SPEAKER_04 0:08

Welcome to Beyond the Beacon with Bishop Kevin Sweeney, a podcast of the Diocese of Patterson, New Jersey. Join us for conversations about our Catholic faith, and together let's strive to live a life of faith, hope, and love. We're so glad you could join us. I'm Jay Agnish. With me is Bishop Kevin Sweeney. Bishop Kevin, how are you? I'm doing well, Jay. How are you? Pretty good. Seems like it's been a while. Yes. Yeah, um, you were on another uh continent, I guess, for a while. What was going on there? You were you became our um like a roving reporter, in a sense, in in Italy.

SPEAKER_02 0:44

So we had a wonderful pilgrimage from the Jubilee to um Assisi Orvieto, where there was a Eucharistic miracle, and then on to Rome. Um we had a great company, uh Sister Teresa Lee and Brian Hartenberger, who weren't with us on the trip but are been leading our Jubilee efforts, uh, were part of the planning. Um and then Father John Calabro, um uh campus minister at uh or chaplain at Pope John High School was with us. Um we had uh two of our voc uh vocation directors, Father Ed Rama and Father Charlie Lana, and then um Father Brian Sullivan, pastor of Christ the King, and New Vernon was there with a few of his parishioners. And we had 28, mostly from the diocese um in the group, and um we had a wonderful time, wonderful weather, a great guide. Uh and then Yeah, I think so. It rained like the day after you got to be.

SPEAKER_04 1:35

Yeah, we didn't have any rain either.

SPEAKER_02 1:37

Uh beautiful weather, and uh Assisi was magnificent, and uh Orvieto was beautiful, and then Rome was wonderful, and uh um one of our seminarians uh studying at the North American College in Rome was ordained with 15 classmates. Sixteen of them were ordained in what they call the altar of the chair behind the main altar at St. Peter's Basilica. Uh that was um this past Thursday, and uh Lucas Fog. Came home on Friday, the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, and uh um yeah, it was a great time.

SPEAKER_04 2:07

So you you beat the rush to Assisi, I guess, getting out of the case.

SPEAKER_02 2:11

Yeah, we were there, right. We were there the weekend before, yes, right, right. Um it's a net oh it used to be a national holiday, and they're gonna make it a national holiday again. He's uh one of the patrons of um, I think Francis of Assisi and Catherine of Siena, I think, are the two patrons of Italy. Um so um, but it was great. We enjoyed your photos.

SPEAKER_04 2:29

And was there was there one moment that was your favorite?

SPEAKER_02 2:32

Well, I guess um uh two, uh the ordination and uh the um uh well three maybe the uh the papal audience uh on Wednesday and Publio was pretty close. And uh we learned that if you want to get close to the Holy Father, find a mom with a baby. And then you can be close. He seemed to stop wherever there was a baby and looked up there. So uh but also um uh our first day in Rome, I think, um we said Mass in St. Peter's Basilica, and they have a number of altars kind of on the way down to where Peter was buried, the burial place. We didn't get down to what they call the scavi tour all the way to the bottom. But um just by chance we celebrated Mass at the uh how do I forget how the Kiesa, the chapel uh Irlandes in Spanish, the Irish chapel of uh St. Columba. Uh so it was uh beautiful celebrating Mass there.

SPEAKER_04 3:22

Sounds sounds great. Uh hope to get there myself one day. Um okay, good. Well, we're gonna talk about youth ministry today, but first I think we're gonna open up in prayer.

SPEAKER_02 3:32

Are we gonna pray the Jubilee prayer? Good to have our guests with us, and a couple more to come. So uh Alyssa, right? And John, um please join us, and those on the other side of the camera can join us as well. And uh we'll pray, we'll place ourselves in God's presence, name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Amen. In this Jubilee year, as pilgrims of hope, we pray together the Jubilee prayer. Father in heaven, may the faith you have given us in your Son Jesus Christ, our brother, and the flame of charity enkindle in our hearts by the Holy Spirit reawaken in us the blessed hope for the coming of your kingdom.

SPEAKER_03 4:16

May your grace transform us into tireless cultivators of the seeds of the gospel.

SPEAKER_02 4:21

May those seeds transform within the humanity of the whole cosmos in the pure expectation of a new heaven and a new earth, when with the powers of evil vanquished, your glory will shine eternally.

SPEAKER_03 4:34

May the grace of the Jubilee reawaken in us, pilgrims of hope, a yearning for the treasures of heaven. May that same grace spread the joy and peace of our Redeemer throughout the earth. To you, our God, eternally blessed, be glory and praise forever. Amen.

