"Our children and teens are the Church of the future.”

How many times have you heard that? On one level, it’s true. Children and teens are the future inasmuch as we hope and pray they will be an active and vital part of the Church when they reach adulthood. On another level, we do young people a disservice if we only look at them as faithful members of the Body of Christ who will some day take their rightful place within the Church. The reality is young people are an active and vital part of the Church today!

Teens are filled with boundless energy that gives them a willingness to work hard, pray hard, and share their love for God. Teens are keenly aware of injustice and have a deep desire to offer their lives in charitable service to a greater good. Rather than creating an alternate worship setting for teens, an environment that sometimes insulates them from the very people they want to see, hear and learn from, how often do we seek them out and invite them to be a part of the entire Church, the whole parish, of which they are rightful members?

I find our teens to be incredibly inspiring – willing to takes risks that we adults might shy away from. Young people like Kevin Borzenski, the members of Saint John’s Band, the late Rachel Scott, and teens just like them in our parishes are working hard and faithfully to make a difference in the midst of the turbulence of growing from child to adolescent to adult. Journey with us in FAITH’s annual teen issue and see how teens are a vital and faith-filled part of the Church – today and in the future!