Youth Ministry focuses efforts on community building and leadership development in summer months
Bella Bailey
Multimedia Correspondent
The Diocese of Covington Youth Ministry Office has a summer of development and growth ahead. Currently, applications are still being taken for the summer intern program, and the newest Youth Commission Evangelization Team (YCET) cohort both of which develop leadership and evangelization skills in teens and young adults.
The summer intern program welcomes college students to the Diocese of Covington Curia, Covington, where they will help lead the June 27 middle school CONNECT retreat. These retreats are designed for middle school students to connect in the spirit of the Eucharist with their peers. For the college interns, the retreats are a masterclass in learning to “plan, develop and deliver,” retreats, said Angie Poat, diocesan youth minister.
In addition to the hands-on development of leadership and event planning skills, the interns will participate in the first Youth Ministry Leadership Training retreat. The weekend retreat is for interns, members of the high school YCET team and all adult volunteer and leaders involved in youth ministry. This year, the focus is on building more than just skills, but a community.
“The retreat is bringing together team members from parishes to help grow, learn how to grow their parish youth ministry, so we can encourage intergenerational teams, future volunteers,” said Mrs. Poat. “We decided to stop separating the high school students, the interns and the adults, and combine them into collective training where they could support each other.”
To further encourage the development of community and camaraderie among youth ministry leaders and volunteers, the retreat will be followed by “monthly leadership training nights that will focus on a particular topic, so it’s not a one and done event. It’s an ongoing collaborative professional learning community that can grow together and have support and network and share ideas,” said Mrs. Poat.
The ongoing leadership development is part of an ongoing effort in the Youth Ministry Office to support the development of intergenerational teams. New this year to the Youth Commission Evangelization Team structure is a two-tract system, for adults and students.
“The Youth Commission Evangelization Team group is going to expand this year,” said Mrs. Poat. “We’re not cutting it off, so anybody who wants to come and learn how to be a leader will be welcome. We’re encouraging parishes to send an adult mentor to participate in YCET with them [student] so that they can go back to their parishes and serve together.”
In the past, the YCET program has encouraged high-school-aged students in parishes to identify a personal faith evangelization mission, or apostolate, and explore how to live that mission. “Having young people be accompanied by somebody in their own parish or their own school in which they serve, so that they can go back and have the support they need to serve,” said Mrs. Poat. “No one is alone, no one serves alone. Christ is calling us to be community for each other, and so we need each other’s gifts and talents.”
To learn more about the Youth Ministry Leadership training, college internship opportunities, adult mentorship or YCET opportunities, go to covdio.org/youthministry.
