Apprenticeship program

MADISON  Pastors who want to re-vitalize their existing youth ministry program or get their youth minister the training he or she might need to become more effective at helping inspire a deeper faith in their parish’s young people will soon be able to get assistance from the diocesan Office of Youth Ministry.

Starting in January, the diocesan Office of Youth Ministry will launch its new Apprentice­ship Program — an initiative that gives experienced youth ministers the opportunity to mentor new and less-experienced youth ministers by preparing, forming and advising them for the role.

Bishop Serratelli, along with the Office of Youth Ministry at St. Paul Inside the Walls: the Diocesan Center for Evangelization at Bayley-Ellard here, have been encouraging pastors around the Diocese to sign up their less-experienced youth ministers — or individuals, who might be considering the ministry — for the Apprenticeship Program. Beginning in January, experienced youth ministers in each of the Diocese’s 12 deaneries will be available to meet with them at least four times per year near their parishes to discuss topics related to youth ministry. They will range from the intellectual, including discussions of how to tackle the theological and moral issues of our time; spiritual, including how to strengthen their prayer life; and the practical, including how to organize a retreat. The Office of Youth Ministry carefully selected these mentors, said Father Pawel Tomczyk, diocesan youth ministry coordinator, who expressed his belief in the future success of the new program.

“I encourage pastors to take advantage of the new Apprenticeship Program, designed to form and equip new youth ministers to be effective leaders in the work of evangelization. The program utilizes our brightest and most experienced youth ministers, who are available within your deanery to serve in a capacity of mentor to the prospective or present youth minister in your parish,” Bishop Serratelli wrote in a letter to pastors, emphasizing that it costs nothing for parishes to participate.

This new program seeks to address a need in the Diocese for new youth ministers, especially in parishes that currently do not have a youth ministry program by “creating a momentum for these parishes to try it,” helping to make existing programs more vibrant, “increasing the capacity of ministers to evangelize” and creating a community of ministers. Over time, these new ministers can develop their own support network and maybe collaborate on certain activities, such as retreats, especially for smaller parishes that might not have the financial resources or have a small number of young people, said Father Tomczyk, who also serves as diocesan coordinator of the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults and as chaplain and campus minister at William Paterson University in Wayne.

“This is an exciting new program. Experienced youth ministers will be teaching, mentoring, forming and guiding new youth ministers in their role as disciples, who are sent to make disciples. The model for this program is Jesus, who called people to follow him,” said Father Tomczyk. He also noted that prospective youth ministers can determine if this type of ministry could be a “good fit” for them by participating in the Apprenticeship Program. “We want these new ministers to walk in the footsteps of the experienced ministers, while also encouraging their own creativity,” the priest said.

During their minimum of four meetings a year, these mentors meet one-on-one with their apprentices to focus on the following four pillars of formation, originally developed for candidates to priesthood:

• The human: to recognize the importance of a person’s character in the mission of evangelization, to identify that person’s strengths and weaknesses and to encourage a process of personal growth. The mentor will serve not as a judge, but as an example to follow and will highlight traits of character and behavior needed to lead a healthy and successful youth ministry. Discussion topics also will include: freedom, moral conscience, prudence, maturity, communication and simplicity of life.

• The spiritual: to understand the role of a youth minister in the greater context of the mission of the Church and to establish the connection between personal holiness and the holiness of God’s people. The mentor will explain how the spiritual life of a youth minister helps bring their youth to God and to the community of believers and will suggest ways of growing in personal holiness. Discussion topics will include: the Eucharist, confession, married life, spiritual direction, the Bible, retreats and devotions.

• The intellectual: to explain the significance of reason in the formation of beliefs and to challenge the candidate to pursue further knowledge of theology. The mentor will emphasize that youth ministers need to be able to explain basic truths of the faith and will simply allude to the importance of intellectual formation, rather than offering a complete course in theology. Discussion topics will include: humans as “rational animals,” Natural Law, Revelation, science and ethics and morality.

• The pastoral: to develop pastoral sensitivity and practical prudence and to share the best practices of youth ministry. Mentors will share ways to become pastoral — a practice that is the fruit of a well-formed minister, who is ready to give what he or she has learned. Discussion topics will include: a calendar, teamwork, programs, retreats, trips, communication, cultural sensitivity and leadership development.

Efforts to develop the Apprenticeship Program began in the fall of 2017 with the help of the Youth Ministry Office Advisory Board. Last summer, Father Tomczyk started having conversations with selected youth ministers with more than 10 years of experience. The mentors will provide feedback from their quarterly meetings by completing a simple online questionnaire that the Office of Youth Ministry will send. The mentors also will convene at the end of the academic year to review progress of the program and share their suggestions for improvement, he said.

The program was developed in response to the results of a survey from 2015, which measured the vibrancy of youth ministries in the Diocese. Conducted by Brian Honsberger, St. Paul’s assistant director of evangelization, the survey found that 39 percent of parishes considered their program as “trying to be vibrant,” 35 percent described themselves as “vibrant” and 26 percent reported no youth ministry program. The Office of Youth Ministry also saw a need for the program from the survey’s finding that parish youth ministry programs experience a high turnover rate with youth ministers typically lasting no longer than a year.

One of the enthusiastic new mentors to the Apprenticeship Program is John Cammarata, youth minister of St. Peter the Apostle Parish in Parsippany for 19 years, who will serve the Eastern Morris Deanery.

“I’m honored to be involved. It’s a great program. With the mentors, new youth ministers will have the knowledge of how to reach out to young people at their fingertips. We will become sounding boards for the new ministers and share our experience,” Cammarata said. “This program also will give some new ministers the confidence to start a program, knowing that the Diocese will be supporting their parish.”