Teenage leaders have fun while they take charge

* For 13-year-old Susannah Kelly of St. Thomas the Apostle parish in Delmar, parish service meant following in her siblings' footsteps. A parish youth leader asked the eighth-grader to become a member of a ten-person board to help develop a comprehensive youth ministry program, and she agreed because her sister and brother were involved in the parish youth group, "and it sounded like fun."

Today, Susannah is also an acolyte at St. Thomas and participates in CYO basketball. As part of the youth ministry program, she helped decide to hold a parish "social night" for youth and hopes to see young people at St. Thomas' decorate Christmas trees for the needy as a service project.

Being on the board to develop youth ministry "helps me to be a leader, to be responsible for what I think kids my age would enjoy," she said. "If we get started [in leadership roles] now, then we'll stay in the Church. That's important because if we don't, we will be losing our faith."

Through her example, she said, she hopes that other teens "will learn that helping your church and staying involved in it are a cool thing."

* When Marybeth Barna of Our Lady of Victory parish in Troy agreed to be a parish leader, she didn't know it would mean dressing as a popcorn bag. But that's just what the Troy High sophomore did to entertain kids at a recent Halloween party in her parish, along with running a "flying ghost" game.

"I have fun," she told The Evangelist. "I like helping people."

Aside from volunteering at the party, Marybeth is a veteran of the Diocese's Christian Leadership Institute (CLI) for teens and a lector, and works with second-graders in Our Lady of Victory's faith formation program.

At 15, she has taken on these activities in addition to her studies, her school's varsity tennis team and a "Students for Environmental Action" group.

"I hope this shows that [other teens] can do it, too," she stated.

* Cara Patti, also of Our Lady of Victory parish, 15 years old and a sophomore at Troy High, admits that she "used to think it was kind of nerdy to be part of your church." But after attending CLI, she noted, "I realized it was cool."

While she originally signed up as a lector to fulfill her service obligation for Confirmation, Cara said she "liked it so much I just stuck with it." She also stuck with being a catechist and "whatever else I'm needed to do," from helping with a Halloween party to holding a parish "bagel brunch" each year.

"If we didn't learn this stuff now, what would we do when we got older?" she questioned. "I hope I'm giving a really good example. We need a lot more youth involved in the Church, to get the message out."

For herself, she said, service work holds some benefits: Lectoring will make it easier if she ever has to give a speech, and her leadership skills will help at college.

She joked that it's easy to learn to do readings at Mass when adults in the parish and her pastor, Rev. Randall Patterson, have a lot to teach: "They're all there, giving me hints."

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