Young adults moving to new stage of planning

The meetings, under the name of "The Church Listens," focused on young Catholics voicing their concerns about their involvement in the Church and their hopes for the future.

"We listened," said Tanyalynette Rosmarino, a core team member of the Young Adult Ministry of Albany (YAMA), "and found out what young adults want."

Next step

As a result, a new name and a new goal were given to the YAMA monthly gathering. Now called "Young Adult Inter-Parish Networking," the meetings will still listen to concerns and address issues, but they will focus more on fostering young adults' connections within their own parishes, increasing their spiritual growth while linking them with young adults who share their goals.

According to Mrs. Pickel, the YAMA team will also be holding meetings with cluster, deanery and parish leaders, especially within the outlying regions of the Diocese not easily accessible to the Tri-City area.

"The goal is that all ministry would come from the parish -- and that we would be training the people who are actually going to be involved in getting that ministry moving," Mrs. Pickel said.

Four S's

"We found in 'The Church Listens' sessions that what they wanted is spiritual growth and reflection," she explained, "but they also wanted to focus on spiritual, social, serious and service matters."

Fostering greater communication between parish young adult ministries is another goal of the Young Adult Ministry, Ms. Rosmarino explained. "We will offer them the opportunity for sharing ways they can bring back the fire and start a young adult ministry in their own parish."

Pizza first

"Simple things to start with are movie and pizza nights, or having a parish send care packages to college students -- anything that keeps the young adult faith grounded, anything that says 'we are the future of the Church,'" she said.

It is important for young adults to attend these meetings, she added, because of the connections they'll make with diocesan-level ministry and with other parishes.

"We are different, we learn differently, we have different visions than our parents and grandparents," said Ms. Rosmarino. "What worked for them may not work for us. That's what makes us so unique. We can be the college student, we can be the parent, and we can be the older single, but we're all coming together to establish our roots within the foundation of the Catholic Church."

(09-05-02) [[In-content Ad]]