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MEET OUR YOUTH MINISTER AND OUR YOUTH MINISTRY ASSISTANT

YOUTH MINISTER STEPHANIE TIERNEY
(734) 981-1333, x21
stephanie.tierney@abecket.org

Hi all – I am Stephanie, Youth Minister and Athletic Director for this awesome parish we call St. Thomas a’Becket. I have been employed here since 2004, and let me tell you, it’s been a ride.

Born and raised a “cradle Catholic” here in the lovely town of Canton, I attended all sorts of Catholic schools while growing up. I spent my early years at St. Mary’s (Wayne), graduated high school from Divine Child (Dearborn), and then trekked on down to Louisville, Kentucky to attend college at Bellarmine University. (I’ll be honest here, the term “born and raised” for me actually translates out to “born and raised and never leaving” – my bout of homesickness while down in Kentucky led me back to my hometown a couple of years later and to the great educational opportunities at Eastern Michigan University. Go Eagles!)

During my college years, I had the privilege of working with Canton’s Youth Development Team - a division of the Canton Township’s Leisure Services Department that caters directly to the needs of the youth in our community. Becoming a part of the YDT was a huge turning point for me. The people that I was given the honor of working with and the lessons that I learned throughout my time with Canton will stay with me for the rest of me life. Looking back now, I will forever be in debt to all those who had to put up with me for all those years.

So there I was, just minding my own business, going to school and working my part-time job (that I loved), when I got the phone call that changed my life. I had been volunteering with the Athletic Program at St. Thomas a’Becket parish for a number of years, but never had I considered taking it any further than that. Up to that point, I really had no idea what I wanted to be when I grew up. I knew that I wanted to work with the youth and I knew that I wanted to try and make a difference in their lives somehow, but I had no idea how or where or when or even if that would ever happen.

And a few years later, here I am: a certified Religious Ed Catechist (I am currently teaching the 8th grade Confirmation class), Athletic Director, and Youth Minister for St. Thomas a'Becket. If you had asked me back in high school what I thought about any of this, I would have had absolutely no idea what you were even talking about. I am still not even sure today that I know (I am currently taking classes down at Sacred Heart Major Seminary to try and figure it out!)

What I do know is this: I wake up every morning feeling like the luckiest person in the world. I have been given the opportunity to spend my days doing something that I absolutely love doing. The “job” that I was looking for back in college has become my ministry, my life. I am so grateful to be here at St. Thomas a’Becket and promise to do my very best at helping to lead that group in our parish dubbed, “the future of our church” (pretty scary thought, huh?!)

YOUTH MINISTRY ASSISTANT KERI CONNELLY
keri.connelly@abecket.org

I became involved with the St. Thomas a’Becket community back in the summer of 2000, when I volunteered to help out with the Summer Vacation Bible School program. A couple of years later, my volunteering led me to the position of Vacation Bible School Director. I absolutely love what I do and am so grateful to be able to still do it.

A few years later, my interests in the parish branched out and I began to volunteer within the Youth Ministry and the Religious Ed departments, in addition to coordinating Vacation Bible School. I began teaching in 2006 and as my daughters grew more involved with Youth Ministry, I followed suit. I was hired in at St. Thomas a’Becket in 2009 as the Youth Ministry assistant and am so excited to be a part of the vision we have in place for our youth at this parish.