Teenager / Steubenville question (Long)

[BlessedMomof2]

thank you from the bottom of my heart Mr. Beaulieu. Those are exactly the answers I was looking for.

Is there any way I can contact you directly to verify that you are who you say you are? I’d like to make your comments available to my child and I would like to simply verify that you are who you say you are. I hope you understand that. I can’t seem to find a link on the website that allows me to contact you directly.

Thanks you.

 

[agapewolf]

thank you from the bottom of my heart Mr. Beaulieu. Those are exactly the answers I was looking for.

Is there any way I can contact you directly to verify that you are who you say you are? I’d like to make your comments available to my child and I would like to simply verify that you are who you say you are. I hope you understand that. I can’t seem to find a link on the website that allows me to contact you directly.

Thanks you.

This probably doesn’t mean much online either, but I can 2nd everything he said, and his name, John Belieu IS the conference guy. I worked with him in Steub St. Louis week 1 last year (I played piano).

 

[BlessedMomof2]

This probably doesn’t mean much online either, but I can 2nd everything he said, and his name, John Belieu IS the conference guy. I worked with him in Steub St. Louis week 1 last year (I played piano).

yeah, I know John Beaulieu is the guy, I just want to verify that the post is actually FROM him. I found his email…so I’m just going to pop him a note.

 

[smcmanamon]

Hi,
My name is Sarah McManamon and I was actually the FUS rep at the East conference this past weekend. I noticed that you were trying to get in touch with John (my boss) however he is on his way to catch a flight to our next conference in Tuscon. I imagine that you got an auto-response when you emailed him as he will not be back in the office for a few weeks. If you would like to email me I would be happy to reassure you that he is who he says he is and that all that he has said is accurate. Also, as I said, I was at East this past weekend (you can ask your daughter, I was the one that gave announcements from the stage). My email is smcmanamon@franciscan.edu and if you email me I would be happy to give you a phone call to assure you that John is who he says he is. Thanks.

~Sarah

 

[Joe_5859]

I haven’t read many of the posts beyond the OP, but I thought I’d chime in with my thoughts.

When you get thousands of teenagers all in the same place, there will be lots of emotions and hysteria regardless of what you’re doing.

As for the “slain in the Spirit”, I would say that some of it really is genuine. And some results from being stuffed in a space with thousands of other kids on a hot day, complete with incense. It’s not a one-answer-fits-all thing.

If you look at the fruit of the Steubenville youth conferences, you will see that it is constantly growing and there are many, many conversions. Can it overemphasize emotions at time? Certainly. I think that’s par for the course in any Youth Ministry. But it is something the Conference office is trying to avoid (as much as you can when you put thousands of high school kids all in the same place).

 

[BlessedMomof2]

Hi,
My name is Sarah McManamon and I was actually the FUS rep at the East conference this past weekend. I noticed that you were trying to get in touch with John (my boss) however he is on his way to catch a flight to our next conference in Tuscon. I imagine that you got an auto-response when you emailed him as he will not be back in the office for a few weeks. If you would like to email me I would be happy to reassure you that he is who he says he is and that all that he has said is accurate. Also, as I said, I was at East this past weekend (you can ask your daughter, I was the one that gave announcements from the stage). My email is smcmanamon@franciscan.edu and if you email me I would be happy to give you a phone call to assure you that John is who he says he is. Thanks.

~Sarah

Thank you Sarah, I am emailing you.

 

[BlessedMomof2]

for the record I have received email confirmation from both John Beaulieu and Sarah McManamon that these posts are from them. We’re blessed to have them both working for our children.

 

[Caesar517]

The most important issue here: anyone who undermines your authority as a parent is not someone with whom you should entrust your child’s care.

I find this whole idea to be a little odd and more than a little towards the protestant side of religious views (I’m neither a fan of Christian rock nor the protestant “Yay Jesus!” attitude). I’m no stranger to Adoration and I have had several truly amazing experiences, but never have I lost composure. That is alien to me. My feelings are inside me where they belong, not causing me to scream and fall over. If someone were to do such things while I was in Adoration, I would be unable to concentrate and would likely have to leave (my first reaction would be to call an ambulance).

I don’t think feeling dizzy and like you are floating is a religious experience, I think it means you need to sit down and maybe get some fresh air before you pass out. What your daughter described sounds like physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion all in one.

 

[dconklin]

Let’s be careful not to knock someone’s experience because it is alien to us. I have known John and his wife, Fr. Dave Pivonka (awesome confrence speaker) and many other people in the Steubenville scene for 20 years (I must be old). I have personally witnessed (originally with a sceptically eye) many of the charisims being manifested. Let’s not try to limit the Power of God.

Open eyes, open heart and an open mind make the gates of heaven seem a bit bigger than the eye of a needle.

 

[GraceDK]

Caesar: The most important issue here: anyone who undermines your authority as a parent is not someone with whom you should entrust your child’s care.

