Father Jonathan Meyer named director of youth, young adult ministry

By John Shaughnessy

Father Jonathan Meyer sings rap, belting out the lyrics to a song he once heard at a Protestant revival—the same revival where he said God called him to become a Catholic priest.

He has also created his own version of a popular movie poster, using it to attract young people to the Catholic Church with the message, “The answer is out there . . . and it’s calling you.”

Recently named as the archdiocese’s director of youth and young adult ministry, Father Meyer knows the power that mass media has in young people’s lives and he dares to use it to connect them with the life of Jesus Christ.

“I try to do what I can to relate to them,” said Father Meyer, who was appointed to his new position by Archbishop Daniel M. Buechlein. “I definitely try to meet them where they are, but I don’t leave them there. I want to bring them to Christ.”

Young people are desperately searching for that direction today, according to Father Meyer, who is also the associate pastor of Our Lady of the Greenwood Parish in Greenwood.

“I believe they’re hungry,” he said. “They’re hungry for answers to questions about life, about who God is. And they’re very hungry for answers about who they are and where they fit in the world. The Church has all the more responsibility to step in and be a mouthpiece to the answers to those questions.”

Father Meyer has personally lived that search, starting when he was a 20-year-old student at the University of Southern Indiana in Evansville, Ind.—a time when he said his life was marked by “popularity, great academics, great social life, a great girl.

“I ran cross country and track at the collegiate level,” Father Meyer recalled. “I dated a girl for three-and-a-half years. I strove to do well academically. I was elected to be on the homecoming court my second year in college. God was there, but I didn’t look at things the way God wanted me to look at them.”

Father Meyer’s view changed when he was invited to a Protestant revival during college.

“I didn’t want to go, but I went,” he said. “It was there—through praise and worship and prayer—that I was very moved to the Lord. That night, God called me to be a priest, totally unexpectedly. I was sitting on the floor, crying, and I heard a voice, ‘Jon, be a priest. Jon, be a priest.’ I began to look at my life morally.”

Father Meyer often shares his story with young people at retreats as a way of showing them that the path to a relationship with God isn’t always direct or perfect for even someone who becomes a priest.

“The biggest thing for me is those words of the blind man, ‘Lord, open my eyes. I want to see,’” he said. “I want young people to see.”

He opened a lot of eyes—and raised a few eyebrows—when he created a movie-poster-takeoff of The Matrix, a poster that shows Father Meyer wearing a cassock and black sunglasses while holding a cross in one hand and a rosary in the other. The poster also has this message: “The Catholic Priesthood: The answer is out there . . . and it’s calling you.” About 25,000 posters have been distributed.

“The reaction by young people has been 25,000-strong,” Father Meyer said. “The fact that there are posters all across the country and in countries around the world speaks for itself. The people who know The Matrix know the connection. They realize there’s a guy (the movie’s hero) who fights against evil just as Christ fights sin and Satan. That’s the life of a priest.”

The poster has connected Father Meyer with young men interested in being priests and with parents who want their children to be priests. Fellow priests on college campuses have also ordered the posters to share with students.

Still, not everyone saw the poster idea as a perfect approach. Lawyers for United Artists were concerned about copyright issues concerning the poster and asked that some small changes be made. Father Meyer said he complied with their requests.

“The whole thing started as a joke—a joke—but apparently the Holy Spirit didn’t think so,” Father Meyer said.

That ability to add joy to the serious concerns of faith motivates Father Meyer in his work with young people. Performing rap at retreats is part of the journey for him. One of his raps is a version of the song “Sanctuary.”

“Lord, prepare me
“To be a sanctuary
“Pure and holy
“Tried and true
“With Thanksgiving
“I’ll be a living
“Sanctuary for you.”

“I see teens flock to him because he presents a side of faith they haven’t seen for a long time,” said Sarah Watson, the youth minister at St. Michael the Archangel Parish in Indianapolis. “He brings out a faith in them that I don’t think they realize they have.”

That’s one of Father Meyer’s main goals as he succeeds Father Robert Robeson. The archbishop appointed Father Robeson as chaplain of young adults. Father Robeson will continue as director of the Bishop Bruté House of Formation at Marian College in Indianapolis.

Father Meyer formerly served as the associate director of youth and young adult ministry for two years—since he was ordained on June 28, 2003.

“Faith is a total joyful pursuit,” Father Meyer said. “When people look at the crazy things I do for the Lord, they see you can still be a Catholic, you can still serve the Lord and you can still have a good time. A lot of people see being a Christian as being stuffy. But when you live your faith, you have the freedom to take on the world with God’s grace.” †