Is all about, and how to live it well, and you want to love and be loved . I suggest that the answer is, whether youre 13 or 33, would be yes to all of these. To those yeses, the Catholic Church responds by saying come on, lets Work Together to find out how to answer all of this question successfully. Today, we will talk to two of the people who help the church and the work of communicating with these age groups. The coordinator said the ministry through youth and young adults for the archdiocese of San Francisco. Then, we will find out something about who are todays young people, what do they think, what do they want, what do they fear . How do we help them to find meaning, to build community, and to live in a deep and genuine relationship with jesus christ as the basis for deep and genuine relationships with themselves . And, with all of others. Please stay with us as we talk to our youth and young adult ministries about their work. Hello, welcome to mosaic. I want to introduce our guests today. These are employees of the archdiocese of San Francisco. They are concorde meters of ministries to youth and young adult. On my left, Amanda George. Amanda, you are coordinator of youth and Young Adult Ministry. On her left, chris mariano. You are seem title, you show the title, and i think you share the job. Amanda, you have been at the archdiocese for perhaps a year and, maybe two . Two and half years. Increase your are fairly new . Yes, just a few months old. But fairly expensive the profession. Yes. Because we are talking about youth and young adults, i looked into the gospel to say i think our ministry uses getting in touch with jesus christ. I took a direct look at what jesus did with youth in the gospel, and how to use a peer. I mentioned to chris, i said he brought the children in. He said if you want to be in the kingdom of heaven, be like peace. There is other instances of jesus . There is one more instance in the gospel of john, in the feeding of the 5000, it was a young boy that presented the fish to the disciples. Again, it was a great story where the young people have a place to serve, and they could be the catalyst to the movement in the church. And jesus is interesting love for the young was emphasized. It is two or three gospels in which the story of ap athe story of the wealthy young man, and he was a good kid, he was a good guy. Jesus said, he said what must i do, and jesus said come follow me. And he had too many, he was a wealthy young man. So, something about he couldnt leave, whatever his positions or preoccupations were to deepen the relationship with jesus. So, you work with youth and young adult, what is the distinction or difference in those groups . Age . I would say, we are looking at, for use, we are looking at ages 13 to 17, 13 to 18 if they are still in high school. Then, for young adults we are looking at 18 to 39. Is quite an age range with a lot of, especially for young adults, a lot of Different Things going on in that span of time between 18 and 39. And, i know that you have all kinds of events. I think you parishes. Describe some of that to me with that is. I really see our role primarily at the archdiocese level as consultants. We are going into parishes that dont have Youth Ministry or Young Adult Ministry and are interested in trying to start that. And we are consulting with them and walking with them in trying to figure out how we do this. Or if they have it already, how do we grow this . You know. I kind of see us as ministry consultants. In the archdiocese, there are close to 100 parishes, right . Most of them have a Youth Program or is it lacking in some places . I would say 50 have a Youth Program. About 50 for youth and young adult combine. So, some parishes will have both. A lot of them will have one or the other. Our goal is to go into those parishes. We have had parishes called into the Office Asking for Youth Ministry, asking for Young Adult Ministry, which is awesome, because that is where we need to grow the church. As we have learned in the last year or so, we have gone two different conventions, and conferences, and we have heard in one of the talks about the affiliation of the leading of the church. We are hearing them talking about 11 to 12 years old, they are making the decision then and there to say im a christian, and my catholic . That is where we see that you know, use, especially youth ministries are becoming more and more important to our young people, because one thing that i see them use is social media to get what they want out of truth. And i see a lot of to our youth ministers, especially the new ones, i say you have to be faster than the internet. I said that back in early 2000 to our youth ministers, because that is exactly where our young people are looking for truth. They can find how to make a casserole, they can find a way to pitch a tent. Of course, they want to find everything on there. So, how are we as people making that face to face contact with them, versus them just looking on a screen . Do something about, i use the internet myself. I am a webmaster and researcher, it is great to have that. But, you are not in community with people. It is a different sort of relationship. Kind of a superficial community. It has a virtual aspect it is not genuine. One of those challenges is to bring young people into physical contact, social contact is that right . I think community is the biggest factor. Since we are so connected on social media as a community, that we forget that, we have the facetoface community in front of us, right at the dinner table, right at our churches. That is what we really try to build a lot of people think chris you are going backwards, he will try to get them together. I go well that is what it has always been. I think community is the basis of what we build and use and Young Adult Ministry. That is what they are yearning for. Real community, physical social presence with them, i dont know, meaningful endeavor perhaps. I understand, i think, that prayer groups, and adoration groups have an attraction for younger people. Where else can they get that kind of thing except through you and the church . I think it is far from you, now because we are so connected, even our families, even my parents are so connected to their phone, that we very rarely