Soon the mass begins, and an audience of more than 200 youths and about eighty adults sways to the beat of a drum and familiar chords from a guitar, bass, and keyboard. The cavernous room, with stone vaults more than fifty feet high bolstered by steel beams, resonates with the music. At the climax of the mass, when the bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, the teenagers join the priest in interlocked arms around the altar. St. Mark's parish, a participant in the Lifeteen program, is one of thousands of parishes and universities that actively evangelize teenagers. Lifeteen, which is represented at more than 450 parishes nationwide, is just one of several popular youth ministries.
Many parishes rely upon youth ministers to guide teens in their spiritual growth.
These are usually recruited from the ranks of recent college graduates, and many are former members of the programs they are now asked to lead. You need to earn their trust and the right to be heard. Ninety-five percent of the 180 or so U.S. Catholic dioceses that have youth ministry offices belong to the National Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry. The Federation hosts an annual training session for young people who want to be eucharistic ministers or lecturers. In November 1997, eighteen thousand people, including two to three thousand adults, gathered in Kansas City for a program that mingled prayers, dances, and comedy clubs with daily workshops on Catholic liturgy, the catechism, and teen counseling.