H
Holly3278
Guest
catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=14656
I totally agree with this article. The Church must be wherever youth are seeking.
Wherever youth seek answers, the Church must be there, Holy Father teaches
- Status
I totally agree with this article. The Church must be wherever youth are seeking.
K
KingAlfred
Guest
The problem is, too many adult Catholics preach a severe orthodoxy that comes across as condescending, threatening and quite frankly, a bit ugly. Negativity turns off youth. Many adult Catholics communicate their faith in neo-fascistic terms. It’s a big turn-off. Our Masses were taken over somehow by an old, retired bishop whose attitude was cynical and whose evangelism was constantly undermined by his pervasive sarcasm. He really should’ve retired quietly, and sought solitude. I feel that whenever he preaches, he hurts the Church, especially in the eyes of the youth who have to listen to him. I left that parish because of him. Don’t know where he came from or why. He just appeared one day and started ruining a once inspiring Mass tradition.
C
cthulhubryan
Guest
Agreed. I have heard Catholics express their faith as a list of “thou shalt not’s” and generally been more “sinners in the hands of an Angry God” than even Calvin.
Maybe it’s be just getting ready to convert, but I see the Catholic Church as the Church of freedom, of happiness and of peace.
I mean, you no longer have to get psyched up to maybe “feel” the moving of God in a sermon. God is already there!
Maybe it’s be just getting ready to convert, but I see the Catholic Church as the Church of freedom, of happiness and of peace.
I mean, you no longer have to get psyched up to maybe “feel” the moving of God in a sermon. God is already there!
N
Neil_Anthony
Guest
While what you say is true, the opposite is also true.
As a teen I wasn’t at all happy with the nothingness I learned about the faith from well-meaning teachers and liberal priests. “Be nice to people” is a good general rule of thumb, but it in no way inspires one to live the Faith. Anyone can “be nice” and follow the trends, it does not require prayer or knowing about Christ. I think young people want to learn the truth, not some watered-down stuff that old people think is ‘cool’.
E
Eucharisted
Guest
and one more for good measure
K
KingAlfred
Guest
KingAlfred;4567216:
I agree, but to many Catholics the themes of happiness, liberation, transcendence don’t exist. Instead, it’s all about negative stuff – the crime of being a ‘Cafeteria Catholic’, the crime of abortion, the crime of not going to Mass every Sunday, the crime of this, the crime of that…etc., etc. It’s almost totally negative. That take on our faith basically says the ‘truth’ you’re referring to is ugly, painful and hopelessly depressing. Listen to the message of Father Corapi. It’s overwhelmingly negative. Why would anyone want that, especially a young person with his entire life in front of him? Christian sectarianism is killing Christianity, IMO. The sad thing about it is that Jesus Himself never said anything about the small details that go into sectarianism, much less the eternal squabbling within the Christian world community they would immediately stir up.
- I expect to be censored and scolded for this post, which would only confirm the points I’ve made.
M
Mark77
Guest
The loving example Jesus gave us is what we all desire to obtain.
I agree that the primary focus must be on this positive and self-sacrificing example of love that Jesus taught us.
We must also remember that we cannot only choose the easy, the socially acceptable, the fun and exciting, but must also obediently choose the difficult, no matter what the cost to us.
“If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” Lk 9:23
There’s the rub. We all want the eternal salvation Jesus has given us, but we don’t want to deny ourselves, we don’t want to sacrifice if it is painful.
I agree that an overly negative message is not inspiring. I also agree that a watered down, politically correct message is just as bad.
Look to the example of Jesus and Mary and of all the saints. As Mary said in today’s readings, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to me according to your word.”
Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, Ora Pro Nobis Peccatoribus!
Mark
I agree that the primary focus must be on this positive and self-sacrificing example of love that Jesus taught us.
We must also remember that we cannot only choose the easy, the socially acceptable, the fun and exciting, but must also obediently choose the difficult, no matter what the cost to us.
“If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” Lk 9:23
There’s the rub. We all want the eternal salvation Jesus has given us, but we don’t want to deny ourselves, we don’t want to sacrifice if it is painful.
