Will our kids have faith?  Will our faith have kids?  Catholic youth ministry needs a paradigm shift.  For years the Church has relied on a “producer-consumer” model to form the faith of young people—a model that we are now realizing doesn’t work very well.

Common sense, research and our theology all tell us that parents are the primary educators of their children, yet catechists and youth ministers have often sent a different message: “We are the professionals.  Send your kids to us, and we will teach them what they need to know.”

There has to be a better way and, for the good of our Church and our families, we need to find it.

Instead of asking parents to outsource their children’s faith formation to parish programs, the Church must affirm the primary role of parents and partner with them in the responsibility of forming faith.  “The best social predictor of what the religious and spiritual lives of youth will look like,” write the authors of the National Study of Youth & Religion, “is what the religious and spiritual lives of their parents do look like.” (Soul Searching p. 261)

So, whether they like it or not, whether they know it or not, whether they're trying or not, parents have a greater impact than anyone else on the faith lives of their children. 

That's why St. Clarence is trying to do youth ministry differently. We don't have all the answers, but we're learning all the time.  We'd love to have your feedback, but most of all we want your involvement.  Give Danny a call.  Come to a Sunday Night Session.  Help out with an event.  Think and pray about how you can use your gifts to help young people see that faith matters.

Most importantly, be aware that you can do so much more for your kids' faith formation than all the "professionals" put together.  Not even the greatest parish program imaginable can ever replace the influence of a faith-filled family!