Striving Side by Side
Sherri Nee
On a rainy Friday afternoon in the fall of 2022, Father Patrick Neary put his suitcase in the trunk, settled into the front passenger seat with an excited smile, and we headed out of Portland, Oregon, toward Young Life’s Washington Family Ranch.
Along the way, Fr. Pat described how the students at his school needed a personal encounter with Christ. He said students at Holy Redeemer were learning about the sacraments, the Bible, and the Catholic faith, but many were not being “evangelized” at home. A growing number were coming to the school with no faith background. And some who had inherited the faith hadn’t yet “internalized” it.
I assured him the WyldLife camp where we were heading would provide some inspiration, and he was eager to experience all of it. At camp, Fr. Pat ate meals with the camp speaker and camp directors and rose early to attend the leader meetings. He spent the weekend observing and marveling at how WyldLife leaders cared for their students and how the gospel was proclaimed.
“There was music and dancing, games and skits,” Fr. Pat said. “It was humility and humor, and when the gospel was presented, you could have heard a pin drop. To hear the gospel preached with such clarity and connection and enthusiasm — the message really spoke to my heart.”
Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel.
— Philippians 1:27 (ESV)
From one to 121!
Fr. Pat returned to Portland a Young Life advocate and began meeting with Young Life staff, gathering parents and teachers. But three weeks into his effort to launch WyldLife, he heard from the Vatican. Pope Francis wanted Fr. Pat to become a bishop in Minnesota. Instead of overseeing one parish and one school in Portland, he would soon be shepherding 121 parishes and 26 schools in the Diocese of St. Cloud.
Fr. Pat became Bishop Pat in early 2023, and when he was connected in Minnesota with Young Life Regional Director Angie Polejewski, he learned she was Catholic. “This is a sign!” he said over the phone. “It’s a sign that I need to continue my relationship with Young Life and see where it leads.”
In October, Bishop Pat came to the Young Life Catholic Summit at the University of Notre Dame and brought some of his staff with him. He spoke to the crowd, describing his time at Washington Family Ranch and urging other Catholic clergy to work with Young Life. And when he returned from the summit, he gathered his staff and Angie for a series of meetings. He asked the group to pilot WyldLife in the diocese.
“His desire is to someday offer Young Life ministries as an option for all the parishes in the diocese,” Angie said.
In the city of Alexandria, Minnesota, where a Young Life club has existed for almost five years, a WyldLife club is expected to be added this spring with Catholic and Protestant leaders using the local YMCA for the club space. The second Minnesota pilot involves four Catholic parishes located in the adjoining towns of Sauk Rapids and Sartell. Young Life has no presence in these towns yet, but the parish priests are excited, and adults from the parish are currently gathering volunteers to form a Young Life committee and to serve as WyldLife leaders.
“WyldLife is an outreach tool outside of the parish to evangelize youth and train adults on how to accompany them,” Angie said. “For some students, WyldLife will reignite their faith. For others, it will introduce them to Christ for the first time.”
Sharing WHAT’S MOST IMPORTANT
An increasing number of U.S. Young Life staff are reaching out to their Catholic communities, inviting them to come and see and castING a vision for ministry together. As more friendships are built, more Catholics are collaborating with Young Life — in states like New York, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Kentucky, Tennessee, Colorado, Texas, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, and Louisiana.
Bishop Pat is under no illusion that Catholic and Protestant church doctrines are in complete alignment. But he appreciates how Protestants and Catholics — who share the most important tenets of the Christian faith — can work side by side, sharing the love of Jesus with every kid.
He said his own faith formation was shaped by Catholics and Protestants in love with Jesus.
“My Boy Scout group leader was a devout Baptist,” Bishop Pat said, “but on our monthly weekend camping trips, he would take us Catholic kids to Mass on Saturday night. His influence in my life made me open to any kind of ecumenical Christian movement that could bring us together.”