth Ministry:
- Renewing the Vision: A Framework for Catholic Youth Ministry
- Christus Vivit
- Directory for Catechesis
- Doctrinal Elements of a Curriculum Framework for the Development of Catechetical Materials for Young People of High School Age
- Adaptation of the Doctrinal Elements for Use in Parish and Youth Ministry Programs
- Pope Francis, Christus Vivit, 202.
- , 1-2.