Youth director brings varied skills to ministry
By Chris Donahue
Staff Writer
As the father of two teenagers and the director of the youth group ministry in St. Bernard of Clairvaux Parish, Bridgewater, Michael Wojcik helped shape the spiritual lives of young Catholics for many years.
As the new diocesan director of Youth and Young Adult Ministry, Wojcik has an opportunity to use that knowledge on a much grander scale.
The skills he learned as a member of the corporate world for more than 25 years might also come in handy, because the office oversees about 78 youth groups and a youth basketball league comprised of about 4,000 players and 500 coaches on about 260 teams, which play December through March, and cheerleaders.
The office also sponsors and coordinates retreats; trips to both the annual statewide Youth Rally at Six Flags Great Adventure, Jackson, and National Catholic Youth Conference; diocesan Youth Ministry Day; workshops several times each year in the St. John Neumann Pastoral Center, Piscataway; trips to theme parks and sporting events; and the Spirituality On Tap series.
“The diocese is a great place to work in terms of what the bishop (Paul G. Bootkoski) is trying to do with the synod and the emphasis on Vatican II,” Wojcik said. “My first concern is to let the youth ministers know about the Speak Up . . . We’re Listening Sessions, that they can speak with the different parish coordinators to actually have a Speak Up Session just for youth because it’s such an important opportunity for them.
“I’ll be kicking off the new year by having a youth ministers meeting (at a date to be determined),” he continued. “It will give everyone an opportunity to introduce themselves and meet me as well, and talk about some of the goals and objectives we want to accomplish.
“It’s very important that there’s good communication between the diocesan office and the youth ministers in the parishes, developing resources that they can utilize.”
What brought Wojcik, 53, to work for the diocese was a series of steps that took firm hold after he graduated from St. Cecilia High School, Englewood.
“I went to Duquesne University for a year and the University of Maine for half a year and tried to sort things out,” he said. “In the midst of that I had a wonderfully strong experience of God’s presence in my life and through many people.
And it’s always been through people as well as through prayer. And that’s important for the youth to be aware of . . . the community and the group of people that you have around you as well is important.”
Wojcik attended Seton Hall University, South Orange, where he graduated magna cum laude with a major in religious studies and a secondary concentration in business.
His professional career included the positions of director of sales and marketing for several Hilton hotels; sales executive for Fortune 100 corporations, and industry and association board member.
He has served on marriage and Baptism preparation teams; retreat director; Extraordinary minister of the Eucharist, and lector in both St. Bernard of Clairvaux Parish and his previous parish, St. Clement Parish, Rockaway.
A catechist for eight years, Wojcik said he saw the need for additional opportunities to engage young people in their faith, so he created a team and has been directing the middle school youth group at St. Bernard Parish for five years.
Wojcik said the volunteer work in both parishes and his concern for young adults led him closer to working for the Church full-time.
In 2002, he moved into continuing education and lay ministry development as the associate director for the Center for Theological & Spiritual Development, College of Saint Elizabeth, Morristown. While there, he completed a graduate certificate in spirituality.
“About three and a half years ago, I was still working in business, but I always felt that there was a need to do something more to help God’s work, that something was calling me, pushing me to use my gifts and talents in some other way,” he said.
“I just hope that I’ll be able to serve the diocese and the Lord. I see our role here as helping parishes to either develop youth ministry, help them in their continuing education of the youth ministers, and to reach young adults as a major concern, really trying to re-translate the Gospel in some way to help them understand it.”
Wojcik and his wife, Mary Ann, have two sons, Alexander, 15, a sophomore at Bridgewater-Raritan High School, Bridgewater, and Jonathan, 13, a seventh-grader at Bridgewater-Raritan Middle School, also Bridgewater.
He is also a former youth soccer and baseball coach.
Visit the Youth & Young Adult Ministry website
*The attached/referenced article was originally published in The Catholic Spirit, the official newspaper of the Diocese of Metuchen, and is protected under U.S. and international copyright law