In 2024, the USCCB approved a National Pastoral Framework for Ministries with Youth and Young Adults entitled “Listen, Teach, Send” which serves as a summons to local Catholic communities to renew and revitalize their approach to accompanying youth and young adults. It invites pastoral leaders and families to imitate Jesus in their engagement with young people – Jesus who listens attentively, teaches from the heart, and sends disciples into the world.
Also in 2024, the Archdiocese of Boston lowered the ordinary age of Confirmation from Grade 10 to Grade 8, to make the grace of this Sacrament available to young people in greater numbers, to strengthen the role of families in the faith formation of their young teens, and to facilitate a renewal in family engagement in the life of the parish, especially Sunday Mass.
As a result, this past spring, 234 young people in Grades 8-12 received the Sacrament of Confirmation at our Collaborative – an exponential increase in the number of newly-confirmed high school teens needing a robust youth ministry program to help them stay connected to their faith during a time of great transition and growth in their lives.
This brought into clear focus the need to reimagine and reinvest in our youth ministry program to respond to a much larger number and wider age-range of teens than ever before. We knew we needed to develop an expanded approach that meets today’s teens where they are and grows with them through their high school years. A key element of this reinvestment will be the creation of a new, full-time role at the Collaborative for a Director of Youth Ministry in the fall of 2026.
We are thrilled to let you know that we are beginning the journey this fall with Elsi Ojanen leading our Youth Ministry program as Interim Coordinator. Elsi assisted with our Confirmation program last year, and is currently in the second year of a Master’s program at the Clough School of Theology and Ministry at Boston College. And stay tuned – much more information about new programming and plans for the year will be coming soon!