hello and on behalf of the archdioceses of san francisco we are here for mow say can. we are talking about the catholic church. the teens and 20s and 30s something. they are distinct stages of life and in each stage there must be different levels of maturity and different degrees of ability and distinctive problems and challenges but to all of these people at every stage the catholic church poses the same question, are you wondering who you are and where you belong? are you wondering why you exist

and puzzled as to what life is about and how to live it well and do you want to love and beloved? i suggest that the answer is whether your 13 or 33 would be yes to all of these. and to those yeses, the catholic church responds by saying come on, let's work together to find out how to answer all of those questions successfully. we will talk to two of the people that helped the church in the work of communicating with these age groups for the archdioceses of san francisco and find out something about who are today's young people and what do they think and want and fear? how do we help them to find meaning build community and live in a deep relationship with jesus christ and for deep relationships with themselves

and others. please stay with us.

hello and welcome to mosaic. i want to introduce our guests today. these are employees of the archdioceses, coordinators of ministry. amanda george is on my life. your coordinator of youth ministry and on her left, chris

mary anna, your the same title. you share the title and you share the job. so amanda you have been at the archdioceses for perhaps a year- and-a-half. >> two-and-a-half. >> and chris you are new. >> yes, just a few months because we are talking about youths and young adults i looked at the gospel and i think the ministry to youth is getting in touch with jesus christ and i took a look to see what jesus christ did with the youth in the gospel and how did the youth appear and i mentioned to chris and he brought the children in and if they wanted to be in the kingdom of heaven be like him and there are other instances. >> there is one more instance in the gospel of john in the feeding of the five thousand there was a young boy that presented the loafs and the fish to the disciples. again it was a great story

where the young people have a place to serve. and they could be the catalyst to that movement in the church. >> and jesus is interesting and love for the young was emphasized. there were stories that appeared and the story of the wealthy young man and he was a good kid. he was a good guy. and jesus said what must i do and jesus said come follow me and he had too many, he was a wealthy young man and something about he couldn't leave whatever his possessions or occupations were to deep in the relationship with jesus. you work with youth and young adults, what is the difference in those groups? age in. >> i would say we are looking those ages 13 to 17 or 13 to 18 if they are still in high school? then for young adults we are

looking for 18 to 39. so it is a quite an age range especially for young adults a lot of different things going on in that span of time between 18 and 39. >> right. >> and i know that you have all kinds of events but i think you also advise parishes about things. describe that to me. >> i see our role primarily at the archdioceses as consultants. we are going to parishes that don't have youth ministry and interested in start that and consulting with them and walking with them and trying to figure out how do we do this or if they have it already, how do we grow this? yeah. i see this as ministry consultants. >> and the archdioceses is close to one hundred parishes, right? >> yes. >> and do most of them have a youth program or is it lacking in someplaceness. >> i would say 50% have a youth

program, would you say that. >> yes. for youth and young adults combined. some parishes will have both and a lot will have one or the other and our goal is to go to those parishes and we have had parishes called in the office asking for youth ministry and that is awesome because that is where we need to grow the church. as we learned in the last year we have gone to different conventions and conferences and we have heard in one of the talks about the confusion in leading the church and about 11 and 12 years old where they are making the decision right then and there to say am i christian? am i catholic? and that's where we see that youth, especially youth ministry is becoming more and more important to our young

people because one thing that i see them use is social media to get what they want out of truth. >> owning. >> and i say to a lot of the youth ministers, especially the new ones i say you have to be faster that the internet. i said that back in early 2,000 to our young youth because that is where our young children are looking for truth. they can find out how to make a casserole and how to pitch a tent but of course they want to find everything on there. so how are we as people making that face-to-face contact with them versus them just looking on a screen. >> yes, there is something about that. i am a web master and researcher and great to have that but you are not in community really with people. it is a different sort of relationship. >> it is superficial community. >> it has a virtual aspect and not genuine. one of our challenges is to

bring young people into physical contact, social contact and so on. >> i think community is the biggest factor since we are so connected on social media as a quote, unquote community. >> yes. >> that we forget that we have the face to face community right in front of us, right at the dinner table and right in our churches. that's what we are trying to build. a lot of people think, chris, your going backwards and trying to get them together. well, that is what it has always been and i think community is the basis of what we build in youth and young adult ministry because that is what they are yearning for. >> real community, physical, social presence with some i don't know, meaningful indifference between. i understand that prayer groups

