Dear Parishioners,

On the last Sunday of September at Noon, we had our first Youth Mass where we had contemporary music played by young people. We are planning this Mass to be a monthly event starting on November 4 and continuing the first Sunday of every month followed after by a Youth Group meeting. The Youth Group is a brand new idea for our parish and I think a lot of good can come from it. In the future, it would be good to have even more young people involved in this Mass as lectors and ushers and greeters.

 The Youth Group is meant to support and empower the youth (7th to 12th grade) to a personal encounter with Our Lord through the Church. It is a time and place to gather with other young people who believe so that they can help each other on their journey. I am being helped by an organization called Couples for Christ to help start this group. I particularly like how Couples for Christ run their meetings because the older Youth help the younger youth in their faith and so the whole group is youth driven with the adults acting more as advisers. I really like this approach because it encourages our young to be leaders rather than passively going along with whatever is happening. The group emphasizes food, fun and festivity and is worth experiencing at least once by whoever is interested.

How do you get involved? By coming to a meeting or the Youth Mass. We need people to join the Youth Choir as well. And, if you can’t make the first Sunday of every month, but want updates for any special events that come down the line, let me know and we’ll see what we can do.

For this idea to be successful, we all really need to work to recruit young people. Being a Catholic in today’s culture can be challenging for the young and I think this group will be a great encouragement to many. So, if you would like to be involved or know someone who would like to be involved, feel free to contact me at toddcarterpriest@gmail.com.

God bless,

Father Carter