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Parish ministry
How to turn teens on to justice
Charles Wood
BARRY MATTHEWS IS LIKE just about any other student at Catholic Central High School in Clearwater, Florida. He's late for class sometimes, he worries about passing exams, and he enjoys some of the extracurricular activities he finds at the school.
Where Matthews may be different from a lot of his fellow students is the kind of extracurricular work he finds most rewarding.
Matthews works with special-education students and at a community soup kitchen.
"An important part of my inspiration is that I've gone through some very troubling times when I didn't feel the world gave me much help," Matthews says.
"So now, I guess, I want to turn around and be a help in the world."
WHY DO SOME HIGH-SCHOOL STUDENTS, like Matthews, adjust their leisure-time schedules to take part in voluntary service projects? Why do others shirk mandatory service projects—even getting their parents to sign forms saying they did them? Why would one college freshman push for the creation of justice programs where none exist but another feel he would be pushing himself too much to add service activities to his schedule?
In short, what does—and doesn't—make justice "click" for young people?
Priorities picked from the family tree
FOR MATTHEWS, IT'S THE EXAMPLE of his family that's had the greatest impact on his eagerness to volunteer. He gets a lot of inspiration from watching his mother work as a special-education teacher.
"The people she teaches have a prom, and I've videotaped it for her. Watching it all was just amazing: to see how they have so little prejudice, no meanness or unkindness."
Similarly, student Amy Scott says, "I was influenced by my dad's involvement in our parish's food pantry for the needy. I think service and giving people the help they need is something you should do, just because you're human."
SCOTT IS ACTIVE IN THE YOUTH GROUP of Little Flower Parish in South Bend, Indiana. She and her family have been central to the parish's food-for-the-needy program. They often store food donations in their home and deliver them. Frequently her father has also taken her to a local inner-city rescue mission and soup kitchen.
"At first I felt sorry for the people there. I thought they were so different from me and most people I know. But after a while, because of conversations and friendships with people who were there all the time, I found out we're all the same . . . underneath the differences," says Scott.
"If it weren't for my father, I wouldn't have had those experiences. I probably wouldn't realize how much all people have in common. Now I think I might want to have some kind of career in civil rights or somehow fighting many different forms of prejudice."
EXPERIENCES SUCH AS THESE—"if they don't just expose them to a situation of need but if they ensure real, genuine interaction with the people they serve"—can really help young people "get into social justice," says University of Iowa graduate Peter Swanson.
Among his duties with the Lutheran Volunteer Corps (LVC), Swanson has served as a housing counselor in Baltimore.
"In college I volunteered at a campus-ministry center that had a great commitment to servicing the [Iowa City] community," says Swanson.
"It was a vehicle for my interest in really living out my faith in the real world, particularly because it didn't just provide a sense of community for social-justice-minded students, [it created a sense of community] among us and the disenfranchised who came to the center."
Taking the plunge
A FORMAL, THOUGH STILL UNORTHODOX METHOD of getting young people interested in social-concerns activities is offered through the so-called "plunge." In a typical plunge, middle-class students from suburban neighborhoods are brought to live and work for a week in an urban community.
Young Neighbors in Action (YNA) is a program developed by Connecticut's Center for Youth Ministry. YNA gatherings bring together teams of adults and young people from parishes throughout several states.
The usually weeklong sessions of work, discussion, and reflection allow teenagers and their youth ministers to encounter people from a variety of American cultures and experiences.
"Our purpose is not just to provide a good experience for the teens," says the center's national coordinator, Thomas Bright. "We're trying to be energizers and catalysts for [teens] and their families."
YOUNG NEIGHBORS IN ACTION PROGRAMS try to "put a little bit more conscious focus on justice and service ministry" for young people than they might typically encounter in a school or parish religion program.
After a week of working with and hearing the stories of other Americans confronted by violence, racism, or poverty, YNA participants often go back to their parishes and their schools and begin their own programs.
"We had a group of teens from Long Island, New York who went to a gathering in Hartford, Connecticut. They went to an AIDS hospice as part of their week," says Bright.
