One Woman\u2019s \u2018Yes\u2019 Leads to Thriving Young Adult Group in Conshohocken<\/a><\/p>\nOrganizers began the process of showcasing the fruits of the three-word philosophy of evangelization by helping ministers work on tilling their own soil of faith, beginning with eucharistic adoration and the sacrament of penance and reconciliation.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur own relationship with God impacts our ministry,\u201d said Father Stephen DeLacy, the archdiocesan vicar for Faith Formation with Youth and Young Adults, who heard confessions and offered a one-hour talk Friday night.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn a lot of ministry, a lot of preaching \u2014 and I\u2019m pointing the finger at myself \u2014 the call to repentance is oftentimes very absent. Yet it\u2019s foundational for the success of any ministry. If we want to listen, teach, and send in the name of Jesus, where Jesus is doing this through us, in order for us to get there, one key is our own effective repentance.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Saturday after lectio divina prayer with the Archbishop, attendees heard a talk about the first part of the youth-ministry formula, listening, by Christopher Wesley, the founder of Marathon Youth Ministry, before breaking into small-group workshops.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow do we listen to young people in the mode that Christ listened to the apostles on their way to Emmaus, where he inserted himself in their conversation, never corrected them at the beginning?\u201d said Santiago.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe didn\u2019t say, \u2018Guys, hello, it\u2019s me.\u2019 He just walked as they were journeying in the wrong direction and just embedded himself in their story, in their situation, what they were going through.\u201d<\/p>\n
A session on teaching, the second part of the formula, was led by Dr. Carmina Chapp, the dean of the School of Theological Studies and an associate professor in the Department of Systematic Theology at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary.<\/p>\n
\u201cTeaching is really forming and accompanying, walking with people on that journey closer to Christ,\u201d said Parker of the USCCB. \u201cThey have this moment with Christ, this transformative experience that sets their hearts on fire, and then they want to go out and be missionary disciples, bringing others closer to Christ, too.\u201d<\/p>\n
The final part of the trinity of youth ministry, the \u201csend,\u201d was presented Saturday afternoon by Christina Lamas, the executive director of the National Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Gospel is alive, and the heart becomes inflamed with passion and desire to go,\u201d said Santiago. \u201cHow do we equip our young people to actually go and help evangelize, especially their peers? Because no one can be better at evangelizing young people than their peers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Santiago believes the key to making this type of ministry effective is simply being there, being present to young people and in relationship with them.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor missionary discipleship, it means, \u2018How do we go out of our parishes, go out of ourselves and literally go to the path where they\u2019re going? How do we capture them there by listening first and foremost?\u2019\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs we gain their trust through listening, how do we then have the conversation about deep faith? Because until they trust you, they won\u2019t talk to you about that. But if they trust you, they will.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Parker, the work of evangelizing youth is not limited to the professional ministers in parishes. It is meant for every Catholic to join in the mission.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we\u2019re trying to bridge everyone together, the bishops are saying this is all of our work,\u201d said Parker. \u201cWe\u2019re all in this.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Jay Sorgi \u2022 Posted November 5, 2025 The Catholic Church\u2019s effort to evangelize young people continues to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25871,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[8364,69,71,70],"class_list":["post-25870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-jay-sorgi","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25870\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}