SPEAKER_02 4:51

Our Lady, seed of wisdom, Mother of the Church, our Lady of Hope, pray for us. Saint Joseph, pray for us. Saint Dennis, pray for us. All holy men and women, pray for us. Name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

SPEAKER_03 5:03

Amen. Amen.

SPEAKER_04 5:04

Okay, so we're gonna talk youth ministry today. So let me introduce the two guests who are here now, and then we're gonna have two other youth ministers are gonna join us. So, John Camerata is the director of youth ministry for the Diocese of Patterson since 2022. He holds a master in church management from Villanova University with 25 years of service as the youth minister for St. Peter the Apostle Parish in Parsippone. He's married 16 years with two children. Sitting next to him is Alyssa Carrollin. She is the youth minister at St. John Vienny Parish in the Stockholm neighborhood of Hardiston and St. Thomas the Apostle in the Oak Ridge neighborhood of Jefferson. So welcome both of you, and thanks for being on. Let's get to it, Bishop. What's up?

SPEAKER_02 5:49

Thanks, thanks. Uh John, you've been doing this for a couple of years, I think.

SPEAKER_07 5:53

A couple of years, yes. How many? Well, 25 years in youth ministry.

SPEAKER_02 5:57

25 years of youth ministry. Um did you grow up in St. Peter, the Apostle in Parsiphony? Yeah. I went to the Catholic school there as well. And uh were you um as a young person part of a youth group? Yes. Right, yes. And uh then uh just naturally moved into leadership, and then the one of the pastors offered you a job?

SPEAKER_07 6:19

Yes. Yeah, I was always uh volunteering and helping out, teaching C C D, helping run the retreats. Uh I was a chef at the time and I went to culinary school and and so and then uh Father Herb Tillier uh had invited me to say that.

SPEAKER_02 6:34

You just heard something recently about the you're cooking seven fishes on Christmas Eve.

SPEAKER_07 6:38

Oh, for maybe twenty years I cooked for Father Herb and Bishop Rodimer Christmas Eve, the traditional seven fishes. That was they always celebrated together. Beautiful. That was a great experience, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:51

Um signor Herb Tilly, uh a great Yankees fan. We forgot to uh sorry, Bishop. Uh so uh you studied to be a chef, you became a chef, you were in youth ministry, and then what happened?

SPEAKER_07 7:05

Uh then I just you know just kept always helping and volunteering, and then finally Father Herb said, Would you come on and and and so I I moved into that, and then uh I started just doing youth ministry and confirmation, uh and then um the DRE uh just wanted the young kids, so I took over the middle school, and then when uh that person left, uh Father asked if I would take on everything and so your DRE as well. So I'm the DRE as well, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:31

Uh and then um I I should remember this, although it might it was either just before or just after, I think. When did you become DAS and director of youth ministry? In 2022. Okay, right, right, right, yes, yes. So um we can talk a little bit more about that in terms of what we're trying to do as a diocese. Um, but um we we can't have a a strong youth ministry program in a diocese without strong youth ministers, right? So you've invited a few of our youth ministers. Is it Alyssa, right? Maybe tell us a little bit about uh growing up in the faith if you did, and uh uh uh what led you to towards youth ministry and then to become a youth minister.

SPEAKER_05 8:13

Very similar to John's story. I grew up at St. John Vienny.

SPEAKER_02 8:16

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 8:17

Um I did Antioch there growing up. Father Matt Twiggs um brought Antioch to the parish, and I was on the first team my junior year of high school.

SPEAKER_06 8:25

Wow.

SPEAKER_05 8:26

Um and so again, very involved through high school, through college. I came back and helped out a little bit, and then I did um a year with Jesuit Volunteer Corps in Cleveland, Ohio. And then after that, I'd come back and there was, I think, a gap where our previous youth minister, who was the youth minister when I was growing up, had left, and there was kind of no one, they were still doing Antioch, but no one was clearly no one was in charge. And so one of our volunteers called me and said, Would you be interested in in we all want to help, but none of us really want to leave. You need a leader. Could you leave?

SPEAKER_06 9:00

Right.

SPEAKER_05 9:00

Um, and then I just kind of very naturally stumbled from there into a full, into youth ministry.

SPEAKER_02 9:05

Did you go to a Jesuit college?

SPEAKER_05 9:07

I did, I went to Fordham.

