Local Catholic pastor: youth group should not pray Rosary

[Truth_Is_Good]

Well, the title is a tad misleading . . . here is what happened:

At my local parish, we had planned since Sunday, Jan. 26th, on leading the teens tonight in five decades of the Rosary with Scriptural meditations on the Joyful mysteries – Feb. 2 is, after all, the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord.

This past Sunday, the pastor phoned the head youth minister and informed him that it was not appropriate to have the teens pray a five decade Rosary during our Wednesday night meetings. He said that it’s “not right to have them sit so long.”

Instead we were to pray one decade, that’s all. We ended up praying two at the request of the teens themselves! And we (the adult volunteers) managed to have a bit of Q&A and some personal “witness” on the “why’s” and blessings of the Holy Rosary.

One of the teens repeated a request tonight to have a monthly “teen Rosary” held apart from Wednesday night activities (e.g. Monday after school). And we are going to try to set that up! Attendance on the teens’ parts will be entirely voluntary, of course.

All in all, tonight was a good night. But this priest’s “prohibition” (which is not limited to this one Wed. night) was absolutely infuriating, and then after I calmed down, it was just plain sad. I’m scared for us now to inform him that we plan (or have been planning) to pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy one Wed. night during Lent.

This same priest has made comments in the recent past that were indirectly disparaging of those who pray the Rosary daily (his pastoral assignment at my parish began about 6 months ago).

Would anyone else like to comment? Perhaps you can convince me that I’m in a twist for no good reason. Your advice is appreciated too.

 

[CARose]

Hi,

Couple of thoughts, I’ll keep them short, it’s late & I’m tired.

My life was changed through the Rosary and in the process I had 2nd graders completing 5 decades of the Rosary for the mother of one of their classmates who was dying of cancer. The next week, they chose to pray the Rosary in CCD, rather than regular curriculum, or bible stories. The following week was school break, during which she passed away. Next week, at funeral, kids were present and prayed Sorrowful Mysteries. Kids chose to pray one more pass at Rosary, again for mother, so they went through the entire 4 sets of mysteries as a class.

Now, this all started when I, out of obedience, didn’t “talk” to the kids about this immenent death, as requested by the DRE. I was FURIOUS and “knew” that she was wrong. I prayed a quick prayer for guidance when the kids got off the bus and ALL they wanted to talk about was Sean’s mother going home to Jesus, but I was gagged.

The key note here, is Obedience, a major lesson in today’s world, even when we “know” better.

I suggest you respect your priest, even if you’re certain you know better. As a youth minister, he is your rightful authority, so for some reason, the Holy Spirit has placed him in your path. What example of cheerfully accepting authority can you present to the youth? How can you with Charity First help this pastor to learn to love our Lady’s prayer?

I wish you all the best.

God Bless,

CARose

 

[Church_Militant]

That’s pretty silly of him since the Rosary (According to Bishop Fulton J. Sheen) takes only about 17 minutes, though the scriptural things do make it longer. I like to pray it while walking and I cannot NOT get into it. It’s very much a moving meditation that just focuses my whole being on Our Lord.

I love the DMC and it’s even shorter, but it is SO powerful. I’ve had hardcores converted from it and many other answers to prayer.

Maybe teach it to them and encourage them to meet together to pray it on their own. Also tell them that it’s a really good thing to do just before Mass or during Eucharistic Adoration. The Holy Spirit will do the rest wih your priest. You just watch…
Pax vobiscum,

P.S. Good point CARose

 

[Benadam]

CARose:

Hi,

Couple of thoughts, I’ll keep them short, it’s late & I’m tired.

My life was changed through the Rosary and in the process I had 2nd graders completing 5 decades of the Rosary for the mother of one of their classmates who was dying of cancer. The next week, they chose to pray the Rosary in CCD, rather than regular curriculum, or bible stories. The following week was school break, during which she passed away. Next week, at funeral, kids were present and prayed Sorrowful Mysteries. Kids chose to pray one more pass at Rosary, again for mother, so they went through the entire 4 sets of mysteries as a class.

Now, this all started when I, out of obedience, didn’t “talk” to the kids about this immenent death, as requested by the DRE. I was FURIOUS and “knew” that she was wrong. I prayed a quick prayer for guidance when the kids got off the bus and ALL they wanted to talk about was Sean’s mother going home to Jesus, but I was gagged.

The key note here, is Obedience, a major lesson in today’s world, even when we “know” better.

I suggest you respect your priest, even if you’re certain you know better. As a youth minister, he is your rightful authority, so for some reason, the Holy Spirit has placed him in your path. What example of cheerfully accepting authority can you present to the youth? How can you with Charity First help this pastor to learn to love our Lady’s prayer?

I wish you all the best.

God Bless,

CARose

I agree wholeheartedly with CARose.

It’s a difficult Christian discipline but everything in your circumstance seems to authenticate the call to obedience to superiors in the faith.

