Sam hits the road again after four years leading youth ministry

By Catherine Sheehan

“God is in control, and the Holy Spirit is moving.” This has been the most important lesson Sam Clear has learnt during his time as Director of the Archdiocese’s Office for Youth Evangelisation.

“What I’ve learnt in the last four years is how beautifully the Holy Spirit is moving in the Church,” he said.

“The Church is not dying. It might be reducing in numbers in some places, but we’re meeting youth who are encountering God even outside of their family, and with no parish association… I think the future is very bright.”

“It’s amazing how many times you hear something about someone simply being in the quiet of their own room, contemplating God, and just feeling a need to go to church. I’ve heard that a number of times now… I think it is the Holy Spirit drawing people into relationship with God.”

Sam finished up in this role as Director last month, in order to focus on his personal business facilitating retreats and reflection days for students around Australia, and professional development for teachers.

He stepped into the role as Director in 2021, expecting it to be a temporary six-month position during the Covid pandemic, and ended up staying long term.

Looking back over his time with the Archdiocese, Sam said there had been many challenges but also many highlights and positive signs of growth in youth ministry in Tasmania.

“There are young adults who are continuing to do outreach in their lives. They’re working professionals, but their lives are centred on outreach and in very different ways. Some of them are service-oriented.

“It’s there and it seems to only be growing.”

One of the challenges, he said, was a lack of resources to sustain and grow youth ministry across the state.

“We’ve certainly got a lot of obstacles still because we’re a small church [in Tasmania] and we’re under-resourced.

“But the reality is the Church can flourish in a desert. We don’t need money, and we don’t need events. What we do need is discipleship and relationship, and that is strong here amongst the youth. That’s why I think the future us so bright.”

The main highlight from the past four years has been to walk with Catholic youth and witness the deepening of their faith, Sam said.

“The beauty of it has been to walk with youth… You see incredible change. And to see some of these youth grow from timid young teens to confident young adults, making decisions and seeing them grow in their faith.”

Sam said another highlight had been watching parish youth groups grow, the result of, “an enormous team effort on the part of parish priests, families, the 24:7 Youth Ministers, and the young leaders in those youth groups”.

“Some of those youth groups have flourished in part because they’ve got 16, 17, 18-year-olds involved who are just dynamic and invitational, they’ve got ideas and they want to see it reach friends, they want to invite people.”

He said while running big events for youth was good and often fruitful, it was more important in youth ministry to form strong relationships and foster genuine discipleship.

“The important thing isn’t the big events, it’s the day-to-day discipleship and friendship. It’s the celebration, it’s the forgiving of each other.”

Sam expressed his gratitude for Archbishop Julian’s support and enthusiasm for youth ministry.

“The number of times he has personally paid for things for youth and young adults… when the funds weren’t there.

“There’s a lot that goes on that people don’t see, where he puts in personally more than any other individual I know of here in Tasmania. And the youth don’t even know that… Archbishop Julian was invested in helping them, and was very much the silent partner in the background.”

Working with his colleague in the Youth Office, Heather Excell, and fellow youth ministers, Sam Excell, Ruby Prichard, and Myles Hall, had also been “incredibly uplifting”.

“It’s been fun. You know when you get to the point where you have so much respect for someone that even when you stuff up, there’s not an angry response. There’s laughter. That’s such a nice office to work in.”

“Their enthusiasm was very uplifting for me… The meetings with them were never dull. They were joyful.”

Sam, who has now wracked-up an impressive 24 years of experience working in youth ministry around Australia, said his experience with the Archdiocese of Hobart had only confirmed his belief that God is in charge, despite how things may seem.

“Despite our best efforts to sabotage, God is in control and God is generous,” he said.