Two-day regional event in Detroit explores U.S. bishops' 2024 guide to youth and young adult ministry, 'Listen, Teach, Send'
DETROIT — Church leaders who work with young people in Michigan, Indiana, Ohio and Ontario gathered April 23 and 24 at Sacred Heart Major Seminary for a two-day workshop led by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to unpack “Listen, Teach, Send,” the bishops’ guide for pastoral ministers and families in the accompaniment and evangelization of youths and young adults.
The Archdiocese of Detroit’s Office of Discipleship Formation hosted the regional event, which gave 120 youth and young adult ministers the opportunity to hear from USCCB leaders and collaborate with colleagues as they discussed ways to practically minister to early adolescents through young people in their early 30s.
The workshop began April 23 with Mass celebrated by Detroit Archbishop Edward J. Weisenburger, followed by a keynote address by Paul Jarzembowski, associate director for laity at the U.S. bishops' conference, and a presentation by Julia Dezelski, S.Th.D., associate director for marriage and family life at the USCCB.
Jarzembowski addressed how the guide, “Listen, Teach, Send: A National Pastoral Framework for Ministries with Youth and Young Adults,” released in June 2024, was a natural outgrowth of Pope Francis’ 2019 apostolic exhortation, Christus Vivit.
The document and its language are a product of their time, Jarzembowski explained, responding to the needs of Catholic youth and young adults in order to prepare them to live out their faith in the future.
There have been many “epochs,” or time periods in culture and society, Jarzembowski said. By looking at those times, it becomes easier to understand what's needed in the present day, he said.
“In a way, to appreciate ‘Listen, Teach, Send,’ you kind of have to know why it is so special; if you want to make the most of the moment, you have to know what happened in the moment before and the moment before that,” Jarzembowski said.
“Every generation thinks that they live in the age of change," Jarzembowski continued. "Every generation thinks we’re the one — everything's changing now. Pope Francis responded (and said), ‘One could say that we are not living in an epoch of change so much as a change in epochs, that, indeed, we are moving from one way of being to another.’ And many of you who work in this field that touches the lives of youth or young adults, you know this field has had epochs.”
In each age, ministers have had to address the challenges of the time, and the U.S. bishops have charged the faithful to respond to the realities of the day, Jarzembowski said.
The current epoch is marked by challenges for young people that include disaffiliation, commodification, polarization, isolation, indifference, insecurity and uncertainty, and "Listen, Teach, Send," seeks to address that, he said.
“When you hear (popes and bishops) speaking about evangelization, that is a response to disaffiliation," Jarzembowski said. "Young people feel commodified; they feel that they are just a number, that they are something marketers can just pass by. Pastoral care is really a response to that. Synodal listening is a response to the polarization.”
In Christus Vivit, Pope Francis explained that in light of these challenges, ministry with young people “is a process that is gradual, respectful, patient, hopeful, tireless and compassionate,” Jarzembowski added.
“Ministry is not a static thing. When reflecting on ministry, it is not a thing, not a group, not an entity; it is a journey," Jarzembowski continued. "Essentially, what Pope Francis is saying is that ministry to young people is no longer a noun; it is a verb. It is an action, experience, not just a sedentary or stationary experience.”
Throughout the epochs, young people have often felt that their youth ministries were just clubs, things to go in and out of, Jarzembowski said.
That's a perception that has to change, he said.
“If ministry is to be successful, it has to be together — we can't do this in a silo anymore,” Jarzembowski said. “One of the beautiful things about this gathering is the ministries that are in different parts of the Church coming together for a common cause and working together. That's the beauty of where the bishops want to lead us."