SPEAKER_02 9:08

Fordham, okay. Um, and uh maybe talk about um, you know, I think one of the things that youth ministry so often does is help young people to know that um they're we're called to serve, right, as as as disciples and to put our faith into action. Um I guess you had some of that experience before going to a Jesuit school, and then uh you heard about an opportunity to give a a full year of service, right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 9:35

So definitely starting um I was kind of encouraged to take my faith on as my own by our youth minister when I was in high school. Um leading the retreat team was super exciting. Um and then through college, the the thing that drew me to Fordham was the courage personalis, right? The care for the whole person. Okay. The idea that we are um called to live as men and women foreign with others, which is another kind of Jesuit catchphrase. Um so that idea of men and women for foreign with others drove me to kind of not know what I was doing, but knowing that I wanted to do that year of service in college.

SPEAKER_02 10:11

What did you study undergrad?

SPEAKER_05 10:13

English and theology.

SPEAKER_02 10:14

Okay. Um and you mentioned, I think, also um uh you attended a World Youth Day.

SPEAKER_05 10:20

Yeah, with with Fordham. So I went to Brazil.

SPEAKER_02 10:22

Great. And how was that, what was that experience like? Great.

SPEAKER_05 10:25

We did um I think a week before World Youth Day with Magis. So Jesuit universities and from all over the world came together and we did a service project. So it's that that link between the interior faith, but what does it propel you to do in the world? And that's a conversation I've had with our young people quite a bit, is we've gone to conferences, we've gone to different, we've gone on different trips, and I've had really great conversations with kids in the van on the drive home where they're like, okay, so adoration, we love adoration, we love the sacraments, we heard something from the speakers, but what do I do now? Right? What is that next thing? And then trying to offer those next things for the kids to allow them to practice that muscle of uh living their lives of faith.

SPEAKER_02 11:10

John, you want a couple of youth world youth lists as well?

SPEAKER_07 11:13

My first one was 1997 in Paris, and then I went to um uh Toronto in 2002, and then Cologne, Germany.

SPEAKER_02 11:22

Well, we were together in Cologne. Oh yeah. You had to mention Toronto, didn't you? Yeah, I didn't know. Yeah, right. That's right. That's right.

SPEAKER_07 11:29

Uh and they were amazing experiences, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:32

Uh and you um Alyssa, you mentioned uh conferences and trips. Um you know, we don't may not call it that, but um it's a really a pilgrimage experience, right? Uh and uh uh we have um one coming up for our country. John, do you want to share a little bit about NCYC?

SPEAKER_07 11:48

So NCYC is the National Catholic Youth Conference and held in uh Indianapolis, Indiana, and it's uh November 20th to the 22nd. Uh and we have a group uh from the diocese that it's going, and it's uh a beautiful experience. And uh we're blessed that uh Pope Leo is gonna give us a uh a a live stream and uh interaction, so we're very excited about that.

SPEAKER_02 12:09

And how many do we have from the diocese going to Business?

SPEAKER_07 12:12

35 that are coming with the diocese, and we may have a few groups that are gonna go on their own too.

SPEAKER_02 12:17

Have you been to NCYC list? No, I haven't. Uh some any other conferences or uh uh experiences of traveling with young people that stood out that were helpful?

SPEAKER_05 12:26

I took a group to Steubenville. Oh, yes. One or two, I think twice. A youth conference? Yes. Um the experience of adoration was really I mean, very exciting to the kids to kind of have um Yeah, to have that prayer experience for them was great.

SPEAKER_02 12:47

Uh my first World Youth Day was in 1993 in Denver, I've shared before, but uh for me it was really um an experience of the universal church, you know, that um we're part of something so much bigger. Um and uh but even uh the national level or right when you um uh are with young people from whether it be all parts of the country or all parts of the world, it uh it can help us to not just have the theory, right, that we're part of a larger church, but that uh that we're literally part of uh that mystical body, right?

SPEAKER_07 13:17

I think at the last NCYC I leaned over to you and said, you know, after adoration, it was like 15,000 people just being completely silent. I said, how could people not be excited about the church? You know, uh after experiencing something like that. Right. You know, it's it's really beautiful. And and you know, we encourage all parishes to to get involved in things like that.

SPEAKER_04 13:36

And we have a local diocesan event coming up right in November. November 2nd, tell us.

SPEAKER_07 13:41

November 2nd is our diocesan uh youth conference, which uh this will be our our third year uh doing it, and we haven't uh before that we hadn't had one in in a good decade or two, so we're very excited about that. And we have about uh usually about 350 young people that that attend, and we have uh a wonderful group, a ray of hope that's gonna be our our leaders for the day. And uh we also have uh an exhibit for Eucharistic miracles, and we're gonna have a first class relic of St. Carlo Acutis there as well to be a part of it. So it's a great day, and you could uh check out the St. Paul Inside the Walls website to register, and uh we want you know every parish to be represented. So plenty of time, right? Yeah, yeah, plenty of time. Yeah, send kids.

