The Impact of Mentorship with Special Guest Nick Clune (Footsteps to Heaven Podcast)

Terry Modica:

At Good News Ministries, our goal is to reach two groups: Gen Z young men who have come into the Church, and the people who are working with them. We want to help parishes, dioceses, and lay evangelization ministries recognize that we have a truly special opportunity right now—one that, honestly, I haven’t seen in my lifetime.

This is a window we don’t want to miss.

So, Nick, what can you tell us about this?

Nick Clune:

Yeah, yeah—I think you’re spot on. This really is a unique opportunity for the Church to minister to a group we haven’t traditionally focused on: young men.

Before getting involved with CatholicPsych, I spent seven years in youth ministry. After that, I completed my certification and training through CatholicPsych, and now I serve as a mentor with them.

During my time in youth ministry, I started noticing a shift. Typically, youth ministries tend to be female-heavy—more girls than guys. That was the expectation. But in my case, it was the opposite. My ministries were always male-heavy.

Some of that probably had to do with who I am—I have what you might call a stereotypically “guy” background. I have a beard, I’m into sports, and my faith journey reflects that kind of energy. So I think my story just naturally resonated with a lot of young men.

But it wasn’t just about me. It was also about the timing. There was this noticeable shift happening—more and more young men were showing up in youth groups and then continuing into young adult ministry.

When I moved into young adult ministry leadership, it was the same story—at times, it was like a 5-to-1 male-to-female ratio. I remember thinking, “This is crazy. Why are so many guys showing up?”

But then the question became: instead of just asking why, how can we capitalize on this? These young men bring real gifts to the Church—what John Paul II called the “masculine genius.” For years, men have often checked out spiritually. The stereotype was that faith was a “woman’s thing.” Mom ran the show, dragged the kids to church—and sometimes dragged Dad along too.

That was my story growing up. My mom was the one saying, “We’re going to this retreat, we’re doing this Church event,” and Dad was just kind of along for the ride—until he had a conversion experience later in life.

So I know firsthand that this isn’t unusual. In many families, Mom’s been the one driving the faith. But now, with this increase in Gen Z young men getting involved, there’s a real opportunity. Imagine if both parents are spiritually engaged.

There’s a statistic—maybe a bit dated, but still telling—from Pew Research: when dads are actively involved in their children’s faith lives, around 93% of those kids remain faithful as they grow up. When dads aren’t involved, the numbers drop significantly.

That’s not to diminish the role of mothers—moms do amazing, beautiful work in passing on the faith. But there’s something unique about a father’s involvement, especially when it comes to helping kids engage with the world through the lens of faith.

We’re in a moment where that balance is becoming more possible—and we need to lean into it.