“Young people must truly be the priority of our pastoral work, as they live in a world removed from God.” – Pope Benedict XVI

 Children are the future of our parish, of our community, of our Church, and of our world.  At Our Lady of Lourdes, helping our youth to know and love Christ and understand His action and importance in their lives is a top priority.

 The Religious Education program for elementary-age children provides a firm foundation in the knowledge and love of Christ.  Central to this effort is preparation for receiving the Sacraments of Reconciliation and Holy Communion for the first time.

 Children in the seventh and eighth grades participate in a two-year program that prepares them to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation.

 Young people in the ninth through twelfth grades are invited and encouraged to attend the parish’s Catholic Youth Organization (high-school Youth Group) in order to grow in their knowledge of Jesus Christ, as well as enjoy fun and fellowship.

Additionally, Our Lady of Lourdes also sponsors and supports Scouting programs for boys and girls.

 All of these efforts, however, depend heavily on the support and encouragement of parents.  Parents are the first, and indeed the most important, educators of their children in all aspects of life, including education in Catholic faith:

 Since parents have given their children their life, they are bound by the most serious obligation to educate their offspring and therefore must be recognized as the primary and principal educators.  This role in education is so important that only with difficulty can it be supplied where it is lacking.  Parents are the ones who must create a family atmosphere animated by love and respect for God and man, in which the well-rounded personal and social education of children is fostered.  Hence, the family is the first school of the social virtues that every society needs.  It is particularly in the Christian family, enriched by the grace and office of the Sacrament of Matrimony, that children should be taught from their early years to have a knowledge of God according to the faith received in Baptism, to worship Him, and to love their neighbor.  Here, too, they find their first experience of a wholesome human society and of the Church.  Finally, it is through the family that they are gradually led to a companionship with their fellowmen and with the People of God.  Let parents then recognize the inestimable importance a truly Christian family has for the life and progress of God’s own people.  (Second Vatican Council, Declaration on Christian Education, paragraph 3)

 Our parish’s efforts in the realm of Youth Ministry must be understood as the help and support of the Christian community to parents as they fulfill their loving obligation to educate their children.  It is not, and indeed could never be, a replacement for this vital responsibility of parents.