I agree that an overly negative message is not inspiring. I also agree that a watered down, politically correct message is just as bad.
Look to the example of Jesus and Mary and of all the saints. As Mary said in today’s readings, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to me according to your word.”
Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, Ora Pro Nobis Peccatoribus!
Mark
R
RobertLGarrett
Guest
This year, we’re trying something new in our High School program to put some perspective on your points. We just finished teaching the Ten Commandments. Now, we are going to use an exercise to tie in Jesus’ teaching and what it means in light of the Ten Commandments.
First, we are going to ask the teens to make a list of “commandments” for spouses to follow to have a good marriage.
Next, we will ask them whether following said rules will ensure a loving, happy marriage. Hopefully, they will realize the answer is “no.”
Then, we will explain what Jesus meant when he said things like…
Matthew 5 said:
We are hoping to drive home the point that what Jesus was teaching was to go even deeper than dos and don’ts. There is a difference between following the rules purely out of fear, versus doing right out of love. We should have fear of the Lord, but our love of the Lord should guide our actions. Our relationships hear on earth, especially marriage, are a shadow of what our relationship with the Lord will be in heaven. “…Thy will be done, on earth at is is in heaven.”
I hope this resonates with the teens. It is a deeper teaching than just rote knowledge.
J
JReducation
Guest
If we want to learn how to evangelize youth we should look at three persons from modern history: John Paul II, Bl. Mother Teresa and Benedict XVI.
If one observes, all three have attracted youth through a very spiritual message that calls for three things: love of God, conversion of manners and love of neighbor.
It is impressive to see the number of young men and women who enter the Missionaries of Charity every year. Young people want to be challenged. They want a faith that has a deeply rooted spirituality in the Gospels, the Eucharist, prayer, sacrifice and service.
When John Paul II and Benedict XVI spent time with the youth during World Youth Days what is most attractive to them is that the Church is there. It goes out in search of them. It doesn’t sit and wait for them to come. They respond to that. They feel loved, welcome, appreciated, and called to respond to the Gospel message.
I have seen this in our parish too. Our friars make it a point to have as many ministries as possible where the youth of the parish can become involved. They also have Life Teen Adoration every Thursday night before the Blessed Sacrament and Life Teen Bible Study on Sunday night after the Life Teen mass. We also have pear spiritual assistants who are trained by one of our Brothers. The friars have also trained the youth to teach the faith to their peers. We have RCIT (Rite of Christian Initiation for Teens) in our parish. Every year about 50 young people enter the Church through this ministry. It is run under the direction of the Director of Religious Education, but the teachers are youth between the ages of 18 and 30.
Every Sunday our Life Teen mass draws about 1,000 young people. Every Thursday we have about 100 young people at Adoration. During penance services there are always young people.
What makes them come is that the friars are truly mendicant in every sense of the word. They see our friars go out and beg for what they need. They also see them at prayer in the chapel. They see the fraternity between them. What marvels our kids most is that in our parish the Superior of the House is not a priest. The Pastor answers to a non-clerical friar and to the fraternity. This kind of humility triggers questions, which answers are rooted in the spiritual life of obedience and humility. Most of our young people are very impressed by such humility and such love between brothers where there is no difference in dignity and responsibility between the ordained and the non-clerical. All have a role in the Church and in the Kingdom. This tells them that they too have a role.
There are many charisms in the Church, such as those of the friars, Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity, the lay apostolate to the poor, Eucharistic devotions, Marian devotions and others that have to be marketed to young people. As Mother Teresa, John Paul II and Benedict XVI have shown us, the best marketing is going out to where the youth are.
There is a Franciscan Friar of the Renewal, Friar Stan. He’s a rapper. He walks the streets of NYC in his grey habit rapping the Gospel. His masses are very reverent and always full of young people. He takes the spirit of the Gospel to where the young people are in a language that attracts their attention. Once he has their attention, he draws them into the Eucharistic mystery. It’s wonderful to behold.
