Prayer request and advice: Catholic group at school

[dan]

So I’m the president of the Catholic club at my local college. I started a Myspace friends page for our group to help attract new members and to keep in contact with everyone. The good news is we have just under 100 people on our Myspace group… BUT…

Oh dear Lord.

Now, I’m no prude, and my day-to-day conversations likely would have to be bleeped if they were on TV. But, at the risk of sounding “judgemental,” so many of these kids’ profiles are just sick.

Out of 100 people, I’d say at least 80% of them are trying to look like gangsters in their photos. Practically every bulletin I read is inviting people to go to some club, asking them personal questions about sex, or just generally being angry and cursing all over the place. Not to mention how many girls are half-naked in their profile photos. I’d probably get kicked off of these forums if I even repeated some of these people’s profile names, too.

One girl even has a photo of herself proudly kissing a glass jar half-full of marijuana.

It’s so bad that, if I were someone interested in finding a Catholic group on my campus, I’d be turned off if I saw the people listed as the “friends” on our page.

And these are all people who indentify themselves as “Catholic” and agreed to be part of the myspace friends list of our college’s Catholic group.

I guess I’m asking for prayer and just also asking for any advice of where to even start. I have no idea how to approach these people. I can’t even look back at my own experience because a lot of these people seem much more lost than I ever was as a kid – even at the height of my disinterest in the church.

Any thoughts? And please don’t just tell me, “Myspace is bad.” That won’t help.

• Dan

 

[Hellisreal]

So I’m the president of the Catholic club at my local college. I started a Myspace friends page for our group to help attract new members and to keep in contact with everyone. The good news is we have just under 100 people on our Myspace group… BUT…

Oh dear Lord.

Now, I’m no prude, and my day-to-day conversations likely would have to be bleeped if they were on TV. But, at the risk of sounding “judgemental,” so many of these kids’ profiles are just sick.

Out of 100 people, I’d say at least 80% of them are trying to look like gangsters in their photos. Practically every bulletin I read is inviting people to go to some club, asking them personal questions about sex, or just generally being angry and cursing all over the place. Not to mention how many girls are half-naked in their profile photos. I’d probably get kicked off of these forums if I even repeated some of these people’s profile names, too.

One girl even has a photo of herself proudly kissing a glass jar half-full of marijuana.

It’s so bad that, if I were someone interested in finding a Catholic group on my campus, I’d be turned off if I saw the people listed as the “friends” on our page.

And these are all people who indentify themselves as “Catholic” and agreed to be part of the myspace friends list of our college’s Catholic group.

I guess I’m asking for prayer and just also asking for any advice of where to even start. I have no idea how to approach these people. **I can’t even look back at my own experience because a lot of these people seem much more lost than I ever was as a kid **-- even at the height of my disinterest in the church.

Any thoughts? And please don’t just tell me, “Myspace is bad.” That won’t help.

• Dan

How old are you? Are you a student?

 

[dan]

How old are you? Are you a student?

Oh yes, I guess it would have been important for me to say. I’m 27 and I’m a student. I guess I’m not old enough yet to be referring to college students as “kids.”

 

[Hellisreal]

Dear Dan,

read the prodigal son again, and let me know what your thoughts are about it.

 

[Greg27]

So I’m the president of the Catholic club at my local college. I started a Myspace friends page for our group to help attract new members and to keep in contact with everyone. The good news is we have just under 100 people on our Myspace group… BUT…

Oh dear Lord.

Now, I’m no prude, and my day-to-day conversations likely would have to be bleeped if they were on TV. But, at the risk of sounding “judgemental,” so many of these kids’ profiles are just sick.

Out of 100 people, I’d say at least 80% of them are trying to look like gangsters in their photos. Practically every bulletin I read is inviting people to go to some club, asking them personal questions about sex, or just generally being angry and cursing all over the place. Not to mention how many girls are half-naked in their profile photos. I’d probably get kicked off of these forums if I even repeated some of these people’s profile names, too.

One girl even has a photo of herself proudly kissing a glass jar half-full of marijuana.

It’s so bad that, if I were someone interested in finding a Catholic group on my campus, I’d be turned off if I saw the people listed as the “friends” on our page.

And these are all people who indentify themselves as “Catholic” and agreed to be part of the myspace friends list of our college’s Catholic group.

I guess I’m asking for prayer and just also asking for any advice of where to even start. I have no idea how to approach these people. I can’t even look back at my own experience because a lot of these people seem much more lost than I ever was as a kid – even at the height of my disinterest in the church.

Any thoughts? And please don’t just tell me, “Myspace is bad.” That won’t help.

• Dan

I guess it can be hard to find someone who shares your own values sometimes, but it is not impossible. Just maintain your own integrity and standards in all areas of your life and don’t compromise, especially on virtue. Virtuous and good people are out there, but they can take some time to find.

 

[cheddarsox]

Sounds like you have a great opportunity here to work with young people who are open and who need to learn more about living a Catholic life.

If you only want conservative, already have it all together, near perfect Catholics…then you might want to advertise the group as “conservative Catholic” or something on that order. If you want to “work in the trenches”…sounds like you’ve got the right bunch.

Start right where you are.

What is it you want to accomplish with this “group”? Is it just for Catholics to identify one another? Or will you have discussions and meetups. If this isn’t the group you were looking for, dissolve it and start again with stricter criteria.

Association with a faith, does not protect one from the struggles of life. If these folks were baptised into the Church, then they are real Catholics. Sometimes we all need a wake up call about who makes up the Body of Christ.

When a leper came to Christ for help, he did not pull out a saw and amputate the affected limb, he healed it.

just something to think about.

from a severed limb’s point of view