PULSE: Prayer, Unity, Leadership, Service, Evangelization

Objective: To establish effective, holistically Catholic, peer-led ministry among teenagers from ages 14-19 and specifically to empower those teens who have been fully initiated into the Catholic faith through the Sacrament of Confirmation with the skills to evangelize within their families and peer groups.

The Five Stages (Components) of PULSE

PULSE is chiefly based on 5 of the 8 components of Comprehensive Catholic Youth Ministry passed down by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in their document Renewing the Vision: A Framework for Catholic Youth Ministry (USCCB, 1997). These components are Prayer, Unity (Community Life), Leadership (Leadership Development), Service (Justice & Service), and Evangelization. It is the goal of the PULSE program that teens who show an interest in leadership be themselves led into a deeper relationship with Christ while witnessing their faith life to their peers. Additionally, the three remaining components identified by the USCCB (Catechesis, Advocacy, and Pastoral Care), will remain the primary responsibility of parents, youth ministry core team and staff, and the Pastor or Spiritual Director to ensure that the needs of the teens within the program are consistently met.

Teens in the PULSE program are encouraged to participate in each of the five components identified above. To this end, the components are laid out in a logical order. Beginning with a foundation of Prayer, teens are encouraged to foster a relationship with God through Community Life, Leadership, and Justice and Service, that will ultimately lead to them becoming evangelizers in their communities (Evangelization). The core attributes of each component and how they depend upon one another are described below.

1. Prayer: Prayer and an ongoing relationship with Jesus through the Church and her Sacraments are the foundational elements of any good disciple of Jesus. By establishing a solid prayer life and defining an individual’s specific spirituality, teens take an active role in preparing themselves to engage in their faith life both in and out of mass.
2. Unity (Community Life): Prayerful participation in a community of faith provides an individual with support and encouragement from their neighbors despite cultural, physical, and socio-economic differences. By worshiping together, teens will realize the local, national, and global nature of the Church and begin to take ownership of their faith out of a sense of solidarity with their peers and the Universal Church.
3. Leadership (Leadership Development): As responsibility for one’s community of faith develops, all are called to become leaders in different ways. By prayerfully considering that call and leaning on the support of the community for confidence, teens will begin to take charge of both liturgical and non-liturgical opportunities for leadership within their faith, family, and peer communities.
4. Service (Justice and Service): Inherent in the role of a leader is the ability to recognize injustice and identify the marginalized among those they lead and the greater society. By addressing these issues and working to develop just solutions to disparities within local and global communities, teens reflect the healing and compassionate nature of God to those around them.
5. Evangelization: Through the sacrament of baptism, all of the faithful are called to be missionaries and to carry with them the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ. By concentrating on building a faith life and pursuing works of leadership and service, teens will learn how to demonstrate and vocalize the Gospel to everyone they encounter.