‘The Church notices,’ youth ministry leaders told at appreciation dinner
On Oct. 6, the Archdiocese of Newark’s Office for Youth and Young Adult Ministry (OYM) hosted around 50 youth ministry leaders at the St. John Paul II Retreat Center in Kearney, NJ, for a get-together unlike any other youth ministry event.
“There’s no learning objectives planned,” said OYM Associate Director Rich Donovan to the gathering. “I’m not giving you homework to take home to do tonight. You know there’s no extra assignments or anything like that.”
The dinner was an opportunity for youth ministers from around the Archdiocese of Newark to share food and friendship together. The event was an appreciation for their work. Also present to honor and encourage the leaders were OYM Director Tom Conboy and Fr. Stephen Fichter, the archdiocese’s Episcopal Vicar of Education.
In his address, Donovan reflected on his own experience as a youth minister over the last three decades. Of the many stories he shared, one that had a particular impact on him.
“[The pastor] said to me, ‘Sometimes a volunteer or a part-time person can do more than a full-time person can ever do’,” Donovan recounted. “I kind of sat there and I looked at it. I was like, ‘Really?’ It turns out he was right.”
Planting seeds that will sprout in the future
For Elizabeth Warren, the examples of others turned out to be the exact catalyst behind her move into ministry. An Iowa native, she is a postgraduate theology student at Notre Dame University and serving as a missionary with at Saint Elizabeth Parish in Wyckoff through the Echo Graduate Service Program.
“High school youth ministers, college youth ministers, and priests at my university inspired me with their stories and their wisdom and pushed me to pursue something that I was passionate about,” she said. “I never thought of youth ministry as something that I could do as a career, but they inspired me and pushed me into it, which I’m very thankful for.”
Freddy Burke serves as Religious Education Director at the St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception Parish in Jersey City. For him, the opportunity to bear personal witness is what counts.
“From my personal witness, I feel it’s important for young people to hear that it’s okay to talk about your faith, live out your faith and hear it from another young person… that you know you’re not in this alone,” said Burke.
Donovan’s stories centered on the theme of showing up and being present for the archdiocese’s young people. He shared with the audience the “Romero Prayer,” explaining that though the prayer had sometimes been misattributed to St. Óscar Romero, it held meaning for those involved in youth ministry. The prayer focuses on maintaining hope that the seed sowed today will sprout tomorrow under God’s grace.
“There are young people all across the archdiocese who someday may be able to say the same thing about someone sitting here in this room because of you,” said Donovan. “Your presence mattered to them, and they are the person they are today… so, on behalf of all the young people in the archdiocese and of all of us here in the office, thank you for showing up… Thank you for helping build the Church of the Archdiocese of Newark.”
To learn more about the Office for Youth and Young Adult Ministry, CLICK HERE.
Feature image: Father Stephen Fichter, Archdiocesan Vicar for Education, was among those who honored and encouraged youth ministry leaders at a dinner held at St. John Paul II Retreat Center in Kearney, NJ on Oct. 6. (Photos by Christopher Benitez-Cuartas / Archdiocese of Newark)