SPEAKER_02 14:22

Uh and St. Elizabeth's University, right?

SPEAKER_03 14:25

Yeah, they're that's doing such a great job. Um they're uh so generous and great partners.

SPEAKER_02 14:29

And it's um it's a nice experience for young people to be on a college campus, right? Um some of them may not have as as as as as many maybe some others do, but uh um have you been, Alyssa, in your group to the uh Dawson Youth Day?

SPEAKER_05 14:43

No, I haven't, so I haven't taken any group this year.

SPEAKER_02 14:46

Great, great. Um and um um maybe you both uh since 1997, so that's more than 25, 20. Uh uh what are some of the changes that you've seen in young people or their challenges or their interests or um uh uh over over over the years and and your experience uh um obviously technology, we were 1997 there were no smartphones, right?

SPEAKER_07 15:11

Uh yeah, I I think uh the the competing for time is the biggest issue. Uh I I think there's so many more distractions that that they're dealing with. Uh so just just convincing them and families that uh being close to the church, being having a relationship with the Lord is the best use of their time. And uh so that is the the the most difficult part, right?

SPEAKER_05 15:36

I would say I think every other that I've seen every other adult in their life is saying my thing is the most important thing, right? School is the most important thing, sports are the most important thing, your job is the most important thing, and then here I am saying the church is the most important thing, and I believe that, but it's hard to I feel like frequently I'm the one who's like, okay, we will make it work. We will come early for service hours, leave whatever it is, we will make find a way to make this fit in your so busy schedule, and like making the case that this is something you should making it something that they want to do, rather than just like this is another obligation that you need to shoehorn into a schedule that is jam-jam packed. Um I think that that has been a challenge for us to say like how are we making this a safe space for the kids to um connect with each other, be themselves, put their phones down. Um I think another change has been gener like general anxiety is a change that I've seen in kids. I've been doing it since 2016. And even since then, um kind of this post-COVID generation is they're very on their phones, they're very nervous about overnights, they're very nervous about um they want all their questions answered. And so sometimes when we're like, no, no, you're on God's time. Sit down, relax, relax. We are taking care of it, that's not something that they're excited to hear.

SPEAKER_02 17:04

I mean uh different things.

SPEAKER_04 17:07

Yeah, no, it's great insight. Um I was wondering, so John, we had talked in our pre pre-interview, you are working. Tell us about the diocesan youth leadership team, how that works and and what what's going on there. You have starting at the end of October, you're gonna start a meeting.

SPEAKER_07 17:23

So uh, you know, we invite uh all parishes to kind of pick out one or two of their young people that to be on the diocesan youth leadership team. And I meet with them uh once a month, and we're gonna start at the end of October.

SPEAKER_06 17:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 17:35

And uh we'll meet kind of through May. And uh each month we go and and and work on leadership uh skills, and so they'll learn leadership styles, group planning, prayer, youth ministry, um dynamics, and so we'll train them as as good youth leaders. So and then they'll help at our uh diocesan regional retreats. So we offer uh three regional retreats, one in each of the counties, uh, as a day retreat, and and that's for any young people that want a retreat experience, not just those that need it for a confirmation requirement. So it works for that too. It works for that too as well, and it gives you three options. Uh and uh but just for anyone, if you know if the Catholic high schools want to send one of their teams as a group building or peer leaders, or uh it'd be a great opportunity for them too. So we offer one in each of the counties.

SPEAKER_04 18:21

What's the picture of youth ministry look like in the diocese of Patterson? Like how many churches have a youth ministry?

SPEAKER_07 18:27

So we're working on that, right? So we would say that probably a third have active youth ministry. Uh maybe a third are trying, and and a third need to start working harder. So uh but I just want I want them to know that there is a an active diocesan youth office that is there to help them. Uh you know, find someone in your parish that is, you know, whether whatever your resources allow you, whether it's volunteer, part-time, full-time, uh, you know, they can call me up. We have a uh kind of an onboarding process. Uh we encourage them to take part in uh in a training. It's from the National Catholic National Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry. Okay. They have a program called First Things in Youth Ministry, and it's uh six 90-minute online sessions, and they're putting a cohort. So they're putting a cohort with others from around the country and a and a teacher, and then they have these sessions and and they learn like you know, budgeting and basics of youth ministry and how to build a team and how to work with your pastor. And so there is a a foundation for them to start. Uh so I I know sometimes they think like, well, if I hire some, what do I do with them? But you call me and then and we'll get to that.

SPEAKER_02 19:39

And amongst the youth ministers, um uh uh uh my observation is that there's a there's great mutual support, right? And do you do that?

