9/2/2005
Grant gives big boost to youth ministry
By Loreene Zeno Koskey
“ This is like winning the lottery!” That’s
how Gloria Kalbfleisch, director of the Diocesan Department of Faith
Formation and
Education, described the receipt of a $25,000 youth ministry grant from
the Catholic Church Extension Society.
The Faith Formation Department will use the money to fund a two-year
Youth Ministry Training Series (YTS), which will bring the expertise
of three nationally recognized
groups to youth ministers and other parish leaders in the Upper Peninsula.
The series will begin this month.
“I can’t tell you how excited we are at the opportunity to do this,” explained
Greg Gostomski, the department’s coordinator of intergenerational faith
formation.
“We, as a department, believe the best way we can support youth ministers
is to offer on-going training.”
The Extension Society offered this special grant opportunity to mission
dioceses across the country in observance of the organization’s centennial and in
honor of Pope John Paul II for his great devotion to youth. The Diocese of Marquette
received word this summer that it was one of the grant recipients.
“One of the criteria of the grant was the designation of a special project
that began right away, so we are being faithful to that by starting this month,” Gostomski
noted.
The first workshop to be offered is called “Rural and Small Town Youth
Ministry: Name It and Claim It!” It will be held on Saturday, September
17, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. EDT in the Media Room at St. Peter Cathedral in Marquette.
The presenter, Leigh Sterten, is the co-founder of Ministry Training
Source, one of three groups that will be providing youth ministry training
to the diocese
over the course of the next two years. She also serves as the Director of Youth
Ministry for the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau in Missouri.
In her workshop, Sterten will use the document published in 1998 by
the National Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry, “Youth Ministry in Rural and Small
Town Settings: A Planning Resource.”
“This session is a focused effort to critically examine what factors affect
youth ministry in rural and small town settings and how those can be used to
our advantage, rather than seen as obstacles,” Gostomski said.
Sterten will present youth ministry models that are proven effective
in rural and small communities.
The September 17 workshop is intended for youth ministry coordinators
and teams, faith formation coordinators, priests, deacons, parents of
teenagers and anyone
interested in Catholic youth ministry.
The session is free of charge to members of the diocese, but those
attending are asked to pre-register by September 12 by calling Greg Gostomski
at 906.227.9125
/ 800.562.9745, ext. 125 or e-mailing him at ggostomski@dioceseofmarquette.org.
In addition to Ministry Training Source, the other two organizations
that will provide training for the diocesan Youth Ministry Training Series
are Cultivation
Ministries, Inc. and the Center for Ministry Development.
Parish leaders should be familiar with the latter group through its
work with the diocese in the areas of Youth Leader and Generations of
Faith.
Future workshops in the two-year Youth Ministry Training Series include:
-“Effective Practices for Dynamic Youth Ministry” on November 17,
2005
-“Empowering Adults Institute” in January 28, 2006
-“Got Skills: Youth Ministry Leadership for the New Millenium” from
June 18-21, 2006 at Marygrove Retreat Center in Garden.
-Four one-day seminars by Cultivation Ministries, Inc. from Fall 2006 to Spring
2007
Gostomski stressed that this series was planned to be comprehensive,
yet flexible enough that people could choose to attend as many or as
few of the sessions as
they wished.
Kalbfleisch said youth ministry training has long been on the department’s
wish list, and she is grateful that the Extension Society grant is making it
possible.
“It’s a windfall,” she said. “It’s a golden moment
for youth ministry in the diocese.”
END.