He visited our neighboring parish. After an hour of Christian rock, he invited all of the young people and not so young to join him for an hour of silence before the Blessed Sacrament. He told the young people the story of St. Francis of Assisi and how he brought the common man into the Church to adore the Eucharist through very simple words. At the end of the evening the kids wanted to know more about St. Francis. Friar Stan credits his style and his success in youth Ministry to John Paul II. He says that he learned from St. Francis and John Paul how to preach without using words.
These are the kinds of things that we can learn from the three great youth Evangelists of our time: Bl. Mother Teresa, John Paul II and Benedict XVI. Each has a different style, but their common denominator is outreach.
Fraternally,
JR
If one observes, all three have attracted youth through a very spiritual message that calls for three things: love of God, conversion of manners and love of neighbor.
It is impressive to see the number of young men and women who enter the Missionaries of Charity every year. Young people want to be challenged. They want a faith that has a deeply rooted spirituality in the Gospels, the Eucharist, prayer, sacrifice and service.
When John Paul II and Benedict XVI spent time with the youth during World Youth Days what is most attractive to them is that the Church is there. It goes out in search of them. It doesn’t sit and wait for them to come. They respond to that. They feel loved, welcome, appreciated, and called to respond to the Gospel message.
I have seen this in our parish too. Our friars make it a point to have as many ministries as possible where the youth of the parish can become involved. They also have Life Teen Adoration every Thursday night before the Blessed Sacrament and Life Teen Bible Study on Sunday night after the Life Teen mass. We also have pear spiritual assistants who are trained by one of our Brothers. The friars have also trained the youth to teach the faith to their peers. We have RCIT (Rite of Christian Initiation for Teens) in our parish. Every year about 50 young people enter the Church through this ministry. It is run under the direction of the Director of Religious Education, but the teachers are youth between the ages of 18 and 30.
Every Sunday our Life Teen mass draws about 1,000 young people. Every Thursday we have about 100 young people at Adoration. During penance services there are always young people.
What makes them come is that the friars are truly mendicant in every sense of the word. They see our friars go out and beg for what they need. They also see them at prayer in the chapel. They see the fraternity between them. What marvels our kids most is that in our parish the Superior of the House is not a priest. The Pastor answers to a non-clerical friar and to the fraternity. This kind of humility triggers questions, which answers are rooted in the spiritual life of obedience and humility. Most of our young people are very impressed by such humility and such love between brothers where there is no difference in dignity and responsibility between the ordained and the non-clerical. All have a role in the Church and in the Kingdom. This tells them that they too have a role.
There are many charisms in the Church, such as those of the friars, Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity, the lay apostolate to the poor, Eucharistic devotions, Marian devotions and others that have to be marketed to young people. As Mother Teresa, John Paul II and Benedict XVI have shown us, the best marketing is going out to where the youth are.
There is a Franciscan Friar of the Renewal, Friar Stan. He’s a rapper. He walks the streets of NYC in his grey habit rapping the Gospel. His masses are very reverent and always full of young people. He takes the spirit of the Gospel to where the young people are in a language that attracts their attention. Once he has their attention, he draws them into the Eucharistic mystery. It’s wonderful to behold.
He visited our neighboring parish. After an hour of Christian rock, he invited all of the young people and not so young to join him for an hour of silence before the Blessed Sacrament. He told the young people the story of St. Francis of Assisi and how he brought the common man into the Church to adore the Eucharist through very simple words. At the end of the evening the kids wanted to know more about St. Francis. Friar Stan credits his style and his success in youth Ministry to John Paul II. He says that he learned from St. Francis and John Paul how to preach without using words.
These are the kinds of things that we can learn from the three great youth Evangelists of our time: Bl. Mother Teresa, John Paul II and Benedict XVI. Each has a different style, but their common denominator is outreach.
Fraternally,
JR
T
TMC
Guest
I agree that young people do not want watered-down religion, and deserve better. I disagree that “be nice to people” is “watered-down” or that it is something anybody can do without Jesus.
The hardest part of being a Christian is loving one another as God has loved us. It is so hard to really, truly put others ahead of ourselves that we have replaced that one really hard rule that almost noone can follow fully and completely, with zillions of rules that we think we can accomplish if we try hard enough.
