Thursday, August 31, 2006
end of moNth creativity 
Sometimes, I do like to design stuff (Well, d’oh, I do have a website!)  This is my latest effort, based on a suggested by Chris in the office.  We’re re-drafting our office directory of services and the cover draft looks a little like this.  [work day]

  Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Coming in December – -  The Nativity 
Two Easters ago, It was the Passion of the Christ.  This Christmas, there will be a movie retelling of the Nativity. Read more about the screenwriter here. One Couple. One Journey. One Child … who would change the world … forever. See the link to the movie here. [culture]

  Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Go navy! 
One of my personal goals, this fall, was to get to a college football game this season, preferably Navy.  I have fond memories of the military pomp and stuff from Army-Navy growing up in Philly. As it happens, I found two Navy tickets on my desk this morning. Saturday late afternoon- the Middies take on the Pirates of East Carolina. [family and friends]

  Monday, August 28, 2006
God is . . .  Say Whaaat? 
You’ve got to view the following quote in light of the Whole "God is Love" reclaiming eros things, but wow! "You called, you shouted, and you broke through my deafness. You flashed, you shone, and you dispelled my blindness. You breathed your fragrance on me; I drew in breath and now I pant for you. I have tasted you, now I hunger and thirst for more." – St. Augustine [church]
First day of . . . 
Clark moved back into school today.  He’s living in a small apartment on campus.  Frankly, I thought he had more space in his old dorm room.  Now, it comes time to reclaim the second bedroom in my apartment.  I wonder if I have the right equipment for this task!   [family and friends]

  Sunday, August 27, 2006
Look each other in the eye 
I think this has become my new catch phrase. [work day]

  Saturday, August 26, 2006
A "Footprints in the sand" meditation 
Really, any story that has Jesus saying "I don’t think so, Einstein." is ok by me. Check it out here. [funny stuff]
long distance to Values
A recognition of the likely failure of a ‘values’ approach is paradoxically the surest way to advance a nation’s values. A nation will go farthest in representing values it cares about if its every discussion is colored by a knowledge of how little it can do. At times the job of a leader is to rouse the public with an ideal vision no one believes will really be achieved. But year in and year out, the leaders, the electorate and the communicators who connect those two groups will do better if they remember how long, slow, imperfect and sometimes doomed will be the prospects of a ‘values’ agenda." —Atlantic Monthly national correspondent James Fallows, in a speech to the Lowry Institute in Sydney. An adapted version of the speech appears in yesterday’s Sydney Morning Herald. [culture]

  Friday, August 25, 2006
long distance to a short blog entry
We walked the Pilgrimage route today (3 miles).  Hopefully, it will be cooler on March 31, 2007 when we walk it with others!  Meanwhile, a good day to be working the rest of the day in the office in shorts!  [work day]

  Thursday, August 24, 2006
The Mindset list
Each August since 1998, as faculty prepare for the academic year, Beloit College in Wisconsin has released the Beloit College Mindset List. This list is used by educators and clergy and by the military and business in their efforts to connect with the new generation. (I also build it into power points, as well.) Read more here.  [culture]
The NSYR and implications for the future
Yesterday, I wrote a note on the National Study on Youth and Religion and its implications for the future.  It read, in part, like this:
  I do maintain a hope that we can encourage more pro-activity in the Church’s response to the NSYR.
Dr. Smith says at the end of Soul Searching:

“A specific, important impediment to making sense of adolescent life in the United States worth reemphasizing is the routine failure of adults to recognize the responsibility for their own adult world, into which youth are being socialized, for presenting huge challenges for youth.” (page 264)

Pope Benedict XVI expressed a similar concern in his recent interview on German television:

Young people are very generous but when they face the risk of a life-long commitment, be it marriage or a priestly vocation, they are afraid. . .  [We need to help young people] Reawaken the courage to make definitive decisions: they are really the only ones that allow us to grow, to move ahead and to reach something great in life. They are the only decisions that do not destroy our freedom but offer to point us in the right direction.

