Development of CSYMI
A desire to bring renewal to Catholic Schools
Catholic Schools Youth Ministry International, as Catholic Schools Youth Ministry Australia, began in 2007. The original vision and program developed by Peter Woods, a Catholic school teacher at St Edmund’s College in Canberra has been adopted by nearly 300 schools throughout Australia. Central to the vision and charism of CSYMI is to bring renewal to Catholic schools under the grace of the New Evangelisation.
The student program began through a desire to offer further formation opportunities in the context of Religious Education classes following a positive student retreat experience. This originally began in Year 11 (senior secondary) with two Religious Education classes. When these classes were completed some of the students in the program wanted to continue in formation and outreach and a senior youth ministry team was subsequently formed.
Integrating students into the broader Church beyond school also became an important focus. This became known as the four phase model. The aims of this model of formation were articulated as evangelisation; discipleship formation; education in faith; initiation into the Church; mission team formation and outreach and leadership development. The four phase model has been developed into year level pathways from year 5 to year 12 but has sufficient flexibility to be integrated into any schooling context. It is a peer-to-peer youth ministry model of formation within a Catholic school.
Partnership
The development of the post-school youth ministers began in 2013 with students who had completed the CSYMA program within school and upon graduating in Year 12, became employed as youth ministers within a school implementing CSYMA. Their role is to support the implementation of the Four Phase Model and establish a discipleship pathway from school to the broader Church. The training of the youth ministers occurs at an Equipping School and has included ongoing formation tutorials and opportunities for mission experiences. Over the period of 2013 to 2023, there has been over one hundred youth ministers complete the formation programs. The national network is now known as the Youth Ministers Network.
Teacher formation is also integral to CSYMI. The charism for CSYMI is to evangelise and equip teachers in Catholic Schools to be moving under the grace of the new evangelisation. The first national staff formation conference was held at Marist College Canberra in 2009 and was attended by approximately 140 people from around Australia. This was followed up with a National Conference in 2011 in Sydney and 2012 in Canberra. These Conferences and staff regional conferences have proved crucial to forming and equipping staff in the Catholic faith and curriculum models and materials to support implementation in their own schools. The development of the Porta Fidei retreat program has been a key feature of CSYMI staff renewal.
The partnership with the Australian Catholic University, established in 2016, has resulted in the incorporation of the CSYMI curriculum into ACU programs. The subsequent development of a joint initiative between CSYMA and ACU La Salle Academy is known as the Catholic Leaders Formation Network (CLFN).
CSYMA was approved by the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference (ACBC) ‘Commission for Mission and Faith Formation’ as a national post World Youth Day Sydney 2008 work for the Australian Church
Another significant development in the student formation model was the integration into the middle school years at Yr. 9 and Yr. 10. This proved to be successful in forming students at an earlier age. The Four-Phase Model of formation began to be integrated into school year level pathways across Yr. 9 to Yr. 12. In 2022, it developed to become a formation and youth ministry pathway from Year 5 to Year 12.
In 2017, CSYMA refined its vision with three key focus areas. These focus areas aim to realise the CSYMA vision more fully and include:
Junior Curriculum for Primary Schools and Secondary Youth Ministry Curriculum (through a Four-Phase Model of Student Formation);
Youth Ministers Network including training, on-going formation and mission experiences. Placements of the youth ministers are within schools and/or parish networks.
Catholic Leaders Formation Network (a partnership with ACU) including retreats (Porta Fidei), formation programs (including Spiritus, the Forming Leaders Series) and leaders groups.
CSYMA Goes Global
The international development of CSYMA started in 2015, with requests from Uganda to develop the program. After several years of conducting teacher formation conferences (including the East Africa Teachers Conference in 2017 and 2018), CSYM Uganda (CSYMU) was established. Interest in the program has also been expressed from Oceania Countries (Solomon Islands, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga and New Zealand); East Africa (Uganda and Rwanda) and England. The international development of CSYMA resulted in 2022 in the decision to rename CSYMA as CSYMI Australia. Other countries will follow this renaming.