SPEAKER_05 19:48

I remember you came to my parish when I started in 2016 and we walked through the space and we um I said what I was planning to do and you gave some great ideas and there's amazing support. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:00

We're gonna bring in our other guests, but um uh uh maybe John you can think about, you know, uh one thing that um you would uh share from your experience that you might encourage um uh parishioners and parents maybe to be aware of to how they might help out with youth ministry. But uh uh I just want to ask Alyssa, you mentioned Antioch and maybe for both of you, um how helpful can a youth retreat be for a young person? Uh would you say?

SPEAKER_05 20:29

I think it's incredible. I think it's that experience of um that what you two, right? That when when teens are sharing of themselves, they write my team writes their retreat talks, they deliver it to the candidates.

SPEAKER_02 20:43

Um You have an annual retreat in the PowerShell. Do you still do Antioch?

SPEAKER_05 20:48

We still do Antioch. We do it at the Sacred Heart Center in Newton. Oh, right. Our team meets for really, we're gonna start meeting next week, so for months leading up to our February retreat. It's um team meetings are preparing for the retreat, but also formation uh for the for the leaders themselves who are juniors and seniors and who are no longer in, you know, we do confirmation in tenth grade. So they're no longer in the classroom, but they still need, you know, ongoing formation is important for all of us.

SPEAKER_02 21:13

So with the opportunity to give a witness talk, right? I mean for a young person that can't.

SPEAKER_05 21:18

It's so meaningful for the for the team leader and for the young people who are listening to it, who hear adults talk every single day and who might not be hearing a young person share about their faith.

SPEAKER_02 21:28

Yeah, it's really beautiful. Um of what you might uh offer to encourage uh participation in youth ministry in your own experience, how how helpful can a youth retreat be for a parish or a young person?

SPEAKER_07 22:20

So my first group of young people are now, you know, 40. And if I run into one of them, the first thing they ask is, Are you still doing the mission trip? Are you still doing the retreats? Are you still like it's and they may not remember everything they learned on that retreat, but they remember how they felt on that? return and and so it it was an experience and so that's what touched them that's what uh you know they remember um that's what moved them and so it it's uh it's it's vital you need to give them experiences I mean I think youth ministry has always been about giving young people an opportunity to encounter Christ and and if you if you give them opportunities to encounter Christ you give them a chance to fall in love with Christ and then if they fall in love with Christ they'll want to please them. And that and that's that's the basics of youth ministry. It's just give them opportunities to encounter Christ.

SPEAKER_05 23:12

I I have a I have a young adult group as a result of Antioch too where it's this amazing group of uh men and women in their 20s who did Antioch and who maybe went to college and came back and said I want to get involved in my parish but there isn't a group of people my age let me go to the Antioch team and they've stuck around for a lot of them have been doing it as long as I have and they're amazing.

SPEAKER_02 23:32

Right and we're so grateful for the generosity of volunteers right I mean always yeah yeah could not be done without them.

SPEAKER_04 23:39

Well great thank thank you both so much for thank you for being on and sharing all this we're gonna have to put links right for the Dawson youth office resources here. Check the show notes for more amazing thank you Alyssa God bless you thank you so we're back and we're joined by Yadira Sefante who is the youth minister at St. Brendan and St. George and Clifton the uh Catholic community of St. Brendan and St. George and Clifton and Justin Carrasco who is the youth ministry at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Patterson welcome thank you both for being on the continue thank you for inviting us for being here.

SPEAKER_02 24:23

So maybe you could each uh just tell us a little bit about did you grow up in a family of faith in a parish were you a part of youth group yourself when you were young and and what led you to be involved in in youth ministry now in St. Brendan's and at the cathedral, right? Maybe Yadira, you were saying born in Cuba and grew up in Espania in Spain.

SPEAKER_00 24:45

Yes um I was born in Cuba and then I moved to Spain to Madrid when I was 11 years old. So I went to a Catholic school in Madrid. I was involved with the nuns and then from that I grew up in the Catholic Church. I get all my sacraments and then when I get to the university I study journalism and marketing and advertisements.

SPEAKER_02 25:07

Which university?

