January 8, 2025

By Darcy Fargo
Editor

While his life in ministry has taken him far from the North Country to Virginia, Texas and Honduras, new diocesan Youth Ministry and Campus Ministry Director Patrick Looby says he’s now home.

“I’ve done youth ministry and Catholic education my entire career,” he said. “I’ve done parish youth ministry, a bit of diocesan work, and I was in Catholic education after that. With a friend of mine, I started a Catholic High School in Virginia, Summit Academy. I’ve done Theology on Tap with the Dioceses of Arlington and Richmond. My wife and I partner together. For the past year and a half, we were in Honduras. We worked with a lot of families and teens, and we did a lot with teen motherhood and pregnancy. But I’m from the North Country. I have roots here. I’m from Harrisville. When this opportunity came open to work in my home diocese and live back at home, we had to look at it. We spent a lot of time praying and discerning. If God takes us back to Honduras, we’ll follow gladly. But if God wants us to stay home, we’re open to that, too.”

Looby said he hopes to help youth and those around them discover and use the gifts specific to that point in development.

“The challenge with youth ministry is pretty universal,” he said. “CS Lewis referred to ‘chronological snobbery.’ People have a tendency to look down on what came before us. We do it collectively, looking at the generations who came before us as backwards or behind the times, and we often view our adolescence the same way. Maybe we didn’t have good youth ministry or we were placated when taught faith. That often has a negative effect on faith and on our perceptions of youth ministry. It’s missed opportunity. We need to view that adolescent time period as a gift. Adolescents have no patience for insincerity, and they detect it very well. They question everything. That’s a fantastic gift when you’re developing catechetical gifts. You can try theories and approaches with teens, and they’ll find every hole in what you’re trying to say. It’s a gift. Maybe it didn’t’ feel utilized when we were going through, but it should be utilized. Utilizing those gifts and playing to those strengths sets us up for future ministry as those people become leaders in the Church. That contributes to vocations. Good youth ministry validates the role of adolescence in human development and it builds its own future, as well.”

Young adults, those served by campus ministry, retain the tendency to question everything but at a time in their lives when they also have more personal choice and autonomy.

“The only difference between young people in high school and young people in college is that high school students want autonomy. They’re itching for it,” Looby said. “College students have all the same attributes, but they’re living in an open-map game. No one is telling them to go to Mass, to do their homework, to go to this party but not that one. The focus there is helping them manage that autonomy. God made us for freedom. That is where happiness lies. It’s realizing that the autonomy and freedom are gifts, and our goal is to use them to be who we’re made to be.”

Looby said he has two goals moving forward: Maintaining and building existing diocesan programming and helping “beef up” youth ministry at the parish level.

“We need diocesan programming,” he said. “It’s good for everyone to come together and for teens to see they’re part of a bigger church. Summer Camp, Youth Rally – that stuff needs to be done and done well. But of all the parishes in the diocese, only a handful have active youth ministry. The goal is to have vibrant youth ministry all around the diocese. That may mean regional efforts for some smaller parishes.”

Looby said he also hopes to reinvigorate youth Respect Life programming and possibly bring back a service camp, like the Catholic Heart Work Camp that previously ran in the diocese.

“I want to get active in March for Life again,” he said. “Clearly, respect life issues have not ended. And a lot of teens like to get their hands into community service. Catholic Heart Work Camp worked here. Guggenheim is fantastic, but a lot of teens are looking for that service component. I also have relationships with people and organizations in the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Guatemala and Belize. I’d love to look at service initiatives in central America.”

He also said he looks forward to offering more training opportunities for youth ministry leaders and restarting the Diocesan Youth Council.

“Stay tuned,” he said. “There’s definitely more to come!”