Chapters:
00:00 Intro
00:48 Clay’s Role in the Archdiocese & Passion for Youth Ministry
02:27 Supporting Parishes: Training Leaders & Children’s Liturgy
05:47 Working with Youth: Retreats, Schools, and Speaking Engagements
07:26 What It Means to Truly Witness Your Faith
10:07 Canuck Clay: YouTube, Parody Songs, and Building Community
11:38 Humour in Ministry & Building Trust with Church Leaders
16:18 Clay’s Conversion Story: From High School to Catholic Faith
18:16 World Youth Day & Discovering a Life of Ministry
23:20 Going Back to School: Growth Through Theology Studies
25:59 Impact Stories: Vocations, Leadership, and Changed Lives
28:46 The Lesson That Changed Everything
30:14 Building Trust: Listening Before Leading Youth
31:08 Why Youth Ministry Matters for Vocations
35:09 The Impact of Priests’ Presence in Catholic Schools
41:15 Family, Faith, and Forming the Next Generation
47:30 Outro
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This episode of Catholic Education Matters features a rich and engaging conversation with Clay Imoo, a longtime youth ministry leader in the Archdiocese of Vancouver, who shares his journey from a non-religious upbringing to a life transformed by his Catholic faith after his conversion in 1993. Drawing on nearly three decades of experience, Clay discusses his current role supporting children, youth, and families across parish ministries, equipping leaders through training, resources, and mentorship. He highlights his passion for forming young people through authentic relationships, emphasizing that true evangelization begins with listening, accompaniment, and genuine care—captured in his key message that people won’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.
Clay reflects on the pivotal experiences that shaped his vocation, including World Youth Day, his early involvement in parish youth ministry, and even professional setbacks that redirected him toward ministry work. He also shares powerful stories of impact, including young people who have gone on to religious vocations and leadership roles, underscoring the lasting fruit of investing in youth. The conversation explores the importance of strong Catholic identity in schools, the role of clergy presence and the sacraments, and how youth ministry helps foster openness to all vocations—priesthood, religious life, marriage, and single life. Blending insight, humor, and personal storytelling, Clay ultimately reveals a mission rooted in helping others encounter Christ and live a life of purpose, faith, and lasting impact.
Transcript:
[00:00:01] Intro: Welcome to Catholic Education Matters, the podcast that celebrates the beauty of Catholic education, highlighting excellence in academics, athletics, and the transformative power of faith. Join us as we share the stories of those making a lasting impact on Catholic education. Let’s begin.
[00:00:26] Troy Van Vliet: Good day everyone and welcome to Catholic Education Matters. Glad you’re all back to join us here today.
[00:00:32] And today I am honored to have with us Mr. Clay Imoo. Clay?
[00:00:39] Clay Imoo: Pronounced it perfectly.
[00:00:40] Troy Van Vliet: Thank you. I did. Yes, I know we talked about that before Finding Nemo, Clay Imoo. That’s how I remember it. So good stuff. Thanks for joining us.
[00:00:48] Clay Imoo: My pleasure. I’m excited to be on this side of the camera
[00:00:50] Troy Van Vliet: for Yeah, exactly. Clay is normally on the other side of the camera. She does the editing and sets everything up here at the archdiocese for us. You’re so accommodating. Thank you, Clay, for everything.
[00:01:02] Even gets us water. It’s unbelievable. And today it’s only fitting to have you in the hot seat here. We’re going to have some fun conversation. You’ve got so much so much.
[00:01:12] But before we get into it, I’m going to give everybody a little bit of your bio and I’m just going read it out here so that we don’t make sure that we don’t, miss anything. But first of all, Clay is a dynamic speaker. Look at that. See, we start out with a compliment right out of the gate. A YouTuber, writer, musician and bowler based in Vancouver BC.
[00:01:32] He’s deeply rooted in his Catholic faith attending St. Paul’s Parish with his wife Gail and their three wonderful children Sean, Jacob, and Kayla. Clay has dedicated the past twenty three years to serving the Archdiocese of Vancouver, currently holding the position of Associate Director for the Ministries and Outreach Office. Correct.
[00:01:55] Clay Imoo: It’s a mouthful, but it’s correct.
[00:01:56] Troy Van Vliet: Yes. That’s awesome. And you do many other jobs, including what we’re doing here today. So Clay’s passion for youth ministry spans nearly three decades, during which he has witnessed the transformation power of fellowship and formation in the lives of young people. His commitment to nurturing faith extends beyond youth as he recognizes the vital role of parenthood as a ministry inspired by his own journey as a parent.
[00:02:27] Clay is devoted to helping others encounter the same life changing relationship with Jesus Christ that he experienced in 1993, we’re gonna talk a little bit more about that, when he embraced the Catholic faith. In addition to his ministry work Clay enjoys spending quality time with his family playing sports, creating content that entertains and inspires. He is known for his Canucks parody songs, we’re gonna have to delve into that a little bit, and lighthearted YouTube videos. Clay’s story is one of grace and growth. He strives to be a loving husband, father guided by the belief that parenting is both a privilege and a calling, which I agree with fully.
[00:03:15] Clay, thanks again for joining us.
[00:03:17] Clay Imoo: Thanks for having me, thanks for the nice bio too.
[00:03:19] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah, no, I think you wrote that yourself.
[00:03:21] Clay Imoo: Well, take you on the road with me.
[00:03:24] Troy Van Vliet: Good stuff and a privilege to have you here today. So you’re always fun to work with and you’ve got a great story. You’re doing lots of great work in the Vancouver Archdiocese, most specifically with our youth.
[00:03:36] Clay Imoo: That’s correct.
[00:03:36] Troy Van Vliet: And you have a passion for that. So tell us a little bit about that,
[00:03:40] Clay Imoo: My first of current role Troy is associate director. I’m one of three associate directors in our ministries and outreach office. And yes, we have someone in charge of adult lay formation. We have someone in charge of marriage and family. My jurisdiction is children and youth.
