Parish seeks input from young adult
members
Kristin Lukowski of The Michigan Catholic
Published May 26, 2006
Troy – About 50 young adults showed up to a brainstorming session for new ideas at St. Anastasia Parish in Troy, and at least that many ideas were shared.
The young adult social evening was held to gather information from the 18- to 39-year-olds of the parish to see what kinds of social, faith and service activities they would like to see at the church. Fr. John Riccardo, pastor of St. Anastasia, talked about how young people often don’t know how they relate to the church after they graduate from high school, at least until they get married and baptize children.
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Siobhan McGirr (standing at the board) takes notes as youth minister Mike Chamberland leads group discussion. | Siobhan McGirr, who works with the Life Teen program and at Oakland Community College, participated in the group’s discussion. The youth are the future of the Church, she said, and it’s important to have a group to belong to.
“I really think that young adults have an opportunity to keep the Church alive and going,” she said.
Church outreach to those post high school to age 35 has been earmarked as a high priority in Together in Faith, the archdiocese’s plan to reevaluate its resources due to a declining number of priests and a shifting population. Youth ministry was the highest priority consistently mentioned by every vicariate on individual parish evaluations, according to “The Journey Before Us” letter from Cardinal Adam Maida.
At St. Anastasia, young adults split up into an older and younger group, and discussed service, social and faith activities they would like to have at the church. The younger group, mostly college students, offered suggestions of Bible studies, Eucharistic adoration and many ideas for mission work and trips. They also talked about some of the faith-related activities they do at college.
They also decided they liked the idea of day retreats for learning, but would like to take a whole weekend now and then to strengthen their faith. Many of them were honest in that they had lost the connection with their church they’d had in high school.
The older group, mostly young professionals, suggested a prayer chain, a young married couple group, youth mentoring, and lectures on topic we think we know, such as what we do at a Mass and why. Some of their social activity suggestions game nights, dinner clubs and wine tastings, which quickly got several volunteers, to many laughs.
McGirr said the young adults have a real hunger and drive for fellowship and for the opportunity to serve. “Everyone was really excited and enthusiastic,” she said.
Laura Wilbert attends church at St. Anastasia and is a young professional who participated in the older group’s discussion. She said it was nice to see such a large group sharing ideas.
“If we got through half of the list we created in there, that would be phenomenal,” she said.
Steve Gornick, who has been a volunteer at St. Anastasia and also participated in the older group’s discussion, said there’s not usually a lot of groups or activities for young adults – and if there are, young adults often don’t hear about them. “If we get people our age excited about their faith, then there’s a lot of opportunity,” he said.
Rosemary Graves, Parish Life and Communication for St. Anastasia, who facilitated the older young adult discussion, said she was pleased with the dialogue that had been shared. She and other staffers will look at which things can be implemented.
“You can hear the hunger for what young Catholics want,” she said.
At the end of the night, Central Michigan University student Jeff Pipas presented a mock-up Web site that could be used to keep teens at St. Anastasia in touch with each other. A meeting to follow-up with some of the ideas shared at the young adult night is planned.
Fr. Riccardo also talked to the young adults about expanding the 5:30 p.m. Sunday Mass, which is now geared toward teens. That’s partly because he wants teens to know that Church isn’t something they do until they move out of the house, but something they can move into as adults.
“In order for that to happen, I need you to step up,” he told the young adults.
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