Meet New Youth Minister Jake Terry Sharing Passion for the Faith and Working With Young Catholics

Our new Youth Minister, Jake Terry, may be new to the Catholic faith and his role at St. Francis Solanus. But he’s not new to Quincy, having grown up here. Jake is very excited to jump in and get started serving our parish youth. He started his parttime role here on June 1.

Jake grew up in the Anglican Church and converted to the Catholic faith about a year ago. He studied Catholic and Franciscan theology at Quincy University.

“Even though I wasn’t Catholic at the time, that sounded cool, so I studied it,” he says.

God had big plans for Jake as he focused on his studies and met his fiancée, Amy. The couple will be married on Sept. 17.

Jake spent some of his college years living in a men’s Catholic living community. Living there was how he met Amy.

“Living with those men had a massive influence on me,” Jake says. “When you are surrounded by passionate Catholic men, it tends to make you see how cool it is.”

Anglicanism has similarities to Catholicism, which was another draw for Jake.

“I saw that all I loved about Anglicanism was in Catholicism and even more,” he says.

When Jake first learned of the opening for a Youth Minister in our parish, he knew it would be a good fit. St. Francis Solanus is his home parish, and he is eager to share his love for the Catholic Faith with the next generation of Catholics.

“I love my faith,” he says. “This job seemed like a great opportunity to focus on my faith.”

Jake believes it is important to offer programs for teens to grow in faith, recalling that he didn’t have youth group-type activities when he was growing up.

“I want to find ways to share the faith and show it is relevant,” Jake says. “The Catholic faith is attractive to young people. I want to show the beauty that we already have here that is ages old.”

Currently, Jake is looking forward to being involved in a host of activities alongside our parish youth. This year, there will be regular youth gatherings, valuable opportunities for service within the Quincy community, and Eucharistic Adoration. Parishioners are encouraged to refer to the bulletin for information on these activities.

Jake appreciates teens and their earnest love for the faith. He looks forward to spending time with our parish youth at upcoming events.

“They are very quick to display their hearts, do acts of kindness and affirm each other,” he says.

In his free time, Jake likes to play guitar, paint with Amy, hike and ride his bicycle.

Jake Terry