[00:03:54] So it’s all the work that we are doing in parishes in the archdiocese that have to do with either youth ministry for high school teens, junior youth ministry, prep, parish religious education program, VANSPEC special needs education. We have Catechesis of Good Shepherd, which is growing as you know a lot throughout the archdiocese. And finally, Liturgy of the Word with Children, those that where they break open the Sunday reading. So we have coordinators that are in charge of all of those and I am in charge, I supervise those coordinators, if that makes sense.
[00:04:23] Troy Van Vliet: That’s a big list of things that you’re overseeing there in terms of even the children’s liturgy. So at Mass every Sunday, got the children get to go out to hear liturgy of the Word so they’re not bored by listening to an adult talk. They get to go and have somebody actually speak at their level and learn a little bit more. So tell us a little bit more about that actually, if you would. Like, what is involved with the preparation of that?
[00:04:51] Clay Imoo: Yes. So we have a coordinator here named Murita Chua who really handles all of the children’s catechesis and parishes. So liturgy where children, catechesis of good shepherd and prep. So her role is to train people in the parishes where, yeah, they make sure that they know how to present the gospel and the readings, know how to break it open, know how to do activities, and that’s our job is the whole train the trainer model, right? So we can’t do the ministry directly to them, we are training the people that do the ministry.
[00:05:17] So our job really is to do that, is to provide training, resource and consulting for those that are serving, God bless them, all the volunteers that are serving throughout our parishes, throughout our diocese. And then they have the freedom a little bit, like for instance, liturgy of the word of children specifically, once they do the proper dismissal from the mass and they kind of go into a parish center or a school classroom and they break open the readings through exactly, more kind of their level activities, crafts at their level. And then they come back just in time for the liturgy of the Eucharist where they rejoin their families. Yeah.
[00:05:47] Troy Van Vliet: Oh, that’s neat. And then now you do stuff with the youth with the high schools as well. That’s correct. Yeah. And so you come and visit the schools themselves or on retreats?
[00:05:59] Clay Imoo: Yeah, exactly. So our office, Faye McCreedy, whereas Murita does all the children’s work, Faye McCreedy, she’s youth coordinator at Immaculate Conception and Delta. She’s also our youth ministry coordinator. So her job is same as Murita, but with everyone working with high school teens, again, all the youth coordinators, the core leaders, the volunteers, all those. And then I supervise her.
[00:06:22] I used to do that job and it was a lot of meeting with priests, advocating for youth ministry, right? Meeting with the coordinators, training them. Okay. What resource do you want to use? How big is your team?
[00:06:32] How can we support you? Where do you need help? And that’s what Faye does now. And then in working with her, I still consult with her. I supervise her, but I also am able to do my own speaking.
[00:06:40] So I’ve been blessed to speak at St. John Paul II Academy a few times, grade eight retreat, grade eleven, twelve retreat, getting to know the students, getting to know the faculty. And it’s such a blessing. I’m not just saying that I’m on your show right now. It’s really, it’s been a blessing.
[00:06:53] So that’s my one way. Whereas I’m working with adults all the time. That is my one way to connect directly with youth aside from my own children is to do speaking and do retreats, presentations and so on.
[00:07:03] Troy Van Vliet: So do you do a fair bit of that or do you just do that as a favor for us?
[00:07:08] Clay Imoo: Yeah, you know, I think not just locally too, do some speaking with throughout Canada and some throughout The United States, not a lot, maybe two or three a year where they’ll find me out there for the weekend and I’ll speak at a youth rally or I’ll train leaders. So it’s not the primary, it’s more of an offshoot of what I do here. But it’s blessing for sure.
[00:07:26] Troy Van Vliet: So obviously I haven’t attended any of your talks because you’re dealing with our youth and what have you. You. What are they based around?
[00:07:34] Clay Imoo: Generally, the one talk I love doing Troy is how to witness to your faith, how to be a witness and how witnessing involves two things, not just seeing something with your own eyes, but actually going out and telling someone what you saw. Because if you don’t tell anyone, you’re useless as a witness. Break it down for the youth and say, that’s why if someone witnesses a crime or a car accident, you stay and you talk to the police officer because if you just walked away again, you’re useless in that situation. So if we say that witnessing involves two things, seeing something, but then going out and telling someone what you saw, kind of analogize that to our relationship with Jesus is sure people might see that we’re related to Jesus or we might proclaim we might think that we’re close to Jesus, but how are we actually living it? How are we actually showing other people?
[00:08:19] How are we witnessing to our faith? And of course, it’s through our actions and through our words.
[00:08:23] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah. Nice. So, well, I’ve heard from even my own daughters that it was well received.
[00:08:29] Clay Imoo: I appreciate that.
[00:08:30] Troy Van Vliet: So yeah, so I’m sure you’ll be invited back for more. Have you done one this year already? No.
[00:08:35] Clay Imoo: Yeah, we just did the grade gosh, I should Yeah. Know
[00:08:42] Troy Van Vliet: Wasn’t the grade eight? Yeah. That’s our biggest cohort.
[00:08:44] Clay Imoo: Yeah, that’s right. So good. All right.
[00:08:46] Troy Van Vliet: And was it at the school or was that?
[00:08:48] Clay Imoo: No, we went to the camp site. Good stuff.
[00:08:53] Troy Van Vliet: And then sorry, so there’s other, well, that’s your hands on with that. So you’re not just overseeing that. And do you do it for other schools as well?
[00:09:01] Clay Imoo: Yeah, you know, that one. So once in a while, a school will come to us, elementary or high school and say, we need a speaker for this. So sometimes they’ll come directly to me or someone else on staff. Other times they’ll come, Clay, can you provide a recommendation for a speaker? We’re looking for someone who speaks on chastity or theology of the body, right?
[00:09:16] Or scripture or whatever it may be, service and justice. And then my job is not just to take the job myself, but rather to say, okay, there’s this campus minister out here, there’s this youth coordinator here who’s got a knack for a gift for that. So that kind of thing. So again, that’s another way where we are a resource. We might not do the ministry directly, but if someone comes to us and says, we need a speaker for this retreat, then we should be able to provide it.
[00:09:39] Troy Van Vliet: Or we need somebody that knows a lot about the Canucks.
