V Encuentro Proceedings and Conclusions

138 | Proceedings and Conclusions of the V National Encuentro of Hispanic/Latino Ministry curriculum, including educating parents about the benefits and pathways to attain these goals. • Enact a plan and process to develop a parish budget that includes a full-time position, materials, and continuing education for pastoral juvenil hispana . • Address real life issues in all their complexity and ambiguity, and in culturally appropriate ways, grounded in the light of the Gospel. • Implement protocols to empower young Latinos/Hispanics to invite their peers (Catholic or not) to participate as a first step of evangelization, as well as to ensure that everyone feels welcome, irrespective of their situation in life. • Provide retreats as strong evangelizing moments that foster a personal encounter with Christ in the Church and serve as an instrument for conversion while strengthening faith and spirituality with the goal of forming missionary disciples. • Train Hispanic young adults between 18 and 25 years of age to be leaders and teachers who see their language and culture as a gift from God. • Engage young adults and teen leaders in planning and guiding retreats and other youth ministry events or sessions, with appropriate training and supervision from adult leaders. • Establish and multiply small groups as a follow-up to evangelizing encounters, preferably guided by Hispanic adults who serve as mentors and help the participants grow in discipleship. • Provide comprehensive training to youth ministry staff and volunteer leaders with regard to the particular needs, principles, and tools to best form the faith of the young Latinos/Hispanics they are accompanying. • Through youth ministry content and programming, support their search for personal, cultural, and religious identity, as well as integration both in the ecclesial community and society in general. • Based on their growing sense of identity, engage young people in vocational discernment as a response to a call from God in their lives. • Engage adolescents and families in conversations about values and spiritual practices, rooted in the Gospel. • Help young Latinos to discover their talents and gifts so that they may see themselves as a resource for the community and the Church. Many of them have developed intercultural competencies; give them opportunities to be a bridge between cultures. • Create spaces and schedules for youth ministry that respond and adapt to the complex reality of young people’s lives. • Multiply creative ways for young people to engage in the parish: through the arts, technology, sports, etc. • Involve young people in different ecclesial ministries that serve the community in general to help them develop a sense of belonging to the ecclesial community. • Offer meaningful and intentional service and volunteer experiences, with opportunities for exercising creativity and initiative, not just mindless menial tasks. • Provide systematic, intentional, and solid catechesis that responds to the lived reality of local young people. The goal is to help them develop as a disciple of Christ, to deeply know, love and live by his teachings and example. • Involve families in ministry for and with Latino youth: parishes with vibrant youth ministries partner with families and provide support to parents to share the faith with their children, pray together, serve together, heal past hurts, and build dreams on the solid foundation of wisdom that comes from experience, without judgment or manipulation. • Provide formation and pastoral accompaniment to Hispanic parents, especially immigrants who often do not Ministerial Area Sessions