Reflections

Cusick and DeVries Visit Inspires Young Adults of Atlanta
by The Archdiocese of Atlanta Office of Young Adult Ministry
May 24, 2006

Ms. Kate DeVries, Associate Director of YAM Chicago, with Cardinal Francis George, Archbishop of Chicago and Fr. John Cusick.

Young adults (ages 18-40) of the Archdiocese of Atlanta recently benefited from a visit from Father John Cusick and Kate DeVries, Director and Assistant Director of the Young Adult Ministry Office of the Archdiocese of Chicago. Cusick founded the Chicago ministry in 1977. He and DeVries have been working together for the last eighteen years.

Desiring to learn from their experience, Atlanta's Office of Young Adult Ministry (YAM) brought Cusick and DeVries to Atlanta in April 2006. Throughout their three-day visit, they held a series of conversations with various members of the Archdiocese, including the YAM leadership team and priests of the Archdiocese.

When Janice Givens established Atlanta's YAM ten years ago, she looked to the YAM Chicago model for guidance. Now, on the eve of our tenth anniversary jubilee, new YAM director Dorothy Polchinski invited Fr. Cusick and DeVries to give an outsider's perspective on how YAM is doing and what it can do better.

"The techniques and the marketing tools for reaching young adults that Cusick and DeVries outline in their book, The Basic Guide to Young Adult Ministry, has been instrumental in assessing our outreach to young adults," said Polchinski. "Their visit brought life to these ideas and renewed our vision to those who Christ has entrusted to our care."

Fr. Cusick appeared as a guest speaker at WOW (Wide-Open-Worship), an evening of praise and worship and adoration at St. Andrew's parish in Roswell. His ability to dramatize the Gospel struck many of the young adult members who attended the evening.

"I was on the edge of my seat listening to Fr. Cusick," said Mike Judge, one of the attendees. "His words pierced to the heart and renewed my conviction that the young people of the church are vital to fulfilling Christ's mission."

Cusick and DeVries stressed the importance of personal invitation. They call this the "Jesus Method of Organization." "Jesus went out among the people and called his apostles by name," Cusick said. "Christ did not put a sign on a palm tree, saying 'all who want to be my apostles sign up here.' No. He personally invited them. He said, 'Come, follow me.'"

The strength of a personal invitation has a great impact on reaching young adults. Young adults are willing to give of their time and talents, but they must be asked.
Cusick and DeVries also stressed the importance of hospitality. They said that nobody should ever walk into an event knowing no one and leave knowing no one. "If this happens, you have failed to be hospitable." This goes for any gathering, whether it be Sunday Mass or a social event.

With renewed vision, the Office of Young Adult Ministry hopes to make the next ten years of YAM as successful as the first ten. The excitement generated by Cusick and DeVries' visit will help make such a future undertaking possible.

YAM Quicklinks