"They did some cleaning up and some repair work, and they had a lot of interaction with the residents. They sat around with them and heard their stories; they went to the movies with them."
THE "HUMANIZING TOUCH" OFFERED BY these direct encounters can't be underestimated. "Those kids were very energized by that experience, and they went home and they started their own AIDS awareness programs in their schools and churches."
These are the kinds of "models of service and awareness" Bright thinks young people can be to their families and communities.
Ralph Stewart, youth director at St. Mary's Cathedral in Grand Island, Nebraska, accompanied two teens from his parish on a YNA program. His students listened to the experience of U.S. Latinos. They helped clean up and repair homes of disabled people and a working mother of three whose husband was dying of cancer, and they visited a reservation where they joined Native Americans attempting to restore grazing land for buffalo.
"They got to hear the stories, to hear where people are coming from, and to be there with other young people to get their perspectives as well."
Stewart plans to have a larger group attend a YNA program this summer. He thinks they can become the vanguard for a local social-justice group. He hopes these teens return to St. Mary's with more than just a better understanding of some of the nation's social-justice problems.
"We need to make connections; we need to develop an awareness that a lot of those issues are here in our own community."
Map of life
AN EXERCISE THAT'S BECOME COMMON at religious gatherings of young people is drawing a time line or "map" of one's life that highlights particularly memorable events, good and bad. Resourceful adults often help young people use this exercise to see how events and trends in their lives make them especially sensitive in certain areas of social justice.
"The strongest source of a passion for social justice is some facet of a student's own experience," asserts Nick Cardilino of the University of Dayton's Campus Ministry.
Cardilino, who directs the Campus Ministry Programs for Leadership and Service, notes a "steady increase in the number of students who have been involved in service experiences through their youth ministry or high schools." These projects—and other justice-education events—strengthen young people's "basic idealistic and altruistic impulses," he says.
"Once they get to college, they tend to channel these general impulses to one major issue or concern as they realize they can't do everything," basing their choices on experiences that have arisen within personal circumstances and surroundings, Cardilino observes.
"For instance, someone who has grown up with a seriously ill, elderly relative [may be] inclined to work with the elderly."
Sometimes, however, it's also a relative that turns teens off the path of social concern.
FATHER GREG RYAN, CHAPLAIN AT Central Catholic—the Florida high school Barry Matthews attends—says parental indifference is a setback he has faced in fostering concern for social issues.
"Even with required community service, some parents just sign the form saying their child did something [even if the student did not] because they don't think it's that important. That's very sad," observes Ryan. "On the other hand, I'm always encouraged by there being so many students here who do care."
Tell a friend
ONE OF THOSE CATHOLIC CENTRAL STUDENTS who cares is Mandy Costa. "It's so hard for me to see people who can't have what I can have so easily. Hearing talks here at school and in my parish youth group on how to help solve problems in society gets me really motivated."
And Costa puts that motivation into action. She has organized workshops and fundraisers to alert other students about poverty issues worldwide.
"My motivation has its ups and downs, but I do try to arrange my schedule—especially recreation—to make sure I can go on service projects.
"One way I could get other friends interested would be if I turned down an invitation for an overnighter at a friend's house so I could do a service activity. I could say to my friend, 'Next time, why don't you come with me to see what was so important that I decided not to come to your house?'" says Costa.
MARTY ESSIG, A STUDENT AT INDIANA UNIVERSITY'S Bloomington campus, was involved in social-justice causes in high school and is "looking into careers that have something to do with political activism."
The ethnic diversity of his Chicago high school and neighborhood may have greatly helped Essig develop these concerns.
"I think somehow that made me and my friends more interested in politics and social issues. At the school, my first involvement was in animal rights. I didn't have a deep personal investment in it; I became active completely because a group of close friends was into it," he admits with a smile.
Then Essig's family moved to South Bend between his junior and senior high-school years and joined Little Flower Parish, where he was "glad to find a group of other teens who would rather go to a soup kitchen than go on a ski trip."
