Assessment

Midterm Written Assessment 20% + Final Essay 60% + Ministry plan 20%

Module Aims

The essential task of youth ministry in the Salesian and Christian tradition is to unfold and to facilitate a life-giving and life-changing personal encounter between young people and God's Love (Jesus Christ) and to help young people to explore and discover/accept a Life Project based on this encounter. This module aims to equip learners to understand the complexity of social, cultural, and economic issues around youth ministry and to engage with best practice in making principled decisions and organisational policies. It recognizes the multiple and overlapping communities of which youth are a part: global; family-based community; faith community including church and education settings; youth movements; and other settings in the wider community.

Indicative Syllabus

The module covers the elements of a practical balanced approach to Youth Ministry. For each theme, there is teacher input, class discussion and assigned reading.

1. The Ministry of Evangelisation: Living and bringing the Good News of Christ to every level of humankind so as to renew people from within.
2. The Ministry of Advocacy: Don Bosco’s aim: Good Christian and Honest Citizens
3. The Ministry of Justice and Service: In the promotion of the Rights of the Person, we are reminded by Don Bosco that we cannot silence the one name, 'Jesus', that gives fullness of life
4. The Ministry of Dialogue in support of Identity Building - Education and Evangelisation: An approach that is in keeping with the practice of the Kingdom, seeking to give the fullness of life to all, to holistically support the work of maturity within each person
5. The Ministry of Community Life/Right Relationships: Salesian Oratory Model: Home, School, Church, Playground lived through the practice of the Salesian Preventive System
6. The Ministry of Pastoral Care and Planning: "It is not enough to love the young, but they must know they are loved" (Don Bosco): With pastoral charity as a guiding principle, youth ministry offers a real prospect of renewal for the pastoral care of young people. As servants of young people, we are called to evaluate the events and currents of thought of our time that most affect the human person. In this way we can keep the young people at the heart of our planning processes.
7. The Ministry of Leadership Development: For Don Bosco the practice of presence­ assistance among the young was a creative and active way of engaging the young at his Oratory in a friendly relationship and building future leaders for society and the Church.

Learning Outcomes

• — Reflect theologically on relevant Church documents and Salesian youth practices and apply these to their role in making principled decision in his or her approach to working with young people.
• — Contribute to discussions of the culture of young people, drawing on relevant literature and first-hand experience using the appropriate terminology and critically integrating youth culture with adolescent development theory.
• — Interpret relevant biblical texts to deepen understanding of Youth Ministry.
• — Analyse the complex intersections of secularism, government policies and the centrality of the digital world as these relate to the world of youth and impact upon opportunities and challenges for effective youth ministry.
• — Engage with principles that underline the design and planning of relevant strategies to sustain Pastoral care ministry in formal and informal setting.
• — Critically and actively engage with the theoretical foundations and practical applications of Servant Leadership and Transformational Leadership as found in the Salesian and other traditions.
• — Design a ministry plan for a specified context. 

Bibliography

• — Hinsdale, M. A. “Infinite Openness to the Infinite: Karl Rahner's Contribution to Modern Catholic Thought on the Child”, College of the Holy Cross, 2011.
• — Pope Francis, Global Compact on Education, Vademacum Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, (2019).
• — Pope Francis, Christus Vivit: To young people and to the entire People of God. Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2019.
• — Rogers, J. pp 111-126, “Karl Rahner on Childhood”, Ireland, Sr Patrick College, Maynooth, Ireish Theological quarterly, Issue 2, Vol 86, 2021.
• — Sala, R. “Youth Ministry after the Synod on Young People: Ten Points of No Return,” Religions (2020) 11,313; doi:10.3390/rel11060313
• — Unicef, Your Voice Your Future: Turning Challenges into Solutions (2021), https://www.unicef.org/eu/media/1281/file/English.pdf
• — United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, “Principles and Goals of Young Adult Ministry,” https://www.usccb.org/topics/youth-and-young-adult-ministries/principles-and-goals-young-adult-ministry