By REY FLORES
When I first heard of Adventure Catholic, I thought it was some kind of new Catholic amusement park. Instead, it is a unique training method developed by Adventure Catholic founders Alan Migliorato and Darryl Dziedzic.
Alan is an active youth minister, as well as Darryl who has been in ministry for over fifteen years now. Both men are fathers who also had the responsibility of helping minister to young people in various capacities in their own parishes, but they wanted to do more.
Alan and Darryl were discussing a solution to one of the biggest problems that faces the Catholic Church today — the loss of members in young adulthood. They were brainstorming ways to fix this problem and keep people connected with the Church, not only in their youth or in their old age, but throughout their lives.
They both shared ideas that they had and ways to achieve this goal with one another. What they came up with was Adventure Catholic.
Trainings are based on Sacred Scripture where Adventure Catholic Formation & Leadership Training allows young people to reach inside themselves to discover, develop, and implement their God-given leadership qualities and style.
Lord knows, with the extreme challenges teens and young adults are facing today, the opportunities that Adventure Catholic offers are so much needed in today’s world.
“We’ve seen the struggles young people face, negative peer pressure, insecurity, doubt, uncertainty, and fear. With Adventure Catholic we’ve created a way to help them confront those struggles, and we want to share that method with we can all work in confidence that we are bringing the best to our young people.”
More Vulnerable Than Ever
I’m fairly certain that many young people today are even more confused and vulnerable to the evil in this world than many of us parents were when we were young.
Thanks to increasing divorce rates among Catholics, so-called “smart” tech gadgets which tend to isolate people of all ages, and the lack of solid clergy to help guide their families as true Catholics, our children’s eternal souls are more vulnerable to the Devil than ever.
Alan and Darryl asked themselves: “How could we help turn sheep into shepherds?”
This is the answer that both founders came up with.
“Teens are not born with a manual on how to unlock their inner leader, and the journey to train them doesn’t necessarily come with a map. There are challenges, obstacles, highs, and lows along the way.
“As much as people truly enjoy the young people in their lives, young people tend to internalize their struggles. When that happens, people get distracted and stressed out. As a result, it is difficult for adults to enjoy the journey of either raising or ministering to their teens.”
Adventure Catholic trainings don’t start and end with young people. They also offer the opportunity to parents, youth ministers, priests, and anyone who cares about the future of the Church.
“We saw the need for this years ago and we experimented, tweaked, and provided a proven system for unlocking the inner leader within young people.”
I usually have second thoughts about how effective middle-aged adults can be in ministering to young people, but it takes a special gift to grow older, yet still understand what is going on in these young people’s minds and in their hearts.
While I was interviewing both men over the phone, it felt more like I was having a conversation with two friends I had just met, but with the sense that we are old friends. Our conversation made it clear why Adventure Catholic is truly an effective training for young people because it’s led by two men who have that gift to communicate with young people and people of all ages.
Adventure Catholic founder Alan Migliorato is also the author of The Manly Art of Raising a Daughter as well as the co-author with Darryl Dziedzic of Teaching Teens to Fail: A 5-Step Field Guide for Parenting Success. I will soon be reviewing these two books. Alan also runs his own sign shop full-time.
Darryl “Coach D” Dziedzic has been actively involved in ministry for over 15 years. A former teacher of theology, Darryl inspired students to explore a deeper understanding of their faith and embrace the teaching of the Catholic Church.
These gentlemen are terrific as a team because they bounce ideas and wisdom off each other as naturally as a couple of kids playing catch without mitts. They’ve appeared on many television and radio programs throughout the years and have also conducted podcasts and online video interviews, all which are a joy to listen to and watch.
I still do like the idea of a Catholic-themed amusement park, as mentioned above: complete with a Catholic vision of Hades. Maybe someday.
To learn more about Adventure Catholic, their training programs, and to possibly have Alan or Darryl speak at your school or parish, visit www.AdventureCatholic.com.
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(Rey Flores writes opinion and book and movie reviews for The Wanderer. Contact Rey at reyfloresusa@gmail.com.)
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