Youth Ministry

The Office of Catholic Youth strives to assist all parishes in establishing comprehensive and sustainable youth ministry efforts and practices for young people in their pre-teen and teenage years. The OCY assists parishes with establishing ministries from the ground up. The OCY also works alongside existing youth ministries to help them expand and grow their offerings for young people. The office provides formation, training, cross-parish networking, retreats, parish-based summer camp support and program resources. The OCY also oversees a comprehensive online "basecamp" that enables all 100 or so parish youth ministries to liaise, support, resource and communicate with each other seamlessly and productively.

Go to OCY website

Find the closest youth ministry to you

Below is an interactive map that allows families and young people to find the parishes closest to them that offers youth ministry. By clicking on the location you can find the name of the parish, what age demographic it serves, contact information for the ministry and the frequency of ministry gatherings.

Youth Ministry Maphub

ELEVATE - training for youth ministry leaders

Each September the OCY provides a focused weekend for training for adults on a Saturday and for teen leaders on a Sunday. These days in September help veteran and new leaders in parish youth ministry in their growth and development as mentoring disciples for the younger people in their parishes and programs. The weekend features speakers, workshops, worship and prayer time and an opportunity for leaders to really experience just how large of a community there is in the Archdiocese of Toronto focusing on bringing young people to Christ. Information for this event is provided by the Office of Catholic Youth every August.

EDGE Camps

For parishes that run a comprehensive Edge Ministry for grade 6-8 kids at their parishes, the OCY helps handle the logistics and preparations for one of the largest collaborative efforts among parishes in the Archdiocese of Toronto. Partnering with over 30 parishes in 2024, the OCY helps facilitate 3 Edge Camps back to back to back in late August at Camp White Pine in Haliburton. Each camp consists of about 10 or so parishes all working together based on their shared geographical region to make up "Edge Camp West", "Edge Camp East" and "Edge Camp North-Central." The camp is run by leaders and volunteers of the participating parishes, and is available only to parishes that run an Edge ministry-styled program to which the camp experience is set up to compliment and enhance.

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Youth having fun at camp doing a team building activity of pulling up each person over a wall

Franciscan University - Steubenville

The OCY is committing to helping high school-based youth ministries experience Franciscan youth conferences either at main campus in Steubenville Ohio or provide a similar weekend experience closer to home in the GTA. The OCY has hosted these conferences in recent years in Oshawa, and oversaw the logistics to send 8 busloads of teens to Ohio in July of 2024! Contact the Office of Catholic Youth to find out what conference plans lay in store for 2025!

Totus Tuus Toronto

A Catholic summer camp full of exciting opportunities for children and teens to experience the joy of our faith in a fun day camp environment. Totus Tuus runs for five weeks from July to August. Parishes can register for one of these weeks in order to bring a team of 4 Totus Tuus missionaries to facilitate a summer camp in their parish.

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Youth leader playing games with children who are part of the summer camp

What is Youth Ministry?

What Can I Do?

If you would like help in exploring what youth ministry may be able to happen at your parish, please contact the Office of Catholic Youth at youth@archtoronto.org or call us at 416-599-7676.

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