Bishop D’Arcy’s Vision for Youth Ministry: Four Necessary Components to Lead Young People Closer to Christ “They devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the communal life,  to the breaking of the bread and to the prayers.” Acts 2:42 Rooted in Prayer and the Sacraments We must teach teens that prayer and the Sacraments are where to find Christ.  "It is Jesus that you seek when you dream of happiness; he is waiting for you when nothing else you find satisfies you; he is the beauty to which you are so attracted; it is he who provokes you with that thirst for fullness that will not let you settle for compromise; it is he who urges you to shed the masks of a false life; it is he who reads in your hearts your most genuine choices, the choice that others try to stifle.  It is Jesus who stirs in you the desire to do something great with your lives, the will to follow an ideal, the refusal to allow yourselves to be grounded down by mediocrity, the courage to commit yourselves humbly and patiently to improving yourselves and society." (Pope John Paul II) Community All people have a need for connections to other people.  We must provide young people will strong Catholic role models and foster positive friendships. Strong Catechesis We have been called to evangelize; and teaching the faith is an integral part of that.  After all, if we are to lead young people to Christ, they need to know the fullness of the way to Him.  To embrace the Truth of the Church, teens need to understand how we know what we know to be Truth.  “ . . . Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks  you for a reason for your hope, but do it with gentleness and reverence . . .” 1 Peter 3:15-16  Service Putting faith into action gives young people meaning and purpose to their life. “…for He implied a certain likeness between the union of the divine Persons, and the unity of God’s sons in truth and charity.  This likeness reveals that man, who is the only creature on earth which God willed for itself, cannot fully find himself exceptthrough a sincere gift of himself” (Gaudium et Spes, 24).  The Office of Youth Ministry and Spiritual Formation is an Affiliate Member of the National Federation of Catholic Youth Ministry and supports the 'Renewing the Vision' document of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops published in 1997.