The classroom is bright and loud, covered with colorful handmade posters and echoing with the excited voices of 11 elementary-schoolers, all seated on the floor in a circle. Katelee Dinh (12) sits amongst them, asking them to open their Bibles to Mark 10:46.

After a few minutes of trying to get the kids’ attention, they settle down and Dinh begins to read the passage.

The students are fidgety, but for the most part listen and participate in the group. After an hour, Dinh leads them in a final prayer. They all gather their coloring sheets and give Dinh a hug before meeting their parents at the door to leave.

Reflecting on the day, Dinh’s assessment is that everything went well.

“Obviously there were some kinks we have to work out,” Dinh said. “But we adjusted really well.”

Growing up in a conservative Vietnamese Catholic church, Dinh says they were taught to fear religion and respect tradition. This strict way of life caused Dinh to hide their true self for many years and instead of bringing them closer to the faith, pushed them farther away.

“I couldn’t express myself or grow in faith,” Dinh said. “It felt like a chore, I grew up being motivated by fear rather than by positivity.”

Despite this, Dinh made the choice to re-turn to the church at St. Therese of Carmel as a catechist (a religion teacher) for third-and fourth-graders and a small group leader for confirmation year one kids.

Although they admit that the kids are sometimes chaotic, Dinh has found happiness in being able to guide the children through their religion. Dinh’s eventual hope is that the youth group members will begin to ask ques-tions and want to learn more about religion for themselves.

“I think because they’re so young, they don’t really know to question things, they kind of just accept [what they’re told],” Dinh said. “[My job’s] pretty easy in that sense because they don’t ask questions that you don’t know the answers to, but I would prefer that they [question what I’m saying] because it means that they’re trying to understand more.”

Nonetheless, Dinh said they are still grateful to be able to contribute a warm, supportive space for the young kids to learn more about themselves and feel more a part of their church community.

“I think that it’s a great learning experience,” they said. “I personally think I find myself, in a cheesy way, becoming closer to God. I’m not uber religious, but I do think that teaching and leading has helped in my own Christian religion and personal growth.”

One of Dinh’s main hopes is to create a safe space for young kids entering into religion that they didn’t receive from the church com-munity when they were younger. This is particularly important for them because they are a part of the LGBTQ community and want to foster a supportive and kind environment that allows kids to grow up and express themselves freely and without fear of judgment.

“I didn’t want these kids to have a bad experience with religion because once I got older, even now, I struggle with my relationship with God,” they said. “I just want these kids to have a good relationship and memory of religion and of the church.”

Dinh recalled part of the initial desire to become a youth group leader was sparked by their own positive experience with their confirmation leader.

“I think what helped me was when I realized that the church can be accepting of me,” they said. “[My confirmation leader] helped me come to terms with myself. [She] totally impacted my life for the better and she has made me internally know that God loves [me].”

This renewed sense of faith has been helpful not only in connecting with the kids she leads, but in Dinh’s personal life outside of the church as well.

According to Dinh, these experiences have helped craft a new personal meaning of religion as a growing relationship with other people and with God as well.

“Religion for me is something that grounds me and something that makes me feel less alone,” Dinh said. “If I’m going through a hard time, I can set my own personal intentions and it just helps me go through a lot of stuff because I can pray and I can talk to God [as an outlet].”