Serving in Religious Education (ages 3-Grade 8)

If you have a heart to serve younger children, consider volunteering as a catechist in our religious education program.  You can participate as either a lead catechist/teacher or an assistant.  We have three age groups in which you could serve, Early Childhood (ages 3-5), Grades 1-5, and Middle School Grades 6-8.  Our program runs from late September until May each year.  Classes meet weekly and require a time commitment of about 2 hours per week when in session…one hour to prep and one hour for class time.

Training is provided!

Serving in Teen Confirmation (Grades 9-12)

Are you excited about God and willing to work with teens? Our biggest need is for small group leaders: people who are able to commit to leading a faith-sharing group of 12-14 teens one or two Sundays a month starting in October through early June. Don’t worry: we will provide training about how to facilitate these discussions and resources to help you break open the topics. Important qualities for a small group leader include:

• Patience
  It will probably be challenging for many of our teens to discuss these topics, and you may have a group member who is disinterested or difficult. Our role as leaders is to be as patient with them and trust that whether we see it or not, the Holy Spirit is doing the work!
• Presence
  Since so much of the sessions are spent in small groups, it’s important that volunteers are able to consistently attend sessions. Presence also means that you’re able to really listen to our teens so you can effectively facilitate discussions.
• Willingness to Learn
  We don’t expect you to be theological experts, and it’s completely ok to
  say “I don’t know” to tough questions. Good small group leaders encounter these tough topics alongside our teens and are willing to learn with them.
• Openness
  A willingness to share (appropriately) your own faith journey and experiences and help teens to understand the “whys” of our faith”: why you attend church, why you care, why faith and service is important to you

Additional requirements to serve in Youth Ministries

Our mission wouldn’t be fulfilled unless we took care to protect the safety of those young people involved in our programs. This commitment means that all of our volunteers must receive proper awareness training and satisfy the requirements the “Safeguard the Children” program from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. Click to read “Working Together to Prevent Child Sexual Abuse"

All volunteers working with minors must:

• Review, sign and return the Archdiocese guidelines for working with Minors
  Adult Guidelines
  Youth Volunteer Guidelines

• Attend a VIRTUS awareness training session and follow all guidelines from VIRTUS training. You can find a session by going to www.virtusonline.org. Search for sessions in the "Los Angeles  - Our Lady of Angels Region."  We have sessions scheduled at St. Monica as well.

• Complete a live scan fingerprinting through the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and submit paperwork indicating completion.