The way to reach all people, young and old, is to give them the un-watered down version of Christ’s message. Love one another, as I have loved you. Can that really be done without prayer or the help of Christ? I have not seen anyone accomplish it. We should stop dismissing the core message as something simple or easy. It is the most difficult thing of all, and I fear that in the press of keeping up with the zillion other rules we have stopped even trying to accomplish it.
This is what turns off so many. They are taught that love of one another is the core message, but they see so many people that spend so much energy ignoring it. Who wants to belong to an organization that doesn’t seem to be working towards its own core goal?
H
Holly3278
Guest
While preaching a severe form of orthodoxy is a bad thing that can even become a form of legalism, preaching orthodoxy is not a bad thing if it is preached properly.
R
RobertLGarrett
Guest
I hope the Life Teen Masses you mention are not heterodox. Many of them, sadly, are.If we want to learn how to evangelize youth we should look at three persons from modern history: John Paul II, Bl. Mother Teresa and Benedict XVI.
If one observes, all three have attracted youth through a very spiritual message that calls for three things: love of God, conversion of manners and love of neighbor.
It is impressive to see the number of young men and women who enter the Missionaries of Charity every year. Young people want to be challenged. They want a faith that has a deeply rooted spirituality in the Gospels, the Eucharist, prayer, sacrifice and service.
When John Paul II and Benedict XVI spent time with the youth during World Youth Days what is most attractive to them is that the Church is there. It goes out in search of them. It doesn’t sit and wait for them to come. They respond to that. They feel loved, welcome, appreciated, and called to respond to the Gospel message.
I have seen this in our parish too. Our friars make it a point to have as many ministries as possible where the youth of the parish can become involved. They also have Life Teen Adoration every Thursday night before the Blessed Sacrament and Life Teen Bible Study on Sunday night after the Life Teen mass. We also have pear spiritual assistants who are trained by one of our Brothers. The friars have also trained the youth to teach the faith to their peers. We have RCIT (Rite of Christian Initiation for Teens) in our parish. Every year about 50 young people enter the Church through this ministry. It is run under the direction of the Director of Religious Education, but the teachers are youth between the ages of 18 and 30.
Every Sunday our Life Teen mass draws about 1,000 young people. Every Thursday we have about 100 young people at Adoration. During penance services there are always young people.
What makes them come is that the friars are truly mendicant in every sense of the word. They see our friars go out and beg for what they need. They also see them at prayer in the chapel. They see the fraternity between them. What marvels our kids most is that in our parish the Superior of the House is not a priest. The Pastor answers to a non-clerical friar and to the fraternity. This kind of humility triggers questions, which answers are rooted in the spiritual life of obedience and humility. Most of our young people are very impressed by such humility and such love between brothers where there is no difference in dignity and responsibility between the ordained and the non-clerical. All have a role in the Church and in the Kingdom. This tells them that they too have a role.
There are many charisms in the Church, such as those of the friars, Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity, the lay apostolate to the poor, Eucharistic devotions, Marian devotions and others that have to be marketed to young people. As Mother Teresa, John Paul II and Benedict XVI have shown us, the best marketing is going out to where the youth are.
There is a Franciscan Friar of the Renewal, Friar Stan. He’s a rapper. He walks the streets of NYC in his grey habit rapping the Gospel. His masses are very reverent and always full of young people. He takes the spirit of the Gospel to where the young people are in a language that attracts their attention. Once he has their attention, he draws them into the Eucharistic mystery. It’s wonderful to behold.
He visited our neighboring parish. After an hour of Christian rock, he invited all of the young people and not so young to join him for an hour of silence before the Blessed Sacrament. He told the young people the story of St. Francis of Assisi and how he brought the common man into the Church to adore the Eucharist through very simple words. At the end of the evening the kids wanted to know more about St. Francis. Friar Stan credits his style and his success in youth Ministry to John Paul II. He says that he learned from St. Francis and John Paul how to preach without using words.
These are the kinds of things that we can learn from the three great youth Evangelists of our time: Bl. Mother Teresa, John Paul II and Benedict XVI. Each has a different style, but their common denominator is outreach.