SPEAKER_00 25:08

Rey Juan Carlos in Fon Labrada outside Juan Carlos King Juan Carlos right so then I moved to United States six years ago and I started being more active with my faith being volunteer I got marked in the church and I say you know I need to do something else for Jesus Christ. I love him. Why I'm not using my skills my knowledge my gift from God to to put it under God's service. So I start being volunteer in St. Joseph Days Rutherford until I get to uh Saint Brendan and then I met Father Jesus I met Crystal I get involved I start in the communication and then now I am a youth minister. That's great and I involve the youth uh with the communication too. So we are growing together we started like five months ago the youth ministry we started with seven youth and now we have 25. And they are growing this is the Holy Spirit. It's amazing how the Holy Spirit is working in the community in each one of us and how the youth are getting more involved in their service but also in the leadership in the parish and they want to do more. So we are growing um and they have a pastor who encourages leadership right alter right yes yes he's a great leader and the great example for all of us uh how to follow Jesus with commitment not only with love or passion but the commitment when you put love doing things for God following active being active with our faith and so um hopefully you'll uh some of those 25 young people will join us for the AS and UT right in the November yes we are planning actually we are planning to go to a pilgrimage next year to the Marian Eucharistic revival in Spain in the north of Spain. So every year since two years ago there is this group of young people that they met on July and they had adoration they have mass and they are from all parts of the world right so I'm encouraging we are trying to save money to bring our youth uh to go to Spain next year so they can encounter Jesus Christ also through the other. So and planning for the world youth.

SPEAKER_02 27:27

And then World Youth Day will be the following year in 2027 in Seoul, Korea so we're praying and hoping uh John's already working on it and uh uh so um uh we'll have more information on that to come but we're already have we we'll be sending some information out pretty soon right yes good so Justin um where did you grow up did you grow up in the faith were you part of a youth group how'd you end up uh serving at at the cathedral thank you so much for asking Bishop I'm a St.

SPEAKER_01 27:53

John's boy through and through okay so I was born and raised in Patterson so to tell the truth I actually grew up two blocks away from St. John's and so I had done all of my sacraments there I started attending youth ministry back when I was 12, 13 years old so right at the end of middle school is probably where I started to actually attend youth ministry. From there I can definitely say it was the time I fell in love with Christ. I love I met my lovely wife there. I've made some of the best of friends that I have and it was probably most likely my college years where I started to think about is youth ministry something that I could really see myself doing in the future? So upon the graduation of college I graduated from Kane University here in New Jersey right? Yeah here in New Jersey right out of Union New Jersey Monty Gino actually most great great man he makes an announcement out to the congregation about the opening of a new after-school program that they were starting. I was sitting with my wife at the time and she was telling me this is something you should probably go for. I was like I don't know I'm not too sure about it. But through lots of prayer and with a lot of conversations back and forth you know I sat down with Monty Gino and in those conversations he also asked me do you see yourself also being a part of youth ministry and I told him all about my experiences and he said Justin this is where you need to be and they have a great name for the youth group at uh at the cathedral right Young Prophets Young Prophets one of the finest youth ministries in the entire state of New Jersey and um uh and so you have the charter school at at um the cathedral and that catechetical five day catechetical um after school program right and uh you were involved in that as well I believe right absolutely much right yes uh and um you've gotten some uh uh help recently right from uh some sisters who have come to us yes yes uh religious sisters of alma Michigan they've also been there to assist us in our mission to catechize all of Patterson it's been a real godsend to have them come aboard and really give us a hand because we've seen the great thirst the great need for Christ in our community and not only with the sisters but with all the volunteers all the full-time and part-time staff it's really just changed the lives of all of these families that have come onto our block of mercy.

SPEAKER_04 30:22

That's great. So what what are your secrets your dear how did you go from seven people to 25?

SPEAKER_00 30:28

Well the secret is the Holy Spirit is the Holy Spirit this is only God's work we're just following him.

SPEAKER_01 30:36

We pray a lot uh we are inspired to have this army of light uh the name of our youth ministry is Christ leading light and uh they are shining so the secret is just praying um following the spirit of God so just let him work on us so continue doing the job open to the spirit right yeah so with us I I don't really have a secret I have a big gym and so that can be that's so um so the days that we operate is like primarily on a Friday night and I run it as a quasi open gym where many of the youth from a lot of the neighboring local high schools they can come they can bring their friends it's a great conversation starter for when I meet somebody for the first time how'd you learn about our group oh I heard we could play basketball here. Oh this is a great place to be volleyball I tell them exactly this is also a great place to also learn about Christ. So you are more than welcome to stay here. And so from there when I first started I had a small group of around maybe 14 15 youth and from there it has blossomed some nights I don't know if I can even fit in the gym anymore because we'll have well around 50 60 even 70 teenagers at a time and I'm blessed that that is a great problem to have.

SPEAKER_06 31:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:53

What are they seeking? Well first uh they're seeking community they're seeking the opportunity to one unwind have a space where they can just be teenagers and then from there they're also seeking what is this truth that we hold here in this church that I can't find anywhere in on my blocks here it's uh around home or I can't find it anywhere in school but somehow I'm drawn here. And these teens they're consistent so I'm gonna need a bigger gym so very soon.

