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OYM: Transition in Its Final Stages June 25, 2006 By Fr. Thomas A. Dunne S.D.B. During the week of June 25-30, OYM will finalize the transition put into motion by Cardinal Séan’s decision to reorganize the administration of the Boston Archdiocese. + OYM Staff The most significant aspects of that transition were completed this past Friday, June 23. In an effort to balance the $4 million dollar debt in the ’07 budget, the Archdiocese eliminated two full-time and three part-time (one day a week) positions at the Office for Youth Ministry. The positions eliminated were director, administrative assistant, coordinator of Catholic scouting, networking consultant/web design, and maintenance provider. The positions remaining are those of coordinator of youth evangelization and outreach and coordinator of youth ministry training. The position of director held by Fr. Tom Dunne for the past fourteen years will be folded into the position of director within the new Office for Family and Life Ministries. The two remaining Youth Ministry staff members will take up the roles of visioning, strategic planning, communication, and regional and national networking that have been the ministerial role of the OYM director for the past number of years. The position of administrative assistant held by Kay Schuetz for almost fourteen years will be folded into an administrative assistant position within the new Office for Family and Life Ministries. The loss of the coordinator of catholic scouting position held by Vicky Nord will be significant as Youth Ministry moves forward in the Archdiocese. No one on the current staff has the background, contacts, and experience to carry on this ministerial leadership. Undoubtedly, the staff will rely on the Catholic Committee on Scouting to offer some guidance on how to develop this ministry in the future. The position of computer and networking consultant held by John Bettinelli will be handled by the MIS department at the Chancery. The tasks of web design and updating will be handled by a combination of staff and stipended personnel. The position of maintenance provider held by Rick Nord will be handled by the facilities department at the Chancery. + A Word of Thanks … A Promise of Prayer I am sure that I speak for the entire Youth Ministry community in expressing our most profound gratitude to these OYM staff members who have suffered the loss of their positions. Each of them has offered effective and faith-filled service to the Youth Ministry community with great devotion and selfless sacrifice. In many ways, if we will be able to carry on this important ministry in the church it will be, in no small part, due to the pastoral effectiveness of these ministerial leaders. We will be praying for each of these valued colleagues throughout this difficult time of transition. + The New Configuration In the new configuration, Youth Ministry will function as a unit within a larger ministerial entity. (It might be useful in this regard to think of a large corporation that has a number of divisions within its organizational structure.) In effect, the Youth Ministry unit will be fully engaged in its mission for and with Youth Ministry leaders. Personnel within the Office for Family and Life Ministries will oversee the administrative aspects of this ministry. Undoubtedly, the position descriptions for the remaining staff will have to undergo a significant transformation to match the new reality of Youth Ministry in the Archdiocese. Developing a practical strategy for carrying on the work of this ministerial unit will take time and significant effort. + The New Location OYM will be vacating its Quincy facility during the week of June 25, 2006. On June 30, OYM will be housed in the “garden level” (i.e., the basement) of the Creigh Library on the Chancery grounds in Brighton. Communication during this week will be somewhat haphazard at best. Email services with the OYM staff will probably not be available through the “oymboston.org” domain beginning sometime on Tuesday. Phone service will be available throughout the week. However, please be patient if you have to leave a message. We will do our best to respond to all communications. The Youth Ministry staff will be moving into quarters that are extremely limited in terms of storage. In effect, our staff will be moving from a three-story building to two offices. Chancery personnel have been very understanding and helpful in providing whatever our staff needs to carry on the move during a time when Youth Ministry programs are most numerous. Throughout the summer our staff will be using