Does the Catholic church have youth programs like the LDS?

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FindingMyFaith

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I know that I in no way will get a carbon copy of what my kids have now. But I am concerned about how the change will affect them, if I decided to leave the LDS church for Catholicism. It might help if I had an idea of how things run at the church, or what youth programs they operate.

Thanks…
 
I can understand your concern.

How old are your kids?

All the parishes I’ve been to have Faith Formation classes for children and Confirmation and youth groups for middle and high school students. You can see what your local parishes have available.
 
I have 2 17yr olds, a 16 yr old, 10, 8 and 6. I think they most enjoy the more casual, not all doctrine activities where they play a game, or have a treat, etc… On Wed nights, the older kids have Young Womens or Young Mens, the younger boy Scouts through the BSA, the 8yr old every other Wednesday has “Activity Days”, and the 6yr old just tags along for the fun of it 🙂
 
Sit back and relax, you should probably get 1000 answers on this one pending people’s locations, etc.

I can’t know what your kids have now, but with our kids and the parish we go to there is an incredibly well run Sunday school program after the 9 am mass. My kids also really like vacation bible school in the summer. We homeschool and are hooked into 2 huge homeschooling groups in this city too. One where every Friday morning they all meet at one of the parishes in town and do religious activities and learning in a fun kid way.

All parishes are different though, probably a good idea is to call around if there are multiple parishes in your area and see what programs they have.
 
Thanks for the info.

I don’t know how many Wednesday night programs parishes have. I went to 3 different Catholic parishes in 2 suburbs the last 3 years and am not aware of any.

By contrast, a Lutheran church I used to go to had a Wednesday night service plus youth groups/activities that night.

Do you mind telling us what state you’re in? Maybe that would help us locate some resources.
 
It depends on where you live. Most parishes have some sort of youth program. I used to help run one at my local parish. It wasnt all about doctrine (like 5% of it was)
 
I am in Texas, near Austin.

And ffg, I homeschool too 🙂 But I haven’t really found a group that we fit into 😦 So, I worry about the kids.
 
FindingMyFaith said:
I am in Texas, near Austin.

And ffg, I homeschool too 🙂 But I haven’t really found a group that we fit into 😦 So, I worry about the kids.
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I will say this though. The Catholic community is lacking when it comes to family functions as where the lds church is very family oriented.
 
Good to know, thanks. I don’t know that area; maybe someone else can help us out here.

I think youth programs are important when choosing a place to worship. I was a Methodist growing up and my parents chose a church because it had a great middle and high school youth group. My sister and her kids go to a Lutheran church which has a great children’s program.
 
We have quite a few programs in our parish. You have to search out the good ones to find what you think you would like to participate in.
Not one size fits all.
 
Google diocese of Austin, Texas and see if you can find their website. They may have links to the parishes under their jurisdiction and many parishes have websites with their activities, bulletins, etc.
 
I worry all the time about our children where we are, with no acitivities for them here at our church, whatever the age is. But, we do live in a small town (although we have lived in two small towns and the Baptist churches always have great family and children activities even though they are small too?). Also, we lived for 3 years in a small town notheast of Austin.

IN two days we’ll be in Austin for a few days, and I’ll be seeing my friend one of those days who has children, though they do go to Catholic school. I’ll ask her what she can tell me.

I really think it depends on where you live, the size of your community.
 
FindingMyFaith said:
I am in Texas, near Austin.

And ffg, I homeschool too 🙂 But I haven’t really found a group that we fit into 😦 So, I worry about the kids.
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A quick search found this Homeschool group in Austin…

main.org/hfh/

It looks like the group is great, but it looks the the superintendent got in the way this year when the group requested the new bishop to do the opening mass…

the-american-catholic.com/2011/04/20/diocese-of-austin-homeschoolers-need-not-apply/

That happens, we started homeschooling because I didn’t like an answer from our school diocese office. Some people are in positions they shouldn’t be, I’m sure if that message from the superintendent was seen by the bishop, the bishop may realize the fool he has working for the diocese.

Take care,
 
FindingMyFaith said:
I have 2 17yr olds, a 16 yr old, 10, 8 and 6. I think they most enjoy the more casual, not all doctrine activities where they play a game, or have a treat, etc… On Wed nights, the older kids have Young Womens or Young Mens, the younger boy Scouts through the BSA, the 8yr old every other Wednesday has “Activity Days”, and the 6yr old just tags along for the fun of it 🙂
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Every parish is different. Ours has both BSA and Girl’s Scouts. (Love those cookies.) Our parish has an associated school, the kids have, it seems to me, endless things going on. It is a choir school, currently the kids in the choir are in Europe, performing at churches and basilicas.
 
As for Boy Scouts, I have seen parishes here which have it in their buildings.
 
FindingMyFaith said:
I know that I in no way will get a carbon copy of what my kids have now. But I am concerned about how the change will affect them, if I decided to leave the LDS church for Catholicism. It might help if I had an idea of how things run at the church, or what youth programs they operate.

Thanks…
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Depends on parishes. In my area, a parish has a youth group and the youth serve as ushers, readers during a particular sunday mass.

Check this out and see if they have one in our area:couplesforchristusa.org/v251/index.php?option=com_content&view=section&layout=blog&id=20&Itemid=22
 
Depending on the size of the youth in the parish, most have a small youth group in my Diocese. The Diocese also has a large youth group that is ran by a wonderful priest. He takes the youth on mission trips and really gets them involved in the Church and charity.

He does a show on the local Catholic radio station Friday nights aimed directly at the youth. He plays music for them and prays. It is so wonderful to know my childern will have that type of youth program to dive into and grow in their faith. I hope and pray every parish or Diocese has something like this!
 
FindingMyFaith said:
I am in Texas, near Austin.

And ffg, I homeschool too 🙂 But I haven’t really found a group that we fit into 😦 So, I worry about the kids.
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There are plenty for youth to do.

I grew up near Austin. In the Dallas area now. Good luck
 
To Op:

I highly recommend looking into Lifeteen (highschool) and Edge (Midleschool 6-8) youth ministries. As a former Edge core-member and attending Lifeteen in high school I can highly recommend them.

lifeteen.com

They follow a basic structure of gather/proclaim/break/send Meaning a gathering game or music or such a group proclamation/ lesson then small group activities and a sending forth activity almost always followed with music/prayer/worship. As well as many retreats and even Camp Tepeyac and Covecrest. Lifeteen is sanctioned by the Church with approved (nil Omstat and Imprimatur) teachings.

Lifeteen is international and probably has a program near you.

I hope you find what you are looking for! 😃
 
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