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Youth Ministry: Guiding Our Young Catholics on their Faith Journey
Today’s teenagers face many mixed messages, so it can be often difficult for our young Catholics to find solid spiritual ground. With this in mind, the Cathedral of Christ the King has a Youth Ministry program for our middle and high school students. The program is a fantastic way to make friends, be formed in the faith, and have guidance and support in navigating the outside world.
The mission of Youth Ministry is “to encourage young people to love Jesus, to empower them to live courageously as intentional disciples of Jesus in our world today, and to draw young people to embrace the life, mission, and work of the church.” The program is for middle school, sixth to seventh grade; Confirmation, eighth grade; and high school, ninth to 12th grade.
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Rebecca Whitney has served as the Director of Youth and Young Adult Ministries for the past six years. She feels so blessed to be working to lead young people in the faith.
“Young people are amazing, surprising, and shouldn’t be underestimated,” Rebecca says. “Now, more than any other time, young people need love and support in life and faith with all that they are up against in society today. They need a space to get answers, to be themselves, and be accepted and heard.”
Weekly meetings are held for the middle school youth from 10:15 a.m. to noon on Sundays. High school students meet from 6:15 to 8:30 p.m. on Sundays. The Confirmation classes are from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Wednesdays.
Youth group time always includes snacks and fellowship — this is meant to be a time for fun and relationship building. There is also time for games, small groups, activities, and prayer.
“Youth Group is a place where we hope to enable young people to feel seen, known, and heard,” Rebecca says. “We hope to foster a welcoming and fun environment so that those young people who attend can feel comfortable and enjoy the time that they spend with us.”
Youth gathered for an escape room outing.
Youth gather to have fun, learn more about the faith and share in small-group discussion.
The youth are busy with activities all year. In addition to the weekly Youth Group nights, there are other activities as part of the ministry, such as the Diocesan Retreat for each age group. There are also opportunities for service, retreats, conferences, and social events. Some youth will be attending the National Catholic Youth Conference this November in Indianapolis.
“This is a really fun, faith-filled wonderful community to be involved in,” Rebecca says. “Everyone is welcome. We can’t wait to meet you!”
Rebecca invites adults to get involved as volunteers in the Youth Ministry program and is always looking for more help to lead young people to Christ through example. This is a fun ministry, and you can make a big impact!
“Our hope is that this ministry helps young people grow spiritually and deepen their relationship with Christ by, firstly, giving our own authentic witness in living out our faith life,” Rebecca says. “Along with this, we also hope that, through clear catechesis of who the church is, what she teaches, who Jesus is and what He has done for us, all done in a way that they can grasp and relate to, the youth can get excited about their faith and see that our Catholic faith is real truth and worth giving their life to.”