Fraternally,
JR
We don’t do Life Teen at our parish. The youth program grew here due to a pastor who educated them and got them excited about the saints. He started a Dead Theologian Society for teens, boy’s clubs, girl’s clubs, returned the Mass to a more reverent, beautiful state by adding a Schola, etc.
The result is that we have an army of altar boys (6-8 per Mass), including teens, while larger parishes complain about the shortage, and we’ve had a couple decide to move onto the priesthood and at least one girl become a novice at a cloistered monastery.
Teens who fully understand their faith is more important than teens who come because they like the community and the music. The latter is based on emotional response.
J
JReducation
Guest
Our Life Teen masses are very orthodox. Our Life Teen movement is very eclectic. Our young people are very famiiar with Francis of Assisi, Maximilian Kolbe, Mother Teresa, John Paul II and Benedict XVI. They are fed a lot of their teachings, examples and most of all their energy.
JR
R
RobertLGarrett
Guest
I’m glad to hear it.Our Life Teen masses are very orthodox. Our Life Teen movement is very eclectic. Our young people are very famiiar with Francis of Assisi, Maximilian Kolbe, Mother Teresa, John Paul II and Benedict XVI. They are fed a lot of their teachings, examples and most of all their energy.
JR
Thankfully, a lot Life Teen groups have cleaned up their act. IIRC, the guy who started it is not involved anymore, and he was part of the problem.I’m guessing you aren’t in my sales area (San Francisco Bay Area north to Western Canada and East to Colorado), so I can’t schedule a weekend to drop by and see how it is.
I would like to see it done right, so we could potentially incorporate some of it into our parish.We generally reserve Teen music for Faith Formation. I’m hoping we can encourage the formation of a teen Schola, so they can learn Gregorian Chant and see the beauty of traditional ways of prayer.
M
m134e5
Guest
Neil_Anthony;4571563:
of being a ‘Cafeteria Catholic’, the crime of abortion, the crime of not going to Mass every Sunday, the crime of this, the crime of that…etc., etc. It’s almost totally negative. That take on our faith basically says the ‘truth’ you’re referring to is ugly, painful and hopelessly depressing. Listen to the message of Father Corapi. It’s overwhelmingly negative. Why would anyone want that, especially a young person with his entire life in front of him? Christian sectarianism is killing Christianity, IMO. The sad thing about it is that Jesus Himself never said anything about the small details that go into sectarianism, much less the eternal squabbling within the Christian world community they would immediately stir up.
I agree with most of what you say, but I haven’t had the same experience as you have had when it comes to Fr. Corapi. I do not find him “overhelmingly negative”. I could see how someone stumbling onto the wrong part of one of his programs might think he’s being too harsh, but I’ve always seen him as a pleasant- but passionate- preacher. These days, many people are used to sugar-coating things. There are many of us out there who want priests to tell it like it is! Sin is real, evil is real, and hell is real- there can be no sugar-coating when talking about those things (and he’s one that doesn’t sugar coat on those things either). He also has many inspiring things to say about God’s love and mercy, and about prayer, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and many other topics related to the Faith.
- I expect to be censored and scolded for this post, which would only confirm the points I’ve made.
I am not trying to censor or scold you- only to explain that there are those who do not see it as you do. I also should add that I do not care for preaching about hell and sin all the time. I like pleasant priests who preach about good things that inspire people and make them feel good because they experience the love of God.
J
JReducation
Guest
Our young people are strong enough to hear about the positives and the negatives. The problem has more to do with delivery. The delivery has to be developmentally appropriate. Some have mentioned Father Corapi. I have never heard him preach to youth, so I can’t say that he does a good job or not. My experiences with him have always been with adults. The style that he uses with adults is fine for that population. That population grew up in a different era when the world spoke differently and they respond to that authoritarian manner. Youth today respond to authoritative, but not authoritarian.
If we look at the youth apostles of our time, especially John Paul II and Benedict XVI, we see an entirely different manner. When these men speak to youth they inspire them to follow Christ. They speak to them of the evils that surround them, but they do not inspire fear in the young. On the contrary, they inspire courage. They tell the young that Jesus is with them, that Jesus does love them and that Jesus is the only way that they can move through a world filled with many temptations and many evils without being afraid.
