Transcript FOR AGES UNENDING

FOR AGES UNENDING
The Ministry of Liturgy with Adolescents
What is this document?
• Collaborative effort between the National Federation for Catholic
Youth Ministry (NFCYM) and the Federation of Diocesan Liturgical
Commissions (FDLC)
• Partly a follow up to the 1997 NFCYM document From Age to Age:
The Challenge of Worship with Adolescents
• Not intended as an exhaustive document, but rather as a
conversation starter among “pastors, liturgists, liturgy committee
members, leaders in music ministry, and youth ministry leaders.”
So, where do we begin?
• Sacrosanctum Concilium, Pope Paul VI, Dec. 4, 1963
• “This sacred Council has several aims in view: it desires to impart an ever
increasing vigor to the Christian life of the faithful; to adapt more suitable to
the needs of our own times those institutions which are subject to change; to
foster whatever can promote union among all who believe in Christ; to
strengthen whatever can help to call the whole of mankind into the
household of the Church. The Council therefor sees particularly cogent
reasons for undertaking the reform and promotion of the liturgy.” (SC 1)
• The Problem
• Where are the young people?
So where are they?
• Why don’t we see more young people involved in our parish
ministries?
• In a meeting with active young adults:
• No sense of feeling welcomed
• No sense of feeling appreciated
• NOBODY ASKED!!!
• No intentional outreach to the next generation
How do we change this?
• First and Foremost, HOSPITALITY!
• Our parishes need to be churches and communities where not only the
young, but all people feel welcome.
• Start small
• Find opportunities for young people to get involved
• Greeters
• Handing out bulletins
• Let them be seen as active members of the community
Build them up
• Liturgical Preparation
• Reach out to those who you see are talented in various ways and ask them to
get involved as a lector, cantor, musician
• Once you get them interested, help to form them
• Lectors workshops
• Music ensembles
• Give them the tools they need to become active members of the community
Use Them!
• Liturgical Participation
• You’ve got them interested and prepared, now put them to work!
• Scheduling can be tricky, work with them
• Put them in the rotation, but try to be flexible
• If you have people that are particularly talented in an area, use them to help
train others
• Have a musician? Maybe this is the opportunity to mix it up a bit!
• Work with music ministers to incorporate new pieces highlighting this young persons
talents
Speaking of Music
• “Liturgy with youth, not for youth”
• “Would service within the liturgical assembly not be a viable and admirable
method of spreading the faith, both by word and deed, as true witnesses of
Christ?” (FAU 32)
• Rather than separating the youth from the assembly with a “Youth Mass”,
make them part of the assembly! They have just as much to offer as older
members of the community.
• It’s time to move away from the Seven Last Words
• “We Have Always Done It This Way!”
Active participation fosters authentic vocations!
• Incorporating young people into the liturgy builds authentic
discipleship and “Liturgical Living”
• We are training our youth to be active, vibrant Catholics who are being sent
out into the world
• All of your hard work allows them to be beacons of hope in their college
communities
• By forming our young people today, we’re planting the seeds for their growth
into active Catholic adults who live their faith