Egg Harbor Township’s Saint Katharine Drexel is one of 43 parishes across the nation that has been invited to take part in an initiative to advance pastoral ministry to young people.
“This is a big honor,” said Millet LoCasale, the parish’s director of Youth and Young Adult Ministries.
The National Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry’s Accompaniment Project aims to empower Catholic churches throughout the United States to design, test and implement new models for nurturing the religious lives of adolescents as well as engage them more fully in the life of their parishes.
Last fall, LoCasale and Father Jose Ramos, A.M., parish pastor, met with NFCYM officials virtually as part of the application process. Now that they have been chosen, LoCasale is hard at work putting together a 12-person steering committee – representing various ages and cultural backgrounds – that will represent the parish throughout the project.
In November 2022, NFCYM received a five-year, $998,050 grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. for its Accompaniment Project.
In a press release announcing the grant, the organization stated that the initiative’s goals are to “1) identify and work with its cohort of 40 parishes across five dioceses to develop, test and evaluate new, experimental approaches to ministry with youth; 2) gather the participating parishes regularly for mutual learning as they design and test innovative ministries with youth; 3) share insights and discoveries with other parishes and ministry organizations about new, effective ministry practices and strategies for engaging youth.”
For the next three years of the process, Saint Katharine Drexel will work with a cohort of parishes that include Our Lady of Fatima, Saint James, Saint Peter, and Saint Stephen (all from the Diocese of Bridgeport); Holy Rood Collaborative-Saint Mary, Saint John the Evangelist, Saint Margaret of Scotland (Archdiocese of Boston); Saint Matthias (Diocese of Metuchen); Ascension (Archdiocese of New York), and Holy Innocents (Archdiocese of Philadelphia).
NFCYM will also provide Saint Katharine Drexel and other participating parishes with formation, resources and support, such as training, leader guides and an NFCYM-appointed coach to guide parish leaders through the next three years.
This spring, LoCasale and the committee will join their cohort in Bridgeport, to begin training and receive coaching on developing a strategic plan for youth.
Parishes will have two years to implement their plans, from September 2024 to August 2026, and the final six months will include reflection, evaluation and sharing of what they have learned about accompanying youth with the wider Catholic Church.
As the Accompaniment Project is grant-funded, there is no cost for parishes to take part.
NFCYM will also offer matching grants up to $10,000 per parish for costs related to strategic plan implementation, as the communities devise innovative ways, based on their particular needs, to reach young people in faith.
Armed with the knowledge and training they will receive these next three years, Saint Katharine Drexel’s leaders will guide their parish “in getting to know young people, and being intentional in mentoring and walking with youth where they are,” LoCasale said.
“I want our youth not only to be integrated into all of our ministries, but to know that they are people at the parish, outside their families, who are praying for and supporting them,” she continued.
More information on the Accompaniment Project, and the full list of participating parishes, can be found at nfcym.org/accompaniment-project.
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