WHEN IT COMES TO FRIENDS, GROUP DYNAMIC is important—but so is the example of individual peers. For instance, says Theresa Paganini, a student at Florida's Central Catholic: "Around me, at least, friends don't throw litter on the ground or waste water when they're brushing their teeth. They know that I can't stand it when people litter."
Paganini is co-president of the school's Outreach Club and vice president of the Earth Awareness Club. One reason she joined the Earth Awareness Club, she explains, is the conviction she's been raised with: "We have to learn to love what God gives and take care of it.
"I guess I have kind of a negative outlook," says Paganini. "I think the world is going down the drain. But I won't give in to the pessimism of thinking one person can't make a difference."
What's popular?
PAGANINI'S INTEREST TYPIFIES something that Father Greg Ryan, Central Catholic's chaplain, has noticed. "Environmental issues are the biggest concerns" among high-school students, says Ryan.
It's just as true at the college level, too, according to Dayton's Cardilino: "Environmental concerns are taking off."
Along with environmental concerns, high-priority social issues that young people most often mention include racism, homelessness, and abortion. These issues all lend themselves to direct action, which in turn can lead to education regarding the bigger picture of political, social, and cultural change.
DOROTHY LESHER, A YOUNG WORKER with Lutheran Volunteer Corps, says youth ministers need to find ways to mix social concerns with other activities that are popular with teens. She suggests, for instance, that youth ministers "combine recreational field trips with service of some kind.
"Everybody knows that youth groups have to be fun. But when they go on trips, maybe the leaders could find out about soup kitchens or other such places in the area they'll be visiting. [They could] arrange for at least a couple of hours to see the place and even do a little service."
Some adults, thinking that teens would balk at the idea of mixing service with pleasure—as Lesher suggests—might hesitate to propose such an activity.
BUT A DENVER AREA high-school student believes otherwise.
"Teens are getting a bad rap because of the violence that's spreading among some of us," says David Suss, "and because we're more and more forming our own ideas" and upfront about expressing them.
Nonetheless, he says, "I've seen more and more of my friends in school and in my parish youth group get involved in service and become more interested [in social concerns]."
Suss advises adults not to be concerned if their work seems to have no immediate impact on teens.
"Don't be afraid, don't be so worried whether something you want to accomplish [through a service project or a presentation on social-justice issues] is going to attract or interest teens. I think a lot of kids care about these things, but they may be so worried about their reputations that they don't have the nerve to do something."
Suss says, it's unlikely, for instance, that many teens would have the courage to flatly challenge other teens who are acting or talking in bigoted ways.
But that doesn't mean an adult's efforts to the contrary are a failure. Grown-ups who talk about social issues and expose young people to ways of confronting injustice can be a source of courage for teens, who unfortunately tend to mix a concern about social issues with an uncertainty about their social status.
"Just do it and see how you might activate the good intentions that teenagers probably already have," Suss advises.
Significant others
LIKE SUSS, JAMIE FOUGEROUSSE ISN'T one to underestimate the social-concerns impact adults can have on teens.
"[If adults] show us how to make a difference—now, as teens—they'll give us ammunition to work for change when we're older and more capable," says Fougerousse, who represented the Diocese of Jackson, Mississippi at World Youth Day in 1993.
Fougerousse, for example, ventured down to Mexico to work on a home-building project following the suggestion of one adult counselor. But the second time he went to work on a similar project, "I went because I wanted to."
Indiana University's Marty Essig concurs. "My own awareness really took off from listening to the Christian Action coordinator at my parish and getting to know him." Moreover, says Essig, that youth minister helped him develop a justice-oriented spirituality that embraces Catholic teaching and a Christian worldview.
AND, SAYS YOUNG VOLUNTEERS, a spirituality that somehow sustains action is a significant component in any church-related attempt to interest teens in social issues.
"Involvement in prayer groups and rosaries [as a part of service projects] and just being in an atmosphere of common beliefs gave me a sense of being where I belonged, a sense of community. After that, I was hooked," says Fougerousse.
