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"The Young Adult Core Team planned and executed a rosary walk on January 25 (photo right). Attendees gathered for coffee and donuts in the pavilion prior to the walk and then recited the rosary together on the path around the park. A few of our young adults and college students also helped to lead our Luke 18 Retreat held last weekend for 8th graders and high school students."

"The new year has brought forth new parishioners, including some young adults. I'm excited to reach out and get the chance to collaborate with them to see what we can do to make these new people feel integrated into our parish."

"We had a retreat this past weekend and it was really special to see how many young adults were up for a quick weekend getaway with the Lord. There were several opportunities for optional group prayer, and I was surprised at how many attended this experience. The Holy Spirit is truly moving in the young adult community. Young adults are not just looking for time together, but the chance to intentionally choose a spiritual relationship with their brothers and sisters."

"One of the joys of ministering to young adults is the ability to walk with them as they encounter and embrace their vocation in their lives. Helping them to understand and hear the movements of the Holy Spirit, encouraging them to respond joyfully and with humility like Our Lady, and listening to them take their times of formation and preparation seriously is extremely rewarding. Several of our young adults are due to be married this year, and I have been continuously humbled by their humor, generosity, and openness to discerning well as they share how God is moving and doing great things in their lives. They are attracted to beautiful and reverent liturgy, (no surprise), they value skills and abilities to grow in conversation and conflict resolution. They also value intentional time spent with each other and friends – putting down phones, social media, etc. and actually spending time with those they love. It's refreshing to see in a digital age, a resurgence of a love of silence and prayer and the ability to simply be with the Lord and each other.

"I think the rise of counseling in our culture and world has truly helped younger couples with the ability to give voice to their history and narrative and share it in a healthy way with their future spouse so that they can bond and grow in intimacy. There is a level of maturity that I have seen among some younger couples, and yet at the same time an immaturity among others due to Covid and meeting each other digitally versus in person. It's a challenge to get them to talk and share, but slowly they recognize the value in it.

"I am continually blessed by the way in which our young adults step up to assist in ministry. Our leadership team knew with Christmas and weddings, and our priest convocation, that I had a very full schedule in January so they stepped up to run events and do the heavy lifting so that I could pop in to do the 'priest' things, but everything else they were able to do themselves, they did. This led to really well-invested and invited events. I was very proud of them."

"We had four college students from our parish attend SEEK in Salt Lake City, UT, and they had a hugely transformative experience! They all started a college-aged bible study when they returned and want to bring more people next year. We had a young adult event where we watched a keynote from SEEK and had small groups to discuss it. It was a fun event where we talked about New Year's resolutions and goals for the year!"

"We had more than 15 young adults who went on a weekend mission trip to Chicago with the Sisters of Our Lady of Angels! Seven new young adults went and eight wanted to return to go! We also helped out at a Night To Shine event with 10 young adults. It was a great service opportunity outside our parish!"

"I had a recent encounter with a young adult during our last event. He is not Catholic, but is hoping to start OCIA in the fall. After simple introductions, he began to tell me that he was taking a gap year in the midst of his college career. During this time, he became a full time employee at a company that allows him to travel a lot. However, in between all this moving and transitions, he began to question his faith. He is completely astounded by the intellectual tradition of the Church. He even built an extensive list of readings! He is even hoping to take a bit more time off from school just to continue exploring the Catholic faith. I left quite amazed by this encounter because it hit me with a bit of a reality check. Would I do the same? Would I drop everything to follow Christ?"

 "One of our young adults was asked to be a sponsor for a person in OCIA. He gladly accepted and they are a perfect match."

"In January, our meeting of the core leadership committees of the two young adult groups proved to be very beneficial. There was, of course, much time spent translating back and forth and an initial discomfort between the two groups. But it was quickly replaced with patience and even recognition of solidarity of purpose. Enthusiasm is recognizable across language barriers. Both realized the great work that is being done in trying to grow the faith of those already involved and also a desire to invite and inspire more people."

"We had a wonderful parish mission about invitation and empowering our parishioners to invite folks back to Mass or to experience any aspect of our parish community for the first time. It was wonderful to see parishioners so grateful to be given the tools they need to feel equipped to answer their baptismal call for evangelization."