[00:09:44] Clay Imoo: That’s a whole another podcast. That’s a
[00:09:46] Troy Van Vliet: whole another podcast, especially right now. You do have a podcast though that talk about after Canucks games?
[00:09:52] Clay Imoo: Yeah, so my alter ego is Canuck Clay, for obvious reasons. So it’s funny, I get stopped, not a lot, who am I? I do get stopped often when it’s in the Renaissance notes from a Canucks perspective. But when it’s out in the street, someone will say, oh, I recognize you. I’ll say it’s either one of two things.
[00:10:07] It’s either through the church, my church work, or it’s through the Vancouver Connect. So, yes, I have a YouTube channel. Not bad. 12,000 subscribers. And I do I do a nightly livestream at 11PM.
[00:10:18] Remember the old sports page days? Yeah. So I wanna kinda fill that vacuum. And a lot of times I’m at games or I’m doing other work or other ministries. So I find 11:00, it’s late, sure, but I’m a night owl.
[00:10:29] And it’s my I’ve built a really strong community that comes every 11:00. And sometimes I bring them on the show, pregame analysis, postgame analysis, debriefs, you know, parody songs as we talked about, Q and A, whatever it may be, contests. Yeah. I really love it. I do spend a lot of time, energy, and money on this team, but no one is forcing me to do so.
[00:10:48] Troy Van Vliet: Parody songs. Yeah. So you’re gonna sing a song for us? I won’t because
[00:10:51] Clay Imoo: that would be a parody in itself, but I took right when YouTube started to explode a little bit and social media did, I was the first one on YouTube. Like, concept itself is so corny. Two friends in someone’s living room singing songs about their favorite hockey team.
[00:11:08] Troy Van Vliet: But
[00:11:09] Clay Imoo: I took great pride in writing kinda catchy, yet corny, applicable lyrics. And it’s songs where you’d recognize that, Bruno Mars songs, Boyz II Men songs, Taylor Swift songs, many people have said that I’ve destroyed those songs for them now because all they do is they hear my lyrics, So not I write the lyrics, I put the music together, and then I bring in some really talented singers, and they’re the ones that actually deliver the some of them we’ve done Seahawks ones as well, but it’s just another way to express my creativity. Well, you’ve
[00:11:38] Troy Van Vliet: got a great sense of humor and we enjoy working with you here, of course, every episode. So that’s awesome. And you got a great sense of humor, like I said. Can you bring that over into what you’re doing here with the archdiocese?
[00:11:54] Clay Imoo: Do get to do that? So I’ll say this, I think I am who I am, right? And for better or for worse. And I know when to dial it down a little bit in certain meetings, but I will say that I had a unique relationship with Archbishop Michael and I’m starting to develop the same one with Archbishop Smith in
[00:12:12] Troy Van Vliet: a good way. And he’s got a good sense of He’s great,
[00:12:14] Clay Imoo: very dry but very funny, very witty. Archbishop Michael was I think he scared me into laughing to all his jokes. But with Archbishop Michael, he Just like Archbishop Smith, these guys are so faithful, they’re so brilliant, but they can be intimidating. They can be intimidating, not all but it depends on personalities. But Archbishop Michael in particular, he was it was kind of hard to get to know, I’d say.
[00:12:38] But once you did, it was a beautiful thing. So I was in this unique position, Troy, where you’ve seen I did all these bad joke skits and videos with him and all these silly games. And I did not take that trust for granted. It took a while. There’s a whole long saga.
[00:12:53] It took seven years for him to acknowledge me as his friend. I would say, hey friend, how are you?
[00:12:59] Troy Van Vliet: And he
[00:12:59] Clay Imoo: goes, I’m not your friend, I’m your boss. Right? Or I say, hey, here’s Bishop Michael, how are you? He goes, my friends call me Michael, you’re not my friend. So he would drop all these on me, like, all the time.
[00:13:08] And then finally, we were at Bishop Mark’s ordination up north, and I held the door open for him in the snow, and he tapped me on the shoulder and he goes, Thanks buddy. And I was elated, I started running around the snow jumping up and got snow angels all around. But truly it was seven years of getting him to acknowledge that. And then, honestly Troy, after that it was a flip of a switch, and then we were making these goofy videos and I had the unique opportunity and insight to be able to have his trust. Yeah.
[00:13:37] I would never make him look so like, that’s not what we’re doing. He would you notice he’d always win these games somehow. He imagined that he’d win because he cheats. So the yeah. Just to get to know him a little bit and just to present that side of him.
[00:13:48] Yeah. He’s smart. He’s faithful. He’s such a strong leader, but he’s also caring, he’s also witty, he’s also compassionate and that’s kind of what we wanted to bring out. So I never took that responsibility for granted but I took it very seriously.
[00:14:00] Troy Van Vliet: That’s great, that’s great. And then slowly, now Archbishop Smith is still new. Yeah, he’s new here.
[00:14:06] Clay Imoo: But I actually got to know him through some national youth ministry things. And when I went to Edmonton and I was blessed to serve on the committee when Pope Francis came to issue his apology two summers ago. So they flew me out to Edmonton, the organizing committee, and I was able to see Archbishop Smith a little bit then. So we know each other, he knows I’m a Canucks fan, so the very first thing he says to me, I basically said to him, When will you become a Canucks fan? And he says, Clay, they say that a faith conversion takes a lifetime, I think Canucks conversion may take even longer.
[00:14:36] That’s what he said to me. So I’m working on them for the Canucks and sushi. Those are two things. Yeah, bet I’m working on them right now. He doesn’t do sushi?
[00:14:43] Apparently, yeah. Well, you’re not gonna get good sushi in Edmonton, right?
[00:14:47] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah, exactly. If you want good sushi, you’re in the right spot here.
[00:14:51] Clay Imoo: So we’re working on but he’s been great too. Just as faithful, just as smart and still overwhelmed, right? Just getting used to the hardships.
[00:14:58] Troy Van Vliet: Oh, I know. I can’t even imagine jumping into this archdiocese. It’s big and there’s a lot of things going on.
[00:15:03] Clay Imoo: Your conversation with him that we recorded a little while ago was wonderful.
