Josh Johnson, a staff member at the St. John\u2019s Summer Program at St. John Francis Regis Parish in Hollywood, Md., kneels in prayer July 21, 2026, during Eucharistic adoration in the church. (OSV News photo\/Mihoko Owada, Catholic Standard)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nAddie Lyons, 19, said relationships can make young people more open to the faith. Rather than beginning with a theology talk, she said, counselors build friendships, have fun with the children and let questions about faith come naturally.<\/p>\n
Build a place where they belong<\/p>\n
Rachel Mroz, 22, became more involved in her faith through the Catholic Student Center at the University of Maryland and returned to St. John\u2019s looking for that same kind of community during the summer.<\/p>\n
She said young Catholics need people around them who encourage them in the faith, \u201cother people who want to run to heaven with us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rollins Don-Simmons, 19, said the community at St. John\u2019s gave him confidence to seek out Catholic life at the University of Maryland.<\/p>\n
For Summer Phan, 16, and Maria Northrup, 17, older staff members offered an example to follow. Both saw teenagers and college students return year after year, showing them what staying active in the faith could look like as they grew older.<\/p>\n
Teach the faith so they can understand it<\/p>\n
Don-Simmons said parishes hoping to reach young people should think carefully about how they communicate the faith.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we can best engage young people in the faith by explaining the faith in a way that they can understand,\u201d he told the Catholic Standard.<\/p>\n
Carlton Costanzo, 17, made a similar point.<\/p>\n
\u201cStay rooted in our tradition while also presenting it in a way that\u2019s accessible to younger generations,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Christopher Damron, 19, said young people respond when the faith is explained clearly and in a way they can understand.<\/p>\n
Keep Christ at the center<\/p>\n
Many pointed to the Eucharist as central to Catholic life.<\/p>\n
Lansing said helping young people understand what happens at Mass can change the way they see the Church.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf more people really understood what is happening at Mass and believed it with their whole hearts, I think it would completely change the way they look at the Catholic faith,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Hannah Lawrence, 29, said friendships first brought her to St. John\u2019s, but daily Mass and Eucharistic adoration helped transform her faith.<\/p>\n
Help them ask what God wants for their lives<\/p>\n
Several also spoke about faith in terms of vocation and discernment.<\/p>\n
Pieniadz said she initially did not want to come to St. John\u2019s, but eventually believed God was asking her to go.<\/p>\n
\u201cGod called me to,\u201d she said. \u201cGod told me to.\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Lansing had spent months asking St. Joseph the Worker to help him find a summer job before his friend told him about St. John\u2019s.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was the opportunity that opened up,\u201d he said. \u201cI took it as God showing me where he wanted me to be.\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Costanzo is considering college, military service, the trades and priesthood as he discerns his future.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think every Catholic man should be open to the possibility of seminary until he\u2019s called to marriage,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
For the young people at St. John\u2019s, faith has grown through friendships, invitations and the example of people who took their relationship with Christ seriously.<\/p>\n
And many of them are now doing the same for someone else.<\/p>\n
\n
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