Parishes across the diocese, like St. Mark in Huntersville and St. Pius X in Greensboro, are offering in-person youth programs, particularly outdoor activities, to keep youth connected and engaged in their faith. Provided photos.CHARLOTTE — Parishes are beginning to welcome back middle school and high school youth this fall, after the pandemic shut down or significantly reduced programs last year.
Diocesan youth ministry shifted some programming to virtual, but the past two Bishop’s Youth Pilgrimages were canceled.
“From a diocesan vantage point, by and large, parishes are struggling to get families to return and get their children engaged in Church life and activities,” said Paul Kotlowski, diocesan youth ministry director. “The pandemic has all but devastated diocesan youth ministry, which relies on parishes to invite and arrange for their youth to participate in larger events.”
Now that students have returned to in-person instruction in schools, parishes hope to re-engage youth, with careful attention paid to the health and safety of participants and any protocols currently put in place by local authorities.
Kotlowski said much of the success of diocesan youth ministry is the result of positive word of mouth from attendees who return from events and share their experience with others.
“We’ve lost that, and it needs to be built back over time,” he said. “But now, what’s most important is for churches to expend their efforts on the home front, so to speak. To this end, the Diocesan Office for Youth Ministry is, for the time being, focusing its attention and resources in assisting parishes to ‘build back better.’”
His office is working with the Hispanic and Education vicariates, meeting with pastors and their staffs.
“We have also retooled much of our leadership training to ‘take it on the road’ in an effort to assist parishes in forming sound, faithful and competent youth leaders locally,” he said.
On Oct. 19, the Office of Youth Ministry, in collaboration with the Asheville Hispanic Vicariate coordinator, will launch an effort to assist parishes in developing youth ministry leadership teams comprised of teens and adults from both Hispanic and Anglo families, bridging the divide and the duplication of efforts that often exist between different ethnicities. 
Some parishes, such as St. Pius X Church in Greensboro, were able to take youth to a Life Teen camp last summer.
Isabel Bowen, St. Pius X’s parish youth minister, said her main goal this year is to simply be available to students. “They are coming out of this pandemic with so much anxiety and depression and lack of belief in their worth. We just need to be there to support them and love them and point them towards Christ.”
St. Matthew Church in Charlotte resumed its weekly Life Teen Mass in September and hosted its first Life Night of the school year Sept. 12.
Lauren Piercefield, the parish’s high school youth ministry leader, said, “In a year where people of all age groups were struggling with loneliness and uncertainty, we knew it was hitting the youth particularly hard, so it was a priority for us to provide them with community and help keep them rooted in the one certainty we have: our faith. … We are looking forward to diving into another year of youth ministry with teens who are on fire for Jesus Christ.”
St. Mark Church in Huntersville kicked off its fall youth ministry Sept. 12. Throughout the pandemic, the parish’s youth ministry staff and volunteers worked hard to offer safe, outdoor activities to keep young people engaged.
“Many of our young people were isolated during the pandemic,” said Father John Putnam, pastor. “We saw youth ministry as an opportunity to keep them connected. It was essential for their overall well-being.”
Looking ahead, Kotlowski said he hopes the Bishop’s Youth Pilgrimage, Diocesan Youth Conference and Faithful Servant Catholic Leadership Institute will go on as planned in 2022.
“The abrupt, forced shutdown caused by the pandemic is providing an opportunity to not return to normal but to re-engage our parish and diocesan youth ministry efforts with renewed focus, intentionality and purpose,” he said.
— SueAnn Howell, Senior reporter