A job description written in heaven. That’s what Chris Rivera thought when he was asked to create the Office of Youth & Young Adult Ministry for the Province of Our Lady of Guadalupe. “It was literally a job description that covered everything I’ve done in my life and all the dreams I had for the future,” says Chris. “It was like the vision I have for my life and the vision God has for my life came together into a beautiful symphony.”
The first notes of this resonant symphony were written in New York City, where in eighth grade Chris attended Mary Help of Christians, a Salesian-run school in lower Manhattan. “That’s where I encountered youth ministry for the first time,” shares Chris. “I encountered a space where I understood that I had a home in the church. And at the end of that year, I was invited to the National Catholic Youth Conference, where I encountered Jesus in a whole different way than I had ever before. I encountered young people giving free hugs, young people who were saying ‘Please’ and ‘Thank you’ who had genuine care for the world and care for humanity in a way in which I hadn’t quite seen in the same way in New York City. And so that dramatically changed the vision that I had. If Jesus has this impact on these young people and has had the same impact on me, I need to make sure every single young person I meet gets a chance to know the same Jesus.”
Next, Chris went through his scholastic leadership years, integrating gospel values into daily decisions, community service, and peer ministry, before beginning a 10-year journey with the Boys and Girls Clubs in lower Manhattan.
“At the Boys and Girls Clubs, I identified that Christ had called me to do something more—something I can’t quite do in a public-school setting where I can’t necessarily talk about faith with our young people. And so that called me into a space where I could serve my church.”
Chris answered the call by working for the Archdiocese in New York for three years, and then for an ecumenical organization called Young Life, helping them with their Catholic collaborations with the diocese and with Catholic parishes in the New York City area. He also started another collaboration that changed his life in a meaningful way.
“I got married to my wife!” he cheers. “We have now three kids, and about two years ago, we acknowledged that our New York City apartment was too small for us, and I had this feeling that God was calling me to serve down in Florida. The Diocese of Orlando had its Director of Youth & Young Adult Ministry position available. I applied for that role and was their director for a year.”
During that year, a recruiter gave Chris the aforementioned job description written in heaven. Needless to say, he was immediately intrigued.
“There’s just so much beauty and such amazing community that’s found in being a friar—and in the ability for me to serve God the way he’s calling me to. There’s not a very distinct roadway, if you will. A friar serves to respond to the needs of the vulnerable and the marginalized and to seek to show the gospel to others. I said, ‘This is amazing!’ So, I went through an interview process with the team and was hired back in September.”
And how does the director of a brand-new office with both distinct and indistinct roadways ahead get started?
“Those first two months, I got a basic understanding of the landscape from a general Franciscan perspective,” explains Chris. “I traveled throughout the country to identify locations where we are doing youth ministry and evaluate them, see how they’re doing, where they’re at, where we’re doing well, and where the office can step in. I’ve hosted focus groups with young people and had one-to-one conversations with leadership as well as the young people who were serving at these different locations to inform a plan that will respond to the distinct needs of our friars throughout our province.”
With Chris, the Province’s Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry has found a forward-looking analyst and opportunity-identifier.
“We think strategically about how can we can create ministries and support existing ministries while allowing there to be a way in which a young person, once they dive in and make a connection with us, can then be connected in a larger way to our Franciscan province and have an opportunity to seek out a vocation with the friars, or discover how they might walk alongside the friars—maybe as a secular Franciscan, a religious sister, or as a married individual like myself.
Or they might be interested in diving into other aspects of our ministry, like serving through our Franciscan missionary services,” continues Chris. “We’re really trying to figure out how we can invite people to be connected to the ethos that is the work of the Franciscan Friars in the province of Our Lady Guadalupe, and how we can create that first touch point. If our office can be the first touch point that connects you to this network, it can connect you to our ecosystem. What we’re saying is, ‘Let us walk with you; let’s walk the journey of faith together through our discipleship pathway and other means, and then let’s help you to become a leader who can then foster this type of community with others in your community.’”
Through his travels and firsthand experience, Chris has found that young adults are returning to the faith in greater numbers than before.
“A lot of what they’re seeking is an understanding that one, I belong here; I’m a part of this community, and this community distinctly cares about me. I’m not just a number. I’m not just another young person in the pew. I’m an integral part of this community, and this community cares about me. But they’re also looking for structure and a clean, defined understanding of what that faith looks like. So, when they’re coming over to our Catholic faith and in our Catholic churches, what they’re finding is order, stability, and a faith that’s gone on for thousands of years—and they are a part of this journey, too.
I think the third part that I can share with you is that young people are looking to be relevant in their community. So, it’s not just about us hosting something and saying, ‘If we build it, they will come.’ We need to earn the right to be heard and to listen to their stories.”
“What we found is when our friars do that, similar to the work that’s being done down in North Carolina with Father Casey, Father Jason, and Father Tito, who are going out and being among the people,” adds Chris, “lives are changed, and these slow pieces of conversion start to click.”
Chris has seen the groundwork for similar conversions in California.
“At Mission San Luis Rey, there are young people who are yearning, both in their youth ministry and young adult ministry.
Father Lalo specifically is looking at how he can invite our young people into a deeper relationship. So, what does that look like?” he asks. “It looks like there’s a friar who visits every youth session, has some conversations, gives a blessing, and gives a quick message with a Franciscan perspective. He walks intentionally with his young people, caring for their distinct needs. That’s what our young people need. They need friars similar to those. And I know there are many more across our country who are doing the same. They care about young people distinctly and are willing to create ministries and programs that meet their needs.”
But how can there be consistency with how the friars of the Province, from coast to coast and everywhere in between, minister to youth and young adults?
“We’ve identified that there are some gaps throughout our ministry,” reveals Chris. “They’re being siloed from one ministry to another—or our youth faith formation isn’t necessarily uniquely Franciscan, or it’s being given by a diocese. That diocesan framework is great, but how can the Province find a way to provide a Franciscan overlay or Franciscan spirit to the work that’s coming out? With our discipleship pathway, what we’re innovating is providing a space where we’re going to walk with individuals from moments of encounter through moments of accompaniment, through formation, and finally into mission.
And the idea is just that it just lives in your community, in your space, and all of our participants will be invited to be a part of our virtual fraternity.”
Chris talks excitedly about this forthcoming virtual fraternity, where young people from across the country will have the opportunity to engage with one another and, if interested, pursue more knowledge and involvement.
“We will facilitate it by journeying along with one another and inviting others into the experience,” he says. “Ultimately, our ministries will no longer be siloed because of the distance between them. They’ll all have a space in which they can be invited into a deeper connection with one another and share what they’re doing.”