SPEAKER_00 32:24

Either one or both uh service um uh have you seen kids or what happens when they have an opportunity to uh give some service for others and also um as we talked with the others uh have um have you been able to uh have your young people have uh a retreat experience I know you you talked about inviting them to pray and uh uh I I the youth group is still uh forming uh um but um say uh something about service andor uh retreat experience yeah about service uh they are serving in the church many of them right now they are in the catechic uh catechesis uh being helping with the catechesis others are lectors others are altar servers uh they are serving and they want to serve more uh serve more more in the church they also we didn't have like a retreat but we went to New York City as an evangelization trip it was local it was one day where they really feel uh what is to go out and spread the gospel to be a disciple in the real world and they faced some encounters that were so good others that they were not so good so but they realized it that following Jesus it was you know it's not easy but we are called to be disciples and that's what we are.

SPEAKER_02 33:50

Service or retreat experience?

SPEAKER_01 33:52

Both so um the way that we have worked it here at the cathedral is that we are creating this pipeline of lifelong catechesis. So from the time that they are quote unquote born like you know we are working with a lot of our parents in order to get their children baptized and then as they grow over grow older they go into faith formation. And then from there they're in our after school program. They're meeting us and the rest of the team as they grow older they're in youth ministry and then from there they go into young adult ministry. And so with that it will bring forth a lot of opportunities for service. Many of our teens have grown the desire to become altar servers. They're also lectors some have even become Eucharistic ministers and then from there they also become part of many of the different ministries that we have whether it is the Knights of Columbus some come as catechists and some are just there because ultimately they love the St. John's community so much that how much it is invested into them they feel as though it is an important part of their life in order to give back to the church. And we also allow our same teens I have a small leadership team to where they also plan the confirmation retreat for all of our second year second year confirmation students. So these were the same teens that had their retreat last year and so for the following year they get to be the ones to plan the retreat whatever themes or wacky ideas that they have nothing's off the table nothing's off limits. We do our best to give the next group the same or even better experience than the one from last year.

SPEAKER_02 35:22

Thank you very much and thank you bitch um you uh you've mentioned technology and communications right uh yes with our other youth ministers here um we um uh if we can be of help you know uh Cecile is there who does a lot thank god for our technology and social media um uh if we can you know help in any way or you want to bring your uh some of your young people here maybe at some point or I've also thinking as I wanted to I'm gonna surprise Jay but maybe we can look at to um do a remote at the DAS and youth day maybe we could uh do an episode um sure you know to bring some of the kids in and out and have them uh and and now um hopefully you can share the this episode with your young people and they can see the youth minister on and if it uh because we want as as Justin you just said about uh bringing the kids in from as young as possible and the encounter with Christ that uh John talked about um they want to be evangelized as well right and they can do that in the streets of New York they can do it serving in the parish they can also do it through social media and technology right now we have social media our youth ministry have their own social media their own IIG uh CLL and then TikTok so they do these videos they share what they are doing in order to share with other youth and to bring youth new youth to our parish so which is amazing it's it's great that they are using the social media to evangelize uh like you were saying Bishop Sweeney and also we had the first social night last uh Saturday where some of them were bringing friends that now they want to be part of the youth ministry.

SPEAKER_00 37:03

Okay. That's how we are trying to bring more youth to our parish besides you know calling and announcing and just being light and they're doing it.

SPEAKER_02 37:13

Uh how do you do you social media know you do at the cathedral right?

SPEAKER_01 37:17

Yes we do we have various social media channels for all of our different ministries but we do have one specifically for the cathedral for our after school program and of course for young prophets we have our Instagram and we also have delve into the world of TikTok and we have found great success with TikTok. Oh really oh absolutely bishop in fact this is entirely youth led where I just oh I only oversee it these are all the ideas so everything from our TikTok is entirely done by our youth I just kind of make sure that everything is still in line with the mission that we're still bringing out the truth. And so many of their friends have seen it many of the middle schoolers from the school have found our TikTok many people from the parish on a Sunday night uh Sunday afternoon when they come and see me they tell me oh my kids have seen your TikTok oh my family has seen your TikTok even some of our TikToks have gone even nationwide and so people are finding out that we're doing something here in the diocese of Patterson is moving. It's bringing people back. Yes uh and we can uh uh put some links right uh to connect with the uh yes different uh youth groups yeah yeah and I know this is maybe slightly off topic we're talking about youth ministry but uh it did come up earlier um young adult ministry are either of you or both of you involved with young adult ministry at all or can connect youth ministry to not yet but we are working on that yeah well in the cathedral yes we do have a budding uh young adult ministry I was um I work alongside the coordinators for a young adult ministry um they were actually in youth ministry together with me and so a lot of times what we want to do is bridge the gap. So as soon as they turn 18 they're starting to get familiar with those young adult leaders because as I mentioned before we're trying to create lifelong catechesis. And so as soon as it's 18 even though yes youth ministry may not be the most appropriate for you but you're still here a part of the passion still part of the parish this is there's still something here for you just because when you go to college doesn't mean you still can't be a part of your parish here.