Regarding the weaving together of service and spirituality, LVC's Dorothy Lesher says, "My involvement in service activities is all part of my spiritual journey: becoming more aware of what's really going on in the world, and, at the same time, working on personal issues—which, I think, is always going to lead to seeing interconnections with the rest of the world.
"I was really involved in Habitat for Humanity while I was in college," Lesher remembers. "I'm now in my second year in LVC, and I believe I will always be in some sort of social-justice work."
Aspiring to serve
FACED WITH NO ORGANIZED OPPORTUNITIES for social-concerns activities on her campus, Maria Gerardi, a student at Washington College on Maryland's eastern shore, started a host of social-action programs at the college—including Habitat for Humanity and tutoring immigrant children.
"A lot of the influence on my concern for service and justice came from my high school," Gerardi explains. "The school's chapter of the National Honor Society had a pretty significant emphasis on community service. This emphasis spilled over to the whole school.
"The teachers who were the society's advisors made it clear that the service projects and [the mindset of] contributing to the good of others were integral to membership. It wasn't just an academic-status group; you couldn't just rest on your laurels," Gerardi says.
"As a result, community service was put on a sort of pedestal and became something you aspired to, not just an obligation."
NOT ALL TEENS, OF COURSE, will respond as warmly as Gerardi to an adult's conscience pricking.
"A former member of a high-school group I helped run reacted with a lot of resentment when I suggested he seriously consider looking into college service projects," one youth minister remembers.
"With a real edge to his voice he said he was too busy. I wanted to go further with this, but as I sat there I saw that I couldn't really push it. I realized that practically nothing in my life and very little in the group's programs concretely upheld service or justice issues."
Gerardi, on the other hand, credits the former youth minister at her home parish with helping to foster the faith dimension of her concern for justice and for "setting an example of simple living.
"In a lot of ways, Joanne tries to live a just life: reasonable but not excessive," says Gerardi. "I'm also glad Joanne was always encouraging me to work hard pursuing causes and issues that concerned me, and not trying to push her own agenda on me."
THE WAY GERARDI AND MANY OTHER young people have learned to make justice a vital part of their everyday lives results from some combination of family, friends, and significant adults providing:
- Exposure to justice issues and to surroundings where those issues play themselves out in people's lives;
- Encouragement to connect those issues with aspects of their own lives;
- And living examples of acting on those connections.
As Gerardi reflects on the presence of each of these elements in her life, she says, "It would be hard for me to have had my background and come out not caring about justice."
Additional resources:
- For a copy of "Guidelines for Youth Involvement in Faith-Based Social Service and Social Justice Activities," contact the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, 328 West Kellogg Boulevard, St. Paul, Minnesota 55102. Or call 612-291-4477.
- The Youth Advisory Team of the Archdiocese of Dubuque, Iowa has published Look Before You Leap: A Practical Guide for Planning and Implementing Service Trips and Immersion Experiences for Youth ($10). Call the Office of Youth Formation at 319-556-2580.
- For advice about organizing a Peace and Justice Week at your parish school, contact Frank Koob at Divine Providence School, 2500 Mayfair, Westchester, Illinois 60154-5098. Or call 708-562-3422.
- The Kids' Guide to Social Action explores some of the issues pre-high school students may find of interest and suggests actions they may want to take: Free Spirit Publishing Company, 400 First Avenue North, Suite 616, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55401. Phone: 612-338-2068.
- Youthworker Update is a monthly newsletter of stories, reviews, tips, quotes, and trends aimed at people working in youth ministry: Youthworker Update, 1224 Greenfield Drive, El Cajon, California 92021. Call 619-440-2333.
- The Center for Youth Ministry Development (P.O. Box 699, Naugatuck, Connecticut 06770) offers a variety of resources and program guides including Young Neighbors in Action. Phone: 203-723-1622.
- The National Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry, Inc. (3700-A Oakview Terrace, NE, Washington, D.C. 20017-2591) has published supporting materials for a "Youth Initiative to Stand Against Violence." Phone: 202-636-3825.—END
© 1997 by Claretian Publications
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