"Let the children come to Me; do not prevent them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these." In 1976, the United States Catholic Conference (USCC) issued a document entitled "A Vision of Youth Ministry." It was a guiding and illuminating response to the challenges of the effective bringing of American youth closer to God by showing them the ways and reasons of what it is to live a good Christian life in a relationship with the Lord. This document was a great success in youth ministry in the United States, but, two decades after its publication, in 1997, the USCC, in response to the new challenges and needs of the present day youth, issued a new document entitled "Renewing the Vision: A Framework for Catholic Youth Ministry." The new document is based on the fine tradition of the one of 1976, except that "Renewing the Vision" meets three new challenges. Since the new document is concerned basically with the same problems as the previous one, except for the three new goals, my research paper will be based on the concepts of the 1976 document as well as on the reviewing of the three new challenges of "Renewing the Vision."
             Although these two documents are concerned with the spiritual development of the American youth, I think that they can be used by the youth ministers of the whole world, because, if we look at young people around the globe now, we will find them facing pretty much the same problems as the youth of the United States do.
             . . . When Jesus Christ came down to earth with the Good News of salvation, He died and rose for the salvation of the people of all ages of all the nations of the world that were at that time, that are now, and that will be. After Christ resurrected and ascended to Heaven, He left the leadership of the Church to the apostles who have been succeeded later by bishops up to the present day. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the Catholic Church's bishops with the pope as the head to ...