Christ Is Alive Youth Ministry thriving at Our Lady of Fatima & St. Nicholas Parish of Passaic

Janely Joseph, Youth Minister of Passaic’s Our Lady of Fatima & St. Nicholas Church, recalled the conversation.

Joseph said, “One Sunday, I was talking to a parent, and she said to me, ‘Something’s working. Every Friday, when I pick up my daughter from school, she asks me if there is a youth group meeting that night. She always wants to go to the youth group meeting.”

Every other Friday after 7 p.m. Mass, the Christ Is Alive (CIA) Youth Ministry gathers for one-and-a-half hours in the St. Nicholas parish office. The group wants its numbers of children, teenagers, and young adults to increase.

Father Rolands Uribe, the pastor of Our Lady of Fatima & St. Nicholas, said, “CIA is always looking for new members to share our experience with. It is very important for me as a pastor to work with young people and make them feel part of the church, and at the same time accompany them in the call that God makes for them to be witnesses of God’s love.”

Joseph has served as Youth Minister since 2007, when the youth group was called Gift Youth Ministry at St. Nicholas Parish. After the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the St. Nicholas meetings and both parishes merged, Joseph started working with other adults who were interested in youth ministry and decided to reconvene meetings in November of 2022.

CIA has approximately 25 active members, many of whom serve at the parish itself. Father Rolands said, “Some of the members are part of the church choir, altar servers, catechists in training, or lectors. They are always willing to help and be active in the various activities our church may offer.”

Joseph, who plans and facilitates her youth sessions and events with fellow CIA adult leaders Arleth Galindo, Diana Montiel, and Elizabeth Zuniga, said, “Whatever our topic is, we try to include an interactive activity that goes with the topic, and there’s prayer time, and a Bible verse that’s connected to our session. We have covered various topics from finding our identity in Christ, how to handle social media as a Christian team, having healthy relationships in and out of school, and how to pray.”

Joseph said an important part of the CIA meetings is reminding members not to lose sight of who they are.

Joseph said, “There are many things that define us, so we have activities where we have them write down all the things they think about themselves or how they feel about themselves, but then we will direct them to Bible passages where they can see what God thinks of them. In Ephesians 1, we are reminded that we are forgiven and that we are loved. We want them to understand how God the Father sees them so that they can identify with and know that about themselves. That is a priority; that is the first way to define themselves.”

Those interested in joining CIA should email [email protected]