Miguel De Ángel grew up with a pencil and sketchpad in hand, studied art in college and dreamed of working in cartoon animation. But after he started volunteering with the youth group at Good Shepherd Church in Alexandria, he felt called by God to accept the position for parish director of youth ministry. He used his artistic skills in his ministry, but the lifelong Catholic always felt he could better serve the teens if he received more academic training in the faith.
“What I really needed (was) to advance my studies in faith and theology, but I didn’t have the money,” he said. “I would dream about the idea of a master’s in theology, but I couldn’t do it.”
This year, De Ángel was one of nine members of an Arlington diocese cohort who completed an online master of arts in catechetics and evangelization from the Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio, thanks to a diocesan program. After the Rooted in Faith — Forward in Hope Capital Campaign concluded in the early 2000s, an endowment fund was created to support the ongoing formation of directors of religious education and directors of youth ministry. Ninety-five percent of tuition costs were covered by that fund.
“The generosity of thousands of donors from 20 years ago gives our diocese the ability to provide excellent training for our youth workers today and for years to come,” said Kevin Bohli, executive director of the Office of Youth, Campus, and Young Adults Ministries. The program began in 2018, and those who completed it made a commitment to stay with the diocese for at least three years.
Christine Najarian, assistant director of the youth office, also graduated in May. “I think what really drew me toward this was going through it with a cohort. Being part of a community doing it together was really enticing and exciting to me, (and) it ended up being very helpful,” she said. “Probably for most of the (classes) until the pandemic, we would gather as a class here at the chancery and then Zoom the professor in. (The experience) brightened what I already knew and gave it a richness and depth.”
Others from the diocese who graduated last month include Lynn Jones, director of faith formation at St. Bernadette Church in Springfield; Sheila Noble, assistant director of religious education at St. Francis of Assisi Church in Triangle; and Rob Tessier, director of youth ministry at All Saints Catholic Church in Manassas.
De Ángel now feels more equipped to speak about the faith. Recently, two of the youth group teens asked him about morality of freedom and laws. “After having studied moral theology, I could explain why you can’t just decide what is good and right, (that) there’s an objective good and Christ has shown us the way,” he said. “That would have gone very differently before. I would have maybe fumbled through an explanation. So, not only do I have some knowledge now but I have a lot of confidence with what the church teaches.”
He’s thankful for the chance he was given to grow in knowledge and understanding of the faith. “I can’t speak more highly of the opportunity that the diocese has given me in participating in that program. It’s been beyond my dreams,” he said. “And now I’m super eager to share with others, not just our teens but our parents, our catechists. I want to help other youth ministers in the diocese.”
