Missionary leaders guide others, in vulnerability, to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and do so understanding the sequence of faith development— that is, pre-evangelization, evangelization, discipleship, and, ultimately, mission. Further, missionary leaders exercise, at every stage of formation, the mindset that disciples beget disciples. As such, the OYYACM provides the most cutting edge and relevant ministry research, training, and resources to support this basic, kerygmatic mission.
Formation Offerings
Ascend is orientation and coaching for new ministry leaders. It is a yearlong investment of resources from the OYYACM to ensure that those new to their positions or to ministry all-together have the support needed to be fruitful ministers. Ascend involves a New Ministry Leader Orientation, a ministry self-assessment, a personalized formation plan, formation videos, and the opportunity to gather monthly in a formation cohort under the mentorship of a seasoned leader. The areas of formation offered through Ascend are spiritual, human, intellectual, operational, pastoral, and methodological. Ascend is about elevating a leader’s knowledge of diocesan and parish operations, ministry competencies, and how to best serve those entrusted to our care.
Audience: Ascend welcomes all Youth, Young Adult, and Campus Ministry Leaders (full-time, part-time, volunteer) and Non-parish Organization Representatives who are either new to their position or new to ministry all-together. All ages and levels of ministry experience are welcome and can benefit fully from Ascend.
Summits are inspirational large group gatherings that offer prayer, community, and edge-sharpening formation for all ministry leaders served by OYYACM. The prayer opportunities are authentic, reverent, and inclusive of Mass whenever possible. During activities, small groups, and meal times, Ministry Leaders are able to build relationships beneficial to their ministries. Summits invite the best in the field to share presentations that are relevant to the times, forward thinking, and applicable to the entire audience. The height of our formation offerings, Summits intend to leave ministry leaders restored by the Spirit, encouraged by their peers, and motivated to serve.
Audience: All Summits welcome all Youth, Young Adult, and Campus Ministry Leaders (full-time, part-time, volunteer), Ministry Team Volunteers/Catechists, and any Supervisors, Priests, Non-parish Organization Representatives, and other Parish Ministry Leaders that find the presenting topic relevant.
Volunteer Summits are specifically aimed at a particular audience; namely, volunteer or part-time Ministry Leaders who cannot attend weekday Summits and Ministry Volunteer Teams or Catechists. Additionally, Volunteer Summits may be offered in either English or Spanish. Ministry Leaders are welcome to attend Volunteer Summits with their Volunteer Teams.
Summit Retreats take the powerful elements of a Summit and combine them with an extended time period and a spiritual lens. Summit Retreats focus on the foundation of our ministries: our relationship with Jesus and the Church. Before we are ministry leaders, we are sons and daughters of God. Summit Retreats are a time for ministry leaders to be purely recipients when they are so often givers. In a trusting space, among peers who care, leaders can seek restoration from the Holy Spirit.
Audience: Summit Retreats welcome all Youth, Young Adult, and Campus Ministry Leaders (full-time, part-time, volunteer), Ministry Team Volunteers/Catechists, and any Supervisors, Priests, Non-parish Organization Representatives, and other Parish Ministry Leaders that desire the spiritual offering.
Basecamps are niche training opportunities offered on focused topics. Similarly to a mountaineering basecamp, they are intended to resource, train, and condition ministry leaders to elevate their work in the field. Basecamp topics respond to what are known to be the greatest training needs at the time.
Audience: Basecamps can accommodate up to 20 participants and welcome all Youth, Young Adult, and Campus Ministry Leaders (full-time, part-time, volunteer), Ministry Team Volunteers/Catechists, and any Supervisors, Priests, Non-parish Organization Representatives, and other Parish Ministry Leaders that find the presenting topic relevant.
resources
Permission Click is an online registration form tool paid for by the OYYACM and available at not cost for parishes to use for their youth, young adult, and campus ministries. Form templates allow leaders move from paper to online registration forms.