[00:15:06] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah, that was great. It’s been well received already. That’s great. And it’s an honor and privilege to be able to speak with him too. And just getting to know a little bit more about SJP2 as a school and how we’re different than the other schools and different models.
[00:15:23] And I give all the credit in the world, same thing to Archbishop Miller for if it wasn’t him giving us the green light to go ahead and do because our school being a parent led initiative from day one and we still have parents leaving the school right now, which was a completely different way of doing things. But he gave the green light. He was like, you know what, it’s not going to happen any other way. So away we go. So anyway, and I miss him in many ways still.
[00:15:55] And I’m happy getting to know Archbishop Smith in this slow way. He’s such a busy guy, but
[00:16:00] Clay Imoo: Very blessed here
[00:16:01] Troy Van Vliet: in this
[00:16:02] Clay Imoo: church I
[00:16:02] Troy Van Vliet: see. Yeah, for sure. Yes. So, back to you. Let’s go to You’re not a cradle Catholic.
[00:16:10] You’re a devout Catholic today, but you’re not a cradle Catholic. Tell us that story. How did you end up where you’re
[00:16:18] Clay Imoo: Yeah, my late father Larry passed away in 2004. He’s Japanese, so Imo is a Japanese name. It’s actually Imo-o but it’s Imoo, we say Imoo. My mom’s Chinese, so I’m half Japanese half Chinese. That’s my mix.
[00:16:30] Rare combination given the history of the country. So they grew up but they weren’t Christian, they weren’t Buddhist, Shinto, they’re good people, good morals, but no religious background. And then in high school I met now my wife Gail, back in grade 10, she was in grade nine and it was a school meet Steveston? Richmond High? No, actually, Burnett Junior.
[00:16:52] And then we went to then Richmond High after
[00:16:54] Troy Van Vliet: high school.
[00:16:55] Clay Imoo: So we went to Burnett and we were there was a school musical called Lumberjacks and Wedding Bells and I was paired with my ex girlfriend at the time Elaine. My best friend Javier was paired with Gail but that very first practice Javier and Elaine were late but Gail and I were on time so they put us together and that’s that’s how we met through the school musical, Lumberjacks and Wedding Bells. I was the lumberjack obviously. Then we’d do some square dancing practices and then I’d forget to go overhand when the music was done, know little things like that. But then all throughout this, Troy, she was bringing me to church and just inviting me and she was smart.
[00:17:28] She brought me to Easter Vigil where I was kind of like wowed by the bells and smells kind of thing. Then I would always go to Mass with her on Saturday night and we’d go out for dinner afterwards and that’s basically why I went to Mass. But she was never pressuring. She would write little prayers on my agenda book. I’d go to write my physics homework in and say, yeah, hail Mary, full of grace, Lord.
[00:17:46] And so what’s this? I go to write down a reminder to bring my gym strip the next day. Glory be to the father. So she was just doing these little things, inviting me to prayer groups, but but never pressuring me. And then I sponsor she sponsored me in RCIA in 1992.
[00:17:59] And then 1993
[00:18:01] Troy Van Vliet: Mhmm.
[00:18:01] Clay Imoo: April, Easter, got the three sacraments, baptism, confirmation, and first communion. Mhmm. And then four months later, Troy, I went to World Youth Day in Denver. And that introduced me to youth ministry. That introduced me to Pope John Paul II, the global church.
[00:18:16] And I came back on fire. And then in November, 1993, just six months after I came in the church, we were running a youth ministry called Lifeteen. It’s very popular throughout the world and it’s a good resource. And we’re the first parish to run Lifeteen in Canada, which is exciting. And there’s a groundswell of enthusiasm and energy and motivated people at our church.
[00:18:39] So that’s really it. After World Youth Day Denver, I was doing youth ministry at the parish just seven months after coming to the church and that’s really what launched my desire to serve. So then as I’m dating Gail, you know, I want to become a chartered accountant, want to make all this money, impress her, you know, propose. And then I got a job at PricewaterhouseCoopers, very good job, did three years, two years as a summer student, three years audit, and then I get to my and all this time I’m serving in parish youth ministry, okay? First as a volunteer, and then four years later in 1997 I became the coordinator.
[00:19:14] Not paid, but at least in charge of things. So then this is where I get to my accounting exams in the year 2000, and a passing grade is A, B, C, D. A is excellent, B is good, C is okay, D is you barely made it. Failing grades are E, F, G, H. E is that’s bad, F is that’s worse, G is like, that’s really bad, H is like, why’d you even show up to this exam?
[00:19:36] My transcript Troy read H, Horrendous, horrific, horrible, so picture this, two years as a summer student, another three years working for the firm, five years of investment, and I completely bombed these exams. And the firm fired there are 30 of us that wrote, 25 passed, five failed. Fired, fired, fired, fired, but they kept me. And they moved me into human resources, designing and executing recruiting campaigns. So I was at UBC, SFU, Kwantlen, Langara, BCIT, UVic, recruiting students to the firm.
[00:20:12] It’s almost like evangelization. Right? I was trying to sell the law of you know, law of our firm and all the good things. Then I built up my communication, my public relations skills, my marketing skills, just the organizational skills. And then did that for three years, worked with a financial planner for a year and then World Youth Day Toronto comes up.
[00:20:33] I only do the two North American ones, I guess. I’m scared of the international ones. I go to the World Youth Day, nine years later, right? Denver, then Toronto. I say Lord, show me how to be a better husband, a better father, a better employee, a better friend, know, I’m a lot more mature, same good looking, ready to go, and then I come back from World Youth Day, and I was a little more selfish in Italy, I was still organizing the group, this was more for me because I was trying to figure out what I was gonna do in life, and then sure enough, a month after I got back, an ad in the
[00:21:03] BC Catholic, director, office of youth ministry. I put my name in on the last day, by the grace of God I beat out some really strong people, I’ve been working for the archdiocese ever since, for So the last two or three I credit the two World Youth Day experiences absolutely foundational, fundamental. Denver got me introduced to youth ministry, Toronto marked the precipice, the split between my parish work and then my diocesan work now. And all through that time and in that time, blessed to marry Gail in 2000, we had Sean in 01, Jacob in 03, and Kayla in 07.
