“Ruth has left the building” – a catchphrase fitting for this passionate, effervescent woman who has led Sandhurst Youth Ministry with all the pizazz fitting of a drama teacher, while drawing from the gospels to reach young people in ways that matter to them. We farewell Ruth, who has served Sandhurst with commitment and passion over the last five years.
Just over five years ago, Ruth Lawlor, a teacher at Nagle College, Bairnsdale, was supervising students at a Year Ten Retreat when she found herself thinking, “I’d like to do something like this.” That evening, an advertisement for the Sandhurst Youth Ministry Coordinator position popped up in her Facebook feed. Whether it was the Holy Spirit moving, or simply that Ruth was open to new ideas, (or both) it changed the course of Ruth’s career path. “I love working with young people and building relationships, and I’m deeply committed to our Catholic faith, so the role just seemed to fit,” said Ruth. The role also provided an opportunity for Ruth to return to her hometown of Bendigo, and parish of St Therese’s, Kennington.
Two weeks into starting work at Sandhurst’s Youth Ministry (SYM) Ruth embarked on her first ‘gig’. “Samuel Matuszek (former Youth Ministry Officer) and I attended Wodonga Parish’s ‘Stronger Rally’. It was a good opportunity to see what these rallies were like without the pressure of organising an event ourselves when so new to the job,” said Ruth. “The people I met in those early weeks have been of great assistance to me all the way through my ministry,” said Ruth.
Indeed, for Ruth, it is the people of our Diocese who have enriched and sustained her throughout her time working in SYM, and it is these people and connections which Ruth says she will miss most about her role with the Diocese of Sandhurst.
Ruth has engaged with hundreds of people in parishes and schools across the Diocese, in capacities that extend beyond youth ministry. As Youth Ministry Coordinator for the Diocese, she worked closely with staff and teachers from Catholic Education Sandhurst Ltd, teachers in schools, and people in parishes. Ruth has also collaborated with youth ministry workers in other dioceses and Catholic organisations and recently was appointed Co-chair of the Australian Catholic Youth Ministry Network. As a Sandhurst Member of the Australian Plenary Council, and while working with Dr Chris Cotter on the Preparation and Consultation for the Sandhurst Mission and Pastoral Council (SMPC), Ruth had the opportunity to meet with many people across the Diocese in a broader context.
“The Australian Plenary gave me this amazing opportunity to meet so many wonderful people across this country who share in this great vision that we have for our Church. I was able to take this experience of the Plenary and go out into parishes to continue that work. I very much appreciate the opportunity to build relationships with such amazing, devoted, and joyful people and feel privileged that they could share, not only their love for the Church, but also their sadness and hurt,” said Ruth.
Ruth brought a diverse skillset to her work in Youth Ministry. Expertise earned while studying for a Master of Theology degree ensured that every project undertaken by Sandhurst Youth Ministry was well-researched and grounded in Catholic teaching; while skills and experience honed as a university drama student were deployed to project-manage SYM events from start to finish. This was no mean feat, considering these events ranged from hosting local World Youth Day events, retreats, webinars, videos, daily prayer podcasts during COVID-19 lockdown, livestreamed daily Advent prayers, livestreamed Christmas events and, of course, the Sandhurst Pilgrimage to World Youth Day, Lisbon.
Youth Ministry is largely recognised as a challenging area of ministry. While Ruth understands the macro-level issues facing youth in western society today (see box below), she believes it is critical to also focus efforts at the micro-level.
“I think we often think we know what the challenges for young people are. Yes, we know mental health, climate change, global security … are big issues for young people, but when we actually start digging into it, when we ask young people on an individual level – What matters to you? What challenges you? – they more often reply, ‘friends, family, school, finding a job at the end of it’,” said Ruth.
Ruth believes that young people in Sandhurst do share the same challenges and concerns of young people more broadly but, for many Sandhurst youth, their immediate challenges are smaller, more local. “Sometimes we say we need to get young people through these big issues, but what we need to do, is get them through things that matter to them,” explained Ruth.
“In our local context, not in the context of Melbourne, or America. Think about young people in Yarrawonga or Wangaratta – what are their lives like? Many spend a lot more time with their families than kids in other places; family tends to matter more to them. Many are isolated in a different way; they live on farms, or big blocks without public transport or a means to get to a part-time job, or extra-curricular activities. We have to listen to what they actually need and respond in a way that matters to young people in our Diocese.”
“We often try to create grand youth ministry programmes which appeal to the masses, but that’s not what we need. If we look to the Bible, that’s not what Jesus did – Jesus started with twelve disciples. I’m not saying that we should focus only on small groups, but we do need to start focusing on young people as individuals; what works for one young person, might not work for another.”
We need to start thinking about how we can reach young people as people, and one way to do that is accompaniment,” said Ruth. Pope Francis is really big on accompaniment. This was a focus in Christus Vivit (2019 Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation to Young People and the Entire People of God). Accompaniment is something I have strived to do – although I haven’t always got it right. It’s about walking alongside our young people; it’s about going to them where they are, standing with them, and then saying, “Hey, let’s move along together.”
