MADISON — The Diocese of Madison’s Office of Evangelization and Catechesis welcomed Emily Wallace as its coordinator of youth formation last month.
Wallace will support parish middle and high school youth ministers throughout the diocese, providing ideas and resources to help parishes in their youth evangelization efforts.
She will also assist with Love Begins Here, the diocese’s summer service program for teens, and Frassati Fest, a high school youth conference held every February in Wisconsin Dells.
Wallace’s interest in youth ministry was fostered in her home life growing up, as her mother was the director of religious education at St. John Vianney Parish in Janesville.
She studied communications and creative writing at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and worked for a few summers at Camp Gray in Reedsburg.
Wallace spent the summer of 2020 gaining youth ministry experience at St. John Vianney, and she became the parish’s director of religious education and youth ministry after she graduated from college in 2021.
She served in that role for two and a half years before joining the diocesan staff.
Wallace is excited to begin learning about how different pastorates will serve their youth and incorporate them into the life of the pastorate.
She is looking forward to connecting to youth ministers around the diocese and serving as a “sounding board” for them as they form their teens into disciples of Christ.
“When I was working at a parish, I had all these ideas that I wanted someone else’s expertise on,” Wallace said. “I want to be supportive of people’s creative vision. Every place is so different — they have different students and different subcultures within their parish, so I’m excited to be part of that creative process to see how to better involve youth and get them more invested in their Catholic community.”
Wallace can be reached at [email protected] or at 608-821-4544.