and you eucharistic groups are and where else can they get it except through you and the church? >> i think it is far from few now because we are so connected even our families and my parents are so connected to their phone that we very rarely get to connect even on a phone. to hear each other on the telephone itself and hearing each other's voice and our voices and that's why when i work with young people if they miss meetings i say face time them at least because then you get to see their facial expressions and body language and we can connect in that level. >> hold that thought. we will take a break now. we will talk more in detail

about youth and young adult ministry. [ cell phone rings ] >> yeah, i'm watching it too. i see them every day. >> the curtains, they're always drawn in this place. >> i know. >> that guy, it seems like he's in charge of them. i don't know, i don't feel very good about this. >> we have to report this. >> yes, absolutely. employee: it's a bioh, it's huge.ty. i know, it's huge. boss: and the salary...

employee: oh my god, yes. i was literally about to move in with my parents and right before... yeah, so this saved me. boss: i really believe in you. you know? employee: thank you. it's nice to hear that from someone. boss: these are cool. did you...um? where did...

hello we are talking about young adult ministers about this and they are the exponent of the mission. how did you get into that? you have professional training and experience but something brought you into ministry as your vocation. how about you, amanda? >> i have a business background and tech background but when i came back to my faith i really wanted to help other young people because i felt like i didn't hear the message of catholicism in a compelling way. when i was young which kind of gave me no reason then to stay in my 20s so i thought you know

maybe i can help this next generation. maybe i can be part of helping them hear the truth before they are gone. >> so it sounds like you were raised catholic. >> yes. >> and baptized as a baby and raised catholic and you had the typical feeling at 20 that something was missing and wasn't taking root. >> yes. it wasn't compelling at the time. i didn't really see a reason to make it a priority in my life and so i really -- i regret that. i wish that i heard the message in a more compelling way and i wanted to make that a reality for other young people. >> chris, you grew up catholic here. >> yes. >> any doubts about it? did you leave the faith at some time? >> die have a moment end my life that i wasn't going to church for two years in my life but before that when i was very

young around 7 years old i had a moment that i went to a mask, a healing mask and was healed from eczema and it went and it went away without any medication and i wanted to be a minster then. i was in the choir. >> you are a musician, yes. >> so i did all of that and even with all of that happening in my life there was still two years of my young adult life that i didn't see eye to eye with the church or where my life was going and eventually i made amends and i got into church because my pastor picking him up to come to my house for my dad's birthday party asked me do i want to be

a youth minister and i was like i will think about it. and after that, then really since '99 that is where the journey of youth ministry came about was someone asking me. >> prior to the ministry you had experience in retail. >> yes, i am actually a certified chef. so, yeah, i worked for william sonoma. a big store. i used the retail and food industry but i used the service industry as a big basis of my ministry that i serve people instead of feeding their bodies i am feeding their souls. >> you learned those skills and amanda you have the tech skills. and i am harping on that because that can relate to the young adults, right? >> yes. >> the san francisco bay area is the mecca for young techies, right? even though they can't afford to rent an apartment here.

so this must be a target audience of yours or ministry of yours, you can talk to these people? >> yes. i think it helps to be able to accompany people, to be able to walk with them where they are, to understand being away from the church. why they might have left. what might be kind of stopping them from coming back and to really be able to walk with somebody where they are. i think that our life experience really facilitates that well. >> yes, i had a great experience, teresa of avala of 19th street at the parish church and they had adoration with young adults and i got to meet with them and they are all from the mission bay, the upbringing of that whole community, ucsf and the company there is an they are just great young adults that want to be in their faith and they are there at adoration for the whole hour. they were in it together. they were just praying together and it was a nice time to just

be together. >> catholics watching the show will understand what you mean by adoration. silent prayer in the church before the eucharist in the tabernacle or displayed somehow. i want to ask you this important question was everybody's mobile device off for the whole hour or whatever the time was? >> yes, it was all off. >> do you collect them at the door? >> no they are self regulating young groups and i see that with young adult groups, they will take care of their own that is very different from young adult ministry of course. >> youth. >> youth, yes. >> working with mature people that have a mature seeking for something of spiritual depth and who have the capability of learning it, it must be important in your work to realize that i don't know neurological science and say the 18-year-old brain can do this. the 28 year-old brain can do that. so you are up-to-date on all of