the same OYM email addresses and phone/fax numbers as were used at our Quincy location. Our staff and volunteers will be using the same computer system that has been used over the past ten years. For this we are very grateful. We have every expectation that the new facility will not hinder the staff or the volunteers from carrying on the summer ministry of this office. In fact, we have been encouraged that the services available to chancery staff are significantly more than what was available to us when we were in Quincy (and had to do everything on our own!). Starting on July 3, the new address for postage to OYM will be: 2121 Commonwealth Ave. Brighton, MA 02135 + What lies ahead for Youth Ministry in the Boston Archdiocese? This elimination of personnel in diocesan Youth Ministry brings with it an inevitable diminution of services. While the YM summer of ’07 looks a lot like those before it, we cannot lull ourselves into believing that two staff members will be able to offer the same services as four full time and three part time staff. What seems likely is that the reconfigured Youth Ministry staff will formulate a new strategic plan that will focus on serving parish YM leaders through consultation, training, networking, and mentoring. The goal of this staff will be to animate Youth Ministry leaders in parishes, schools, and youth serving organizations according to the principles of laid down by the US Bishops in the Renewing the Vision: A Framework for Catholic Youth Ministry (1997). To the extent that a number of youth programs enhance that overriding goal, the Youth Ministry staff will work with experienced Youth Ministry leaders to coordinate effective opportunities for evangelization, catechesis, service/justice, worship, vocational discernment, and leadership for and with our young people. The service of the Boston Archdiocese to the parish Youth Ministry leaders will be effective. However, it will take on a different form. + A New Model of Collaboration That new model will be a both a challenge and an opportunity for all in the Boston Archdiocese. More than a budget cut and a rearrangement of leadership positions, the new model of administration and ministry is a call for all in the Catholic community to become a vital part in the Church’s mission to and with their young: a call to discipleship in Jesus; an invitation to take part in the life of the Church community; a formative center where the personal and spiritual needs of each person are met. Together as parish, regional, and archdiocesan leaders, we can effectively promote a vibrant ministry to and with our young even with these diminished resources. However, in order for this desired end to become a reality, we will have to work together as one. To be true to our call on this ministerial pilgrimage, we will have to remain united as a community of faith. More than at any other time, our call in ministry demands that we remain united in mind, heart, and spirit. Without that union, our Youth Ministry community will splinter and be ineffective in carrying out Christ’ mission. Let us remember the words of Pope Benedict to the pilgrims during the closing World Youth Day mass in Cologne: "Seek communion of faith, like fellow travelers who continue together to follow the path of the great pilgrimage that the Magi from the East pointed out to us." + Some Concluding Considerations (taken from the OYM Email of April 27, 2006): As we continue the pilgrimage begun in this Archdiocese by Monsignor Dowd in 1938, we need to keep in mind the pilgrimage spirit that has always animated this Catholic Youth Ministry community in the Boston Archdiocese. In ways much like the Magi on the way to Bethlehem, we have always followed the star of Christ in this ministry. In ways similar to the Magi, we have left behind much in order to approach our Lord, changed our path in response to the will of the Spirit, brought our gifts in homage to the Lord, and knelt in adoration in the presence of our Savior and King. These days we are being asked to follow a different way in our pilgrimage. The coming months will require of us a renewed commitment to the hallmarks of any pilgrimage path: prayer and trust in God’s mercy. It will only be in a spirit of prayer and trust in God’s mercy that we will experience a fruitful end to what God has begun in us. Now more than ever, we are being called to be disciples of pilgrimage spirituality. Only in union with the Spirit will we pilgrims be true to our call to seek the will of God and follow that will along the path of personal holiness and ministerial effectiveness. Mary, the Star of Evangelization, pray for us!!