SPEAKER_02 39:15

Nice a few weeks ago we had the Capello family uh here with us uh Dominic is there a little Dominic uh um uh the cathedral has a growing um ministry to um uh young people and families with children with special needs right absolutely and uh that's an opportunity for service and leadership right to to for some of the young people to and young adults to to be there for the the special needs community right many of our youth have also expressed that they have family members and other siblings that also have special needs so this is a great way for many of the community come and support that wonderful mess that we have every first Saturday.

SPEAKER_01 39:50

In fact we actually have uh in Faith Formation a girl who is uh deaf and youth and so I was going over with Ivania she is the DRE at at the cathedral and we were desperately trying to find an interpreter we were able to find one we have this one lady that comes all the way from Allentown Pennsylvania to come and give catechesis to this one young girl who needs and said there's also going to be sign language at the special needs mess right yes I I was able to at least kind of make the little spark because I've learned a little sign language to kind of at least make sure that like you know we hear and we see you. And so like yeah soon enough there will be sign language here at the cathedral. That's great. That's great.

SPEAKER_04 40:31

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_02 40:32

Yeah thank well thank you so much uh both for your service doing so much important working thank you for inviting us thanks thanks to keep us up to date and uh maybe hopefully we'll all be together at uh the Dahoas and Youth Day if not before and we might be uh doing some more seeing you again thank you so much thank you all right before we let you go uh Bishop is there anything you want to reflect on about youth ministry or young adult ministry or anything that that we talked about here today? Yeah some recent conversations with John and our team at at St. Paul's Inside the Walls uh yeah it's it's gotta be a priority for us and uh it's encouraging to hear other youth ministers who are here with us and as uh John said we're gonna uh try to um uh reach out to pastors and parish leaders who may not have um a youth ministry program to it's it's um uh the the most important thing is the effort right where there's the will there's a way and if the if the if there's an interest um we could there's you can see there's resources here that um so anybody whether it be parents or parishioners or priests uh um if you're if you don't have an active youth ministry in your parish and you want to do something uh reach out john um the diocese and uh and and and we'll you got a lot of support here to um start with a few and you can and you can grow right yeah you might even need a bigger gym in the end yeah right and one one question for you bishop did you do any reading on the on the plane or or anything what are you what are you reading watching um actually I listened to a book um by um the son of Ted Kennedy Patrick Kennedy who was a long a congressman very young and started as a congressman but he struggled with um uh mental health issues and addiction issues and he's become now a real advocate for um uh uh especially parity and uh in uh healthcare that not only physical uh injuries or illnesses are covered but also that uh there would be equal coverage for mental health issues and uh and those dealing with addiction. So it was a very he actually the more recent book that he's come out with that I just started as um uh his uncle John F. Kennedy um was famous for writing the book Profiles in Courage about senators who had done heroic things and uh Patrick now has written um Profiles in mental health courage stories of those who uh have have dealt with um mental health and addiction addiction issues but before reading that I wanted he had a number of years ago written his own kind of memoir and life story and I read that first and that's what I actually listened to on the trip and uh um it was a powerful um uh uh testimony um and thank god really the um he he had ups and downs along the way um but um meeting uh he he married I think in his early 40s he was he was late to but he met the right person and uh she already had had a child but now I think they've had three or four children since and now they live in Barnegat I think uh in uh in in in South Jersey so uh um uh and maybe we'll be sharing more in in May um uh new the state of New Jersey the five dioceses are gonna sponsor a a mental health um uh day and conference um so we'll be sharing more information about that but um uh um that story was uh uh an uplifting uh testimony um so awesome your your bookshelf must be getting really really fun the audio books we don't have to worry so much about that so uh all right well uh thanks for sharing that and and thanks again uh all right and thank thank you all for joining us please subscribe comment or leave and leave a positive rating get to know us better by following Bishop Kevin's Instagram and Beyond the Beacon on social media read the bishop's weekly column on beaconnj.org get in touch if you have a question or a podcast topic idea and discover our other podcasts Coffee with Kupke and the Paul Street Journal.

SPEAKER_04 44:27

See you next time.

SPEAKER_02 44:28

Thanks everybody thanks India thanks Justin so much thanks thanks so much