get to connect even on a phone. You know, to hear each other on the telephone itself, and hear each others voice, the inflection of our voices, that is why when i work with young people, especially in the confirmation process, if they miss a meeting with their parent, or especially their sponsor, i tell them facetime them at least, because then, you get to see their facial expressions, their body language, and then we can connect in that, and that level. Hold that thought, we will take a break now. We will be back talking more in detail about youth and Young Adult Ministry. Hello, we are talking with Amanda George and Chris Mariana , youth and young adult ministers in the archdiocese of San Francisco, about this mission to the young people. You are the exponents of that mission. Let me ask you personal questions, how you got into that. You both have professional training, professional experience. Something brought you into ministry as your vocation, what brought you . I have a business background and a tech background. But, when i came back to my face, i really wanted to help other people, because i felt like i did not hear the message of catholicism, the truth of catholicism in a compelling way , when i was young, which gave me no reason, then, to stay in my 20s. I thought, maybe i can help this next generation. Maybe i can be part of helping them hear the truth you know, before they are gone. It sounds like you were raised catholic . Oh, yeah. And baptized as a baby and raised catholic. And, you have the typical feeling of 20 something was missing was not taking root . It just was not compelling at the time. I did not see a reason to make it a priority in my life. So, i really wanted, but i really regret that. You know, i really wish i had heard the message in a more compelling way when i was young. So, i really wanted to be part of trying to make that a reality for other young people. And chris, you grew up catholic here . Yes. Ever any doubts about it, did you leave the faith that sometime . I did have a moment in my life where i was not going to church for two years in my life. Before that, when i was very young, around seven years old, i had a moment where i went to a mass, it was a healing mass. I was actually healed from a sickness, or a skin condition, basically eczema if you know what eczema is. It went away in two days without any medication, anything. I just knew that if god gave me Something Like that, why cant i get back . Ever since then, i started my ministry at being an altar server, was in the choirs when i was younger. I was a choir director when i was 13 years old the high schoolers. You are a musician. Yes. I did all of that, in and even with all of that happening in my life, there were still two years in my young adult life where i did not see eye to eye with the church or where my life was going. Eventually i made amends, and i got into church because my pastor, picking him up to come to my house for my dads birthday party, asked me do you want to be a youth minister . I was like ill think about it. And after that, really since 1999, that is where the journey of Youth Ministry came about, was just someone asking me. Prior to the ministry, you have professional experience i think in retail . Right, i was in retail, i am actually a certified chef. What dont you do, yeah i work for williamssonoma, some big stores. I use both the retail and food industry. But i use the Service Industry is a big basis of my ministry is that i serve people, instead of now feeding their bodies, now im feeding their souls. You learned the skills. You are a web developer, tech advisor and so on so. Professional skills, i am harping on that because i think it helps relate to the young adults, is that right . I mean, San Francisco bay area is the Maikel Franco techies, even though they cannot afford to rent an apartment here. This must be a target audience or viewers, or ministry of yours , you can talk to these people . Yes, i think it really helps , to be able to accompany people, to be able to walk with them where they are, to understand being away from the church, you know why they might have left, what might be stopping them from coming back, and to really be able to walk with somebody where they are. I think our Life Experience really facilitates that well. I had a great experience with teresa of avila on 19th street. At the parish church. Yes. They had an adoration with young adults. I got to meet with them, and they are all from the mission bay kind of the upbringing of that whole community ucsf, and all the companies there. And, they are just great young faith, they were there at thei adoration for the whole hour. They were in it together, they were just praying together, and it was just a nice time to just be together. Catholics watching your show will understand what you mean by adoration. It is silent prayer in the church before the greatest, or display somehow. I want to ask you this important question, was everybodys mobile device off for the whole hour, or whatever the time was quick yes, it was. You collect them at the door . No, they are very self regulating young adult groups. I see that with a lot of young adults, they will take care of their own, which is different from Young Adult Ministry of course. Working with mature people who have immature seeking for something of spiritual depth. And who has the capability of learning it. It must be important in your work to realize i dont know, neurological signs and physiological signs. Well, the 18yearold brain could do this, the 28yearold brain can do that. You are up to date on all of that stuff. It is interesting, the signs and understanding of when the brain finishes maturing today is way more advanced than it used to be. We understand now that the human brain does not finish maturing until it is 25, right . So, at 18 there is still seven more years of development, judgment, all of those things that are coming together, forming. It is also a really interesting time, those early 20s. You are still at a point where your willingness to make big risks is there, but you also have more judgment than he used to, then you did is a 16year old. So, it is a very interesting time of life. I think that is where our roles are so important, because we are still molding and developing, and