[00:21:37] Blessed to speak, blessed to do things like this, create content. Yeah. I truly am blessed. And then I always go back to the very first World Youth Day that I went to in Denver, John 10:10. I came that you may have life and have it abundantly.
[00:21:50] I do have an abundant life. It’s not a perfect life. It’s not I’m not perfect, but I do And I know we’re going to get to this. I want to make an impact on everyone I encounter. And that’s my mission in life.
[00:22:01] And I’m taking all these experiences that I’ve been gathering and trying to make myself a better person and better witness doing it.
[00:22:06] Troy Van Vliet: Wow. Well, you definitely have an impact on people. Appreciate that. You definitely do. I mean that in all sincerity and it’s not just your good looks.
[00:22:13] Clay Imoo: Thank you. Thank you. I hope not.
[00:22:15] Troy Van Vliet: I love it. What a great story. You also went
[00:22:21] Clay Imoo: Institute? Tell us a little bit about that. So I’m not sure how much I’m allowed to say, but there’s someone that’s been on your show a couple of times who’s a big advocate.
[00:22:30] Troy Van Vliet: I think you can say.
[00:22:31] Clay Imoo: Yeah. So Andy a big supporter. Andy Szocs is a big of the Augustine Institute and everything we do in the diocese. He actually went a long way in sponsoring a couple people. So five years ago, I embarked on this Masters of Pastoral Theology and what was really funny is I’m the 51 year old now, but 47 when I started I am the guy there are a bunch of us that did it online, right?
[00:22:56] And there are a bunch of young people that take it on campus in Denver at the time and all those guys were young whippersnappers, they knew every encyclical, every, you know, apostolic exhortation, every then but they had no parish experience I was probably the opposite, I’m not so good with those kind of like regurgitating facts and excerpts and everything but I’ve done thirty years in the field, twenty three working for the Archdiocese. So when I finally met them at my graduation in May 2024, it was kind of funny. First, was old enough to be all their dads combined, right? And secondly, it was just neat to see, well, I’ve seen the back of your head while watching all these videos online, it’s finally great to meet you in person. But yeah, that was such a blessing to meet…the Augustine Institute is so good, And the videos that they put, the professors.
[00:23:38] And even the way I’m able to work what I’ve learned into what I’m doing, even more confident speaking to people and just a greater appreciation for the beauty and tradition of our church, all those things came out for it. One last funny story, it’s so funny, I didn’t graduate with honors. I did it fine, but I didn’t graduate with honors. So for our grad, people that graduated with honors, they had a cord that you put around over your gown, right? Red, green, yellow, depending on how good you are.
[00:24:05] So we’re getting we park at the church for the reception, the ceremony, and we’re getting out of the car, and then Gail sees all these my wife Gail sees all these other people with cords around them. And then she sees me get out the car with just my gown, with no cord, and she goes, oh, hon. Did you did you forget your cord in the trunk? I said, you jerk. I didn’t get one because, yeah, I know I called
[00:24:24] Troy Van Vliet: it a jerk. I thought you were going to say you had a piece of twine or something like that.
[00:24:28] Clay Imoo: Yeah, I put something else on.
[00:24:30] Troy Van Vliet: It’s with a rope. It’s at the hardware store.
[00:24:33] Clay Imoo: Yeah, put
[00:24:33] Troy Van Vliet: it on her side. But
[00:24:35] Clay Imoo: that was a blessing. It was five years and it wasn’t difficult per se, but it was not even demanding, but it was consistent, had to keep up with the readings, with the exams, the papers and everything, and you know, any cohorts that you’re in, but it was good, was a blessing for sure. How
[00:24:52] Troy Van Vliet: long was that?
[00:24:53] Clay Imoo: Yeah, so it was four years, well, you could do it full time for two years, but I took it four years, like one course per semester. I actually did it in five because I took the two COVID summers off just to be with family. So yeah, it took me four and a half years, but I only did one course per semester.
[00:25:08] Troy Van Vliet: Good for you.
[00:25:09] Clay Imoo: That’s great. That’s accomplishment. After getting my commerce degree and then doing so well in accounting, I didn’t think that I would go back to school, but this opportunity came up and I was picked by the diocese do it. So yeah, very, very blessed. And Andy Szocs sponsored.
[00:25:26] He did. I’ve thanked him many, many times. He’s such a great guy.
[00:25:30] Troy Van Vliet: He’s so good. Yeah, he’s so generous. I was talking to him on the way here actually. Awesome. His generosity and his leadership is just absolutely amazing.
[00:25:41] Getting back to your campus ministry stuff, working with the youth, you must have some good memories. You must have some great stories. Maybe some impacts that you’ve either witnessed or been a part of. Can I put you on the spot? Sure.
[00:25:59] Something out.
[00:26:00] Clay Imoo: Yeah, I’ll tell you two good stories and one funny one. Not so good, but all good in the bigger picture. Father Justin Huang, he is the pastor at Saint Anthony of Padua in Marpole as you know. He’s actually related to my wife Gail and he’s one generation obsolete. So he’s technically my uncle even though he’s seven years younger than me.
[00:26:20] It’s so weird. But he was a teen at St Paul’s youth ministry and even back then we saw something so special in him, he was so smart, we were all afraid to have him in our small group, so we would be behind the scenes, rock paper scissors, whoever lost had to have Justin in our group, because he he’d ask like really tough questions that we wouldn’t know, but he there’s a deep He’s in there amazing person. He’s wonderful, speaker, so smart, and you see the amazing things he’s doing with Parish Renewal, he’s not and just because he’s family, but that’s a success story, to speak. Another one is Sr. Anne Therese, a Franciscan’s sister, who’s here. She was studying, you know, doing her formation in Connecticut.
