NORTH HALEDON Donald Wehr didn’t notice much different about Plano, Texas, than his native New Jersey, when he arrived there in September to start ministering at St. Mark the Evangelist Parish — except for those recognizable Lone Star State expressions, such as “Y’all,” and footwear, like “wearing lots of cowboy boots.” This 19-year-old has joined a team of young adults who are fired up to undertake a specific mission in evangelizing through the Gospel, which transcends culture, geography or time — helping to get young people excited about their Catholic faith and grow in relationship with Jesus.
Since late summer, Wehr — a former member of Catholic Campus Ministry (CCM) here that serves William Paterson University, Wayne — has been part of a nine-person National Evangelization Team (NET), charged with helping to expand the reach and the ranks of St. Mark’s youth ministry. Team members, who hail from around the U.S., keep a busy schedule that includes gatherings at the parish’s youth house. There, they hold youth ministry meetings on Sunday nights and open houses a few hours weekly to “just hang out and get to know the young people” and play games in its backyard, said Wehr, a 2017 graduate of DePaul Catholic High School, Wayne.
“We are here to disciple youth. Many of them haven’t found religion yet but ultimately we believe that they will find Catholicism if they are seeking the truth,” said Wehr, who started with NET in St. Paul, Minn., on Aug. 17 and will finish the assignment at St. Mark’s on May 20 of next year. “Our job is to get the youth involved [in youth ministry] and foster a love of Jesus in them. It’s great to inspire them and watch them grow. NET has been at St. Mark’s for four years to help the parish build a youth ministry program. NET has the goal of helping them sustain ministry,” he said.
During the week, NET members also spend time conducting retreats for young people, giving talks to Confirmation classes and visiting during lunches and events at local high schools. They also call youth ministry members and prospective members, inviting them to “hang out” at an arcade or other location. There, they might “talk for 10 minutes about Jesus — nothing preachy,” said Wehr, who also devotes time engaging in prayer and worship, including Mass and Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.
“I like our team; it has a lot of positive energy and is very outgoing. I’m not as outgoing, so it’s rubbed off on me,” said Wehr of St. Joseph Parish, Lincoln Park, who enjoys sharing a faith that he started to cultivate in earnest at DePaul and blossomed more fully at CCM, under Father Phillip-Michael Tangorra, its former chaplain, who is now studying canon law at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. “This NET experience has revolutionized my faith. I’m more focused on my faith life. I see now much I need weekly Mass and daily prayer. Now, I want to pursue a career in theology,” he said.
Wehr’s faith journey that led him to NET started closer to home at St. Joseph’s, although his family did not practice the faith actively at the time. Yet, “I wanted a relationship with God,” he told The Beacon. As a teenager, Wehr started more frequently attending Mass at St. Joseph’s and enjoyed debating religion with his friends at the lunch table at DePaul, which went a long way to deepening his faith. He also started occasionally attending daily Mass before classes in DePaul’s chapel, he said.
“I liked it. I felt at peace. I had been struggling with my religious doubts but they are gone. I can’t explain why. With God, it’s awesome,” Wehr said.
Wehr’s faith deepened even further at CCM at William Paterson. He spent lots of time at its ministry center, located in North Haledon, attending Mass and Adoration each week. There, he also“ hung out” between classes, engaging in conversations with other CCM members, making new friends, and finishing classwork. Still growing in his faith, Wehr would ask Father Tangorra lots of questions about Catholicism and life. He also attended many CCM activities, such as the priest’s Faith on Fire religious formation lecture series. Wehr called this period “the beginning of my prayer life.”