Youth ministry links friends and faith
ASSISTANT EDITOR
Regina Willis admits she didn't leap enthusiastically into youth ministry.
When she was asked to get involved at her parish back in eighth grade, she responded with a laid-back "Okay, whatever."
But as her friends also joined the youth program at St. Mary's Church in Coxsackie, the teen became more interested. Today, the junior at the Academy of the Holy Names in Albany is heavily involved in youth ministry on both the parish and diocesan level.
Friends in faith
"My friends are there, too, so it's a lot easier," Regina told The Evangelist. "We all grew up in the church together. I wouldn't have met a lot of my friends if I hadn't been Catholic. I met one of them when I was three, at church."
Regina just transferred to Holy Names this year from a school in Kingston, so it's helped to have old friends in youth ministry as she's made new ones at school.
"A couple of weeks ago, we helped close [Pyramid Life Center] up for the winter," she said of her parish youth group. "It was fun because the girls were doing a lot of the heavy lifting! The guys were like, `Let's go move the boats; let the girls move the furniture.' But they helped out a lot."
Staying busy
The parish youth group organized a prayer service remembering the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the U.S. and talked about the need to bring peace to the world. A group of teens came to Regina's house before the memorial to rewrite 9/11 prayers to make them teen-oriented.
The diocesan youth ministry team sponsors activities on a larger scale. Regina recently pitched in with hospitality for a diocesan vocations congress, for example, and said she likes helping out.
"I am busy. I have no free weekends any more!" she said. "But it's a way to interact with my friends and meet new people."
The teen met scores of new people at World Youth Day in July in Toronto. The event had a huge impact on her. She remarked that just saying, "This is what I believe," is a lot different from seeing it in action among millions of peers: "You saw how many other believe what you do."
Social action
Regina does a lot of community service and is involved with Free the Children, an international organization fighting to stop child labor, and with pro-life activities.
"Last year, I went with a group down to the March for Life" in Washington, D.C., she said. The group spent four days going to pro-life rallies and meeting fellow pro-lifers -- something Regina called "really good bonding time."
Youth ministry, said Regina, has sparked her to defend human rights and be involved in service. While she hasn't begun to look at college or careers, she plans to stay involved in those issues.
She doesn't regret her decision to get into youth programs: "It gives me a community to belong to and helps me stand up for what I think is right."