[00:26:58] Now she’s back here because of some government stuff. But formerly Natalie Yuen, now Sr. Anne Therese, of the Franciscan sisters, she was a member of our choir from the very start. Came to youth ministry. And she is now a couple years away from becoming making her final vows and then being like Sister Jean Mary and Sister Jean Frances and all of them. So what’s really cool is we have two wonderful vocation stories: a priest and a soon to be sister coming from St Paul’s and then countless stories of people that gone on to be principals or educators or doctors or lawyers or engineers, whatever it may be.
[00:27:34] So that’s the blessing that comes from you. You don’t know it when it’s happening. You’re just walking day by day, trying to be a good witness of God’s love and mercy, not judging, just listening. I’ll kind of say the Emmaus approach we always say is where Jesus walked along with those two disciples. They didn’t even know it was Jesus, right?
[00:27:53] He didn’t come in and say: Look, I’m here, yay! He just said: Hey, what are you guys talking about? Who are talking about? What are these miracles that you’re talking about? Well, haven’t you heard about all these cool things that are going on?
[00:28:03] And then only when he revealed himself in the breaking of the bread, right? And then they’re like: Oh! So that’s kind of like the youth ministry approach of accompaniment is you walk, you don’t judge, you don’t send solutions, but you’re there. You are there. And then you just hope and pray and know that with God’s help that you’re making a difference and that God’s will will be shown in His time.
[00:28:23] And that’s what I had to learn when I failed my exams, right? It’s not my will, it’s God’s will and it’s God’s time. I just got to be humble enough and obedient enough to receive that. So speaking of humble and obedience, that’s the story I was going to tell you. My best lesson I’ve learned was right when I failed those accounting exams, I got recruited to take a job in Long Island, New York as a Catholic youth minister at a parish.
[00:28:46] So they flew Gail and me down, and we noticed there’s gonna be a problem, there’s no Japanese food around here, but we’ll make that work. And just small town USA feel is fine, right? Not very multicultural, but that stuff like, love those kind of challenges, whatever it may be. So took Gail and I to a Mets game and showed us around, then Gail flew home, and then I stayed for a week, and I went with their parish youth ministry to a Young Life camp. As you know, Young Life is a Protestant camp, but they welcome Catholics in and da da da.
[00:29:14] o Troy is the very first night of small groups, so is their actual youth minister Joseph, six or seven kids who are 12, 13 years old, and me because I’m the hotshot youth worker from Canada. And then it was a small group time and I vividly remember saying to one kid, well, why don’t you do this? Have you ever thought about this? And I thought it was being helpful. And he looks up at me and goes, mister Clay?
[00:29:35] So polite. Right? Mister Clay, you have no right to talk to me like that because you don’t know a single thing about me. Wow. Here I was, this hotshot youth worker being recruited to this parish.
[00:29:47] I don’t know if they pay this guy to test me or this guy but that was the most humbling and most, important lesson I’ve ever learned is young people won’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. Young people won’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. Here I was trying to impart advice. Yeah. Yeah.
[00:30:06] I use it all the time. Impart advice, tell him what I would do, tell him how his life is gonna be better. He said, Clay, just stop. You don’t know a single thing. You don’t know my story.
[00:30:14] So that has stuck with me ever since is in journey with young people, that whole Emmaus approach, like I said, not judging, not sending solutions. Actually find out what they’re about, find out what makes people tick, find out what’s important to them. And then remember that and go back to the next week and say, hey, remember you told me that you had the math test? I was praying for you. I hope you did well.
[00:30:31] How did it go? Or hey, lastly, you told me you love soccer. Tell me about your team. What position do you play? What kind of style do you play?
[00:30:40] Not just listening and learning facts about young people, then engaging them with it and entering and going deeper. And then that’s how you build these lifelong relationships and you just pray that they continue along the path.
[00:30:54] Troy Van Vliet: That is amazing. Those are such great words. Like, know, two ears, one mouth. Like, we to listen and engaging with our youth, just sitting down and hearing what they’re going through. Sometimes they just want to be heard.
[00:31:08] That’s it. So vocations, you gave a couple of examples of vocations. So how important is our youth ministry for vocations going forward? Because there’s currently a shortage in Well, I think in North America. I think we’re seeing sort of a rekindling of we’re getting more people that are entering into the priesthood or even becoming deacons.
[00:31:42] How important is youth ministry for vocation?
[00:31:48] Clay Imoo: It’s vital. It’s vital because I think it’s the one place where young people can actually get exposed and witness what a priest, a sister, a deacon does, right? And there’s so much pressure, I don’t know if you’ve felt it with your kids yet, but there’s a lot of pressure to be with someone right now, right? To whether it starts with the promposals or the grad dates or even before that, you know, even in junior high or whatever, but there’s just and social media, whatever culture, there just seems to be a thing where and I know a lot of people even older than high school really yearn for companionship to find a partner. But I think we have to continue to teach our young people that there are four vocations that we talk about in the church, right?
[00:32:35] Priest, religious, married and single. And yes, if maybe you’re gonna marry and be blessed with children, praise God. Maybe you are called to live a chaste life of singleness, praise God. But maybe, just maybe, you’re called to serve in a different way. I don’t say better or worse, but a different way, and that’s making the church your spouse and making, someone say, you know, just share your gifts that way.
[00:33:00] So I think that’s why I get career fairs are really important. Think the work of our vocations office is so important as being present at all of our high schools, even our elementary schools, you know, and just to show that you don’t have to be phony, right? I think young people can see through a phony pretty quick, and that’s why I’m 51 years old and I’d like to think I’m cool, but I’m not. I know I’m not very cool, right? My kids remind me all the time.
[00:33:23] But what I can be genuine about is the genuine love and care I have for people. I might not be able to relate to the cool the new music or the stupid six seven memes and, you know, something like that. Why? That one. But You did that pretty good.
[00:33:39] Oh, thank you. Thank you. I nailed it really. I was working on it. But I yeah, I I think people see through phony.
[00:33:44] So I I like the priests and the sisters and the deacons who it doesn’t matter how old you are, but they are genuine. They’re not trying to be cool. They’re not trying to impress. Yeah. And I think there’s a lot of that pressure in that culture.
