The Road to Holiness - How can we help?

[franciscanheart]

I think it is widely known that the youth program at my parish, since the change of youth ministers, has not been the most educational. It seems very lifeteen-ish in its mentalities. It seems to be more geared towards achieving quantity instead of quality.
For a good while we had a steady seven or eight that came each week. I believe our best turn out was around fifteen. This wasn't anything out of the ordinary really. When our first youth minister left, the numbers were about the same. The only difference was the kids that came. We had a lot more kids that were there to socialize or to date and not to come together as a community of young Catholics.
Don't get me wrong, we still had a handful of very holy kids seeking the Truth, but we also had our two handfuls of the others.
A little over a month ago we started a new youth Mass. We have a pretty cool priest from a local Catholic high school and he does a good job with it (as far as gearing his homilies towards younger people). Since it started we have seen a good number of new kids. Many of them have continued to come each week and seem to really enjoy themselves.
Many of these kids have tough lives, either at home or at school. I know we all suffer, but some of these kids have got it really tough. They have been forced to grow up much faster than any kid should ever have to. My heart breaks for them. I am so happy they have decided to be a part of our group because I know what a strong spiritual group can do for people. We can lift them up in prayer, make them laugh, and help them to let go, even for a few hours.
I guess my concern is the lessons, or lack there of, that are being taught. I guess I feel they are very basic, elementary even.
We had a game the other night that we played where everyone drew a piece of paper with a personality and then had to act it out. Each person had to find the other two people who had their personalities and stand together in a group. It was funny to watch people act out the stereotypes. The point our leader was getting at was that most of the time we label people without getting to know them. He talked about how behind every stereotype is a name, a face, a soul.
It is a good thing to talk about, especially heading back into school, but we just skimmed the surface. The lesson was never continued, we never talked about it again. It was very brief and basic. I just think there is so much more we could have discussed! Why do we only spend a half hour on something so important?
There are so many lessons I think could be taught there in that group. When Mass ends we have a whole two hours together. That is such an awesome amount of time and the fact that parents will drop off their kids for three hours on a Sunday afternoon and pick them up three ours later (now Sunday [i]evening[/i]) is awesome! They let their kids go off and do something (albeit church related) during a time that is usually reserved for family! So why not take full advantage of the time they're there?
I don't see the logical reasoning behind playing games all the time. Most of the time it's not even group games. Most of the time there are balls to play with, scooters, a video game system, card games, and board games. So then not only are we not at all talking about our faith but we're splitting up! We don't even get bonding time! Most of the kids don't know too much about each other because they all break off into little group that they're comfortable with. My dream is to see all of these kids come together and befriend each other. I know they would all do wonderfully together if they just got to know each other.
I've talked to several of them and have noticed that many of them struggle with a lot of the same issues, whether they be at home or at school. They could be such a strong support system for each other and they don't even know it!
What if they don't want to bond by playing games or asking random questions? Well okay... why don't we talk about our faith? Why don't we talk about Mary and our devotion to her? Why don't we talk about the different ways the rosary has affected our lives? Why don't we talk about our favorite sacraments or prayers? There are so many things that each of us there have in common that could open doors for even bigger subjects.
Saints! Why don't we ever talk about the saints? There are a few kids there that know probably more than I do about the saints. They could share those things with each other. They can't though because they aren't given the opportunity to and many are to shy to do it on their own.
Some of these kids attend private Catholic schools but many of them do not. I know a couple who have never said anything about being Catholic to people at school. Some are afraid to and some don't feel the need to share, even when asked. I think that by providing a strong and positive atmosphere that embraces the faith and celebrates it, that maybe they would be more open to embracing and celebrating it on their own.
If we can help these children to know and love their faith - why wouldn't we? [I know for me, personally, my spirtiual journey started in youth group. Yes, techinically it started when my parents decided to baptize me but it wasn't until our youth group was started that I found true passion for my faith.] These are our future saints! We should help them to strive for sainthood the best way we know how! We should do everything in our power to help them on their road to holiness!

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When I started writing this I had a completely different thought process in mind. Somewhere up there I lost track of what I was originally thinking and kind of went off on a tangent. I guess any thoughts about the information I have provided would be helpful. What do you do in this situation?
I'm now old enough to be an official volunteer. I am the only one in the group right now that has been around since it's beginning. A lot of these kids didn't know our previous youth minister or what our program was like before she left. I would like to suggest things but in the past when I have, everything has been shot down. It's almost discouraging. Still I suggest something every once in a while to see if maybe my idea will be considered. I'm really at a loss for what to do.
If our program were to start focusing more on faith lessons, what would you think is appropriate to start with? Keep in mind that this would be a pretty big change in the set-up and some of these kids would be hesitant to sit and learn. A lot of them go to, and loathe, CCD so if they felt it was turning into that they would probably stop coming.
I don't want to lose young faithfuls over the youth program but I do believe it is necessary to educate the youth. I believe more will be lost due to ignorance of the faith than anything else. If they can just get over that hump of refusal to learn, I know they would love and embrace everything the Church teaches. It is hard at first, I don't think anyone would say otherwise. I do think though that it's worth the effort, and maybe the occasional loss of a kid in our program. [Am I wrong to think that?]

edited to add: I like my youth minister, his wife, and his son. I like all of the volunteers too. I am not trying to make this a personal attack but honestly looking for solutions to something I see as a problem.

Thanks in advance for reading this, if you did, and for responding, if you will.
Please keep our group in your prayers! We could always use them!

God bless and Mary protect now and always!

[photosynthesis]

what about getting them into small groups and praying for each other?