Lack of vibrancy at youth group meetings

[pianistclare]

I don’t know a thing about youth groups and was never part of one myself, but I agree that you can’t dumb things down or you will totally lose the attention and respect of the teens. I went to a religious retreat once in high school and thought it was laughable. We were in late high school, and they expected us to sing songs for three hours and act like five-year-olds. I got nothing from it, and my friends and I went back to the hotel and got online and called other friends who stayed home. You have to make things age appropriate or kids will just make fun of it and roll their eyes. I genuinely wanted to talk about the philosophical aspects of religion and things like that, but the focus was on singing and doing little projects. A lot of people got in trouble at the hotel for trying to party. I just went to sleep early so that I could get up, go home, and eat something that I actually wanted to eat.

I hear you.

When these things happen, parents AND teens should go to their pastor and be frank. Often, a parish will seek out people who are WILLING to work with teens, rather than certified catechists, and believe me, hardly anyone wants to work with teens. I ask at all the Masses every year, and barely one of two people say they want to help , and then they ONLY want to do things like lead the singing, make cupcakes and lock the doors and take out the trash. they don’t actually want to teach, they have no clue what to teach, and they are scared to death of teenagers.
It’s not easy to find the people to work this, and it’s hard to talk a parish into purchasing a good curriculum. Everybody wants a fabulous program, but very few are willing to put the work in.
And…often the priest has NO IDEA that the program is awful. He just knows he’s got it covered.
Speak up people! Tell someone what you child says! Sit it! See for yourself!
And step up and volunteer! Catechist training is available everywhere, mostly for free.
Our kids need you!