This, of course, echoes what we have long already had before us in our Catholic Youth Ministry psyche:

This is what is needed: a Church for young people,  . . . which is not afraid to require much, after having given much; which does not fear asking from young people the effort of a noble and authentic adventure, such as that of the following of the Gospel.

In discussion of symposiums on adolescent catechesis and/or NSYR, potential in-service presentations to USCCB and our future work regarding the NSYR, it would be my hope that we would begin to address how we might concentrate on Moralistic Therapeutic Deism/ “Whateverism” by addressing the huge challenges that will require reawakened courage for the noble and authentic adventure of discipleship. [youth ministry]

  Wednesday, August 23, 2006
seemingly, i need to be attending mass in new york!
Another crisis is looming in the Catholic Church.  Throngs of single, churchgoing New York women are desperate to find a man to connect with, and he’s not the priest. The problem: The men in their parishes are reportedly too busy praying to be doing much flirting. "I’ve talked to many women who were definitely looking for love in the pews, but I don’t know how successful they were," Read more here. Jennifer, wait for me!!! [funny stuff]
customer service
In the Letter from the Editor in this month’s Fast Company. Mark Vamos writes "In fact, peer closely at a lot of outstanding customer-service efforts, and what you’ll see is the clever use of training, process design, and technology to simulate the old-fashioned relationship with the proprietor of a small business. It’s a tough trick to pull off, because it means routinizing spontaneity, systematizing warmth, and putting a human skin on technology. And that’s why it is so often done so badly, producing employees who robotically mouth scripted nonsense, and technology that frustrates and complicates. But when it’s done right, it can be powerful stuff." There are lessons here for church work. Read more here.  [culture]

  Tuesday, August 22, 2006
The Power of Ministry
In the September 2006 edition of Music and Liturgy (formerly Modern Liturgy), James Greenfield and Kevin Nadolski have an article Spirituality of Ministry: Human Skills for a Spiritual Ministry.  In it, they address “the indicators of a healthy spirituality of ministry by offering behavioral skills that enable the minister to balance” of the competing modes of serving others and serving self in the service of the Lord.  Their list includes: “1) being hospitable, 2) engaging in spiritual mentoring, 3) keeping a fresh imagination, 4) building community, and 5) maintaining a sense of humor.” [church]
The Power of Love
One of Brad (APeX) Farmer’s favorite lines for the past year was that there were two different women on two different continents each carrying his child.  Now, the story of Ava Therese FuBin has brought her into the Farmer family. Read more here. [family and friends]
We’ve got Seoul, Yes we do, We’ve got Seoul, How ’bout you?
About 1,000 Koreans aged 19-35 who participated in the first Seoul Youth Day (SYD), held Aug. 12-14 at Seoul Major Seminary and nearby Tongsung High School. Read more here.  The "performance" was similar to one that I helped to lead in the spring of 1980. "Sigh!"   [youth ministry]

  Monday, August 21, 2006
The Power of Social Networking
My daughter Nichole was discussing how she and friends were confronting another friend about her decision-making via MySpace.  It’s a different sort of world out there, isn’t it?  The power of the internet and blogs is pretty impressive, as if. . .  I wanted to communicate to a friend in . . . say, China, . . . that the parent of a sister-in-Christ has returned from the hospital, all nodes seems cancer-free, and chemo is no longer seemingly on the horizon. . . well, then, I could, ya’know?  [blogging]
blog-iversary
This web site is now two years old.  It started like this:

  Greetings to the World.  My name is D. Scott Miller and I am starting a bulletin board log (BLOG) of information that might be shared with the Catholic Youth Ministry community. 

  This is just a starting point.  I’m not sure where it is going to go.  I hope it will be personal.  I hope it will be per-fess-ion-ale (despite occasional grammar errors and mis-spellings) I hope it will be a resource for friends in the field.

