Bishop Pates is asking all parishes to implement a systematic approach to adolescent catechesis as outlined in the “Framework for the Development of Catechetical Materials for Young People of High School Age.” He asks that this effort include 8 semesters to span over the four years a student is in high school.
Why is this being done? Well here is a bit of info from the National Federation of Catholic Youth Ministry. In summary Catholic Youth are very inarticulate about their faith. The Bishops of the US looked at the info from the National Study of Youth and Religion and decided that something needed to be done. So they worked on a framework of what every teen should learn about the faith before high school graduation.
What does this mean for youth ministry?
It won't change the way that Teen Group operates. Teen Group will still meet the same number of times and will be run in the same manner as it has in the past. The difference is that the teaching will focus on the
8 Semester Themes as put forth by the USCCB.
Youth ministry already uses Catechesis as one of it's eight components, so in reality this call by the USCCB is to really pump up Catechesis for young people. If you would like to read more about adolescent catechesis you can visit
The National Inititiave for Adolescent Catechesis. On this site you can read all the methodology, research and articles. On the links section of this page is an article that asks really good questions and gives some perspective of changes that need to be thought of .