By Paula Day

A full-time youth consultant for the archdiocese, the first to hold to position in four years, has joined the staff of the Office of Religious Education.

Alicia Marcos will be responsible for working with those in the archdiocese who minister to youth and for training adults in youth ministry. The Fort Worth, TX, native will coordinate archdiocesan youth-oriented programs such as SEARCH and the Christian Leadership Institute held each summer. She will also be available to youth ministers, advising and informing them regarding youth catechesis.

A 15-year veteran of ministry to youth, Ms. Marcos most recently directed the Office of Youth and Young Adults in the diocese of Kalamazoo, Mich. Prior to that she was involved in youth work in Fort Worth and New Orleans. She served as regional representative for Michigan and Ohio to the national Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry, formerly known as the C.Y.O. (Catholic Youth Organization).

Thirty-six years old, she began working with teenagers after graduating from high school. Upon her graduation from the University of Texas she worked part-time as a parish junior high school youth director before deciding to make youth ministry her full-time occupation. A single parent, she has her own "live-in" youth -- a 14-year-old son, Carey, and 12-year-old daughter, Jennifer.

Ms. Marcos is happy to be working in the Office of Religious Education because that office is directly involved in catechesis, which she considers an important part of total youth ministry. "One thing I'm going to look at is junior high students and the development of some programs for that age group," she said.

Recent developments in the approach to this ministry bring together community and church experience for youth, according to Ms. Marcos.

"We have come from CCD being separated from C.Y.O.," she explained. "We are now looking at the total faith development of youth to help them function in the community in which they live and prepare them for future growth within their faith since this development is a life long process."

Tom Brassington, director of the ORE, also noted this direction in the ministry.

"In the process of collecting data for the national Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry and the Center for Youth Ministry Development, and through listening to youth ministers," Brassington said, "we have noticed the focus on youth in the parish setting has been one of formation of adolescents and an increased concern for their faith and spiritual development as well as their understanding of Church teaching."

In early August Ms. Marcos participated in a symposium in San Francisco entitled "The Catholic Family." The ongoing project is researching how families identify their growth in faith patterns. Ms. Marcos was chosen by the Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry to represent youth ministers across the country at the meeting.