August 12, 2024

New office of Missionary Discipleship expands youth and young adult ministry

REGIONAL
By Carolee McGrath

SPRINGFIELD – The Diocese of Springfield has launched a new Office of Missionary Discipleship, which will further enhance and expand youth and young adult ministry. Joe Austin, who had been the director of the Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry, will take the reins in the new office. Since 2021, he has been growing youth ministry in the Diocese of Springfield, creating Young and Catholic for young adults and the Catholic Youth Revival, for teenagers.

“Since I started in May 2021, the office has been growing at a fast pace. With the launch of Young and Catholic – the diocesan wide young adults’ movement – in 2021, Steubenville East coming to our diocese in July 2022, the launch of the Diocesan Youth Leadership Team in the fall of 2022, the launch of the annual Diocesan Youth Rally in May of office has experienced extraordinary growth. At the same time, new areas and opportunities for expansion have arisen and so the launch of the new office of Missionary Discipleship will tackle these new areas,” said Joe Austin.

Life Teen partners with Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio, to host the Steubenville Catholic Youth Conferences held in different regions of the country each summer. This past July marked the third year in a row that Steubenville East was held in the diocese. Close to 1200 participants gathered at the MassMutual Center for inspiring talks, praise and worship music, reconciliation, Mass and Eucharistic Adoration.

“The theme of Steubenville East a few weekends ago was ‘Illuminate,’ and the Bible passage was: ‘The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it,’ John 1:5. On the back of our diocesan t-shirts for the event, we had a map of every town in the diocese and this quote. That t-shirt echoes my sentiment with this new office,” Austin continued.

“Since the very beginning of working for the diocese, it has been my mission to build communities. Studies liken loneliness to smoking a pack of cigarettes every day. We have an epidemic of loneliness in America especially after the pandemic. I hope these new efforts and initiatives will be an opportunity to build community in Western Mass and to bring the light of Christ to those in need.”

Austin will have help in the new office. Maricelis Cruz will serve as the coordinator of youth and young adult ministry. Cruz, who was very involved in youth ministry as a teenager, recently volunteered at the Steubenville East Conference.

“There is a Eucharistic revival happening within the Church. I hope to bring that same energy to the Springfield Diocese,” said 27-year old Cruz. She grew up in Westfield and her family is a part of the El Camino Hispanic Community at St. Mary Parish.

“The Holy Spirit is doing something amazing. The world is a crazy place right now and with great evil comes an even greater wave of mercy. We are living in a time of great mercy and each and every one of us is called to be a saint. I hope only through the sustenance of Divine Mercy, Merciful Love and the Holy Wounds of Jesus that I do all He wants of me. I want to serve, not for me but because who He is,” she said.

Cruz said she remembers going to the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy in Stockbridge as a little girl.

“I remember distinctly going into the church and my mom explaining who the woman in the pictures were and how I can ask her to pray for me. I did. Later as an adult, I realized I was praying in front of the relic of St. Faustina (Kowalska). St. Faustina never forgot my little prayer and has walked with me ever since. I always try to have faith like I did – faith like a child,” said Cruz.

She and her siblings were involved in a youth group at St. Mary Parish. When she turned 18, she joined NET ministries, a national program in which young missionaries lead retreats across the country.

“My team of six men and six women traveled in a 15 passenger bus and would put on retreats for grades 6-12 of various lengths depending on what the parish wanted. My NET year changed my life. It was also perfectly the Year of Mercy,” Cruz said. She has also been involved in the Encuentro retreats for teenagers, which are held Memorial Day weekend at Camp Holy Cross.

“We are thrilled to have Maricelis joining the office. We are excited for the ways in which she will help us to expand and grow the office: to better develop and integrate the emerging movement of Latino youth ministry into our youth ministry efforts, investing more in middle school youth ministry, assisting with our Young and Catholic movement, being a mentor to our diocesan youth ambassadors, and helping our office with growth and expansion in the regional youth ministry collaboratives in the Berkshires, Franklin County, and other areas of the diocese,” Austin said.

Austin said he is also working on a new hub for campus ministry that will serve Catholic students attending college in the Springfield area.

The new office is part of an overall strategy to continue to witness and involve young people in the life of the church.

“As I have said many times, our youth are not the future of the Church, they are very much a part of the Church right now. We need them and I am very excited about this new office we have created,” said Bishop William D. Byrne.

“Young people have a heart for Christ and I witness that every time I attend a Steubenville conference with them, or go to a youth rally, or visit a Catholic school. These teens understand who it is that brings us true happiness in this world, and his name is Jesus. This office will further support their faith journey, and they, by the grace and mercy of God, will change the world,” he said.

Joe Austin can be reached at j.austin@diospringfield.org and Maricelis Cruz can be reached at m.cruz@diospringfield.org.