that stuff, i imagine. >> yes. it is interesting. the science and understanding of when the brain finishes maturing today is way more advanced than it used to be. we understand that the human brain does not finish maturing until it is 25 so there's more years of more years judgment forming. you are still at a point of your willingness to make big risks is there and have more judgment than you used to than as a 16-year-old. so it is a very interesting time of life. >> and i think that's where our roles are so important because we are still molding and developing where is the truth?

because i think being part of that development, part of that stage in their life is so key as a truth. >> wonderful. >> and we have to keep reminding ourselves to welcome them into our parishes. >> amen. let's take a break and we will come back for our 3rd segment and discuss youth ministry. that will be fine.

. >> hello we are talking about youth ministries. in the news and it is well- known, secular news and church news that young people are leaving the church. not just young people but the number that profess that they are catholic has dropped. so there is a name for people that mark none on their religious affiliation. that must be a challenging situation to look at. >> yes. a lot of my friends that i grew up with catholic are now nuns, you know. n-o-n-e-s they don't go to church and consider themselves catholic, you know. and we know from statistics from studies that the main

reason that young people are leaving the church is some of the harder teachings of the church but i think that is not something that can't be overcome. we can overcome that. what we need to do is be training ourselves, our youth ministries and young adult leaders to be more comfortable talking about the teachings of the church in a loving way. right? it always has to be with love. so if we can really speak the truth in a compelling way with love, i think that we can -- i think that we can work on that. >> there is a large demographic of intellectually adapt people. everybody has a college degree now. and i think you can make intellectual arguments. bishop bar often has his videos in ministry, are there others

that are specific at young adults. >> father smith has videos. i use them in the classroom to bring up the conversation now especially with middle schoolers so we can have these conversations now. and i think that's a big part of it. i think the ca ta thesis, how impassionate we are about teaching and how we share with our young children the truth and can we walk them through process. i know every year when i go to a classroom i say you might not like what i'm going to say to you. >> i think that an view is making you believe in a certain way. the better approach is the richness and intellectual

beauty and spiritual depth of the teachings and you have to present that, right? people will respond. >> a lot of the young people perceive incorrectly that there are conflicts between faith and science. right? between religion and science. >> that's a handy one. >> you have father robert spitzer addressing that issue that people have with his center for faith and reason. he is quite the scientist and can go into so many of these things that people think are con that diction. >> i like that a lot. about youth ministry. teenage stuff you wanted to tell us about upcoming events coming this fall and you have -- well, tell me about what is happening. >> one thing that we have coming up this weekend is steubenville norcal. that is a gathering about 1,000 young people high schoolers that will come from northern california from oregon, hawaii and things like that and we are

going to have praise and worship mass, talks from national speakers who like i was talking about hearing the message in a compelling way. these people, these people are so good. so amazing to listen to so i am so excited for the teens that will experience that this week. >> that sounds good. this is university of steubenville franciscan. >> partnership between steubenville university and teens. >> that sounds good and chris, something about young adults? >> coming up on october 5th we have a harvest ball and that's going to be up in timber ron at st. hillary. that is another great gathering for young adults to not only come together in face but come together in community. just have a night of being together. that's one of our annual events. the 3rd annual if i'm not mistaken. a great opportunity for them to come together. >> and social dancing is

involved. >> yes. correct. >> even a lesson. >> a lesson. you need that to get the guys on the floor. and there are other things. theology on tap. isn't that where you sit in a nice bar and have a beer. >> we haven't started that here but it is on our menu. things that we want to try to get going here, yes. >> and where -- yes, go ahead. >> we do have a couple of youth events coming up. september 7th, we have at st. augustine children. we are teaching young adults and youth liturgy ministry. ministers of the holy communion. hectors and the schools we have schools signed up so they can learn and october 20th at st.

teresa halleluiah villa. there will be appraise and youth service. >> i want to thank you for being here and talking about youth ministry and you can always consult the website. the youth website full of resource on the archdioceses web page. thank you.

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