young adults

Young Adults Find Home in Diocesan Church

By Gretechen R. Crowe
HERALD Staff Writer
(From the Issue of 7/12/07) young adults

Single, married, male, female, kids, no kids, new college grads, seasoned professionals, 21, 39 and everywhere in between: the young adult demographic is undeniably large, varied and a bull’s-eye target of the media, merchandisers, and, yes, even the Church.
While the Vatican considers a young adult to be between the ages of 18 and 35, the Arlington Diocese tweaks the range just a bit to 21 to 39 — resulting in a mishmash of generations X and Y and what Mary-Rose Lombard, diocesan coordinator of young adult ministry and family life enrichment, calls a “crazy combination.”
As the organizer of young adult ministry (YAM) on the diocesan level, Lombard said she caters to this wide audience by organizing diverse events. The young adult ministry has gone ice skating, to a winery, a baseball game, and, most recently, canoeing down the Shenandoah River on a hot July afternoon — outings that all were filled to capacity and overflowing with “good, clean fun.”
“People just had a blast,” Lombard said.
While many get-togethers are social functions, Lombard integrates the events with moments for spiritual development, either by organizing a group Mass, time for confession or inviting “good, solid, friendly priests” to participate.
“A priest, just by nature of being a priest, is somebody that’s approachable — that anybody can talk to,” Lombard said. “They bring a sympathetic ear, a good example. They bring Christ.”
These elements distinguish Church ministry from other groups where socializing is the main goal. Instead, Lombard said, for YAM, “the goal is heaven.
“People get married to support each other to get to heaven,” she said. “People support each other through friendship to become holier. Friendship without the spiritual is just socializing. It’s just hanging out.”
A young adult herself, Lombard, who will turn 25 this month, is a 2004 graduate of Christendom College in Front Royal, where she took a class called “Society and the Common Good.” A large part of the class was focused on friendship, festivity and “the goodness of clean fun.”
“Ever since I moved up here after college I kind of wished there was something like that,” she said.
After trying a couple of different jobs but never really finding her niche, Lombard started working part-time at the Office for Family Life in 2005. She filled a variety of different roles before turning her complete focus to young adults, an age group on which Thérèse Bermpohl, director of the Family Life Office, wanted particular emphasis placed.
In a little over a year Lombard has organized countless events, revamped the Web site and developed an online newsletter, which is delivered via e-mail every Thursday to 1,500 locals in their 20s and 30s — not only single, but couples as well.
“I think maybe people think (YAM) is a singles thing,” said Erica Englefield, who moved with her husband, Matt, to Alexandria in February and is active in events both at St. Mary Church in Alexandria and on a diocesan level. “I definitely wish there were more married people involved in it.”
No matter what their relationship status, more and more young adults have become active in young adult ministry over the last decade as the Church has begun to better understand their needs, something that really stemmed from the former pope, Lombard said.
“I think it was John Paul II that really put a face on young adults in the Church,” she said.
In 1997 three conferences throughout the country explored the implementation of young adult ministry into dioceses nationwide, from which sprang the concept of meeting young adults where they are: like bars.
This idea morphed into Theology on Tap, a program that invites young adults to listen to speakers talk about God and the Church, all while downing a brewsky at a local pub. According to a 2005 survey conducted by the U.S. bishop’s subcommittee on youth and young adults, Theology on Tap now is one of the most popular programs for young adults, next to retreats.
When the diocese’s first Theology on Tap was organized in 2000, young adults came in droves. Though the attendance waned over the years, it shot up again last summer when Lombard organized a series called “Real Life: Real People.” The venue, Pat Troy’s in Alexandria, reached capacity, with the fire marshals counting at the door.
“With Real Life: Real People, the goal was to get someone who had an inspirational conversion story,” Lombard said. “Each of these people brought a whole new audience. When I realized that people really were jumping up and down for this, and that people were way more likely to come to be inspired than to be talked at, I decided to do all the series in that vein.”
While diocesan-organized events such as Theology on Tap have great value, young adult ministry should largely stem from parishes, Lombard said. Currently 11 parish-based young adult groups in the diocese are classified by Lombard as “very active” — hosting at least two events a month — and several more are under construction.
Young adult groups typically start through the initiative of recent college graduates coming from a vibrant parish or campus ministry program, or through the active involvement of priests, Lombard said. Many groups just starting up are taking advantage of networking technology.
“The three most recent groups started all use Facebook,” Lombard said. “I think it brings a face, it brings community. You know what you’re getting into.”
Lombard herself just began a Facebook page for the diocesan group (do a search for yam@arlingtondiocese.org), but she emphasized the importance of other methods of outreach like parish bulletins and Web sites.
“You can’t just use Facebook,” she said. “You need both.”
Above all, parish-based groups must have the support of the pastor, Lombard said.
“Those are the young adult groups that flourish,” she said. “If the priest isn’t involved, they don’t flourish, or they just become social events. They just lose the flavor.”
But finding a parish group isn’t always easy. Beth DiGiovanni moved with her husband, Mark, to Northern Virginia after graduating from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill (UNC) in 2005. A convert to the faith, DiGiovanni went through the RCIA program when she was a senior at UNC, where she had been “surrounded” by opportunities for participation.
Now, as residents of Vienna, the couple attend Our Lady of Good Counsel Church (OLGC), a family-based parish with a sparse amount of young adults, especially compared to churches in yuppie-centered Arlington.
“There really aren’t that many people in that age bracket that go to (OLGC),” DiGiovanni said, and most activities the parish provides for young adults have to do with marriage preparation — something that no longer applies to the couple who have been married for more than a year.
While DiGiovanni realizes that a majority of family-based events make most sense for the family-based congregation, she said she still occasionally wishes for more young adult opportunities at the parish level.
Lombard recognizes this as an issue. Young adult activities really do vary from parish to parish, she said. “If you don’t have a lot of young adults in your parish, it might not work to have a full-blown young adult group.”
In those situations, Lombard said, it would be ideal for a priest to plug in the young adults in “little ways,” either by inviting young adults to a lecture series or to go hiking — any way to get them involved.
One young adult who is involved is Elizabeth Bovair, 24, a 2005 graduate of the University of Michigan. A parishioner of St. Charles Borromeo Church in Arlington, Bovair moved to Northern Virginia in January and was “incredibly astounded” to find such a large and active young adult group in the diocese.
“I found it to be a really great resource,” she said. “I’ve met a lot of people who are devout.” Through them Bovair said she has developed a better understanding of the Church and its theology.
And ultimately, that’s what young adult ministry is all about: giving the young heart of the Church an opportunity to learn more about the faith, said Father Mark E. Moretti, pastor of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church in Lake Ridge, who has facilitated lecture series and retreats for young adults for many years.
Once the young adults feel confident in their knowledge, Father Moretti said, they stop being students and become apostles.
“You become an evangelist,” he said. “You become part of the New Evangelization, which is what John Paul II called for.”
Looking ahead, Lombard hopes to see more parish collaboration for young adult events and even more young adult networking. Opportunities continue as early as July 23 with the beginning of another “Real Life: Real People” Theology on Tap series, not to mention a diocesan-wide young adult Mass in August — both of which assure that young adults have found a secure home in the diocese and in the universal Church.
For more information go to www.arlingtondiocese.org and click on Family Life, or e-mail Lombard at yam@arlingtondiocese.org.

Gretchen R. Crowe can be reached at gcrowe@catholicherald.com.