by Irene Voth, Visitor Staff Writer

ST. CLOUD -- The new pastoral plan's recommendation that every parish -- or every set of twinned and clustered parishes -- have access to trained and qualified youth ministry resources is exciting news, said Jeffrey Kaster, former youth formation consultant for the diocese.

"I think it's wonderful that parishes are acknowledging the needs of our youths -- that they're very concerned about our young people," Kaster said.

Now director of the Youth in Theology and Ministry Program offered through the School of Theology/Seminary at St. John's University in Collegeville, Kaster said the recommendation "affirms that we value our youth."

Thomas Keaveny, director of planning for the diocese, said the recommendation was one result of the pastoral life survey conducted across the diocese in 1998.

Survey respondents --2,228 in all -- gave "meeting the needs of youth and young adults in our parish" one of the highest average rating of importance among 59 goals itemized in the survey. The only other goal to receive as high of a rating was "protecting human life at all stages of its development."

The survey also revealed that respondents perceive their parishes to be achieving only "fair success" in effectively ministering to youths.

"It takes a whole church," Kaster said, quoting from the U.S. bishops' 1997 document Renewing the Vision, which sets forth a comprehensive framework for integrating ministry with youths and their families into the total life and mission of a parish, "recognizing that the whole community is responsible for this ministry."

"What's the vision of what a youth minister is?" Kaster said, adding that the vision of a "Pied Piper who will help all these youths turn out perfectly" is a myth.

"A coordinator of youth ministry empowers volunteers," Kaster said, referring to the catechists, liturgists, music ministers, parish leaders and all other components of a vibrant faith community that, together, structurally support parish youth and work toward the three goals of youth ministry as set forth by the bishops:

• To empower youths to live as disciples of Jesus Christ in our world today;
• To draw young people to responsible participation in the life, mission and work of the Catholic faith community;
• To foster the total personal and spiritual growth of each young person.

While excited about the plan, Kaster said it also presents certain challenges. "Just as there's a priest shortage, there's also a lay minister shortage," he said, adding that two openings for full-time youth ministers went unfilled in the diocese last year.

"How do we encourage high school youth to think about vocations in ministry -- lay and ordained?" he said. Again referring to the parish employment situation within the diocese last year, Kaster said there were at least twice as many openings as there were applicants with the required theology training.

"The financial aspect is really a critical piece," Kaster said. "Are the wages going to be high enough" to attract people to these professions, he said, adding that he believes many college graduates begin their careers $12,000 to $20,000 in debt due to college loans.

However, past and present youth ministry efforts across the diocese have brought forth "tremendous fruits," he said. "The diocese has a significant number of young people who are really engaged with the faith," Kaster said, citing growing numbers of youths who attend the Castaway retreats, the TEC (Together Encountering Christ) retreats, the diocesan youth rallies and the National Catholic Youth Conference.

Another faith-enriching experience gaining in popularity with youths of the diocese is the high school age youth charismatic conference sponsored by the Franciscan University of Steubenville.