[00:33:55] You see all these superstar priests on social media, right, who build up some really big followings, and that’s good if it’s a genuine thing, like, they’re truly using it. So the long way of saying I think it’s vital that youth ministry could play an important part to engage young people, connect them to vocations, And parish youth ministry should be bringing in priests and sisters and deacons to give talks and not every week, but, you know, do special nights on vocational. Just make sure that the youth are open to that possibility. And again, you don’t know when it’s gonna happen. Some of these kids think they know from when they’re five years old.
[00:34:27] Others, it’s a later calling, but at least the disposition of being open to something like that.
[00:34:33] Troy Van Vliet: Father Yoon comes on Fridays to the school and he just spends time with the kids. He’ll either hang out, chat with them or he’ll have lunch with them or play basketball or volleyball with them or something. Or, you know, if it’s in the spring or in fall, any of the field sports, he just goes and he’s just around him. And then of course he’ll say Mass too with a great only. And it’s just being there, you know, and their presence changes the whole atmosphere of the school.
[00:35:09] Kids have a different attitude and they have opportunity to not just see a priest, same ass, but just have some one on one time and just some casual time. And I think that’s so appreciated and we need more of that in our Catholic schools.
[00:35:29] Clay Imoo: And it sounds so silly to say, it shows that he’s a real person, but I think sometimes young people, whether they’re intimidated or they might be disrespectful, they might not understand the formation or they simply haven’t even thought of engaging in a conversation with someone. That’s wonderful that he just spends the time because that’s ultimately what being a witness is.
[00:35:50] Troy Van Vliet: Exactly. And now we have Father Augustine that’s coming in the mornings with Father Francis and Father Edwin. So we’re trying to get as much as possible when it comes to the presence of priests. So we’re saying mass before school twice a week now. So Father Augustine has been so gracious to help us out with that.
[00:36:09] And so we just want to be able to have that available all the time. Important do you think that is? Like we built a big chapel school. I think it’s the most impressive room in our school. Like it’s absolutely beautiful and you can see it from all parts of the So it’s like right in the center.
[00:36:27] It’s the heartbeat of the school. But the presence of clergy, Mass, prayer, rosaries, having that going on in the school, how important is in our Catholic schools?
[00:36:45] Clay Imoo: Super important. I would say the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing. And the main thing is, of course, Jesus. When I say youth ministry, the thing that separates, distinguishes a youth ministry from just a fellowship, I mean, a group of friends is the fact that we always have Jesus to come back to, right, as the foundation. So I love when I’ve been in your school a few times now, love that you can see the chapel from basically anywhere you are in the school.
[00:37:08] I love how, how beautiful it is. It leads you to a place of prayer and the fact that you can offer sacraments because that’s the name of the game here. That’s the way we continue to receive grace. That’s the way that we continue to bless other people is from the graces that we receive. So we need to be able to give opportunities for confession, for Eucharist, of course.
[00:37:29] And I think and you need, obviously, clergy to be able to administer those, so that combination of not only having the clergy available and around and present, but the fact that they actually offer the sacraments is huge because no student or no faculty member can say, I don’t have opportunities to grow closer to God. It’s the opposite. We want to provide those opportunities and help them thrive in And that’s why your school does such a good job of that for sure.
[00:37:56] Troy Van Vliet: Well, we’re trying. We want to keep our Catholic school Catholic, keep the main thing the main thing. You know, as you say some eloquently. And having a clergy around, that’s the best thing we can do for vocations as well. Kids are curious.
[00:38:13] There’s an opportunity to have a one on one conversation. It doesn’t just have to be confession.
[00:38:17] Clay Imoo: Exactly. Destigmatize the whole thing. These are real people who care about you, who dedicate their lives to the Lord and who want to witness and share their faith.
[00:38:25] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah. And their family becomes their church, their parish, which is massive, you know? So, they’re serving the community in such a great way. So, it’s so important. We need much more of that.
[00:38:36] And we need much more people like you. Appreciate that. So now it’s so valuable to have somebody, especially with your talent, to go out and to communicate with the youth and to have fun with them too, to be able to kid around with them. While doing that, deliver these great messages that our kids need. They’re just so thirsty for it right now in today’s world because there’s so much garbage out there and to be fed something that’s real, that’s genuine, that they can take with them for the rest of their lives and actually, you know, be able to build their own families with a great foundation.
[00:39:13] I truly believe in Catholic education, of course, in that regard.
[00:39:16] Clay Imoo: Me too. My wife’s a vice principal at a Catholic school. Yes.
[00:39:20] Troy Van Vliet: Well, tell us a little bit about that. How long has she been there? She’s at St. Paul’s.
[00:39:23] Clay Imoo: Yeah. So Gail’s at St. Paul’s in Richmond. She’s been there It’s funny. Her first job was at the Immaculate Conception Delta as a grade seven teacher.
[00:39:33] She did youth ministry with me as well at the parish, so you think that it’d be natural for her, the grade seven age. Maybe because it was her first year, the school and the community was great, but she didn’t struggle, but it was a challenging first year for her. And then after her first year, a job opened up at St Paul’s. Some teachers don’t like actually teaching at their home parish because they like a bit of separation. They might not like to be, I don’t want say nagged, but approached by parents after Mass.
[00:39:58] And others love it. They thrive in that. And Gail is of that latter category. So she’s been teaching at St Paul’s since 2000, so the past twenty five years. She did like twelve years no, sixteen years in grade two, first communion year.
[00:40:12] So she went from grade seven to grade two. And then she did four years as grade four. And then she did four years as in the past four years, she’s run the learning assistance department and serving as vice principal as well. And she taught all three of our kids. And the different styles Sean who’s our first very and he’s very bright, very mature, he was like, yes, Mrs.
[00:40:39] Imoo, yes, Mrs. Imoo, yes, Jacob is our middle guy, he’s a jokester, he’d be like say, ‘Miss Imoo’ but then he’d wink at his friends and say, look like there’s any favoritism or any so we navigated that, but we were blessed. So Gail’s been there at St Paul’s for twenty five years, vice principal, hopefully become a principal soon. She’s finishing off her master from Queen’s right now as we speak, so she’ll be done next. What is
[00:41:15] Troy Van Vliet: she doing her master’s in?
