Melina Arguello Sotro and her husband rearranged their schedules in order to attend their parish’s archdiocesan Synod Small Groups, but she said the stories shared with four others at their table at a recent session “were so profound.” The two-hour, six-part Small Group series offers a unique opportunity to hear the larger voice of the Church, find encouragement in one’s own faith journey and are a testament to the Church’s healing power, she said.
The Synod Small Groups and accompanying teaching session videos that feature young adults also are reminders to the faithful that the Church has zealous young people committed to its mission, and that the faith of the Church is youthful and enduring, she said.
Melina Sotro
“I think that’s a huge encouragement for us as young adults,” she said, and for other generations.
Arguello Sotro isn’t only a Small Group participant. She helped to make them happen, serving as one of the Small Group readers in the videos the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis produced to provide a framework for the Small Group discussions.
“Practicing Catholic” host Patrick Conley recently interviewed Arguello Sotro and fellow Synod Small Group reader Alejandra Chavez Rivas about the value of increased engagement of young adults in the Church and parish life. Both women are young adults, a group reflected in one Synod focus area: forming youth and young adults in and for a Church that is always young.
“If the churches are filled with elderly and we want more young adults involved with the Church, then … our voices need to be heard,” Chavez Rivas said.
Alejandra Chavez Rivas
A friend of Chavez Rivas is a youth minister who posts YouTube videos about topics such as what it means to be Catholic, or how to pray. “Her videos are very innovative,” she said. “As a young adult, we have a vision and we use what is currently being influenced so much by media, which is Instagram, YouTube, Facebook. So, she was able to tap into the youth that she ministers to.”
For herself, Chavez Rivas said living out her faith is about going to Mass, getting to know other Catholic young adults and learning from the way they pray.
“I think it’s our vision, our time,” she said. “There’s definitely all sorts of ways that young adults are able to help benefit the Church.”
Arguello Sotro said hearing younger voices and seeing younger faces normalizes what it means to be a part of the Catholic Church.
“The Church is a place where we become more ourselves, if we remain close to her,” she said. “She makes us more human, more beautiful, more ordered and more free, and that’s a very good thing.”
Being asked to participate in the Archdiocesan Synod and hearing many young adult friends also being asked was “a beautiful testimony to what the Church is,” she said.
To hear the full interview, listen to this episode of the “Practicing Catholic” radio show. It airs at 9 p.m. Oct. 8, 1 p.m. Oct. 9 and 2 p.m. Oct. 10 on Relevant Radio 1330 AM.
Produced by Relevant Radio and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, the latest show also includes interviews with Barb Ernster from the World Apostolate of Fatima, who describes how Catholics can grow in their rosary devotions, and Tim Murray from Trinity Sober Homes, who describes the ministry’s new rural retreat center for men in recovery.
Listen to all of the interviews after they have aired at:
soundcloud.com/PracticingCatholic
tinyurl.com/PracticingCatholic (Spotify)
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