The Church has been meeting in small Christian communities since the beginning. Small groups serve as an effective and fruitful ministry model to be considered in parishes.
If you are a Ministry Leader, visit our Young Adult Small Group Coordinator page. This page contains all the information needed for you to consider joining the movement of launching young adult small groups in the Diocese of Dallas, as well as all the information you to need to actually launch the small groups successfully at your parish.
The Graphic Designer Catalog is brought to you by the Office of Youth, Young Adult, and Campus Ministries in collaboration with Catholic Creatives. It is a curation of vetted and approved graphic designers who have experience in assisting ministry leaders in the creation of logos, brandings, and social media templates.
Hover over the Graphic Designer Catalog to view in “fullscreen” and click the logos to directly access 15 different portfolios, bringing you a variety of unique and professional styles!
In addition to the GDC, you can also view a comprehensive list of graphic designers below. Though not included in our “short list”, these designers also expressed interest in working on projects with parishes and ministry leaders.
- Monthly, 10-15 Minute Virtual Worship Videos from Dave Moore Music
- Prayer, Praise, & Reflective Silence
- Available to Ministry Leaders for Use in their Programming
External resources
This book includes the voices of Hispanic adolescents and young adults that were gathered at national encounter at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana in 2006. At this national gathering these young people has the opportunity to share their hopes and needs with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. This resource, along with Sons and Daughters of the Light and Renewing the Vision continue to form the foundation for the work with young people in the Church in the United States.
Christus Vivit is a post-synodal apostolic exhortation of Pope Francis
A resource for Guiding the Development of Lay Ecclesial Ministry developed by the Committee on the Laity of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).
Strategic Ministry Development supports the goal of our office to form missionary disciples for Jesus Christ through a collaborative approach that is uniquely tailored to individual ministry leaders and their parish or school communities. The intention is to elevate ministry efforts in the community through mentorship and coaching in the areas of spiritual, human, intellectual, operational, pastoral, and methodological formation.
With the support of pastors and supervisors, we want to come to know your communities, their charisms, and their culture- utilizing a “boots on the ground” mentality- in order to discern the Gospel response to the current ministry realities, which would be reflected in our crafted strategic goals.
Strategic Ministry Development may take the form of an SMD Covenant, an SMD Lite, or SMD Coaching. It is available to all ministry leaders supported by our office- paid or volunteer- responsible for youth, young adult, or campus ministries. If you feel as if an SMD partnership may be an appropriate fit for your situation, please contact our office. We would love to discuss how we can support you!
SMD Covenant is a 6-18 month partnership between the OYYACM and a parish or campus ministry that develops a ministry vision and mission, strategic goals, and strategic objectives to be accomplished within the Covenant partnership. With the SMD Covenant, a ministry receives a regular and committed amount of time from an OYYACM Strategist; the expertise of our entire OYYACM Team; and strategic, formational, and programmatic support.
SMD Lite is a 3-6 month commitment to mentorship and coaching between the OYYACM and a ministry leader. SMD Lite focuses on elevating one aspect of your ministry (one strategic objective).
Our office currently offers 4 SMD Lite Packages that address our most frequently observed ministry leader needs. In addition to these 4 packages, we can also craft a unique SMD Lite to fit any of your ministerial needs.
SMD Lite Packages Flipbook
Download the SMD Lite Packages Flipbook
More Information about SMD Lite vs. SMD Covenant: English || Spanish
SMD Lite Package Quick Links
SMD Coaching is the individual consultative moments when ministry leaders have specific questions or particular needs. Each OYYACM Team Member is gifted in different areas to respond to these questions and needs.
In the Diocese of Dallas, the normative age for Adolescent Confirmation Preparation is the eighth grade. The Office of Youth, Young Adult, and Campus Ministries is the consultative support and primary guide for all Diocese of Dallas ministry leaders that oversee adolescent age Confirmation preparation initiatives.