Our young people live in a world where there are many threats to their welfare. There is terrorism, economic instability, collapsing infrastructures that used to provide protection and security, education systems no longer guarantee that you will be prepared for the workforce, dysfunctional families, rampant consumerism, political and civil leaders who tell youth that they have rights that God did not give human beings and social systems that are constantly being challenged and often collapsing around them do nothing to make the young feel safe… These are new threats.
In addition, our young people do not have the tools that many of us had. Many of us were baby-boomers. We lived in a world where there was a certain amount of security, because families provided that security. We were sheltered form many of the evils in the world. Many of us did not have the economic resources that our young people have today. We had to live with less and work more.
These and other differences in generations require that we learn to speak to this generation. They are not us. They do not understand our experience. How are they going to understand the faith from the same point of view? They don’t share our worldview, much less the same view of the Church and the faith.
I’m not so sure that our view of the Church and the faith is helpful to them, considering that they live in a different world. They need the same doctrine and moral rules that we needed. But the applications are different. If we give them the doctrine and morals that we learned, without the tools to apply them to their reality, we have given them nothing. You cannot work with raw materials. You need the tools to go with them.
This is what has made John Paul II and Benedict XVI popular among the young. They give them the essentials, but they also give them the tools that are most appropriate for their time. Just look at the themes of World Youth Days. Look at the activities such as the music, the celebrations with the Blessed Sacrament, the prayer services such as the Stations of the Cross, the celebrations of the mass that include tradition with contemporary culture. One of the interesting things that we saw in Australia during WYD was the vocation expo. Even cloistered religious were out there marketing to the young using tools that the young understand. The Poor Clares were using videos, music and most of all, they were present. In our day, Poor Clares would never leave their enclosure. They could be excommunicated for doing so.
The Franciscan Friars of the four orders had a rock concert. After the concert the friars walked around with the young people asking the kids questions. They didn’t wait for the kids to ask them questions. They went out to the kids and when asked they explained that they were friars not monks and that their ministry was to wander around like St. Francis before them. That caught their attention.
In Boston, Cardinal Sean attracts youth to the seminary by walking around to youth activities in his brown habit and sandals. He introduces himself to the young as Sean, not Cardinal O’Malley and he tells them that his is their brother. He has increased the seminary population to almost 70 students in this year’s class.
Mother Angelica attracts many young women to the Poor Clares through her use of scripture, pithy lessons and humour. These girls stop and listen to her. Many join her.
Fr. Stan Fortuno of the Franciscans of the Renewal has brought youth back to the mass, to Eucharistic Adoration and to religious life by walking the streets of NY in his grey habit rapping. It attracts the attention of the young.
In my own parish, we have two newly ordained priests, one newly ordained deacon, and 40 Secular Franciscan Brothers and Sisters. All of us are involved with youth in Eucharistic Adorations, retreats, ministries to the elderly, Sunday mass and a growing ministry to families with disabilities. The message that we preach to our youth is that the Church is a community that serves Christ. The kids want to serve Christ. They know that to do so they must stay close to the Eucharist, Reconciliation and the Scriptures.
As we can see, there are many wonderful things happening with youth in many places. The problem is that we need more of this. We who are older have to take the risk of changing how we deliver the same message that was delivered to us. The error that was made in the latter half of the 20th century was that someone thought that the message had to be watered down because the kids wouldn’t understand it. That was dumb. The kids didn’t understand the message, because the delivery was wrong, not the message. We lost the kids.
We have to clean up our delivery and recover the message.
Fraternally,
JR
If we look at the youth apostles of our time, especially John Paul II and Benedict XVI, we see an entirely different manner. When these men speak to youth they inspire them to follow Christ. They speak to them of the evils that surround them, but they do not inspire fear in the young. On the contrary, they inspire courage. They tell the young that Jesus is with them, that Jesus does love them and that Jesus is the only way that they can move through a world filled with many temptations and many evils without being afraid.