  And so, we begin.

And so, we continue on.  [blogging]

  Sunday, August 20, 2006
catechetical sunday resources
A new power point is up, following yesterday’s catechist training in my home parish.  There is a slew of resources, of which are connected with next month’s Catechetical Sunday theme of "Who Do You Say that I Am?" Enjoy! Steal.  (just give a brother a little credit, y’know?) See it all here.  [church]

  Saturday, August 19, 2006
compendium of catechism now online
The Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church is now available on the Internet in English.  [church]

  Friday, August 18, 2006
continual proof of the existence of God
After decades of campfire abstinence, I dined on a "smore" tonight. Heaven on earth, I’m telling you.  The fact that is was consumed while surrounded my my brothers, their wives, and nine nieces and nephews only added to the experience. [family and friends]

  Thursday, August 17, 2006
It’s a woot off!!!!!
Clark and I are fans of woot.com, where there are daily on-line sales of "stuff."  Today’s a woot-off (after I complained to the boy that there hasn’t been one recently.)  It features multiple products! Happy shopping, all. [blogging]
networked generation
Young people are responsible for a "media shift." They are embracing new technologies much more quickly than the general population. Sixteen to 24 year olds, it reports, spend nearly three hours on the net each week. Seventy percent (compared to 41% of the general population) have used some kind of social networking site, such as My Space, and one in five have their own website or blog. Half of the group owns a games console and/or an MP3 player.  Read more here.  [culture]

  Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Vacation- All I ever wanted
Hitting the road, in part to see brothers, but, also, in part, just to hit the road. Blogging might be sketchy for the next few days. [blogging]
Life – I want More
With their vast arsenals of electronic gear, they are the most entertained generation ever. Yet the YouTubing, MySpacing, multi-tasking teens and young adults widely seen as Hollywood’s most wanted audience are feeling — can it be? — a bit bored with it all. A new Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll, the first in a series of annual entertainment surveys, finds that a large majority of the 12- to 24-year-olds surveyed are bored with their entertainment choices some or most of the time, and a substantial minority think that even in a kajillion-channel universe, they don’t have nearly enough options. Read more here.  [culture]
beauty pageants and youth ministry
In Nambia, part of the program for Catholic youth ministry includes a beauty pageant.  On the flip side, the agenda also includes teaching "young people to set up their own sustainable small businesses to help improve the living standards of the youth."  Read more here.  [youth ministry]

  Tuesday, August 15, 2006 (Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary)
Reawaken the courage to make definitive decisions
From the Pope’s recent interview on German television: Young people are very generous but when they face the risk of a life-long commitment, be it marriage or a priestly vocation, they are afraid. The world is moving dramatically: nowadays I can continually do whatever I want with my life with all its unpredictable future events. By making a definitive decision am I myself not tying up my personal freedom and depriving myself of freedom of movement? Reawaken the courage to make definitive decisions: they are really the only ones that allow us to grow, to move ahead and to reach something great in life. They are the only decisions that do not destroy our freedom but offer to point us in the right direction. Risk making this leap, so to speak, towards the definitive and so embrace life fully: this is something I’d be happy to communicate to them. [pope]

  Monday, August 14, 2006
   staying humbled
A head cold will do it to you every time.  I think I did jinx it with last Thursday’s comment! [blogging]

  Sunday, August 13, 2006
   performance vs prayer
Back out to Life Teen on the Road yesterday as the training focused in on the CORE teams.  As the participants broke up in various sub-tracks, I followed the experienced leaders but quickly left as I saw what the process was going to be. Off to the crowded musician track to hear Matt encourage the art of performance in the context of prayer. His encouragement: Listen to God first, then the assembly, and then, finally, your fellow musicians.  He also pointed out that the language of "band" was exclusive while "ensemble" was more inclusive. Finished off the day watching Drumline. Same message: One band, one sound.  [youth ministry]
  Teens and sex
Fewer U.S. high school students are having sex, and the ones who do are less likely to have multiple partners. Read more here.  [culture]