Especially when charting new territory in methodologies and frameworks, it is important to model with unabashed confidence and excellence what we hope to one day see executed within a parish. As such, the OYYACM provides a few live content opportunities that directly impact the constituents of a given parish’s ministries. Because live and direct content at a diocesan level will rarely serve the mission of making missionaries, the impact of such opportunities is felt in the modeling of ministry par excellence. Live and direct content should only serve to build a platform for advocacy that can ultimately be leveraged and scaled for parish missionary leader teams.
All events should echo St. Augustine’s philosophy that in order to convey the gospel, it is necessary to teach, to delight, and to move. To be effective, events should be attractive and well-done, drawing people in and planting in them a desire for more. It is important that all events maintain a high standard of quality, extending to someone the opportunity to enter wholeheartedly into the experience of Christ’s love.
WE DO THIS BY:
Investing in a high-quality experience with the best venues, lighting, sound, etc.
Selecting relevant and dynamic speakers, worship leaders, and content creators.
Carefully plan the details, creating an experience that promotes both human and spiritual awareness.
Promoting the event with attractive, high quality material and social media content.
The 635 is an effort of the Office of Youth, Young Adult, and Campus Ministries to provide young adults in the Dallas area, regardless of their faith backgrounds, with an undeniable sense of belonging, a safe space to encounter God, and access to a supportive Christian community.
The 635 offers several series a year that focus on a particular faith topic that is relevant to young adult life. The gatherings happen monthly and consist of worship, a message, and time for prayer.
DCYC is for high school youth from throughout the Catholic Diocese of Dallas to gather for an exciting weekend of prayer, community building, spiritual development, and worship. Youth will be empowered and strengthened in their faith as they experience powerful keynote speakers, high energy praise and worship music, vibrant liturgies, breakout sessions, Reconciliation, and Adoration.
The 635 is an effort of the Office of Youth, Young Adult, and Campus Ministries to provide young adults in the Dallas area, regardless of their faith backgrounds, with an undeniable sense of belonging, a safe space to encounter God, and access to a supportive Christian community.
The 635 offers several series a year that focus on a particular faith topic that is relevant to young adult life. The gatherings happen monthly and consist of worship, a message, and time for prayer.
World Youth Day (WYD) is a worldwide encounter with the Pope which is typically celebrated every three years in a different country. The most recent WYD was celebrated August 2023 in Lisbon, Portugal. WYD is open to all young people who want to take part in a festive encounter with their contemporaries centered on Jesus Christ. This event is an opportunity to experience, in first person, the universality of the Church; to share with the whole world the hope of many young people who want to commit themselves to Christ and others. World Youth Day is a unique way to deepen your faith and grow closer to Christ, by means of prayer and the sacraments, together with thousands of other young people who share your interests and ambitions.
Save the Date: World Youth Day 2027 is planned to be held in Seoul, South Korea. has been postponed. Pilgrimage details will be available approximately 12 months before the event.
Pastoral Juvenil Hispana is a young adult ministry model/movement designed for those who prefer to participate in a culturally specific movement. The movement collaborates among participating parishes, develops leadership, and nurtures commitment with Jesus and His Church.
The OYYACM functions as a curator of conversation and operates with a think tank mentality, always seeking to crowdsource the best ideas, methodologies, and structures for sharing with the body of missionary leaders throughout the diocese of Dallas. As missionary leaders ourselves, we lead our colleagues by building relationships of trust, knowing that the best advocacy and networking takes place when missionary leaders operate first as sons and daughters of Christ.
- 2018 Convocation Report on Youth, Young Adults, and Vocational Discernment
- Feedback for Francis Surveys: Providing local data to the Holy Father
The eGram is a monthly newsletter that highlights important news, announcements, and upcoming events pertaining to youth and young adult ministry leaders. The email also summarizes next months events on the community calendar.
The Office of Youth, Young Adult, and Campus Ministries maintains a robust website to give ministry leaders the information they need, while also giving middle and high school youth (and their parents) as well as young adults living in the Diocese direction to finding ministries.