March 30, 2006 Dear Youth Ministry Colleagues, On April 4, 2006, the appointment of Fr. Tom Dunne S.D.B as Director of the Office for Youth Ministry will expire. The Salesian Provincial of the Eastern United States has called Fr. Dunne to accept an assignment ...... Full Text

OYM and the Reorganization of Central Services in the Boston Archdiocese By Fr. Thomas A. Dunne, Director, Office for Youth Ministry + The Archdiocese of Boston: On April 17, Cardinal Séan published a series of documents that detailed the financial situation of the Archdiocese. According to the Cardinal’s description, the financial condition of the Archdiocese is “dire”. In response to that report, the Cardinal laid out two decisions that will have a significant effect on the staffing and services of the Office for Youth Ministry. The first decision was a financial reorganization that would bring the Archdiocese to a balanced budget in fiscal ‘07. In order to bring about that goal, the budget of central services in the Archdiocese will have to be cut by $4,000,000 for the next year. This budget cut will have a significant effect on the Office for Youth Ministry staff, location, and services. Beginning in July, the Office for Youth Ministry will be housed somewhere on the chancery grounds in Brighton. Considering that fifty positions will be cut from the chancery payroll for fiscal ’07, it would not be surprising if there were to be a reduction on the Office for Youth Ministry staff. The second decision was to reorganize the structure and services that the Archdiocese offers to the parishes. This reorganization was to extend throughout all levels of the Archdiocesan administrative structure. The principles guiding this reorganization would be: 1) to simplify the Archdiocesan structure for greater effectiveness, 2) eliminate duplication of services, 3) promote collaboration among diocesan and parish leaders, 4) bring the services of the Archdiocese closer the parishes through regional and cluster initiatives. + The Office for Youth Ministry: The reorganization of the central services in the Boston Archdiocese will have a significant effect on the staff and operations of the Office for Youth Ministry. Exactly what that effect will be is unclear at this moment. However, it appears likely that the Office for Youth Ministry will become part of a larger ministerial unit that will help parish leaders develop the church’s ministry with the people in their local communities. Undoubtedly, maintaining effective service to parish leaders in a new location, with a reduction in staff, and within a larger ministerial unit will be a challenge on many levels. At the very least, we can be sure that the capabilities of the Archdiocese in serving the Youth Ministry community will be somewhat lessened in the coming year. In order to even maintain its services at a high level, the Archdiocesan Youth Ministry staff will have to develop new models for preparing and delivering helpful resources to parish leaders. These elements will be a challenge for the future of Youth Ministry in this Archdiocese. On the other hand, it is important to note that the collaborative structure being fostered in the Archdiocese will provide the Youth Ministry community with a number of hopeful opportunities for greater effectiveness in ministry. Collaboration within the various ministerial specialties will be greatly facilitated. Strategic planning and program implementation will be more holistic in character when carried on within the context of a team dedicated to developing the totality of parish life. Extra staff assistance will be available when running large events. These elements of the change can have a very positive effect on the future of Youth Ministry in this Archdiocese. In many ways, the future is our choice. + The Summer of 2006 in the Office for Youth Ministry: The summer of 2006 will be a time of multiple transitions for us at the Office for Youth Ministry. On the most basic level, we will be settling into a new facility. That task promises to be arduous from a number of perspectives (e.g., unpacking, new procedures, networking). In addition, our staff will be developing a common approach and an effective working relationship with our new colleagues in ministry to parish life. The importance of these internal tasks cannot be underestimated. It will lay the foundation for all that will follow in making the new structure effective for ministry. On an external level, the Office for Youth Ministry will be sponsoring a variety of Youth Ministry programs for young people in the parishes during the summer of ’06. In accordance with the practice in the past few years, the Office for Youth Ministry will be offering: Middle and High School Harbor Cruise; CYO Golf; Gospel Road I; CLI. In light of the transition being carried out, the Office for Youth Ministry will not be running these summer programs in the manner of previous years. the Office for Youth Ministry will sponsor these programs. Youth Ministry professionals will conduct them with Office for Youth Ministry oversight. Discussions are continuing with regard to the role that the Office for Youth Ministry will play on the Project Hope and Compassion Project (“Bridge of Loving Service” to the Katrina victims in Gulfport, MS). You will be hearing more about this collaborative project in the immediate future. + An Out-of-Control Feeling In times of radical transition such as this, many of us in the Catholic Youth Ministry community might feel uneasy with the changes that have overtaken us. It is disorienting to have one’s familiar surroundings completely disrupted. We have good reason to feel unsettled during these times of change. At the same time, we will have to admit