  Saturday, August 12, 2006
   Silence and music
So, last night, one of the local parishes was hosting Life Teen on the Road and featured a concert with Matt Maher.   Now, I’ve seen (hosted) Matt before at NCCYM’s, but last night was my first opportunity to sit back and watch. Matt’s band was tight and ready to go.  The music was loud and he had kids remaining on their feet for a good hour. . . But, for me, the truest sign of a quality musician/ presenter was that he was also able to lead a large throng of young people in pure, resounding silence – the quiet of thoughtful prayer. [youth ministry]

  Friday, August 11, 2006

   72 virgins
B.J. Novak (of the US version of "the Office") has a different slant of the 72 virgins purportedly awaiting Islamic mass murderers in heaven.  Seemingly, the terrorists do win. [culture]
   graduating from god
Thousands of Jesus-following students who graduated from high school this summer will be claiming independent lives as they enter the big college campus in the fall. A new research study, however, is indicating the majority of those students will also be "graduating from God" upon entering college. Read more here.  [youth ministry]

  Thursday, August 10, 2006
   on a roll
At the risk of jinxing it all. . .   I’m on such a friggin’ roll.  Just saying!  The busy-ness and enegy of last Thursday continue forward.  [blogging]

  Wednesday, August 9, 2006
   Real Christians of Genius RE-DUH
So I’m at this gathering the other night.  Some guy paraphrases the Great Commission and says, "We gotta go out and teach everyone." And see, that there is the problem- – - You just do not "make disciples" by only utilizing this guy’s I-thou teaching dynamic.  OK, end rant.  [youth ministry]

  Tuesday, August 8, 2006
  Keep him in your prayers
Pope Benedict XVI accepted the resignation of Gordon Bennett, SJ, as bishop of Mandeville, Jamaica.  Bishop Bennett was a much loved auxiliary in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and also was recently a keynote speaker at NCYC.  His resignation, offered at the age of 59, was under Canon 401, paragraph 2 — i.e. the section of the law which deals with "because of ill health or some other grave cause."  Let us all keep him in our prayers.  [church]
  HE IS US
Came across this classic Pogo cartoon yesterday.  It was an earth-day related cartoon and thus struck a cord with  my sense that we should be better stewards of God’s creation.   Yet, I’ve also been adding some youth-friendly materials recently and attempting to make sure that they focus in on the basics – Creed, Lord’s Prayer, Sign of the Cross – and not on the other various clutter of the catechetical field. Pogo is still correct, he is us.  [church]

  Monday, August 7, 2006
   Really Really
The Washington Post reported, yesterday, that "the philosophy of the youth ministry business these days is summed up by a recent cover story in Group magazine, the industry’s must-read glossy: Busting the ‘Cool Leader’ Myth." Read more here.  [youth ministry]
Really
Throughout August, I have the goal of reading the following four books which have made their way into my hands:
Deep Ministry in a Shallow World by Chap Clark and Kara Powell.  I’ve known and trusted Clark since the early 1980′s.  He is a model for always growing in your ministry. I’m invested in what he defines as "deep."
Leadership Can Be Taught by Sharon Daloz Parks.  This was a recommended read by Mike Carotta. Back since the days when I was doing workshops on Megatrends (NCCYM, 1984- – - sessh!), I’ve always been fascinated with the implications for the youth ministry world from the business world.
Choosing Church by Carol Lytch.  This seemingly is more research not unlike the more infamous National Study on Youth and Religion.  I want to especially break open the sections on how church attract and keep teens. Finally,
Leading from the Second Chair by Mike Bonem and Roger Patterson. In a structure where one has, at minimum four layers of (all very well appreciated) bosses as well as attempting to be a servant leader for many in the diocese and field, I’ve been waiting to read this one.   [youth ministry]

