Young adults mobilize to ‘ARISE’ as church leaders

By James Behan Jr.
Guest columnist 

Last month, 400 participants, a dozen of whom were from the Archdiocese of New Orleans, took part in the National Leadership Forum on Ministry with Young Adults, a virtual conference sponsored by the U.S. bishops and their National Advisory Team on Ministry with Young Adults.

The forum was originally a pre-conference option before the biannual National Conference on Catholic Youth Ministry (NCCYM) that New Orleans had been scheduled to host. While the decision was made to cancel NCCYM 2020 for pandemic-related reasons, the forum decided to move forward with a virtual event.

Under the theme of “ARISE: Ministry with Young Adults in a Time of Innovation,” the conference examined how those who serve in young adult ministry can develop better ways to encounter and accompany college students and men and women in their 20s and 30s.

Forum participants received daily Scripture reflections and prayers from bishops around the country. They accessed workshop presentations – nearly 21 hours of content from nearly 60 ministry professionals from around the country – to develop their skill set as ministry leaders and remember the importance of self-care.

In my workshop, “House Keys & Wi-Fi Passwords: Creating A Parish Home for Young Adults,” the Emmaus House community at St. Rita Parish in New Orleans, and the “off-campus” social gatherings for young adults of St. Catherine of Siena Parish in Metairie, were highlighted as two of the many examples in our local archdiocese of opportunities for parishes to develop lasting relationships with young adults.

“Aloha Hour” lunchtime gatherings provided a place where the skills of radical hospitality and marketing to young adults were discussed as necessary for the growth of ministry with young adults in their communities, parishes and dioceses. Evening conversations offered a casual space for participants to share their experiences of grief, challenge, opportunity and hope over the past year. All were invited to continue networking and sharing ideas and best practices over an online discussion forum.

Father Alexandre Awi Mello, a priest of the Secular Institute of Schoenstatt and secretary for the Vatican’s Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life, was one of two keynote speakers. In his address, “Ministry Meets Innovation,” Father Mello urged those who minister with young adults to embrace a spirit of “missionary synodality” – the art of attentively listening and being innovative in the ways we walk with young adults in our shared effort to change the world through the Gospel message. 

Our local church was acknowledged by Father Mello as he referred to the recent scholarship of Dr. Tracey Lamont, assistant professor of religious education at the Loyola Institute for Ministry and vice chair of the National Advisory Team on Young Adult Ministry for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

A second keynote, “Time to Listen,” provided ministry leaders with an opportunity to hear about the diverse experiences of young adults from around the country. The overarching message of their stories is that now is the time for the voices of young adults to be heard in parishes and ministries. 

When churches moved to livestreaming Masses and communicating the changes the pandemic forced them to make, it was young adults – with their excellent technological and social communication skills – who were largely looked to. 

The worries of how to bring disaffiliated millennials back to the church can start with young adults being considered as part of the solution. While there is still substantial work to be done to address the unjust gaps in equality and inclusion, it is the energy and zeal of our young adults that can help us hasten the end to racism and division, which we pray for.

The theme of “arising through innovation” had a new meaning at the end of a year that forced ministries throughout the church to persevere and be creative in how they continued to preach the Gospel and be considerate and charitable to the vulnerable. The ways we continue to connect with a socially distant, but social media-connected generation, and join in the messiness of their lives, will strengthen the body of Christ when we are able to safely return to Masses and larger gatherings.

Like the participants of the forum, we are all called as a local church to arise and dream, to rekindle hope and aspirations, to commit to change the world, to take reasonable risks in how we do what we do, and to become what we are: members of the body of Christ.

James Behan Jr. is the associate director for young adult ministry and marriage and family life in the Archdiocese of New Orleans. He can be reached at jbehan@arch-no.org.