Youth Ministry
CONTACT: Cristina Imparato ♦ (908) 766-1183 ♦ marymagpray4me@aol.com
The Youth Ministry at Saint James is diverse and alive! There is something for everyone, from intimate Bible studies, to loud and exhilarating retreats. This program serves parish teens by encompassing the three "S's": Spiritual, Service, Social.
SPIRITUAL
If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. Mark 8:34
This aspect of Youth Ministry helps teens to get to know the Lord in a more intimate and REAL way! Programs offered throughout the year include:
- Antioch: Antioch retreats take place twice a year; in the Fall and in the Spring, with the dates posted well in advance in the church bulletin. These retreats are given by teens for teens, designed to encounter Christ through talks, discussion groups, and especially through the Sacraments of Reconciliation and the Eucharist. The purpose of Antioch is to form a community of believers; a community in which teens feel included; a community that supports and loves them for who they are.
Registration form: AntiochAPPLICATION-Fall_2010.pdf - Sharing: The Sharing program brings small groups of teens together in the homes of adult facilitators to discuss topics important to them. They come to a deeper understanding of who they are, and how to live out their faith, and most importantly, how Jesus can become part of their daily lives.
- The SoFresh Retreat: This is an annual retreat for High School Freshmen and Sophomores. It is a fun and exciting way for teens to encounter Christ.
- Teen Mass: Every third Sunday of the month the teens of Saint James come together as a community to celebrate Mass with contemporary music lead by our teen choir, and homilies that are directed to the youth. Immediately following Mass, there is time for fellowship with pizza and conversation.
SOCIAL
Faithful friends are life-saving medicine: and those who fear the Lord will find them. Sirach 6:16
It is truly important to have a faith community that comes together in love, prayer and LAUGHTER! Teens who participate in the Youth Ministry programs at Saint James have a lot of fun and value each other's company. In years past, the group has enjoyed outings to Great Adventure, bowling, picnics, as well as just hanging out and watching movies together.
SERVICE
Whatever you do to the least of my brothers, you do to Me. Matthew 25:40
Service Projects: The Saint James Youth Ministry sponsors six or seven service projects throughout the school year to make service a part of living out our faith. Projects differ year-to-year but in the past, our youth have delivered blankets to the homeless in New York City, served the elderly at Ridge Oak, worked at the Morristown Soup Kitchen and purchased Christmas gifts for the needy and for our military overseas.
Summer Mission Trips: For the past three years, members of the Saint James Youth Ministry have attended a week long Service Conference with Alive in You in New Orleans. Last summer, the group traveled to Chattanooga to give parish teens the opportunity to serve those less fortunate.
Adult volunteers are critical to the continued growth of all facets of this ministry. Please consider serving Christ through the many youth programs offered at Saint James.
It is Jesus, in fact, 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 choices 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, making the world more human and more fraternal. — Pope John Paul II, World Youth Day 2000, Rome
These words of Pope John Paul II are the inspiration and the incentive of the Saint James Youth Ministry. All interested teens and adults are encouraged to learn how they can live the message.