  Sunday, August 6, 2006
   Real genius
Taking the prize today is Mellisa Williamson of Roanoke. See the picture here. Yeah, jackhammers would be a concern.  [culture]
   Real Christians
Pope Benedict XVI spoke to a large gathering of altar servers last Wednesday: "The chain of friendship with Jesus has as its source and its summit in the Eucharist. You are very close to Jesus in the Eucharist, in the celebration of the Holy Mass and this is the greatest sign of his friendship for each of us. Don’t forget this! And for this I ask: don’t get used to this gift, so that it doesn’t become a sort of habit, knowing how everything functions and doing it automatically, but discover it anew each day that something so great is happening, that the living God is in our midst, and that you may be ever more closer and bring your contribution so that the mystery may be celebrated and reach the people." Read more here.  [pope]

Saturday, August 5, 2006
   Real Christians of Genius
There’s been lots of talk regarding evangelization in our office lately.  This, however ain’t it. [funny stuff]

    god takes an almighty battering from gen-Y
A new study has revealed less than 50 per cent of Australia’s Generation Y identify with a traditional religion, while tarot readers and psychics are riding the wave of youth demand. Read more here.  [youth ministry] 

  Friday, August 4, 2006
   consumers of god
“We’ve created a generation of kids who are consumers of God, not worshippers of him…"  Read more about the Anglican take on the National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR) here.  [youth ministry]
   AMAZING Speaker
(Click on it to enlarge) [funny stuff]
   Get it on
"No doubts that an ordinary man can get on with this world: but we demand not strength enough to get on with it, but strength enough to get it on. Can he hate it enough to change it, and yet love it enough to think it worth changing? Can he look up at its colossal good without once feeling acquiescence? Can he look up at its colossal evil without once feeling despair?"  GK Chesterton. Orthodoxy  [church]

  Thursday, August 3, 2006
   Just in time – the mid-day blog
I’m an early morning blogger, most often.  A blog entry at 3pm is a rare item.  THIS has been a busy week, and it feels good, and it feels alive.  It has been filled with the activities of the kids (who hit the plane this morning) and many meetings all towards the effort of not having any plates drop.  So far, the fine china remains fine. [blogging]

  Wednesday, August 2, 2006
   Just in time for WYD 2008
"Out of the blue God knocked up the whole bang lot…. God said ‘let’s have some light’ and bingo – light appeared." So opens the new second volume in the popular "Aussie Bible" series. Read more here. ""There was this sheila who came across a snake-in-the-grass with all the cunning of a con man. The snake asked her why she didn’t just grab lunch off the tree in her garden. "God, she said, had told her she’d be dead meat if her fruit salad came from that tree, but the snake told her she wouldn’t die. So she took a good squiz [look] and then a bite and passed the fruit on to her bloke. [church]
     t-p’ING GONE WRONG
"This is the largest (toilet papering) case we’ve had in recent memory." Read about this incident and the family driven investigation here. (Hit the video link while you’re there!) [culture]
    gOD (0) OR THE gIRL (4)
Of the four men featured this spring on A&E’s reality show "God or the Girl," three of them decided against entering the seminary to pursue a priestly vocation. The fourth, Steve Horvath, said he would apply to a seminary. Then he got stuck on the application. Read more here.  [church]

  Tuesday, August 1, 2006
    Catholic, youth, and China
Participants from four Chinese regions have been barred from attending the Asian Youth Day – Asia’s version of the World Youth Day – under way in Hong Kong this week. The Bangkok Post reports that six hundred people including Hong Kong’s Beijing-appointed leader Donald Tsang were due to attend the opening ceremony of week-long Asian Youth Day event. However, Hong Kong cardinal Joseph Zen told a Chinese newspaper that Catholics from four mainland regions had been told they could not attend because it was seen as an "anti-China" event.