Dear Friends in Christ,
This week is the beginning of school for our St. John Regional Catholic School. Our public schools have started the school year and many of our amazing young men and women have headed off to start or continue their college education. I might be weird, but I love school. Not only do we learn all kinds of wonderful things that help us throughout life, we also can make new friends and get involved in all kinds of extra-curricular clubs, activities, and athletics. Let us pray for all our students as they begin this new year.
One thing we all want is for our young people to also be involved in Church. We are so blessed at SKD to have lots of amazing young people. They are not just the future of our Church; they are the present gift to our Church. We should treasure and celebrate our young people! There are two key ways to do this.
First, can I ask you to accept the newness and uniqueness of our young people without judgement. They might dress differently and interact with each other in ways you aren’t used to at Mass, there is nothing wrong with that – just praise God they are here and welcome them!
Secondly, we need to invite our young people to be part of every liturgical and pastoral ministry. They have new energy and ideas and they want to get involved! We need to be inviting young people to be active in the life of our parish. And when we invite them to be part of something we need to treat them as equals and really listen to them, they have lots to learn from our experience and we have lots to learn from their fresh eyes.
Sincerely yours in Christ,