that these changes have been on the horizon for a long period of time. While they have been finalized in the last two weeks, we have lived the past three years with a foreboding sense that things could not remain the same. Those three years were, for us in the Youth Ministry community, an opportunity to prepare for these days and for our future. Without denying an aching sense of loss and grieving at this transition, we have reason to feel somewhat tranquil in the realization that for the past three years we have been developing a pastoral and strategic plan for dealing creatively with these changes. Within the Archdiocese of Boston Youth Ministry community we have already put into place the collaborative mindset, the shared empowerment and ownership, and the community base that will sustain and nourish our ministry with and to youth into the next decade and beyond. The financial, structural, and pastoral reorganization being implemented during these days will require that all in Archdiocesan ministry work according to a radically new model of administration and ministry. The Archdiocesan Youth Ministry staff will have to rely less on the a model of leadership that focuses exclusively on a central office that provides all that the parishes need for Youth Ministry development and resourcing. Instead, the Archdiocesan Youth Ministry staff will be working more in conjunction with parish, cluster, and regional leaders in developing initiatives to serve the needs of young Catholics in their local areas. Archdiocesan programs such as CLI and Gospel Road will remain as vital elements in the life of the Youth Ministry community. However, the effectiveness of those programs will be measured in the way they empower young people to participate with the Youth Ministry community in serving young Catholics within their local contexts. + Youth Ministry in the Archdiocese: The Youth Ministry community in the Boston Archdiocese has reason to feel confident in light of these developments. During the past three years, the Office for Youth Ministry has worked with parish Youth Ministry leaders to develop the approach to ministry is the hallmark of this Archdiocesan reorganization (i.e., ministerial initiatives within regions and clusters, collaboration with other ministerial specializations, simplified structure, ministry emanating from within the local parish communities). It is our strong conviction that Youth Ministry community is well situated to be effective in the reorganization that is about to be implemented throughout the Archdiocese. The Youth Ministry community has already developed an effective collaboration with parish leaders in other specialized ministries (e.g., CYCLE and Rally). The working model already established between the Office for Youth Ministry and the Youth Ministry community on the regional and cluster levels is already an effective model for bringing youth services closer to the local parish communities (e.g., regional meetings and projects). The Youth Ministry community has already developed a model for sharing with the Office for Youth Ministry effective leadership on all Archdiocesan youth programs (e.g., Gospel Road and CLI). The Youth Ministry community is well situated to thrive in the changed environment being created by the coming reorganization in the Archdiocese. That new model will be a both a challenge and an opportunity for all in the Boston Archdiocese. More than a budget cut and a rearrangement of leadership positions, the new model of administration and ministry is a call for all in the Catholic community to become a vital part in the Church’s mission to and with their young: a call to discipleship in Jesus; an invitation to take part in the life of the Church community; a formative center where the personal and spiritual needs of each person are met. + Some Concluding Considerations: As we continue the pilgrimage begun in this Archdiocese by Monsignor Dowd in 1938, we need to keep in mind the pilgrimage spirit that has always animated this Catholic Youth Ministry community in the Boston Archdiocese. In ways much like the Magi on the way to Bethlehem, we have always followed the star of Christ in this ministry. In ways similar to the Magi, we have left behind much in order to approach our Lord, changed our path in response to the will of the Spirit, brought our gifts in homage to the Lord, and knelt in adoration in the presence of our Savior and King. These days we are being asked to follow a different way in our pilgrimage. The coming months will require of us a renewed commitment to the hallmarks of any pilgrimage path: prayer and trust in God’s mercy. It will only be in a spirit of prayer and trust in God’s mercy that we will experience a fruitful end to what God has begun in us. To be true to our call on this ministerial pilgrimage, we will have to remain united as a community of faith. More than at any other time, our call in ministry demands that we remain united in mind, heart, and spirit. Without that union, our Youth Ministry community will splinter and be ineffective in carrying out Christ’ mission. Let us remember the words of Pope Benedict to the pilgrims during the closing World Youth Day mass in Cologne: "Seek communion of faith, like fellow travelers who continue together to follow the path of the great pilgrimage that the Magi from the East pointed out to us." Now more than ever, we are being called to be disciples of pilgrimage spirituality. Only in union with the Spirit will we pilgrims be true to our call to seek the will of God and follow that will along the path of personal holiness and ministerial effectiveness. Mary, the Star of Evangelization, pray for us!!

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