What would it take, thought youth minister Emily Teter, just to bring joy to teens? Not to ask anything of them, but to simply let them know they were loved and prayed for. Not to meet them in the parish basement as part of some program, but — as Christ did when he came into the world — to physically meet them where they walked every day.
She decided it might just take a cookie. So, together with other youth ministers in her deanery, they brought sweet snacks to smiling faces at Bishop O’Connell High School in Arlington. The Cookie Ministry quickly spread to other Catholic high schools in the diocese. Now the diocesan Office of Youth, Campus, and Young Adult Ministries encourages youth ministers to bring cookies to schools once a semester. Over the past 11 years, Cookie Ministry has brought gallons of milk and tens of thousands of homemade cookies to students and asked nothing in return.
The gesture goes a long way in helping young people know that youth ministers care about them, whether or not they come to youth group. “We are always encouraging (directors of youth ministry) to get out of their office to their local high school to meet their students on ‘their turf,’ ” said Kevin Bohli, executive director of the OYCYAM. “Cookie ministry becomes the ‘excuse’ to get out of the office and visit the young people at a local high school.”
Often, parish families donate the cookies. Then, youth ministers from the parishes that feed into that high school pick a day to hand out the sweets. Sometimes the priests join, too. “Connections are definitely made, and they live for cookie day. It’s famous,” said Teter, who now works as director of religious education at St. Luke Church in McLean. “One time a kid was like, ‘Oh my gosh, you saved my life.’ ”
Teter is grateful the Cookie Ministry continues. “It’s really simple and gets us away from our desks, out seeing young people, being part of their lives,” she said. “I know that for many of them it’s just a cookie, but how many (teens) have had interactions with an adult that day that haven’t been graded?
“We’re trying to see everybody in front of us and bring them the love of the Lord. We’re making God’s love edible, one cookie at a time.”
Maraist can be reached at [email protected] or Twitter @zoeymaraistACH.
