On the Hill

After a decade of working with parishes in young adult ministry, the Young Adult Initiative (YAI) will come to an end this year. But that doesn’t mean that Saint Meinrad’s work in young adult ministry is over.

Ten years ago, Lilly Endowment Inc. awarded Saint Meinrad a grant to launch an initiative intended to improve parish outreach to young adults and better engage them with the Catholic Church.

Cassie Schutzer, who has overseen the program for the past five years, says YAI’s work with parishes has uncovered some important lessons and opened up unforeseen opportunities for seminarian ministry.

During Cassie’s tenure – the second phase of the initiative – Saint Meinrad worked with five parishes, and each of them chose a sister parish to mentor. Twice a year, the parish teams came to Saint Meinrad for a formation weekend and to share stories.

“The thing that surprised me as we journeyed along as a YAI community is that it became less about young adults and more about parish culture,” she says. A parish can be welcoming to young adults and offer various programs for engagement, but eventually other questions surface: How does our parish welcome new people? How does our parish journey with people at different stages of their faith? How does our parish address conflict? Does our parish make space for new ideas?

‘We’re Not a Program; We’re a Way of Ministering’

 Cassie believes the heart of the lessons gleaned from closely working with parishes and their young adults boils down to one important principle.

“It’s less about what we do and it’s more about how we do what we do,” she explains.
“It’s not about finding the perfect program … but I walk with you because I genuinely want you to love the Lord. I want you to have an encounter with Him.”

It’s important for a parish to remember why they are ministering to young adults in the first place, she says. “When we started to make that shift with our parishes of going back to those deeper questions: Why are we doing what we’re doing? And who are we actually wanting to reach out to? And what are their needs? And where are they in their faith? … genuine relationships really started to form. You could tell the difference in a parish that was remembering why we do what we do.”

Sometimes a parish doesn’t look very far beyond its walls, according to Cassie, instead focusing on those who are members of the parish. In one instance, two of the YAI parishes joined forces to collaborate on all of their young adult ministry. They held their events in the community, trying to reach as many young people as they could – regardless of their parish affiliation. The pastors were supportive and took turns hosting the church-based events, such as Eucharistic adoration. “They cast the net a little wider,” she says, “and that worked really well for them.”

After YAI, Now What?

Before the grant period was coming to an end, other opportunities for ministering to young adults were emerging.

About five years ago, Fr. Simon Herrmann, OSB, proposed the idea of creating a retreat specifically for young adults as part of his work as the director of young adult engagement in Saint Meinrad’s Development Office. “It’s an opportunity to engage a part of the Church that may be a bit below the radar,” he says.

“Their spiritual growth, their spiritual development, matter, and we want to be a part of that,” Fr. Simon explains. Last year, Saint Meinrad hosted three of these retreats, and five retreats are planned for both this year and next year.

Much of the retreat (typically Friday evening to Sunday afternoon) is left unscheduled, with time for praying with the monks, spiritual direction and meals together, with confessions and Eucharistic adoration available one evening. “It’s an opportunity for them to take a break from their day-to-day and enter into the prayer with us monks and to slow down and to spend time with one another in community.”

Another distinction of these retreats is that they are subsidized by generous benefactors. Instead of the usual $350 fee for a weekend retreat that includes a room and meals, a retreatant pays only $50. Fr. Simon says the retreats are popular, with several dates filled months beforehand.

The retreats are just one way that Saint Meinrad’s ministry to young adults will continue after the grant ends, according to Cassie, who has joined Fr. Simon in organizing the retreats. In the seminary formation program, students will have opportunities to minister to young adults. This began a few years ago when Cassie casually issued an invitation for interested seminarians to join an upcoming formation weekend for the parishes involved in the Young Adult Initiative.

Enough students showed an interest that Cassie later invited them to take part in leading small groups and, eventually, helping to plan parts of the weekend. “This was completely voluntary on their part, but they would spend their whole weekend walking with these young adults,” she says.

In addition, two area parishes have expressed an interest in young adult ministry, which will provide another chance for student ministry. The seminarians can help get this ministry started and lead some events, such as small group discussion or Bible study, according to Cassie. When her work with YAI concludes, she will join Saint Meinrad’s Office of Pastoral Formation and oversee the students’ ministry assignments.

Fr. Simon’s work in young adult ministry has expanded as well. He regularly visits a small group of young couples in the local area for a meal and to encourage them in their faith journey. He makes himself available to witness marriages and baptize children. He provides several young adults with spiritual direction.

He says Saint Meinrad is welcoming to young adults. “We can be a place where they recharge, reset and refresh with God, and then they go back to their home communities renewed.” 

More Information

To see the dates for upcoming young adult retreats, visit saintmeinrad.org/retreats/young-adult-retreats/.

To read the blog about the Young Adult Initiative and its findings, visit saintmeinrad.edu/youth/young-adult-initiative/blog/. You can find the Phase I report on the Initiative at saintmeinrad.edu/youth/young-adult-initiative/phase-1-report/.