helping them understand where is there truth . Where is the truth . Because, i think being part of that Development Part of that stage in their life is so key as a church. And we have to keep reminding ourselves to welcome them into our parishes. Lets take a little break again. We will come back for our third segment and discuss in detail, something about the Youth Ministry, that will be set fun. We are talking about Youth Ministry. Our guests are Amanda George and chris marianna, colleagues who work at the archdiocese of San Francisco. It is in the news, it is well known secular news and church news, that young people are leaving the church. Not just young people, but to the number who profess they are catholic has dropped. When they did standard surveys and so on. Is a name for people working on on their religious affiliation on the survey. You must deal with these people, you know who they are, right . That must be a challenging situation to look at. I mean, a lot of my friends that i grew up with, catholic are now nuns. They dont go to church. They dont consider themselves catholic, you know we know from statistics, from studies, thats the main reason that young people are leaving the church the some of the harder teachings of the church. But, i think that is not something that cant be overcome. We can overcome that. What we need to do is train ourselves, our youth ministers, our young adult leaders to be more comfortable talking about the teachings of the church. In a loving way. It always has to be with love. So, if we can really speak the truth in a compelling way with love, i think that we can, i think that we can work on that. And, there is a large demographic is intellectually adept people. I mean, everybody has a college degree, now. I think you make intellectual arguments. For instance, bishop baron has his videos and ministry. Are there others that are specifically directed at youth and young adults . father mike smith, he has a ton of videos directed to young adults and youth, i use them in the classroom to bring up these conversations now, especially with our middle schoolers. So, we can actually have conversations now. I think that is a big part of it, i think the catechesis, the how compassionate, not only compassionate, but passionate we are about both the teaching, but also, how do we share with our young people the truth, and can we walk them through the process, because i know every year when i go into a classroom i said my first statement is you might not like what im going to say to you. I think that, you know, and amateurish view of what religion or morality is, is telling you things youre not supposed to do, making you behave in a certain way. But i think the better approach is the richness, intellectual beauty, and spiritual death of the teachings. You got to present that, right . A lot of the people perceive incorrectly that there are conflicts between faith and science marais, between religion and science. So, you have people like father Robert Spencer who are trying to address that particular issue people have with his manager center for faith and reason, i really he is quite the scientist. You know, we can go into so many of these things people think or contradiction. About Youth Ministry, teenage stuff, he wanted to tell us about Upcoming Events that are coming this fall. Tell me about whats happening. One thing that we have coming up this weekend is norcal. That is going to be a gathering of about 1000 young people, high schoolers, that will come from all over northern california, from oregon, hawaii, things like that. Youre going to praise and worship, mass, talks, from National Speakers who i was talking about hearing the message in a compelling way. Oo amazing to i am socited ati that sounds good. This is university of stephenville San Francisco. This is a partnership between university of San Francisco student bill and life team. Chris what is something on the menu . Young adults coming up october 5, we have a harvest ball. That will be up in tiburon, open at saint hilary. That is another great gathering for young adults to not only come together in faith but definitely come together in community and have a night of being together. It is one of our annual events, it is our third animal. It is a great opportunity for them to come together. Social dancing is involved . Even a lesson. You need that to get the guys out on the flooring. There are other things, there is theology on tap. Isnt that where you sit in a nice bar and have a beer . We have noconsider and try to going here, yeah. We do have a couple youth events as well,. September 7, the house i perish, we are teaching our young adult and youth ministries. Electors, cancers, acquirers, and also alter service, they want to learn for their parishes, or even schools, which we have schools sign up to go. They can learn those services. The other one is october 20 over at saint teresa of avila parish in San Francisco, and that will be a youth rally. We will have praise and worship mass and also a speaker for that day as well. I think we are about out of time. I want to thank you for being here and talking about Youth Ministry. You can always consult the website, the Youth Ministry, and Young Adult Ministry webpage full of web services, thank you. From the couldnt be prouders to the wait did we just winners. Everyone uses their phone differently. Thats why Xfinity Mobile lets you design your own data. Now you can share it between lines. Mix with unlimited, and switch it up at anytime so you only pay for what you need. Its a different kind of Wireless Network designed to save you money. Save up to 400 a year on your wireless bill. Plus get 250 back when you buy a new samsung note. Click, call or visit a store today. Live from the cbs bay area studios, this is kpix 5 news. Standstill he shooting them, he shooting them. He killed him, he killed him. New details this morning about a deadly shooting rampage in texas. Several president ial candidates promising change. Plus, mysterious fears spread through an Upscale Hotel in downtown san jose. We are continuing to monitor Hurricane Dorian as a takes aim at the bahamas, within the last few minutes, it has been upgraded to a category 5, we are tracking where i could make landfall in the u. S. It is 6 am on the