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By: Genevieve Jordan, Romero Center, Diocese of Camden

If we start with service, incorporate meaningful reflection on experience, and accommodate their state in life, we’ve begun well on the journey of integrating faith, service and justice in ministry with young adults.

About 30 people in ministry to young adults gathered from May 22-26, 2011, at Romero Center Ministries in Camden, NJ, for, “Integrating Faith, Service and Justice: Catholic Young Adult Ministry for the 21st Century,” the National Catholic Young Adult Ministry Association’s Mid-Atlantic regional gathering.

Conference participants represented a variety of ministerial fields: campus ministry, parish ministry, diocesan directors, Catholic volunteer programs and Catholic non-profits that engage young adults in service and reflection. They gathered for professional development and renewal through prayer and reflection, service immersion, workshop presentations and facilitated discussions.

There was so much insight gleaned from the week, but below are just three practical takeaways that can help us to integrate faith, service and justice in Catholic young adult ministry.

1. Start with Service

A few months ago, I said to Patricia Slater, former Director of Romero Center Ministries and the Pastoral Associate for Peace and Justice Ministry at Christ Our Light Catholic Community in Cherry Hill, NJ, that service experience is the backdoor for engaging young adults.

“Gen,” she corrected me, “it’s the front door.”

Melissa Cidade, Director of Pastoral Assistance Surveys and Services Service for CARA (Center for Applied Research and the Apostolate) shared data with conference participants that suggests Slater is right. Cidade’s data showed that 90% of millennial Catholics (born between 1982 and 1990, age 18 to 26 in 2008, and make up 15% of adult Catholics according to CARA data) said that as Catholics, helping the poor is very important to them.

Anyone in ministry with young adults knows that many either disagree with the Church on some issues, or place so much value on certain issues that they neglect others. It is staggering that an overwhelming percentage of millennial Catholics agree that helping the poor is very important to being Catholic. (It’s also staggering that as ministers, we continue to miss this, though it’s one of the most definitive statistics we have about young adults and the Church!) This Fall 2010 article from St. Anthony’s Messenger also suggests that service is a Catholic value, second nature to millennials. In my own ministry, I hear repeatedly that Church teaching and values are irrelevant to the world and daily life; service is an exception.

While most Catholic young adults believe that helping the poor is important, significantly fewer connect service to justice and even fewer can articulate a theology about why helping the poor is essential to our faith. Cidade’s data showed that 55% of millennial Catholics think Church involvement in social justice activities is somewhat important and 31% of millennial Catholics think it is very important. Only 10% said they were very familiar with Catholic Social Teaching.

The implication of this data for ministry is that service experience makes sense and is important to most millennial Catholics: so we should start there. Nothing can replace service in providing encounters with others that lead to personal reflection and transformation. Service experience ignites an interest in justice issues and the theology connected with a need for service.

2. Don’t Throw Out the Reflection

Reflection is an essential part of integrating faith, service and justice. Conference participants spent a few sessions reflecting on their own service experience through various models of theological reflection.

David Golembowski, board member of JustFaith Ministries and Associate Lobbyist for NETWORK, guided participants in theological reflection after the service they had done that day at sites in and near the city of Camden. He used resources from JustFaith’s program for college aged young adults, JusticeWalking. JusticeWalking’s model for reflection is great for young adults: it includes ritual, music, Scripture, and questions that relate directly to service experience and life.

After their second day of service, Patricia Slater led conference participants in reflection using the pastoral circle. The pastoral circle method of reflection leads with social analysis of the service experience. This model may be helpful when working with young adults who do not know each other or feel uncomfortable diving right into faith sharing, since social analysis allows folks to collectively troubleshoot an external issue. The conversation can’t stop there, however, and we shouldn’t be afraid to encourage young adults to move from social analysis into deeper conversations about where God is working and how they’re called to serve.

Conference participants and presenters alike voiced that unprocessed service experience may only encourage stereotypes or expectations of a particular community. It’s also a missed opportunity to connect the service experience with the life and call of the individual. Reflection should ideally take place directly after service experience, even if it’s only for a short period of time and sends folks with questions for the road. Though post-service reflection often feels uncomfortable or inconvenient, it is grounds for transformation. Don’t throw it out!

3. Accommodate Busy-ness and State in Life

If we want people to take part in our activities, we need to provide activities that accommodate their schedules. In my own listening through the conference week, I heard that young adults are incredibly busy.

A panel of five post-college young adults spoke to conference participants about how service and justice can bridge campus and parish life. Many of them were involved in service in college or completed a year of post-graduate service.

They represented a slice of the young adult population stretched thin with commitments but that still hopes to be involved with other young adults in faith-based opportunities. All of the panelists voiced interest in service experience, but didn’t want to commit to something too frequent or ongoing. One panelist said she appreciated when parishes offered young adult events every few weeks, as long as she could drop in without feeling pressure to show up every time.

Slater reminded us that service experience attracts young adults who are single or married without children. If we advertise an event for “young adults, single and married,” then we need to provide babysitting. Slater suggested that respecting the state in life of young adults with families might mean creating a session for families that simulates the kind of reflections one might have after a few hours of service, such as a hunger banquet or a short, relevant video.

We heard over and over again from conference participants that the young adults they minister with are overextended. We need to show young adults that we respect their commitments and busy-ness by providing opportunities that are one-time events and accommodate their state in life.



Genevieve Jordan is currently the Director of Young Adult Ministry at Romero Center Ministries and transitioning to Executive Director this summer. She holds a Master’s degree in Theology through the University of Notre Dame’s Echo Faith Formation Leadership Program. She is a regional representative for the National Catholic Young Adult Ministry Association for the Mid-Atlantic region.