Amen. However, I might just be called to tell a teenager from a Jewish, Muslim, Agnostic or atheistic home about God. If something is true and important it should not be withheld. Today we have quite alot of people struggling with the occult and when they come into contact with Christians some of these wont cast out the demons as Jesus commanded because of lack of faith in one way or the other.

I find this whole idea to be a little odd and more than a little towards the protestant side of religious views (I’m neither a fan of Christian rock nor the protestant “Yay Jesus!” attitude).

I am a huge fan of Christian music… everything from psalms to gregorian chant to rock … and YAY JESUS!!! There is nothing particularly protestant about joyful proclamations of the Holy Name… if it is, then we certainly need to learn from these brethren
I will celebrate Jesus like David danced infront of the Arch of the Covenant while his wife told him he looked like a fool.

**I’m no stranger to Adoration and I have had several truly amazing experiences, but never have I lost composure. **

I have met quite a few very trustworthy and down to earth people who told me that they had been struck to their face by the power of the Lord (in and outside of church gatherings) wept their eyes out in contrition and confession of their sins… many have wept infront of a whole assembly - I saw this also in Catholic Churches and it touched my heart because I knew that this soul was not dead. Some people had rationally denied the “resting in the Spirit-phenomenon” until it happend to them. I know severel priests who this happend to. One saw the Virgin Mary as he was slain in the Spirit and she spoke to him. Then there are the exorcisms I have witnessed. These people NEED HELP and when the demons are driven out the person is not in control… Thats a GOOD loss of composure to experience if you are actually possessed.

That is alien to me. My feelings are inside me where they belong, not causing me to scream and fall over.

Screeming and falling over is not a normal thing to happen on a daily basis. There is no need for exaggeration. However, if no emotion is ever shown by a Christian person then that might be a symptom of some problem.

**If someone were to do such things while I was in Adoration, I would be unable to concentrate and would likely have to leave (my first reaction would be to call an ambulance).
I don’t think feeling dizzy and like you are floating is a religious experience, I think it means you need to sit down and maybe get some fresh air before you pass out. **

Which might be the right thing to do. Yet at Christian assemblies where the Holy Spirit is given the control you have to expect that things that are out of the ordinary take place. And if you, as a Christian, never encounter something “odd” then you should probably ask your self what happend to the church of the apostles.

** What your daughter described sounds like physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion all in one.**

And you sound like a person who thinks he knows what he is talking about but really does not.

Shalom .

 

[buckr02]

The most important issue here: anyone who undermines your authority as a parent is not someone with whom you should entrust your child’s care.

I find this whole idea to be a little odd and more than a little towards the protestant side of religious views (I’m neither a fan of Christian rock nor the protestant “Yay Jesus!” attitude). I’m no stranger to Adoration and I have had several truly amazing experiences, but never have I lost composure. That is alien to me. My feelings are inside me where they belong, not causing me to scream and fall over. If someone were to do such things while I was in Adoration, I would be unable to concentrate and would likely have to leave (my first reaction would be to call an ambulance).

I don’t think feeling dizzy and like you are floating is a religious experience, I think it means you need to sit down and maybe get some fresh air before you pass out. What your daughter described sounds like physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion all in one.

I completely agree. That pretty much sums up my view of the whole thing.

 

[dconklin]

And you sound like a person who thinks he knows what he is talking about but really does not.

Shalom .

Woohoo! Can I use this as my tag-line for this forum? This site does seem to attract the “experts”. There is only one Expert. :knight1:

 

[buckr02]

Woohoo! Can I use this as my tag-line for this forum? This site does seem to attract the “experts”. There is only one Expert. :knight1:

Really? cause I was going to say the same thing about DK…

 

[BlessedMomof2]

wow. I think as we’re talking about gifts here, we should remember the gift of Love.

 

[GraceDK]

You may all laugh at me and ridicule but I am telling you I have seen some pretty awesome things and heard dozens of wonderful testimonies from Christians from all denominations about what happens when the Holy Spirit takes over… I have been a believer for 5 years and I still feel upliftet when I heard a good testimony.

Also I have spent 3 years in the most critical of all academic schools: religious sceince, more precisely: religious psychology where the new trend is neuro-psychology and cognitive psychology…
And what did I learn? That rationally speaking the saints and the apostles etc were psychological cases of lunacy, suggestion, mass hysteria, scitsophenia, multiple-personality disorder, hallucinations due to drugs, exhaustion, dehydration or lack of food etc etc… Such a long time with that… and I am still a believer because God is greater. And yes… when I have friends, sound Catholics or other Christians, telling me of their experiences of suddenly realisation of Christ’s existence, their own sinfulness, their uncontrollable tears, their healings, their resting in the Spirit, visions etc… I DO NOT tell them to sit down and have a glass of water. I rather say: tell me more, oh disciple of Jesus, because you have stepped outside of the world of flesh, and out onto the water where Jesus is.

 

[Caesar517]

And you sound like a person who thinks he knows what he is talking about but really does not.

