LifeTeen founder defies suspension

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ac_claire said:
There seems to be this false impression that special services geared toward teenagers are an integral and indespensible part of the Faith. The reality is that this kind of segregation is a relatively new phenomenon and it hasn’t been proven to have any kind of lasting benefit to kids or adults.

In my opinion things like Lifeteen aren’t intrincically evil…I believe people who insist they’ve seen good fruits produced by these services. But overall I think it’s problematic to create artificial divisions among the faithful and assume that teenagers aren’t able to benefit from a normal Mass.

I think we should give kids more credit than that. For centuries there wasn’t any special “kids Mass” yet somehow the Church survived and produced a great many saints.
In fact, segregating them can be counter-productive because history and common sense tell us that teenagers have always learned best by being around good adult role models.
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This has been a very interesting thread. I have heard of LifeTeen but never anywhere near us, so had no first-hand knowledge.

I think you have made some good points here about the separation of families an generations in worship. The Catholic teen programs in the USA are actually older than you think, tho, I know some started long before the 60s or LifeTeen, mostly, I think, to appeal to children who were unable to attend parochial schools as a defense against the public schools, many of which were actively engaged in protestantizing Catholic immigrant children and teens. A lot of these kids had families which were very busy working to just keep a roof over their heads, and were getting in trouble. One of the earliest programs I have heard of was like the midnight basketball programs in inner cities, formed for very similar reasons.

And of course, St John Bosco was setting up programs for teens in the 1800s 🙂

Fr Flannery of Boys Town fame, first started a home for homeless men, but found that it was very difficult for the men to change. So many of the men he was trying to help said that if someone had been around to help when they were younger that he decided to help those who were then younger, boys. The boys he helped became fine young men, and they would have been lost had he not started Boys Town.

Adults are really able to make their own choices because they have more resources than teens. One of the choices that teens cannot make is how they spend the majority of their days: at our God-less schools where the culture is almost entirely geared towards aspects of our culture which are destroying it, and in which almost all the messages are geared towards materialism. Adults can at least choose more or less where they spend their time.

As to rien’s comments, yes, it is very unfortunate that so many parents are not the spiritual leaders of their homes; however, in all too many cases, this is due to a total lack of knowledge on their parts about the Church. Most of them are the children of people who were raised in Catholic schools which had unbeknownst to their parents become almost entirely secularized, and in some cases had embraced secularization, at a time when most Catholics were still working class, and when most parents were being told to let the schools alone, and not ask questions, evaluate textbooks, or help their children with their homework.

The Church is trying to rescue those who might otherwise be lost, at a time when they are not yet set in their ways, and have not gotten deeply into sin. I hope that LifeTeen, which seems like an overall good program, continues its successful work, and that it receives enough oversight to avoid some of the bad aspects. Cookiedog, I hope all will turn out well for your family.
 
My friend just came back from a Mass at a parish she’d never been to before. It doesn’t look like the parish advertised it as a Life Teen Mass, but they handed out a Life Teen Music supplement, and at the end it said “The Mass never ends.”

I heard something about Life Teen being rebuked for changing the words of the Mass, when replacing “The Mass is ended” with “The Mass never ends.” My friend said they didn’t change the words in the Mass she went to, but is that statement itself objectionable, and to what extent?
 
I guess we have to pray for this priest as well as those Catholics who follow him. Obviously, this has turned into a personality cult. By all means, we need to support the bishop in this.
 
Ex-priest Dale Fushek tells all in new book on his life

He began Life Teen, an international ministry for teens, and he oversaw the Phoenix Diocese’s largest events, including the visits of Pope John Paul II and Mother Teresa to Arizona. He was appointed vicar general and assigned the task of getting a new diocesan headquarters built.

I deeply pity anyone who is still under the influence of that charismatic liar and his lifeteen program.
 
does anyone give a hoot about this fallen catholic and the evil he has wrought ? :confused:
 
I think that we have to separate his work from him. God uses all kinds of people to do great good. What God cannot do is force all kinds of people to be good. If you go here, you’ll see the good that God is doing, despite human sin.

It’s important to remember that even Satan proclaims the Glory of God. No matter what the sin may be, God’s work goes forward. Look at the Legionaires. They do wonderful work. Yet, their founder had serious issues.

We should pray for the sinner and for the work.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF 🙂
 
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