History and Context of the St. Columbkille YAC

Brighton is full of young adults; according to the most recent Census Bureau data (2020), 49.95% of Brighton’s residents are between the ages of 20-34 years of age, and the median age of Brighton’s residents is 30.2 years.

The large number of college students who also call Brighton home during the school year drives these numbers. In addition to college students, most of Brighton’s young adults are either young professionals working full-time in the Boston-area or full-time graduate students at one of Boston’s many institutions of higher learning.

The St. Columbkille Young Adult Commission was founded in the fall of 2013 in response to both the demographic reality of Brighton and the necessity for proactive outreach to young adult Catholics.

Some of the YAC’s recent successes include the following:

• Consistent, diverse, and ever-increasing young adult participation and attendance at YAC events. For example: more than 20 young adults in attendance at recent YAC “Theology on Tap Nights”.
• Over the past year, there has been a marked increase in the number of young adults attending weekend Masses and, as a direct result of the YAC, multiple young adults are now serving at Masses as lectors and in the choir. In addition, the YAC chat group and Newsletter exceeds 45 young adults.
• The National Leadership Roundtable for Church Management has officially adopted the YAC “model” as a model of young adult ministry/outreach for parishes and dioceses nationwide.
• In 2015, the founders of the St. Columbkille YAC were recipients of the Archdiocese of Boston’s St. Paul the Apostle Award.
• Expansion of the YAC model as an effective model of young adult ministry to parishes in the dioceses of Worcester, Fall River, and Springfield.