KA-PAMILYA: Developing Family-Based Youth Ministry

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Objectives  To enable the participants to understand that family ministry and youth ministry are not two separate, contrary but complementary, interdependent ministries in and for the Church

 To provide the participants with insights or directives that may move them to re-think, re-evaluate, redirect the existing programs and activities of the youth ministry in their respective parishes or dioceses toward developing family-oriented youth ministry

 To let the participants come up with feasible strategies and ways to enable families to participate in the youth ministry and to allow the youth participate actively in the formation of families in their communities and parishes

Introduction

Outline  The need to develop family- based youth ministry Why do we have to develop family-based youth ministry?

Outline  Toward developing family- based youth ministry How do we develop a family- based youth ministry? What is a family-based youth ministry?

The need to develop family- based youth ministry

Situation of families today

Weakening of traditional family values, abhorrence of lifetime commitment, weakening of respect for parents and elderly

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Breaking up of the nuclear family because of poverty, migration, job opportunities, emerging secular ideas

Generation gap between parents and the youth over moral values, social issues and technology

Prevailing youth culture that cuts off parents from their children

Culture rooted in hedonistic mentality that exalts self- centered concept of freedom

Modern culture which is excessively concerned with efficiency and productivity

Culture which is more concerned with having than being

Culture which is concerned with doing and using all kinds of technology.

Modern man busies himself with controlling and programming life We have more facebook or twitter friends than real ones.

Culture which is concerned searching for the “how” rather than for the “why”.

Mass media give credit to this culture which presents recourse to contraception, sterilization, abortion and even euthanasia as mark of progress and a victory of freedom, while depicting as enemies of freedom and progress those positions which are pro-life.

 Fox News blames live airing of suicide on 'severe human error' Reuters – 20 hours ago (Oct.1, 2012)

Root cause of the crisis of culture: eclipse of the objective value of marriage and family life, which flows from the eclipse of the sense of God and man

Some misconceptions and weaknesses of parish-based ministries

Youth ministry is exclusively for the youth, their “territory” off-limits to parents

Departmentaliz ed ministries and offices in the parish or diocese

Programs and activities of the youth ministry depend on the thrust of the diocese or the pastoral orientation of the bishop or parish priest

Youth ministry is seen as a separate ministry, isolated from other ministries

Family is viewed as a private affair

Parents delegate entirely their primary and essential duty of formation to the youth ministers

Overlapping of activities or programs due to lack of coordination and collaboration among the various ministries

How do we develop a family-based youth ministry?

Certain directions:

 Identify both the common and unique needs of each ministry in the parish or diocese

Youth ministers must neither substitute nor replace the irreplaceable and indispensable role of parents.

 Start with the existing programs and activities of each ministry

 Re-think, re-plan, re- direct programs and activities that shall incorporate parents and families

The role of parents cannot be limited to only giving permission to their children. A team of parents from all walks of life can be developed. This team can provide guidance and support to the programs of the youth ministry.

 Utilize the resources available in the parish or diocese

 Build a new program based on the needs identified and the available resources

 In the family-based youth ministry program, parents are not seen as hindrances but as indispensable partners, positive resources in the youth ministry

Youth ministry is a ministry in and for the home

 A family-based youth ministry respects and strengthens family priorities

Parish programs and activities must encourage families to have extra time for family gatherings and celebrations. Some of our programs hinder our families from doing their tasks and duties at home because we keep them in the parish for hours.

The youth ministry can provide an “intergenerational activities”, that is, activities that include parents and youth together.

 Youth minister is a family minister Youth ministry starts when our youth are children

 Activities and programs of the youth ministry must unite rather than divide the family. They must be family friendly.

Liturgical activities and practices must be family friendly.

 Youth ministry must equip the family particularly the parents with the relevant formation and information so that they can perform their duties as primary youth ministers

Provide resource materials to families especially to parents so that they may better understand the needs of the young.

 Sexuality  Responsible Parenthood/Family Planning  Parent-Youth Relationship  Family issues  Friends and Interests  Interpersonal Communication  Personality issues

 faith formation program offered for the youth must not only be informative but “performative” (family life- changing and life- sustaining)

 Coordination and collaboration between the youth and family ministries and among other ministries, offices and movements in the parish or diocese

I am neither for the fusion of the youth and family ministries nor for placing the youth ministry under the umbrella of the family ministry.

Youth ministry is not only a youth group but an ecclesial ministry in and for the Church

 Youth ministry is not a social group

 Youth ministry is an ecclesial ministry.

What are the criteria in discerning and judging whether our youth ministry is really an ecclesial ministry?

Criterion 1: Every ecclesial group is called to be an instrument of holiness, through fostering and promoting unity and faith among its members.

Criterion 2: Every ecclesial group must become a forum where the faith is proclaimed as well as taught in its content

Criterion 3: Every ecclesial group must express communion with the Pope and the bishops by embracing their teachings and their pastoral initiatives.

 It demands also an acknowledgment of the various forms of associations in the Church as well as the willingness to cooperate in working together with them

Criterion 4: Every ecclesial group is called to participate in the evangelization, sanctification and formation of people’s conscience

Criterion 5: Every ecclesial group must become an agent of change in bringing about the transformation of culture by its faithful commitment and dedication to the integral development of the human person

Conclusion If the family is the Church of the Home and the youth ministry is a ministry in and for the Church then the youth ministry is a ministry for the Christian family, the Church of the Home.

Questions for the Workshop 1) What programs or activities can you introduce to enable families to participate in the youth ministry? 2) What programs or activities can you suggest to enable the youth to participate in the family ministry and other ministries of your parish or diocese?

Dios Mabalos po saindo gabos!