While working as the youth and young adult faith formation coordinator for St. Joseph Church in St. Joseph, Ben Epper had, of course, heard of the All Things New planning process for the Diocese of St. Cloud.
His initial understanding was that it was primarily a restructuring effort. As the planning process began influencing his day-to-day ministry with young people, he raised a question about how youth and young adults might be involved and noticed that, perhaps, they were not being invited to the discussion.
The conversation prompted reflection on the role younger generations could play in a process often focused on organizational and administrative considerations.
“I’ll admit it hit me like a truck because I didn’t even think to consider it,” Epper said. “Sure, maybe the youth and young adults can’t contribute in a specific way because they don’t have perceived expertise in these areas of administrative tasks. But when we reduce [the process] to mere administrative responsibilities, we lose a sense of renewal that comes with it.”
Epper understands that many see restructuring as primarily “business,” but he believes is that, at the heart of restructuring, is renewal. For him, that means a spiritual and pastoral reawakening where a community recenters around a particular mission.
“For the voices of young people to be left out of discussing that mission is a total loss because of the vibrancy they bring to our communities and the life of our Church,” Epper said.
Wanting to examine this theory more closely, Epper decided to focus his study on this course of thought for his integration seminar, a capstone to earning his Master of Divinity degree from Saint John’s School of Theology and Seminary.
According to his advisor Daniella Zsupan-Jerome, assistant professor of pastoral theology, this type of project asks students to identify and respond to a real-life pastoral issue, integrating their learning in theological studies and Scripture with pastoral formation and ministry.
“I was delighted to see Ben identify a pastoral issue that was clearly relevant to our local context and also personally and vocationally relevant to Ben,” she said.
He titled his project, “Setting the table: A reversal model for including youth and young adults in ecclesial restructuring and renewal.” During his research, he surveyed youth ministers in 15 ACCs to determine how many individuals between the ages 12 and 39 were appointed to pastoral planning committees.
As he expected, the participation was sparse. Only two participants between the ages of 12 and 29 were included and only a few fell between the ages of 30 and 39.
“From this, I gleaned that the older you get, the more your voice can be included and reversely, the younger you are, the less important your voices are within these conversations,” Epper said.
One of the visual elements of his presentation included the metaphor of a kids’ table and an adults’ table at holiday gatherings, something to which Epper himself relates.
“As someone who just escaped the clutches of the kids’ table in the last couple of years, I had fun with this metaphor,” he said. “The question became, ‘What are we subtly and implicitly communicating when we put a kids’ table away from the rest of the family?’”
Then Epper began to dream, “What if there was only one table and everyone was included?”
From there, his idea expanded, no longer focusing only on the tables themselves, but on the whole process of hosting a family dinner or party.
His first step is “sending out invitations,” which, he said, encourages reflection upon how parishes conduct communication with young people, along with four more steps including “setting the table, partaking in the meal of the table, saving room for dessert and cleaning and departing from the table.
Each step considers how ACCs can integrate not only the loudest voices in the community but all voices — including youth and young adults.
“Ben offers critical perspectives about the inclusion of young people in a way that his audience will listen and appreciate,” said Zsupan-Jerome. “Because he shares his message with humor and creativity, especially through the use of metaphor, he brings the audience along rather than chide or judge what is not in place.”
That doesn’t mean Epper doesn’t take a clear stance.
“In the apostolic exhortation, ‘Christus Vivit,’ Pope Francis calls young people to be ‘protagonists of change’ and Pope Leo said explicitly, during his digital encounter at the National Catholic Youth Conference last fall, what all youth and young adult ministers have always said — the youth are not the future of the Church. They are the present and their voices matter,” Epper said.
Epper says if his research and the pope’s encouragement alone don’t provide ACCs with enough evidence to consider including youth, he encourages further reflection upon Jesus’ example through the Eucharist.
“The table of the Eucharist stands as the ultimate corrective to exclusionary practices,” he said. “The logic of the Eucharist resists any division that would relegate some to the margins, insisting instead on communion that is inclusive, participatory and transformative.”
He continues, “If diocesan structures are to be renewed in a genuinely Eucharistic spirit, they must reflect this same reality: a Church gathered as one body, nourished by Christ and sent forth together, young and old alike, to bear witness to the Kingdom.”
To listen to a podcast with Ben, visit minnesotacatholicpodcasts.libsyn.com.