Teens Youth Co-leadership Protagonism Initiative (YCOPI)

Meet our Youth Co-leadership Protagonism Initiative (YCOPI)

What is YCOPI?

YCOPI is a new initiative of the OMY following Pope Francis’ visionary text Christus Vivit (2019) where he outlined a bold new paradigm for ministry with young people emphasizing two key concepts: protagonism (allowing youth to lean into their passion and agency as people of faith capable of effecting positive change in the world) and accompaniment (walking alongside youth in their faith journeys). YCOPI is a direct engagement of this new paradigm while aligning with the missionary vision of Archbishop Nelson Pérez.

In collaboration with Goodfaith, YCOPI is designed to institute youth-led parish-wide Youth Mission Initiatives (YMI) rooted in service and justice. The program will provide youth delegates and their accompanying adult with the orientation, training, content, and knowledge needed for long-term ministry sustainability in the areas of service and social justice.

Year 1 will focus on discovery through a discernment process so that in collaboration with their accompanying adults, youth delegates may discover how the Spirit is calling them to serve their communities. They will also receive training through peer learning cohorts using the “Pathways” corresponding curriculum and in skill sets that facilitate the design and development of their individual YMIs while continuing to equip adults on youth accompaniment.

Take a look inside part of the formation year of the first YCOPI Cohort of 2023:

Year 2 will focus on the accompaniment of youth delegates and their accompanying adults as they implement their YMIs in their communities.

YCOPI’s two-year cycle places a particular emphasis on cultivating participants’ understanding of the Eucharist as “the source and summit” of their Christian call to change the world.

What will be the results of YCOPI?

Parishes will be strengthened as a result of empowering youth delegates to create youth-led parish/community projects and intergenerational engagement in these YMIs.
Parishes will produce young leaders of faith, who see themselves as agents of change, as a result of their participation in YCOPI.
Young people in parishes will be able to identify their faith as motivation for the work they do, and the work they do as informing/nourishing their faith.

Who is participating in this first 2023-2025 two-year cycle of YCOPI?

There are 5 parishes from across the Archdiocese participating in YCOPI. These are St. Christopher in Philadelphia, St. Katharine Drexel in Chester, St. Lawrence in Upper Darby, Nativity of Our Lord in Warminster, and St. Rocco in Avondale.

We invite you to follow our YCOPI participant’s journey by following the OMY on Facebook and Instagram!

Will YCOPI continue after the conclusion of this first two-year cycle?

Yes! It is OMY’s hope to begin a second YCOPI cohort in 2025. Stay tuned via our monthly Flocknote and social media channels for information and when registrations begin.

YCOPI 2023-2024 was made possible by a grant from the Ambassador’s Fun d for Catholic Educatio n. This charitable organization was created and funded by Matthew H. McCloskey, Jr. (1893-1973), building contractor and U.S. Ambassador to Ireland (1962-64), in 1967 to advance Catholic education and evangelization throughout the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

We are confident this initiative will be a transformative experience not only for its participants but their parish communities and the church in Philadelphia!