Our young people live in a world where there are many threats to their welfare. There is terrorism, economic instability, collapsing infrastructures that used to provide protection and security, education systems no longer guarantee that you will be prepared for the workforce, dysfunctional families, rampant consumerism, political and civil leaders who tell youth that they have rights that God did not give human beings and social systems that are constantly being challenged and often collapsing around them do nothing to make the young feel safe… These are new threats.
In addition, our young people do not have the tools that many of us had. Many of us were baby-boomers. We lived in a world where there was a certain amount of security, because families provided that security. We were sheltered form many of the evils in the world. Many of us did not have the economic resources that our young people have today. We had to live with less and work more.
These and other differences in generations require that we learn to speak to this generation. They are not us. They do not understand our experience. How are they going to understand the faith from the same point of view? They don’t share our worldview, much less the same view of the Church and the faith.
I’m not so sure that our view of the Church and the faith is helpful to them, considering that they live in a different world. They need the same doctrine and moral rules that we needed. But the applications are different. If we give them the doctrine and morals that we learned, without the tools to apply them to their reality, we have given them nothing. You cannot work with raw materials. You need the tools to go with them.
This is what has made John Paul II and Benedict XVI popular among the young. They give them the essentials, but they also give them the tools that are most appropriate for their time. Just look at the themes of World Youth Days. Look at the activities such as the music, the celebrations with the Blessed Sacrament, the prayer services such as the Stations of the Cross, the celebrations of the mass that include tradition with contemporary culture. One of the interesting things that we saw in Australia during WYD was the vocation expo. Even cloistered religious were out there marketing to the young using tools that the young understand. The Poor Clares were using videos, music and most of all, they were present. In our day, Poor Clares would never leave their enclosure. They could be excommunicated for doing so.
The Franciscan Friars of the four orders had a rock concert. After the concert the friars walked around with the young people asking the kids questions. They didn’t wait for the kids to ask them questions. They went out to the kids and when asked they explained that they were friars not monks and that their ministry was to wander around like St. Francis before them. That caught their attention.
In Boston, Cardinal Sean attracts youth to the seminary by walking around to youth activities in his brown habit and sandals. He introduces himself to the young as Sean, not Cardinal O’Malley and he tells them that his is their brother. He has increased the seminary population to almost 70 students in this year’s class.
Mother Angelica attracts many young women to the Poor Clares through her use of scripture, pithy lessons and humour. These girls stop and listen to her. Many join her.
Fr. Stan Fortuno of the Franciscans of the Renewal has brought youth back to the mass, to Eucharistic Adoration and to religious life by walking the streets of NY in his grey habit rapping. It attracts the attention of the young.
In my own parish, we have two newly ordained priests, one newly ordained deacon, and 40 Secular Franciscan Brothers and Sisters. All of us are involved with youth in Eucharistic Adorations, retreats, ministries to the elderly, Sunday mass and a growing ministry to families with disabilities. The message that we preach to our youth is that the Church is a community that serves Christ. The kids want to serve Christ. They know that to do so they must stay close to the Eucharist, Reconciliation and the Scriptures.
As we can see, there are many wonderful things happening with youth in many places. The problem is that we need more of this. We who are older have to take the risk of changing how we deliver the same message that was delivered to us. The error that was made in the latter half of the 20th century was that someone thought that the message had to be watered down because the kids wouldn’t understand it. That was dumb. The kids didn’t understand the message, because the delivery was wrong, not the message. We lost the kids.
We have to clean up our delivery and recover the message.
Fraternally,
JR
D
dotcomrefugee
Guest
Can the Church tell me how I can cheaply develop infrastructure for my startup?
Just wondering.
Just wondering.
J
JReducation
Guest
Huh?
R
RobertLGarrett
Guest
I believe he considers himself a “youth…seeking answers.”Huh?
C
chicago
Guest
I would say that both is important. Obviously, one wants teenagers to fully understand their faith. But, then, faith is a journey. One is always learning. And experiencing. Part of that experience may well have something to do with emotional involvement that can help either draw one to or push one from the table of the Lord. So I wouldn’t be too quick to discount its importance.
- Status