It’s hardly possible, in our current age, to have a conversation about the future of the Church without discussing the concept of “youth engagement.” According to a 2015 Pew Research Center study, some 52% of American Catholics will stop practicing at some point in their lives. While some revert – about a fifth, according to the study – the vast majority never return to the faith, or at most identify as “culturally Catholic.” For most lapsed Catholics, this departure occurs at a fairly young age, usually in their late teens to early twenties.

With such sobering arithmetic, it’s easy for conversations about youth engagement to devolve into debates over how to keep pews filled; but this approach negates the fact that young people, far from being passive recipients of the faith, are active participants in parish life. Isaac Desranleau, in his role as youth and young adult minister, hopes to change the conversation by reestablishing the Diocesan Youth Council.

The Diocesan Youth Council, or DYC, was formerly an association of teenagers from across the Diocese of Burlington who gathered monthly, mainly to plan for the annual Vermont Catholic Youth Conference. “It was more of a planning committee, back then” Desranleau explained. “Going forward, I want to expand that mission … we’re not coming together just to plan a conference, we’re coming together to grow community.” A recurring theme of the new, revised DYC is the idea of young people as custodians and stewards of their faith; “In a lot of cases, when you get to high school and you’re confirmed, the training wheels come off, and it’s like ‘That’s it, off you go’. Really what they should learn is that everything they see – their parishes, the sacraments, the traditions of the Church – it’s all being passed to them. They’re not just going to Mass and going home, they’re stakeholders in their parishes.”

Initial response to the new initiative has been positive; “When I first announced that we were relaunching the DYC, people seemed to get right away why this was important … we ended up with about 40 nominations (for membership), from across the state.” Equally important to Desranleau is representation, ensuring all corners of the diocese are included in the DYC. “I don’t think it’s anyone’s fault that it happened, but the old DYC was very much a Burlington group.” Going forward, a more decentralized model is proposed; while a core council will be the locus of DYC activities, the ultimate goal is to empower teens on the council to return to their respective parishes and assist with youth ministry efforts there. “I wish people could see what I see, the thirty-thousand-foot view of the diocese … there are lots of little fires starting all over, and it’s my hope that those fires are fanned.”

This long view of evangelization is balanced by more immediate goals; “A lot of the impact I want to see from the DYC, right off the bat, is on (the council members) themselves. In order to build community at any level, you need to begin at the smallest level, one-on-one.” Just as a person’s education doesn’t stop with graduation, the faith journey does not end with baptism, first communion, or confirmation; the DYC exists, first and foremost, to aid young people during crucial years in the development of their faith, a time in life when the familiar support systems of family and education have largely fulfilled their role and the real interior journey begins. This is a crucial and often overlooked time in a Catholic’s life; inured in the explicitly Catholic culture of their parish, home, and school, they are suddenly introduced to a wider society which is, overall, much more secular and often does not align with their values or expectations. Without any kind of continued support from a community of their peers, this “first contact” can be isolating, atomizing, and detrimental to spiritual life.

As the Church moves as a whole to answer Pope Francis’ challenge to embark on a “New Evangelization,” youth ministry stands poised to play an increasingly key role in the revitalization of parishes, dioceses, and Church institutions. The new DYC, ramping up its activities this year, strives to encapsulate the dual nature of this cause: evangelization in the traditional sense of the word, i.e. bearing witness to the faith in the wider world, but also evangelization in the sense of building up one another, forming strong communities, and creating a path forward for parishes. Ideally, Desranleau explained, the DYC would form the core of an ever-growing network of youth organizations, active at parishes and schools across the diocese.

“What we want to see is community, inspiring community … joy inspiring joy” Desranleau concluded. “I want people to look at the DYC and say, ‘I want what they have.’”  In an era where lack of youth participation in the Church seems, for many American Catholics, a foregone conclusion, this new model of community organization promises not only to keep teenagers and young adults engaged in their faith; but also, in the vitality of their parishes and communities.

— Originally published in the Spring 2025 issue of Vermont Catholic magazine.