Four years ago, when I received the letter soliciting charter members for the National Association of Catholic Youth Minitry Leaders (NACYML), I thought, “Hey! Sure. An organization designed to promote the profession and practice of youth ministry? I can get behind that.” I wrote my check, mailed it, and waited for my membership card. I never expected to participate any more than that, and was not sure I even wanted to. I was happy to support whatever work the organization was doing even if I had never heard of the six letter acronym before.

Testing the Water

Two years ago, for the first time, I attended the National Conference on Catholic Youth Ministry (NCCYM) held in Las Vegas and what I recently learned was the second NACYML membership meeting. I had been a member for two years, and had even participated in the first discernment team to select new members of the leadership team. However, beyond being able to recognize the mission of the organization, I still was not quite sure what the organization did.

Jumping In

By 2006, I had heard the names and recognized some of the key people in the organization and was delighted to be able to put faces to those names at the membership meeting. It was my hope to gain more understanding of what NACYML was and what it did by attending the membership meeting. Looking back at my notes from the day, the one comment that stands out most is, “I want to support this, but what are the benefits”?

I have also heard my colleagues ask the same question, and believe others have asked it as well. I now sit on the NACYML Leadership Team, and it is a question we continue address—for both the existing membership and as a tool to attract new members.

Are there Benefits?

Of course there are! They are listed on NACYML website. Can they be measured? Yes, they can. Recently, members were able to save twenty dollars on the registration cost of NCCYM. In my own archdiocese, discounts are offered to members on registration for various events and trainings.

I submit, however, that there are greater benefits than these that I had not considered when sitting in the ballroom at the Riviera during the NACYML membership meeting two years ago. By simply saying ‘yes’ to several, increasingly more challenging invitations (Not only do I sit on the leadership team, but I also chair the publications committee, which is tasked with overseeing the production of this newsletter.), I now have a role in a national organization that supports my profession. I also have developed meaningful and spiritually rich relationships with the other members of the leadership team.

Shared Vision Engenders Support

During the low points in my career as a youth minister, I have felt the discouragement and sense of defeat that comes with having a vision for the young people of my parish that is not shared by those around me. NACYML has provided me with a link to a national network of youth ministers who share a common vision of what youth ministry can and should be in my parish and my neighboring parishes. My active involvement in NACYML has opened the door to participation in youth ministry at the national level. If it was not for my involvement, and the opportunity to see the people I have come to know through my recent experiences as well as those whom I have been working with via conference call and e-mail the past few months, I do not know that as a southern California native I would be able to say that I was looking forward to being in Cleveland in December. However, with this past National Conference on Catholic Youth Ministry in Cleveland, I can now say that the warmth and hospitality of our membership meeting far outweighed the chill of the temperatures outside. I am thrilled to have been there, and to have had the pleasure of meeting so many NACYML members in person.

Thank you to all of the members that attended NCCYM and the membership gathering!