As it pertains to the Church, dissent in obedience allows the Church as a whole to enjoy the fruit of a more correct conscience .

 

[Ray_Marshall]

Irrespective of the obedience question, I would suggest that any priest who forbids prayer has chosen the wrong vocation.

He’s going to have a long and rocky career.

 

[puzzleannie]

Follow his directives and make it clear to your teens the duty of obedience to our priests and bishops, unless and until they counsel sinful actions. do this cheerfully and humbly, not as an opportunity to offer implied criticism. Offer other opportunities to pray as a group outside CCD. Begin and end each CCD session, youth group meeting etc., with prayer, especially prayer for your priest. Foster a climate of love and support for your priest. Ask him what the youth can do to help the parish and enlist them in an on-going project he suggests.

He is probably concerned that limited class-time is being “wasted” and to an extent he is right, the entire session should not be prayer time, all the time. There are times of course when the class gives way, such as evening Mass on a Holy Day, Ash Wednesday service etc. CCD class should never interfere with liturgical celebrations of the parish, parish missions or other events.

But his the underlying fallacy of his thinking, common to many DREs and catechists, is that somehow the didactic teaching in the class is more valuable to their faith formation than actual prayer and liturgy. As if what the catechist is doing is somehow more important than what the Holy Spirit is doing. In fact, both are needed, because many teens come to Confirmation class, or if they were confirmed younger, still not knowing the basic devotions and prayers, not praying in a regular way, not even attending Mass.

Perhaps if you privately explain this to the pastor, he will understand why you feel some prayer time is needed. Ask him also what else he would suggest - penance service, etc. He may also be concerned that you are teaching kids to place more importance on rosary and other private devotions than on the Mass and the Eucharist. He may have the mistaken notion that there is a “competition” there. Ask him to come and instruct the kids on the Mass, what is going on, how to participate fully etc.

Ask him to provide a Holy Hour for exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, adoration and Benediction. Ask him also to introduce them to the Liturgy of the Hours, teach them to lead a vespers service (one of the places where laity are encouraged to lead and take part). If his is assured you intend to teach the official public prayer of the church, he may lose his suspicions.

You have to model prayer in order to teach it, so some of your time together should be spent in prayer. A decade of the rosary is perfect for a one-hour session, have each person lead one prayer (so they keep paying attention). Teaching about prayer, as well as prayer itself, should be correlated with the lesson or theme of the session, or in tune with the over-all syllabus for the class, whenever possible. For instance teaching on the Incarnation is perfectly suited to proclaiming the scripture and then meditating on it with the Joyful Mysteries of the rosary, especially during Advent. Lent is a perfect time for the Sorrowful Mysteries, Stations of the Cross etc. Make sure that the Rosary and other devotions are always presented by linking them with their sciptural roots.

 

[Ray_Marshall]

puzzleannie:

He is probably concerned that limited class-time is being “wasted” and to an extent he is right, the entire session should not be prayer time, all the time.

If the Wednesday night meeting is for instruction, I would agree with what you say, Annie. But the reason the priest gave for limiting the length of the rosary was seemingly for a different reason.

Truth_is_Good:

This past Sunday, the pastor phoned the head youth minister and informed him that it was not appropriate to have the teens pray a five decade Rosary during our Wednesday night meetings. He said that it’s “not right to have them sit so long.”

 

[puzzleannie]

I have fallen victim to the common confusion between CCD or Confirmation Class, and Youth Group, which can mean all kinds of things. For kids who are not used to prayer, silence, meditation, even 5 minutes praying quietly can be an eternity. It depends on their maturity, physically and spiritual maturity. It sounds like your differences are more based on notions of what the Youth Group should be doing or accomplishing, rather than a problem with the rosary or prayer per se.

If we are talking about junior high, a 15 minute rosary can seem like hours to them unless you find a way to engage them. The are mentally not mature enough for meditative or contemplative prayer for a long period of time.

I re-read the original post to get my head straight. It seems like the desire for prayer is coming from the teens, who should have a major voice in determining what their group is about. Can you and a couple of the more articulate, motivated kids meet with the pastor and explain why they feel prayer should be a central part of their “operation”? Get together a focus or mission statement or plan of action, with your goals and so forth, and show him how prayer is integral to what you are doing.

He may be justifiably concerned that the adult leaders are dictating to the teens what they should be doing and how they should be praying, so if you demonstrate otherwise that may ease his fears. He may also need assurance that the needs and wants of most of the kids are sublimated to the demands of a few, or that if the group becomes only a prayer group, others less spiritually mature, who need it the most, will be discouraged from joining. In that case, small faith sharing or prayer groups before, after or at a different times from the general YG gatherings could be just the thing.

