Compass - for Young Catholic Adults
by Zachary Hampton, President, Compass
Zachary & Fr. Roque handing out Campus Care bags
Over the past quarter century, young evangelization has been growing all across the Catholic Church here in Canada. With organizations such as NET and Face to Face Ministries, youth ministry has slowly moved into the mainstream discussion. While it is great that youth ministry has become this relevant, its older counterpart, young adult ministry, should be also considered in the same breath.
While elementary, junior high, and high school ministry is extremely important, it is with the same degree of importance that young adult ministry should be regarded as well. Quite often, students move through parish youth ministry learning much along the way about their faith, how to apply it, and how to share it. A lot of these kids attend Catholic schools, which also provide curriculum that aims to reinforce the Church’s teachings. However, once these young people leave grade 12, most of them will likely not attend Christian universities, and will have to face the prevailing, worldly culture- most likely at a secular university or college. These institutions have (for the most part) ideals that do not align with the Christian worldview. Students will be subjected to instructors and textbooks that openly ridicule God, they will be mocked by colleagues, and they will be subjected to an environment in which binge-drinking is regarded as entertainment and chastity is rarely practiced. Additionally, for those young people who decide to join the work force, the culture still follows them there- offering many of the same temptations along the way.
Young people can be trained from kindergarten to grade twelve; they can be raised by God-fearing parents, go to a Catholic school, and even attend Sunday School and a youth group. However, there is no guarantee that these young people will not succumb to this difficult environment and lose their faith. It is here where the importance of young adult ministry becomes prevalent. By establishing a vibrant community where young adults can meet together and continually build their faith, we can do everything we can to fight the culture we live in, and even work towards changing it. This is the very philosophy that we have started to use here in Lethbridge. Our young adults group, now known as ‘Compass’, has established a Catholic community in which our university, college, and working young adults can meet up, have like-minded friends, and can work toward building stronger faith. We offer many planned events; ranging from Dances, to Praise and Worship nights, to offering Faith/Bible Studies, to Theology on Tap- an event in which a speaker presents a captivating talk to students in a pub setting. These events are open to any young adult, which includes those of other faiths and of no faith at all. By welcoming them, we can hope to build relationships, and one day, Lord willing, share our faith with them too. This is paramount- any ministry thrives on its ability to create relationships. If you can establish authentic and personal friendships with each member of your organization, then they have a higher probability of staying with you.
While young adult ministry is becoming more significant, mainly thanks to the great work done by Catholic Christian Outreach (Canada’s largest Catholic young adult ministry) and the Chaplaincies set up on many campuses, there is still much work to be done. No organization can be everywhere, so those of us who are without CCO in our city have to work hard to ensure that all of our young adults can enjoy a similar faith and community experience. While funding, committed volunteers, and other logistical issues always persist, God continues to sustain us in our ministry. Over the past few years, we have even been blessed to have Fr. Roque Pereira as a permanent Chaplain, who has provided incredible leadership, support and guidance along the way- without him things would have been so much more difficult, and is one of the countless ways how God has blessed us here. As president of Compass, it has been my great joy to see Lethbridge’s two parishes embrace their young adult community with open arms, and our number of young adults rise to new heights. I look forward to seeing how God will use our ministry to sustain His Church in the future, and how He intends to use them to spread the Good News right now.
While elementary, junior high, and high school ministry is extremely important, it is with the same degree of importance that young adult ministry should be regarded as well. Quite often, students move through parish youth ministry learning much along the way about their faith, how to apply it, and how to share it. A lot of these kids attend Catholic schools, which also provide curriculum that aims to reinforce the Church’s teachings. However, once these young people leave grade 12, most of them will likely not attend Christian universities, and will have to face the prevailing, worldly culture- most likely at a secular university or college. These institutions have (for the most part) ideals that do not align with the Christian worldview. Students will be subjected to instructors and textbooks that openly ridicule God, they will be mocked by colleagues, and they will be subjected to an environment in which binge-drinking is regarded as entertainment and chastity is rarely practiced. Additionally, for those young people who decide to join the work force, the culture still follows them there- offering many of the same temptations along the way.
Young people can be trained from kindergarten to grade twelve; they can be raised by God-fearing parents, go to a Catholic school, and even attend Sunday School and a youth group. However, there is no guarantee that these young people will not succumb to this difficult environment and lose their faith. It is here where the importance of young adult ministry becomes prevalent. By establishing a vibrant community where young adults can meet together and continually build their faith, we can do everything we can to fight the culture we live in, and even work towards changing it. This is the very philosophy that we have started to use here in Lethbridge. Our young adults group, now known as ‘Compass’, has established a Catholic community in which our university, college, and working young adults can meet up, have like-minded friends, and can work toward building stronger faith. We offer many planned events; ranging from Dances, to Praise and Worship nights, to offering Faith/Bible Studies, to Theology on Tap- an event in which a speaker presents a captivating talk to students in a pub setting. These events are open to any young adult, which includes those of other faiths and of no faith at all. By welcoming them, we can hope to build relationships, and one day, Lord willing, share our faith with them too. This is paramount- any ministry thrives on its ability to create relationships. If you can establish authentic and personal friendships with each member of your organization, then they have a higher probability of staying with you.
While young adult ministry is becoming more significant, mainly thanks to the great work done by Catholic Christian Outreach (Canada’s largest Catholic young adult ministry) and the Chaplaincies set up on many campuses, there is still much work to be done. No organization can be everywhere, so those of us who are without CCO in our city have to work hard to ensure that all of our young adults can enjoy a similar faith and community experience. While funding, committed volunteers, and other logistical issues always persist, God continues to sustain us in our ministry. Over the past few years, we have even been blessed to have Fr. Roque Pereira as a permanent Chaplain, who has provided incredible leadership, support and guidance along the way- without him things would have been so much more difficult, and is one of the countless ways how God has blessed us here. As president of Compass, it has been my great joy to see Lethbridge’s two parishes embrace their young adult community with open arms, and our number of young adults rise to new heights. I look forward to seeing how God will use our ministry to sustain His Church in the future, and how He intends to use them to spread the Good News right now.