Youth ministry today: Its strengths and limitations | Bill Maguire | CWR blog
Too many parish youth groups shut out the very persons God intended to have the most impact on a teen’s faith: the parents.
It’s remarkable what God can do in a young person’s life over the course of a single weekend. Some whose hearts and spirits have been broken by their sins or the sins of others experience genuine healing through confession; others who’ve gone to Sunday Mass their entire lives encounter the real presence of Christ for the first time in Eucharistic adoration; others whose hearts and minds were shut to the faith warm and begin to open; still others discover the initial stirrings of a vocation to the priesthood or religious life.
This is the power of large-group evangelization. These events can include youth conferences, weekend retreats, the March for Life, mission trips, and so forth. Parish youth groups can be highly effective at large-group evangelization. In fact, such groups shine brightest and do best when they focus on this kind of youth outreach.
I know this is possible, because like many people who’ve served young people in the New Evangelization, I’ve seen with my own eyes and I’ve touched with my own hands (1 John 1).
Limitations of large parish youth groups
Like others who’ve seen and touched, however, the unavoidable question quickly imposes itself: How do we preserve this beautiful encounter with Christ and yet help teens to build an ongoing, consistent Christian life once they’ve come down from their mountaintop experiences?
St. John Paul II put it this way:
Some experiences of religious enthusiasm, which the Lord sometimes grants, are only initial and passing graces which have the purpose of prodding [one] towards the decisive commitment of conversion, walking generously in faith, hope, and love.
And if anyone is qualified to speak about experiences of religious enthusiasm in the life of teens, it’s John Paul II: a man who facilitated the experience of religious enthusiasm for millions of young people at the World Youth Day events he initiated and over which he presided.
The Holy Father continues, however:
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