I did say that this is alien to me. My post reflected my reactions to it. I didn’t mean to come across as an “expert” or insult anyone who is onto this kind of thing.

In the quest for truth, I must carefully examine everything before I accept it. What has been described here sounds a little over-the-edge to me, that’s all. I always try to keep an open mind, but some things activate my figurative gag reflex.

You may all laugh at me and ridicule…

No one is doing that.

wow. I think as we’re talking about gifts here, we should remember the gift of Love.

Amen to that.

 

[BlessedMomof2]

…

In the quest for truth, I must carefully examine everything before I accept it. What has been described here sounds a little over-the-edge to me, that’s all. I always try to keep an open mind, but some things activate my figurative gag reflex.
…
.

Discerment of charisms is what the Catechism says we would all do. You are 100% correct in trying to decide if these are truths or not. Just as I am. Therefore, we DO know what we are talking about.

801 It is in this sense that discernment of charisms is always necessary. No charism is exempt from being referred and submitted to the Church’s shepherds. "Their office (is) not indeed to extinguish the Spirit, but to test all things and hold fast to what is good,"254 so that all the diverse and complementary charisms work together "for the common good."255

 

[GraceDK]

wow. I think as we’re talking about gifts here, we should remember the gift of Love.

Certainly. No one would disagree and I dont think anyone here has forgotten about this higher way…

An interesting tendency I have observed through all my conversations with believers though:

When I talk about the Virgin Mary and reverence to her infront of a Protestant brother he will soon cut me off and say: “Well remember Jesus… remember to focus on the essential here!”.
(frankly thats a bit of an insult since it hints that, if he does not remind this crazy Catholic about Christ, she might just get caught up in Mary and forget who saved her )

Same tendency when I speak of the charismatic gifts and the joy and power they bring to a Christian’s life in front of a Catholic… the brother will then start telling me about the superiority of the Eucharist, the higher way of charity, etc and about the proper place down the list for the charismatic gifts.

The same tendency …
Just an observation… maybe some of you recognize it…

 

[BlessedMomof2]

“Just an observation… maybe some of you recognize it…”

I think the tone of your posts is starting to come across as being a bit superior, like you know something the rest of us don’t. Having charismatic gifts does not make one a better Catholic. Faith, Hope and Charity are necessary for salvation but other charismatic gifts are not. Maybe they are simply trying to tell you something that you’re not understanding. And they would be correct.

The catechism as I just quoted in my last post, clearly tells us that we MUST discern. ALWAYS NECESSARY. ALWAYS. That’s their word not mine. Just because you say these things happen you must not stop people from discerning if these are true acts. Further, you alone are not able to judge, someone of authority must judge. So don’t get defensive when people do not believe you.

 

[GraceDK]

“Just an observation… maybe some of you recognize it…”

I think the tone of your posts is starting to come across as being a bit superior, like you know something the rest of us don’t. Having charismatic gifts does not make one a better Catholic. Faith, Hope and Charity are necessary for salvation but other charismatic gifts are not. Maybe they are simply trying to tell you something that you’re not understanding. And they would be correct.

The catechism as I just quoted in my last post, clearly tells us that we MUST discern. ALWAYS NECESSARY. ALWAYS. That’s their word not mine. Just because you say these things happen you must not stop people from discerning if these are true acts. Further, you alone are not able to judge, someone of authority must judge. So don’t get defensive when people do not believe you.

My experience is somewhat the opposite. I find that you are the one being defensive now and whereas you are clearly concerned, which is natural given the fact that neither you nor your daughter has prior experience with charismatic renewal and then to this degree, its clear from many of the posts on this thread that a few people here have quite a biased and already formed idea as to what is taking place at charismatic meetings.
Discernment is necessary… you are right, but its not right for you to say that I am stopping anyone from discerning. I am merely saying that discernment happens when you are open to two outcomes and just as open to the one as to the other… not when you are already settled in an idea. In adressing this I was not talking to you but mainly to some of the other posters.

You say I am not alone to jugde… neither are you. Why state the obvious? We all seek the will of God and His alone. If my experience is that the Holy Spirit is being stiffled becaue of fear in certain congregations or people then I am free to say so.
Why come on here with this topic if you dont want it to turn into a generel discussion and if you dont want anyone to say that your own result of discernment is not the one they might have reached themselves?

Each have a way to walk with the Lord. My source of critique on this forum is what I find in the Bible about discipleship and the experience of the followers of Christ at all times.

You dont have to believe me. I know that I have seen and talked to people who were converted, healed, speaking in new tongues, giving life altering prophesies to their brothers… Why would anyone not believe it? It happens all over the world and it always have where there was faith in Christ. Whats there not to believe?
Christ said: "These things will follow those who believe… "

I have also said that I havent as of yet experienced the baptism in the Holy Spirit… but I wont belittle it just because I havent received this gift myself.

You say that I dont understand things and that others are right in telling me that… well, yes… there are LOTS of things I dont understand. I reckon that it is the same for you too but please correct me if I am wrong.