d, consecrated life, or lay ecclesial ministry is laid within the family and nurtured throughout childhood. Careful and serious consideration of these Christian vocations becomes even more important in adolescence. Parents, pastors, teachers, and catechists should help adolescents to address the vocational question directly and study the possibilities thoroughly. They should provide the best examples of each of the distinctively Christian vocations to young people and be willing to become personally involved with them as they struggle with their choice. They should encourage adolescents to listen carefully to the voice of the Holy Spirit within them and to respond generously to God's call to service in the Church and in the world.
The ministry of catechesis with adolescents has several distinct features that give direction to catechetical programming. Specifically, catechesis with adolescents:
- Teaches the core content of the Catholic faith as presented in the Catechism of the Catholic Church—the profession of faith, celebration of the Christian mystery, life in Christ, and Christian prayer—in order to provide a solid foundation for continued growth in faith
- Recognizes that faith development is lifelong and therefore provides developmentally appropriate content and processes around key themes of the Catholic faith that respond to the age-appropriate needs, interests, and concerns of younger and older adolescents
- Integrates knowledge of the Catholic faith with liturgical and prayer experiences and the development of practical skills for living the Catholic faith in today's world
- Utilizes the life experiences of adolescents, fostering a shared dialogue between the life of the adolescent—with his or her joys, struggles, questions, concerns, and hopes—and the wisdom of the Catholic Church
- Engages adolescents in the learning process by incorporating a variety of learning methods and activities through which adolescents can explore and learn important religious concepts of the Scriptures and Catholic faith—a variety of learning approaches, including music and media, keeps interest alive among adolescents and responds to their different learning styles
- Involves group participation in an environment that is characterized by warmth, trust, acceptance, and care, so that young people can hear and respond to God's call (fostering the freedom to search and question, to express one's own point of view, and to respond in faith to that call)
- Provides for real-life application of learning by helping adolescents to apply their learning to living more faithfully as Catholic adolescents—considering the next steps that they will take and the obstacles that they will face
- Promotes family faith development through parish and school programs by providing parent education programs and resources, incorporating a family perspective in catechetical programming, and providing parent-adolescent and intergenerational catechetical programming
- Promotes Christian attitudes toward human sexuality
- Recognizes and celebrates multicultural diversity within the Church's unity by including stories, songs, dances, feasts, values, rituals, saints, and heroes from the rich heritage of various cultures
- Incorporates a variety of program approaches, including parish and school programs; small-group programs; home-based programs, activities, and resources; one-on-one and mentoring programs; and independent or self-directed programs or activities Explicitly invites young people to explore the possibility of a personal call to ministry and the beauty of the total gift of self for the sake of the kingdom638 based on a prayerful reflection within the celebration of sacraments (e.g., Holy Eucharist, Penance and Reconciliation