Meet the Middle School and High School Youth Ministries: Building Community & Forming Disciples

Youth minister Alicia Clark is passionate about leading young people to Christ and is excited to grow not one, but two, youth groups here at Our Lady of Lourdes.

“These ministries are about lasting community, building up the domestic church, and the salvation of souls,” says Alicia, who has witnessed the power of building community among the youth and how it translates to growth in faith. “It’s great to see the kids grow together and strengthen their relationships within the context of Christ.”

The newly revamped middle school and high school youth ministries are now called Mustard Seed and Verso L’Alto, respectively. In addition to these youth groups, Our Lady of Lourdes also offers a youth ministry geared toward our Hispanic community called RESPETO.

Named after Christ’s parable about the Kingdom of God, the Mustard Seed group welcomes middle school-aged kids to experience Christ in a fun and social setting. The group meets every Sunday from 6:15 to 7:30 p.m. in the Fallon Center.

The night typically starts with an icebreaker to energize and captivate the group, then the bulk of the time is focused on community-building activities that are carefully crafted to teach the faith in a fun and enriching way.

“In the fall we learned about the virtues and highlighted the many liturgical feast days,” Alicia says. “This spring, I plan to focus the lessons on the sacraments.”

During one of the Mustard Seed nights last fall, Alicia taught the middle schoolers how to pray with the Miraculous Medal.

“When I gave each kid a medal to keep as their own, it was amazing to see them get so excited about sacramentals,” Alicia says.

The high school group, Verso L’Alto, is also taking faith and community to the next level. The phrase, “verso l’alto” means “to the heights” in Italian and was coined by Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati — a young and adventurous man who was known for his devotion to Christ, his embodiment of the beatitudes, and his passion for the outdoors.

Following Blessed Pier’s audacious spirit, the high school group is often found on excursions and retreats. Recently the group went bowling and discussed different doctrines of the faith that the teens had questions about.

Currently, Verso L’Alto is meeting once a month and there are hopes to move toward weekly meetings.

Coming up, the high schoolers have several incredible retreat opportunities, where they can encounter Jesus and experience the joy and peace that only He can provide. Partnering with Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral and St. Luke’s Parish, the Spring Retreat will be held March 18-21. There will also be a summer retreat and a fantastic opportunity for the teens to go to the Steubenville Youth Conference in Atlanta from July 8-10.

In addition to the weekly youth nights and excursions, both youth groups participate in a variety of service projects that make lasting impacts on the local community and beyond.

“Operation Gratitude was a great success,” says Alicia, as she reflects on the service work that her youth group kids did in the fall. “For weeks the students wrote letters and made bracelets and scarves for soldiers and first responders.”

Those items were then donated in hopes of bringing joy to those on the front lines.

“Service is a big part of our youth group ministries. It is amazing to see how some kids really get involved.” Alicia says.

With our vibrant Hispanic population, RESPETO is also a thriving youth ministry in our parish. RESPETO, which is the Spanish word for respect, is a year-long program designed to foster Latino youth leadership formation.

The RESPETO youth group currently includes more than 50 members and meets on Fridays from 6:30 to 9 p.m. in the school cafeteria. It is a year-round program of 30 sessions and includes parenting sessions (parents and youth) every first Friday of the month.

The three youth ministries — Mustard Seed, Verso L’Alto, and RESPETO — are transforming the lives of those involved. Joining these groups is easy.

“Just show up,” Alicia says.

The groups use the “Remind: School Communication” app to communicate and plan upcoming events. To stay up to date with what is going on with these ministries, simply download the app on your phone for free and look up “@ollmsy” for information about the Mustard Seed group and “@ollhsyg” for the Verso L’Alto group.

The newly revamped middle school and high school youth ministries are now called Mustard Seed and Verso L’Alto, respectively.

The Hispanic Youth Group, RESPETO, which meets on Fridays from 6:30 to 9 p.m. at the school cafeteria, is a year-round program of 30 sessions.