“Every single time I got stuck thinking about what to do in youth ministry, I turned back to the Gospels and looked at how Jesus worked with his disciples, and personally, I looked at how he worked with the women in the Gospel. How did Jesus connect with people? Often not with a big group. Yes, there were times when he did connect with big groups – we need big events as well – but the Gospel was about the day-to-day life. It was about having a place for everyone, and a role for everyone, and a personal relationship with everyone. Being seen and known is what drew those people in. If we can’t do that, then we’re not reading the Gospels properly.
For Ruth, it is critical that youth ministry needs to be underpinned by strong relationships and communities. “We don’t need ‘youth ministry bubbles’; we need to invite young people into parishes, to share their gifts and talents with us, so they can be part of the parish and learn and grow in the midst of the people in their parishes,” explains Ruth. “It’s by doing these things that we can make sure that young people are in a community and remain connected to something bigger than themselves.”
Immersing young people in community is one tonic for the sense of isolation and uncertainty which many youths today feel.
“In the past, we would turn to our friends, families, and communities when we felt uncertain or lonely,” said Ruth. Young people are still doing that, but in a different way. Now they connect with each other online, more than in person,” says Ruth.
Young Australians have grown up with fewer siblings than their parents and grandparents and are not being sent to fight a war. The vast majority are highly educated, live in creature comfort and have a plethora of information (true or false) at their fingertips. All a blessing and a curse. The struggle of young Australians today is quiet, largely unseen – like snowflakes when they’ve hit the ground, or the pit of avocado mash.
“Our young people have never known a world without fear; now, with climate change, there is a real sense of hopelessness,” said Ruth. Many young people, from their earliest years, have vivid memories of New York’s twin towers crumbling on their television screens. They have grown up with the fear of terrorism, the global financial crisis, and the global pandemic; with no real way to shut off from the constant negative media messaging,” explains Ruth. Closer to home, many have experienced floods and fire and are acutely aware of the ever-increasing threat of climate change and increasing violence in their communities. Most expect they will never own their own home. These challenges are the type that rolling your sleeves up and “getting on with it” won’t solve.
Appropriate delivery of youth ministry needs to be underpinned by an understanding of the challenges specific to young Australians at various contextual levels. “Simply doing what we’ve always done the same way we’ve always done it, is ignoring the fact that young people have different needs now,” says Ruth. “We need to learn from what we’ve done in the past, take the things that work, shift them, and make them new and relevant for our young people. We need to shift our understanding of what we are trying to do. A lot of schools are now recontextualising through the Enhancing Catholic Identity Project. They’re doing things to make our faith come alive for young people in our current context,” said Ruth.
“In my youth ministry, I started from a place of community, rather than from a place of faith. When we look to the Gospel, we see that Jesus would call people into community, and then, as they went along on their journey, as they became more connected to their understanding of who they were and their connection to their world and their faith, they would come to Christ. Without community they couldn’t have done that,” said Ruth.
“Today, we’re seeing people who have had an encounter of Christ, which is amazing, but we need to bring them into community, because it’s in community that faith flourishes. It’s hard to sustain and grow in faith by yourself. This is the Catholic Church; we need to stay connected; we need to make sure that we aren’t each becoming inward-looking or insular,” said Ruth.
Ruth explains this is not a phenomenon unique to the Church. Special interest groups are now connecting online rather than in person. “If the global pandemic hasn’t taught us anything else, it’s shown that we need to learn that we need physical contact,” said Ruth. “Too often people are connecting through social media, they’re coming in through Christ, but not through community.”
“Our young people are searching,” said Ruth. “The lost generation isn’t just our young people; it’s their parents and sometimes even their grandparents and yet, we’re focusing on young people.”
“Where do parents fit in?” asks Ruth. She actively encouraged organisers of youth ministry events to host a parallel gathering of parents nearby. “We need to not just care about our young people, but their parents as well,” explained Ruth, acknowledging that it takes a village to raise a child and that parents too often can feel isolated in their sometimes-onerous vocation as parents.
“I think we need to look at new models of ministry all together. We need an active children’s ministry that supports children before Confirmation, and after Confirmation. I think we’re missing the years 7-9 students, and we need to look at young people and their families.” said Ruth.
For Ruth, recontextualisation of our faith, and a change of language will help to sustain the Church in an age where most stories about Christianity and Catholicism in mainstream media are bad news stories.
“The Church has often asked – how do we fight against secularisation? But the question we need to ask is – how do we work in this space?” said Ruth. “Jesus worked in a secular world. He went out into the thick of it. He didn’t just go to the temples.”
Ruth believes the future of Sandhurst Youth is in good hands as there are many brilliant and dedicated young leaders in schools and parishes across the Diocese. “I am most proud of the relationships that I have helped to form within the communities of young adults,” said Ruth. “I know I am leaving those young people with strong connections and know they will find inspiration and strength from each other.”
“I’ve been privileged to connect with so many people, young and not so young, in parishes across the Diocese. I will miss the beautiful people who have welcomed me so warmly to their parishes – luckily, I know where to find them,” said Ruth.
With the departure of Ruth, all positions at Sandhurst Youth Ministry are now vacant. The Sandhurst Mission and Pastoral Council and the newly established SYM Reference Group will take time to consider a way to move forward with youth ministry in Sandhurst.
As for Ruth, she leaves this chapter of her life (and us) on a “cliff-hanger” with no set plan. Whatever lies ahead for Ruth, we do know one thing for sure. She will find the answer to her questions in the Gospels.
