Be Not Afraid: Covington’s Youth Go Out to Share Their Faith

The Diocese of Covington’s Youth Ministry Office is committed to a clear and compelling mission: to support and equip those accompanying young people, ensuring that every youth knows the love of Christ and actively shares in the life of the Church. This mission shapes the office’s work with parishes, ministry leaders, and young people throughout the diocese, with a particular emphasis on building sustainable local leadership while creating opportunities for young Catholics to encounter Christ and confidently share their faith.

The office carries out this mission through five interconnected areas of ministry. Through parish accompaniment, it helps individual parishes develop youth ministry approaches that reflect their own communities and build upon their unique “local genius.” Through leadership development, the office trains and empowers individuals for ministry, emphasizing intergenerational teams capable of forming future generations of leaders. Discipleship opportunities—including retreats, service experiences, and evangelization events—provide experiential formation that helps young people deepen their relationship with Christ and learn to share the Good News. The office also provides parishes with practical resources related to safety, liability, diocesan norms, curriculum, and ministry best practices, while fostering collaboration and connection among local and national youth ministry partners.

One powerful example of this vision in action has been the Diocese’s “Live Holy Week” initiative. Participants went door to door inviting residents to attend Holy Thursday services, ultimately helping to triple regular attendance.

In partnership with Regnum Christi, young people, college students, and young adults participated in a Holy Week Mission that moved faith beyond the walls of the Church and into the streets of the community. Groups of young people spread across the city’s main streets, evangelizing and offering to pray publicly with those they encountered. On Holy Saturday, the mission culminated in a Pre-Easter “Festival of Saints,” with a special invitation extended to diverse cultural communities. Throughout the experience, young people emerged as enthusiastic witnesses—unafraid to initiate conversations, extend invitations, and publicly share their faith.

This growing missionary spirit reflects a broader transformation taking place among young Catholics in the diocese. Over the past three years, the response of young people participating in spiritual events has more than doubled. Leaders are witnessing increased energy and enthusiasm for embracing the Catholic faith, along with a growing desire among young people for experiences such as Eucharistic Adoration. Angie Poat, Director of the Youth Ministry Office, has observed that in more than 30 years of ministry, she has never witnessed this level of enthusiasm and spiritual hunger among young people.

Catholic Leadership Institute has helped the Youth Ministry Office strengthen the infrastructure needed to sustain and expand this momentum. One important area of growth has been recognizing the need to form a strong ministry team that can, in turn, identify and form future leaders. The office now facilitates its own Tending the Talents formation, equipping local college and university students to minister to high school students. This creates an important leadership pipeline in which young adults are not simply recipients of ministry but are being prepared to accompany and evangelize the next generation.

This leadership development is especially important for parishes that do not have dedicated youth ministry staff. The diocesan office provides collaborative support by training parish teams and creating transformative experiences that individual parishes may not have the capacity to offer on their own. By bringing parishes together, developing leaders, and providing shared opportunities for encounter and evangelization, the Diocese can accomplish collectively what many communities could not accomplish independently.

At the heart of all these efforts remains a simple hope: that every young person will know the love of Christ and discover that there is a place for them in His Church. The growth in participation, missionary confidence, leadership, and desire for deeper spiritual experiences demonstrates the potential of investing not only in ministry for young people, but in forming young people to become active disciples and leaders who will help carry the Church’s mission forward.