St Bernadette's Youth Ministry

About 

St Bernadette's Youth Group is a ministry for young disciples of Jesus Christ from the ages of 12-35. It consists of four groups:

1. Younger teens - years 6-8
2. Older teens - years 9-12
3. Young adults 18-35 (Parish based group)
4. Catholic central 18+ (Regional large group)

The focus of each of our groups and their activities is to make available to the young people of this generation the freedom to access limitless goodness and grow to their full potential of happiness by growing closer to God in the company of friends. 

Our goal is to foster attentive care and personal connection amongst each and every member so that each of us can more easily and truly grow closer to our Greatest Friend, Jesus Christ. 

We aim to: 

• Build lifelong disciples 
• Provide solid faith formation
• Promote growth in all facets of the human person - spiritual, physical, intellectual, emotional, artistic & social.
• Involve parents and families 

What is it we do?

Teens

Every month our group offers the following:

• Life night: Faith Formation answering the 'whats and the whys' of life and God and the world within the setting of amazing food, great company and lots of fun!
• Social outing: Friendship with Christ and others in the context of a fun outing. We have been to: the movies, ice skating, laser-tagging, winter fest, disco, games night, karaoke, escape room, kayaking, Putt-Putt Golf, bowling, bushwalking, beaches... with more to follow!
• Sports afternoons and interparish competitions 
• Community service: As disciples of Christ, we minister to our Lord in the guise of the sick, poor and needy (Visiting Allowah Children's Hospital, assisting the Manning Foundation serving the poor, and Heaven on Wheels feeding of the homeless)
• Prayer formation, communal eucharistic adoration and Youth Mass. This includes assisting in feasts such as Corpus Christi, the Novena of St Francis, Christmas and Easter. We also offer a yearly spiritual retreat to go deeper in their prayer lives.
• Youth Choir: cultivating musical and singing skills for the glory of God and offering opportunities both in mass, adoration and concert settings to develop their performing and presentation.

Young Adults

Every fortnight we offer opportunities for the young adults in our parish to come together in friendship to share great experiences and conversations, with Jesus and each other. 

'Catholic Central'

Under the guidance of the Friars of St Francis, Catholic Central was established for the purpose of reaching out to and engaging with the Catholic community in order to promote, facilitate and support their efforts in living out the universal call to holiness (Mt 5.48). 

We meet fortnightly on a Sunday night ( Look out for the events for dates!) at St Bernadette’s Dundas Valley, starting at 6pm for Confession and Adoration, followed by a talk/ workshops on formation from 7pm until 8:00pm ( see events for talk details). 

Catholic Central is based on five pillars:

1. Sacred Scripture: We recognise the centrality of the revealed Word of God in the Catholic tradition.
2. Sacred Tradition: We look to the Sacred Tradition that has been passed down to us along with Scripture as a source of transmission of the Word of God as entrusted to the apostles by Jesus and through the Holy Spirit (c.f. CCC 81).
3. The Magisterium of the Church: We trust in the authority of the Church and the ongoing guidance and protection of the Holy Spirit in the interpretation, development and transmission of doctrine, spirituality, and moral and social teaching in the service of both Scripture and Tradition (c.f. CCC 85-86).
4. Prayer: We understand prayer to be inseparable from the Christian life as a source of nourishment to “animate us at every moment”, and as an expression of love for the Persons of the Trinity and for all our brothers and sisters. (c.f. CCC 2697, 2744-45).
5. Sacraments: A rich sacramental life and the accompanying graces received are fundamental to a lived Catholic faith and our efforts should therefore both proceed from and lead to frequent and active participation in the sacramental life of the Church.

Please contact Fr Benedict (brbenedictfsf@bigpond.com) for all enquiries.