If youth ministers, catechists and other faith formation volunteers don’t have a personal relationship with Jesus, it is difficult to pass on the faith to others, said Karen Avila, a student information coordinator at a high school in southern California.
Avila, who served for five years as a missionary with NET Ministries in West St. Paul, said she has pondered the point of doing youth ministry if ministers, catechists and other volunteers do not first know Christ themselves. During an upcoming talk for faith formation ministers in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, Avila said, she will “dive into the importance of filling our own cups before pouring out onto others, and discuss practical ways to do so.”
“It will make a world of difference in our ministry,” she said.
Avila will be one of two keynote speakers Sept. 17 at a first-ever St. Paul Discipleship Formation Day for parish volunteers in faith formation, sacramental preparation and youth ministry. Parish staff involved in these programs and parents also are invited.
Karina Avila
The second keynote speaker, Petroc Willey, a professor of theology and the director of the catechetical institute at Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio, will discuss how being a catechist is more than just having one more job in life, organizers said. It is in itself a vocation, a calling from Christ.
Held at NET Ministries’ headquarters, the event will include Mass celebrated by Archbishop Bernard Hebda, training for catechists, encouragement, appreciation and prayer, said Eric Pederson, director of the Department of Parish Catechesis in the Office for the Mission of Catholic Education.
Pederson said he and Bill Dill, marriage preparation and youth ministry events coordinator in the archdiocese’s Office of Marriage, Family and Life, had talked about holding such an event for several years. He said it is important to assist the nearly 2,700 volunteer catechists in the archdiocese, who last year served an estimated 26,862 young people in 108 parish-based catechetical programs.
Pederson, Dill and Estela Villagrán Manancero, director of the archdiocese’s Office of Latino Ministry, are hosting the day-long event.
Petroc Willey
Pederson said he’s received an enthusiastic response to the event from directors of religious education and youth ministry “because … they’re always trying to figure out ‘how do I train my volunteers, how do we make sure we’re all on the same page moving forward?’ We thought, as an archdiocese, we can offer a ‘big-picture’ training for them.”
The event’s key themes will be consistent with discussions in the recent Archdiocesan Synod process, Pederson said, especially one of the Synod’s three focus areas: Forming youth and young adults in and for a Church that is always young.
The day’s activities will offer encouragement to those attending as they seek to grow as disciples, and tools to assist them in sharing messages with young people “in a way that’s understandable to them,” he said.
FORMING DISCIPLES
St. Paul Discipleship Formation Day
9 a.m.–5 p.m. Sept. 17
NET Center, 110 Crusader Ave. W., West St. Paul
$45, includes lunch. Scholarships available.
Schedule, breakout sessions and registration at archspm.org/saint-paul-discipleship-formation-day.
For questions, contact Madeline Olson at [email protected] or 651-291-4506.
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