Walking with Teens during Covid-19 outbreak
This page last updated April 12, 2021 2:45pm
Seek God's Wisdom - story of one catechist's experience of teaching prayer to teens and a journey of vocational discernment; written by Deacon Denis Mailhot, MPS
In the midst of the COVID-19 situation, with youth ministry and faith formation activities for teens suspended, Shawn Gregory offers some ideas and links to resources that may be useful during this time.
Special Video Message from Roy Petitfils to the Teens of Maine
Stay in Touch With Youth and Parents
- Record a video weekly with words of encouragement, prayer and maybe a daily challenge
- If you have social media accounts for your ministry, keep it updated, post often during this time.
- Create a spiritual play list to share through Spotify https://spotify.com. Ask the youth to create and share one too.
- Gather virtually for Lectio Divina or to break open Sunday’s Gospel together using Lifesize Cloud, Zoom Google Hangout, etc.
Resources
- NFCYM – the National Federation For Catholic Youth Ministry (NFCYM) has some great resources for ministry to youth, for parents, info for working from home, COVID-19 information, prayers and more: https://nfcym.org/covid19/ And keep updated with them on Facebook:
- Project YM – a great resource for Catholic Youth Ministers. Their website: https://projectym.com
- Their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/projectym
- They are hosting a weekly live youth night beginning March 22, so that youth and leaders can gather. Check out details here: https://projectym.com/live/
- Videos to share with youth
- Ascension Press: https://media.ascensionpress.com/category/ascension-presents/
- Video Catechism: http://vcat.org/
- ODB Films: https://odbfilms.com/
- Stations of the Cross – send the youth some videos so that they can still pray this devotional. Here are just a couple of examples:
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Fuller Youth Institute https://fulleryouthinstitute.org/blog/doing-youth-ministry-during-a-pandemic
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Lifeteen Blog https://lifeteen.com/blog/catholic-covid-19/ Summit https://summit.lifeteen.com/ video and pdf for teens, parishes and families breaking open Sunday’s Gospel as well as Lectio Divina
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Word Among Us Meditations https://wau.org/meditations/
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St Mary's Press Parent Resources for Teens at Home
There are so many other resources online and finding the best fit for your community is important. We will be looking into ways to keep the faith formation community together, sharing more resources and gathering virtually. In the meantime, if you have any questions, concerns or ideas please pass them along.
During this challenging time, let us continue to pray for health and patience.