[00:41:16] Clay Imoo: Leadership. My pastor of theology, her’s is leadership, and then she’ll be able to apply going to the principal pool, so we’ll see what happens there. But our three kids, they went to there’s no St. John Paul II Academy in Richmond or anything like that back remember now we’re talking about ten, fifteen years ago when Sean first entered into high school, so that was also an interesting discussion debate, discernment was where to send our kids for high school because there still isn’t a Catholic high school in Richmond for whatever reasons, I don’t know all the reasons money, politics, whatever but we haven’t been blessed with that so at that time we were looking at Vancouver College, we were looking at St. Pat’s or we were looking at our local public school.
[00:41:57] At Vancouver College, many good things about that school. Gail and I weren’t convinced we maybe wanted Sean in a co ed environment admittedly. That’s not for everyone, but that’s what we were thinking. St. Pat’s logistically was a little bit far at all.
[00:42:11] So we took a big step, a big decision, and we almost like, oh, does this look bad that there’s a Catholic school teacher and an archdiocesan director sending their kids to public school? But honestly, we looked at the time, energy, money, and we looked at the fact that we were confident in what the elementary school in the foundation that we built in them and that admittedly the fact that we have a strong parish youth ministry helped a lot too. We ended up the kids went to Boyd. Boyd and Sean played football and they all were student council and all those things. I like to say it was a good decision because the money and even the time spent, more of the time that would have spent going to commuting and stuff, they were able to sink into other school or parish things.
[00:42:54] Still got involved in parish youth ministry. So we always debate, you know, did we make the right decision? How would they be in if they went to say a Catholic school? But all three are still involved in ministry, diocesan and parish. And we’re very blessed that way because we are confident in the community that we surrounded them with and the foundation that they had.
[00:43:14] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah. If you have a really strong family life, strong faith in your family life, it can work. It can work in the public system. I mean, that’s one way of evangelizing too. You got to get out there.
[00:43:23] You got to get in the mix and hopefully you don’t get influenced yourself. Oh,
[00:43:28] Clay Imoo: That’s last thing Troy I was going say about that is we didn’t ask them to do this, but Sean, Jacob and Kayla ended up evangelizing. They were doing school projects about Mother Mary or about teachings or gifts of the Holy Spirit. So they weren’t afraid, they weren’t like knocking people on the head with their Bibles or whatever, but they weren’t afraid to share their faith and we’re so grateful for that. That’s great. I appreciate that.
[00:43:54] Thank
[00:43:54] Troy Van Vliet: you. And your community, your parish community. So obviously they’re doing great things at St Paul.
[00:43:58] Clay Imoo: We’re too lazy to drive them anywhere else.
[00:44:02] Troy Van Vliet: You go. It’s a sink or swim. That’s great. So lastly, I’ll ask you this. You’ve been here twenty three years.
[00:44:11] What’s been the best part about working here at the archdiocese?
[00:44:14] Clay Imoo: Yeah, great question. I think things like this content creation, developing relationships with bishops and religious and working with adults, all those things traveling, speaking are great. But I think what boils down to it is I have the opportunity to play with salvation history every single day when I walk in these walls. And whether that’s working with the people that I coordinate as supervise, right? Not necessarily direct ministry or speaking, doing something directly or just learning about an amazing thing that a young person does.
[00:44:51] I always say that we are ordinary people in the hands of an extraordinary God. So when I hear and I witness stories in schools like yours, in parish youth ministries of young people doing amazing things in the name of God, that is what drives me every single day. And if like I said, whether it’s direct ministry or indirect ministry through me or through the people I serve and coordinate or and supervise here. Mhmm. We just pray that that happens every single day.
[00:45:20] And I want to make an impact on everyone I encounter. I always say there are two types of people in the room two types of people in the world: the type of person that lights up a room when they enter it, or do you light up a room because you leave it? Obviously, I want to be the first one and I think that’s what we’re called to do, going full circle back to being witnesses of love and mercy and Gail was the one who first showed that to me and that’s why I’m sitting here across from you.
[00:45:46] Troy Van Vliet: I love it. Well, it’s a true privilege and an honor. And I mean that it’s a true privilege and honor to call you a friend, Clay. I’ve gotten to know you now over the last while and it didn’t take seven years.
[00:45:58] Clay Imoo: Thank you. You. Thank you.
[00:46:00] Troy Van Vliet: So there’s no snow outside yet, but feel free, you know, when it does snow, do a few snowing.
[00:46:04] Clay Imoo: I’ll get the door for you when
[00:46:05] Troy Van Vliet: you walk out. That’s fine. Right. Clay, thanks so much. Love to have you back again.
[00:46:10] Clay Imoo: And
[00:46:13] Troy Van Vliet: for those of you for those that are watching, you know, they get to see all the work that you do because all the editing and everything that goes on in the background, you’re doing a fantastic job. I couldn’t do it without you.
[00:46:22] Clay Imoo: So thanks for that. You’re most welcome. Will say this and you didn’t they didn’t tell me to say this. Okay? I love working with Troy.
[00:46:28] I love working with Silveria. I love working with all the guests they bring in. Very organized and very professional. And most importantly, very faithful. Like, I’m learning a lot too just by listening both live and especially when I’m editing.
[00:46:43] And yeah, you’ve had such a great, you know, diverse wealth of amazing people on the show. It continues today with me. And then I’m just kidding. Know it’ll continue throughout. So thank you for the opportunity.
[00:46:58] I value yours and Silveria’s friendship as well.
[00:47:00] Troy Van Vliet: Yeah. You. Thanks for that. I think, Clay, you’re probably the only person outside of my mom that’s watched every episode because you had to. Because you’re editing them all.
[00:47:09] Clay Imoo: I’ll take it.
[00:47:10] Troy Van Vliet: All right. Thanks so much Clay. Thank you everybody for joining us today and please hit the like button, subscribe and also share with your friends. Lastly, we’d love to hear your comments. So if you can jot some comments down, anything, whether you love what you’re seeing or if you don’t like it, let us know or what we could be doing better. That would be great. Thank you everyone. Have a super day.
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