As far as having them “sit” too long, find some creative ways for movement or variation when you are praying the full rosary. A Eucharistic Procession for Life, walking around the church campus praying for protection and the intentions of all parishioners; standing in a circle imitating a rosary, passing a rose from hand to hand as each person leads one prayer. Get some variation. It may be that some, especially the younger ones or boys can get disruptive if the prayer lasts too long for their capabilities, and the pastor is concerned that the disruption might outweigh the benefits. You can demonstrate otherwise to him and help ease his fears. In any case, when you pray, pray for him.

 

[cestusdei]

There are some priests who hate the rosary. If he is one of them then he is simply finding an excuse to put down the rosary. I know of priests who do just that. His career may be rocky, but it also might end up pretty short rather then long. Certainly his time in purgatory will be long if he discourages appropriate devotion to Mary. If prayer time is to long and encroaches on instruction then that is a judgement call. But is that the real reason he is against it? The fact that he disparages it elsewhere is a sad indication. As a test ask him to come and enroll the class in the brown scapular. It won’t take long.

 

[Sir_Knight]

Ask the Pastor what his opinion is of Armada Bianca where grammer school aged children (some even in kindegarden) pray the ENTIRE rosary before the exposed blessed sacrament.

Ask him if he would approve of Armada Bianca being started up in his parish? We have it every Friday.

 

[Sir_Knight]

Ask the Pastor what his opinion is of Armada Bianca where grammer school aged children (some even in kindegarden) pray the ENTIRE rosary before the exposed blessed sacrament.

Ask him if he would approve of Armada Bianca being started up in his parish? We have it in our parish every Friday afternoon with the children from the school…

 

[Joe_Kelley]

Truth_Is_Good:

. . .
This past Sunday, the pastor phoned the head youth minister and informed him that it was not appropriate to have the teens pray a five decade Rosary during our Wednesday night meetings. He said that it’s “not right to have them sit so long.”
. .

Would he be happier if they knelt?

 

[CARose]

cestusdei:

There are some priests who hate the rosary. If he is one of them then he is simply finding an excuse to put down the rosary. I know of priests who do just that. His career may be rocky, but it also might end up pretty short rather then long. Certainly his time in purgatory will be long if he discourages appropriate devotion to Mary. If prayer time is to long and encroaches on instruction then that is a judgement call. But is that the real reason he is against it? The fact that he disparages it elsewhere is a sad indication. As a test ask him to come and enroll the class in the brown scapular. It won’t take long.

I enrolled my 2nd graders in the Order of the Brown Scapular after the experience we went through. Father was wonderfully supportive and read them quite a bit of information that helped the kids know it wasn’t just something I’d made up. (I let all the kids choose if they wanted to enroll or not, and 2 opted not to until they heard Father, and then one changed her mind - I think her mother had poo pooed the whole thought.)

But may I suggest we try not to determine the state of the Priests soul other than, as has been suggested above, to work with him in Charity. It is so easy for us to judge one another, I find I do it all the time and it does nothing to improve my life, the lives of those around me, nor does it give proper place to God, who alone is meant to judge. I can assess the action, but he alone assesses it’s impact on our souls.

Oh, and I had a great way of adding action to the Rosary. Do it in Church, see if you can move a medium sized Mary statue to the front near the Altar, unless it’s in a place to which processing works well. Place 10 vases (5 medium, 5 smaller) around her and then 4 of the smaller out from the circle around her towards the direction from which you’ll be processing, and then If you have a crucifix on a pole stand, place this as the first thing approached by those processing.

The group then has one person process with the crucifix while leading the Apostles Creed, placing it in the stand at the front of the “Rosary”, the next processes with a single Red rose while leading the first Our Father, the next with a white rose, leading the Hail Mary (these can be condensed to a single person leading 3 Hail Mary’s, to a medium vase), and so on. The medium vases around Mary hold 10 white roses, carried and led by one person. The Hail Holy Queen is led by a person carrying a crown for the Mary Statue.

The entire Rosary Scripture / Intentions can be led by someone at the lector podium. Groups can practice and then “perform” this for their friends and family at a public celebration in May.

This is a variation on the idea of a Living Rosary which I also did with my class. Oh, and we also did sacrament prep. and other generic CCD studies.

CARose

God Bless,

Carrie

 

[serendipity]

Is it the rosary in particular or the Joyful mysteries in particular? When I was in Catholic school, we were only allowed to pray the Sorrowful mysteris during Lnet, but then you did say that you wanted to do this before Lent, for the Feast of the Presentation.

The Divine chaplet is briefer than a rosary, and very deeply realted to Lent, as it is reflection of the Passion. I feel badly for you. It is a great initiative and very much needed activity. When I had to leave a parochial school due to my parents moving, the CCD classes (whatever they are called now) never taught any prayers.

I don’t understand his arguments. If they don’t learn to sit a little now, then they might never have an opportunity to learn to discover the rosary. Did he need the space for something else…some sort of meeting?