Celebrating the Young Church of Today

I was privileged to grow up during a ‘Golden Era’ of CYO within the Archdiocese of Boston. The C.Y.O. (Catholic Youth Organization) kept us so busy during the days of our youth that we didn’t have time to get in trouble! Almost every parish had a CYO that coordinated social, spiritual, athletic, cultural and service opportunities for teenagers. Our social lives centered on Friday night CYO Dances. The best and the biggest were at Holy Name Parish, West Roxbury with live bands such as ‘The Techniques’ from the Surf Ballroom at Nantasket beach. Parishes sponsored countless basketball, baseball, softball and hockey teams, as well as cheerleaders. They played other parish teams and sometimes were fortunate enough to compete in archdiocesan tournaments. Parishes sponsored hundreds of bands, drum and bugle corps, color guards and drill teams. They would all come together at White Stadium in Boston after a full summer schedule of competitions for the ‘CYO Music Festival’ at which they all per-formed. The climax of the awards ceremony at the Music Festival was the moment when Monsignor John P. Carroll, Archdiocesan CYO Director, invited the young men and women to step forward who were putting aside their band uniforms for the cassocks of seminarians or the habits of novices entering religious life. The number of those stepping forward would approach two hundred some years as impressive young men and women responded to the call to become priests, sisters or brothers in service to the mission of the Church. For those who grew up in that ‘Golden Era’ of CYO, you know what I’m talking about. For those who didn’t grow up in those days, there is not enough room in this bulletin column to describe it sufficiently.

The high point of the CYO Year was the celebration of the Feast of Christ the King which was typically observed in parishes as CYO Sunday with the installation of the CYO leaders of the parish with a Communion Breakfast following Mass. A year ago, we restored this Sunday’s Feast of Christ the King at Saint Mary Parish and Saint Martha Parish as CYO Sunday with a special focus on the opening of CYO Basketball Season. Our collaborative will sponsor 11 CYO basketball teams for 150 boys and girls this year. We are immensely grateful for the 10 years of dedicated service of Lynn Adams as coordinator of CYO Basketball for our parishes. We are also appreciative of God’s providence as Robert Hickey recently moved to Wrentham after decades of involvement with CYO Basketball teams at Most Precious Blood Parish, Hyde Park. Bob has readily accepted the invitation to succeed Lynn as Coordinator of CYO Basketball for our parishes. We are also grateful to the dozens of adult volunteers who generously donate their time and talent as coaches for our young people. As we did a year ago, we will celebrate this ‘CYO Basketball Mass’ on the Feast of Christ the King as a birthday memorial for Coach Tim Gemelli who was such an integral part of youth sports in the town of Wrentham. Tim represents all of the countless adults who commit themselves to the coordination of the wide range of youth activities available in the towns of Wrentham and Plainville.

CYO was never just about basketball. It sought to provide a wide variety of opportunities for young people to discover their talents and abilities while growing in faith within the community of the Church. We have been witnessing a rebirth of this wider youth ministry at Saint Martha and Saint Mary Parishes over the past few years. Teams of twenty or more high school students have committed themselves to Mission Service Trips to Mississippi, Puerto Rico and Vermont over the past three summers. Our middle school students are engaged in a full range of social and service activities. Our high schools students headed off to Maine for white water rafting in September and participated in a retreat in Vermont last weekend that was personally transformational for all of them. Our Director of Faith Formation for Youth, Bob Collins, remarked to me last Sunday after returning from the Vermont retreat that ‘We are witnessing the resurgence of a new golden era of youth ministry right here in our two parishes. I hope that next year the ‘CYO Basketball Mass’ on the Feast of Christ the King might also include a blessing of the youth ministry leaders from Saint Mary Parish and Saint Martha Parish who will continue to generate ever greater involvement of our young people in our parishes. We are so pleased that Trish Moore has accepted a new position as Coordinator of High School Youth Ministry for our parishes and meets with a growing number of our high school students and adult youth ministers on Tuesdays evenings in the rectory for faith sharing, fun, food, prayer and planning for new activities. These are definitely signs of hope for greater involvement of the young people of our parishes in our communities of faith.

Praise be to Christ the King!