New CYO/Young Adult director Jackson is all in

How do you want to be remembered?

Adrian Jackson, the 16th CYO/Youth and Young Adult  director for the Archdiocese of New Orleans, strives to instill a servant’s heart in Catholic youth, a quality his Holy Cross mentors taught him as a student, football player, peer minister and extraordinary minister of holy Communion.

“It’s about empowering our young people,” said Jackson, who was appointed CYO director in July. “I want kids to realize that Christ meets them where they are. They don’t have to be this rock star. You can be just this normal human being. That’s what Jesus was. He didn’t come to be served but to do the serving himself.

“If Jesus could humble himself to us, we need to humble ourselves to others and serve each other. What’s most important is to get in front of our youth now and teach them to have that servant’s heart. … There’s an old coach’s term we used to say when you score a touchdown: ‘Act like you’ve been there before.’ Do your service and move on, because that’s what Jesus did.”

Lived by example
Jackson said his parents and grandparents were also strong faith examples. He grew up in St. Simon Peter and St. Maria Goretti parishes, where the late-Msgr. Earl Gauthreaux became a family friend. He said his family’s claims to fame include having an uncle become a Josephite brother and having St. Katharine Drexel, foundress of Xavier University of Louisiana, request assistance from his grandparents when she was in New Orleans.
 
“We’re just a deeply devoted family – to the rosary, Mass, the whole deal,” Jackson said. “My father was ordained a deacon in the diocese in 2006” but was later incardinated in the Atlanta Diocese when his family was displaced by Katrina and moved there.

Wanting to emulate his father, who sold oil for Shell, Jackson first earned a business management degree at Dillard University. After Katrina, he  worked in the hospitality industry and in sales in Atlanta but was unfulfilled. Jackson convinced his wife, only a year into their marriage, to leave her Atlanta home to pursue his passion of working with youth.

“In hindsight I wish I would have studied education, because that was what I would eventually go into,” Jackson said.

He contacted his Holy Cross mentors Don Greco and coach Greg Battistella – men who embodied a love for the Holy Cross brotherhood, its mission to educate both the heart and mind and a love for the Lord – and expressed his desire to return home. He was given a choice of teaching religion or computers and coaching junior high football.

Thus began Jackson’s path to his current job. He taught religion, coached football and eventually became campus minister, which opened opportunities to earn a master’s degree in pastoral leadership at Notre Dame Seminary (taking one class a semester while teaching and coaching) and becoming a lay ecclesial minister through the seminary’s ILEM program.

Opportunity knocked
Leaving Holy Cross wasn’t on Jackson’s radar. But, after 13 years, he was offered the CYO director position and accepted. While challenging in the midst of a pandemic, Jackson’s goal is to resurrect as many CYO youth programs as safely as possible.

“The past 18 months have been tumultuous for everyone,” Jackson said.
Taking the archbishop’s cue, the ministry has to continue, he said. “If we’re not getting to the kids, who is?”

The CYO’s first in-person event was a True Presence Night for Youth Nov. 13.

“In the Year of the Eucharist, I thought we could offer adoration as a way to familiarize youth with this type of worship,” Jackson said. “We wanted to give the kids an opportunity to come together as a local young church in prayer and fellowship. They’ve missed out on so much.”

A second True Presence for Youth with Archbishop Gregory Aymond is Dec. 11, 6-10 p.m., at St. Margaret Mary in Slidell.

Next up is the Jan. 19-23 March for Life bus trip to Washington, D.C., for eighth- through 12th-graders. To keep it safe, the trip has been shortened by a day, masks are required on the bus as is a negative COVID-19 test result a few days before leaving. The New Orleans group has planned its own ministry nights with The Vigil Project, Louisiana Right to Life’s director Ben Clapper and Dr. Ansel Augustine.

“It’s going to be a great trip,” Jackson said. “We will have (a Mass with) Archbishop Aymond Friday before the march. I’m grateful our young people have something to look forward to.”

New collaborations planned
His participation in an October God’s Special Children Mass exposed a new project for the CYO/Young Adult office – to better accommodate those with special needs. Jackson will corral teens to work at the monthly Mass/receptions at St. Francis Xavier and create additional activities.

“We want our office to be inclusive,” Jackson said. “Everyone has a spot here. Those young people and adults with special needs need to know they have a family outside of their immediate family, and they are included in everything we do.”

The CYO office also plans to partner with the Black Catholic Ministries and Hispanic Apostolate offices and share dynamic CYO activities archdiocesan-wide.

“I’m bringing my love for the Lord and love for the church … and being that hope for others,” Jackson said. “It’s each of our duties to pick up our cross and to follow Christ. How do you want to be remembered?”

The CYO/Young Adult Ministry Office, which runs teen and young adult ministries and Camp Abbey, is located at 2241 Mendez St., New Orleans. Call (504) 836-0551, email [email protected] or visit www.cyo-no.org.

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