The most interesting thing about Fr. Tom Dunne is listening to him put an everyday event into a profound theological context. He may be looking at one thing, but it is clear that his inner eye sees the bigger picture.

Fr. Tom Dunne is the director of the Office for Youth Ministry ("OYM") for the Archdiocese of Boston and serves as the chairman of the NFCYM Board of Directors. He has been in ministry with young people, in many different roles, for well over 40 years. In the first moments of our conversation he said,

"From its inception, youth ministry has brought to the church and to the parish a real sense of ministry, the direct application of the life of Christ into the parish through

• Evangelization through relationship.
• Using a needs-based approach.
• Putting emphasis on community first."

All of the best that Vatican II was, is embodied in this ministry and the way we minister.

It took me a split second to understand and appreciate what he said, and then I began to feel a renewed sense of pride in being a part of this ministry. Ironically, Fr. Tom had a difficult time answering the question, “What is the greatest gift in being a youth minister?” I think that is because he sees the whole picture as a gift. When you are in the midst of a forest, it can be difficult to appreciate the gift of a single tree. In this season of thankfulness, it was clear that Fr. Tom is both gift to and gifted by youth ministry.

Last summer, at his fifth World Youth Day in Cologne, Germany, a reporter asked Fr. Tom if young people are much different today. He replied that there has been a qualitative change in the young people. 

“The difference”, he said, “is that as they have grown they have really been nurtured and fed, spiritually and as a community. They gave themselves to the sacraments and prayer in ways that I’ve never seen before. The gift of spontaneous sacrifice for the good of the other was a real blessing in this community. The kids now are a lot different."

He remarked, "The kids are different because WE are different; WE'VE gone deeper into faith and a rooted spirituality. They've grown because we've grown.” 

Fr. Tom spoke eloquently about the youth ministers that he works with in Boston and about youth ministry in general. 

He said, "It is a vocation of professionalism and competency, not one of pay. This, very clearly is a profession of faith."

He noted, "Youth ministry is unlike a career because so many people, at least in Boston, stay connected. They may move from place to place, but they are always connected.  Even if they move outside of a ministry job, they come back to help on this project or that one, but it's a call, a real passion, not a job."

He has seen many changes in the last forty years. Some changes have emerged slowly while others have been abrupt. Fr. Tom has served on the board of the National Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry for many years. One of the biggest changes that he has seen in the Federation is the formation of NACYML itself.  

Just a few years ago, the Federation served only those in diocesan youth ministry. But one meeting in Williamsburg, Virginia, in 2001, changed all of that. At that meeting the membership developed a new mission statement, which is: "Serving those who serve the young Catholic Church." 

"This is an extreme area of hope and possibility!" Fr. Tom says. "There are so many people involved now, so many organizations; each one brings something new to the table. We learned that while various diocesan offices might be not be active, or might be losing personnel, youth ministry was still happening in their diocese. We learned that we were not the only game in town."

Now instead of being an insular committee, NFCYM is outwardly focused toward collaborating ministries that include publishers, performers, religious orders, universities, scouts and many more.

Fr. Tom looks to the future for the gifts that are yet to come. He would like to see youth ministry integrate a process of spiritual development into our formation programs.

“We're building a new kingdom,” he says, “and we need to integrate that deeper sense into our education.” 

Likewise he would like to see youth ministry fully integrated in two different ways: First, integrated into the life of the church, not off in it’s own world; and secondly, he would like this ministry to be more representative of who we really are as church, to overcome cultural obstacles and include more ethnic groups in all that we do.

Finally, Fr. Tom says we have to find a way of handing on the wealth of experience, the output of the stuff we've slogged through. 

He says, “We in leadership need to step back and decide what we've done and how we've done it and then sum it up. We don't need more books, what we need is to discover the underlying principals, the spiritual, psychological principals that are underlying the pastoral practices we've developed.”

Maybe that task is not for people like Fr. Tom to accomplish. Maybe it is really a challenge for the leaders of today. It is a challenge that is also a gift. The challenge is to take the time to reflect and to pray and then reflect some more. What are the principles that we have learned? What are the practices that someone before us developed and trained us to use with our young people?

It is a good time to sit a while and appreciate the gifts of past and present. It is a good time to appreciate the gift that is youth ministry, the gift that is Father Tom Dunne.