Saturday, September 30, 2006
  When September ends
Final thoughts of the month, courtesy of Green Day: . . . as my memory rests, but never forgets what I lost, wake me up when September ends. Summer has come and passed. The innocent can never last. Wake me up when September ends. [culture]

 

  Friday, September 29, 2006
  Happy feast day boys!
Our office has acquired a small menagerie of stuffed animals that are named after the archangels.  (the dogs Raphael, Gabrielle, along with rabbit Michael) [funny stuff]
  Honey do list
I have previous posted a to do list on-line before.  Using the public listing of my tasks gives me greater joy as I (also publicly) check them off one-by-one.  Here’s the weekend:
° Ceiling repair in bathroom ° Tune-up on car
° Young Adult brochure ° Hair cut
° Illumination Homily Notes ° Contact Meeting Notes
° Confirmation workshop consult ° AYM class planning
° Update Jesus ppt   ° Cheer Ravens into a 4-0 record SWEET!! [work day][work day]

 

  Thursday, September 28, 2006
  Episcopal Use of THAT word again!!!
Cardinal Pell of Sydney, as the next host of World Youth Day, is about to become quoted often and repeatedly about young people.  Here is a recent quote: "Worse than the low numbers identifying Catholicism as the one true faith, and ‘particularly disturbing’ for Catholic educators, is that 75 per cent of young Catholics believe it is acceptable to ‘pick and choose beliefs’. Cardinal Pell says this indicates ‘a malaise and confusion in the general approach to life rather than just a few isolated points of heresy or unbelief’. Malaise, OY! Read more here.  [youth ministry]

 

  Wednesday, September 27, 2006
  office e-news
Our office e-newsletter is getting pretty snazzy looking, if’n I do say so myself. And it is a collaborative effort! Check it out here.  [work day]
going global
Catholic Relief Services has launched a new website for educators and youth ministers.  With the title and tag line, CRS Education: Going Global with Youth, the website can be accessed at http://education.crs.org [youth ministry]
  The sword of islam
(This is an addendum to a blog entry from ten days ago.) Eighty years ago, Mahatma Gandhi contributed this to the Pope’s discussion on reason, faith, violence, and Islam.  Gandhi said, "Mussalmans have an ordeal to pass through. There can be no doubt that they are too free with the knife and the pistol. The sword is an emblem of Islam. But Islam was born in an environment where the sword was, and still remains, the supreme law. The message of Jesus has proved ineffective because the environment was unready to receive it. So with the message of the Prophet. The sword is yet too much in evidence among the Mussalmans. It must be sheathed if Islam is to be what it means – peace." Read more here. [culture]
  Marko’s Maguire Manifesto moment
"Based on all the input we receive from youth workers, and all the youth ministries I observe, I think our collective Achilles heal for decades was arrogance. And this is still present; but I think it’s moved into a second-place spot, behind fear. Fear has become a motivator for way too much of what happens in youth ministry these days. All kinds of fear: fear of parents, fear of church boards, fear of our little kingdoms being threatened, fear of our salaries being threatened. but more than all of these, I’ve seen a fear of culture become a motivating force. Read more here.   [youth ministry]

 

  Tuesday, September 26, 2006
  The Jerry Maguire Manifesto moment
I had a light epiphany moment yesterday about which I will soon write.  From the movie: But if anybody else wants to come with me, this moment will be the ground floor of something real and fun and inspiring and true in this godforsaken business and we will do it together! Who’s coming with me?  [blogging]
  it is on us
During this past weekend’s Meet the Press, in response to a question by Tim Russert, President Clinton said in part: "The biggest problem confronting the world today is the illusion that our differences matter more than our common humanity. That’s what’s driving the terrorism." [culture]
  We carry it upon ourselves
In India, they are preparing for the Jesus Youth gathering. Bishop Aloysius Paul D’Souza of Mangalore, cites the aim of youth ministry and the conference in saying. "We carry it upon ourselves to ensure that the Catholic youth are provided with due instructions in faith as well as the requisite resources and opportunities to mature in their spirituality and thus become the Salt of the Earth.” Read more here. [youth ministry]

  Monday, September 25, 2006
  The generated life
The Generator Blog lists out almost every possible generator site including the South Park Generator which allows you to create self-portraits like this. [funny stuff]

 

  Sunday, September 24, 2006
  The glamorous life
Steve Angrisano arrived in town these weekend for a presentation / youth mass/ concert.  Simple enough, right? Fly in, plug in, set out some CD’s, smile at your hosts and get back home as quickly as possible. Yeah, that’s the way it should have worked!  Except when he flied into Chicago’s windy, rainy, stormy city.  You know you’re in trouble flying when on both your flights you’re able to watch the available movies without actually leaving the ground.  You know you’re in trouble when the guy picking you up at the airport hears you’re late, goes shopping for two hours before arriving to the airport and can still read an entire book about the Deepest Longings of Young People while waiting for you at the airport. You know you’re in trouble when the luggage arrives after a 30 minute wait and is missing 20 other people’s luggage and your guitar. Nonetheless, dinner await you long after midnight. Nonetheless, the next morning, God seemingly placed a Starbucks close by to the Church. Nonetheless, you walk in for your Confirmation Class (100+) presentation on service and there sits your guitar awaiting your arrival at church. Nonetheless, the church was well packed that evening with many parishes participating.  Nonetheless, the line for CD sales keep you there well after the concert. Yeah, it is a good and glamorous life.  [friends and family]

 

  Friday, September 22, 2006
  The Value of sleep
It gets sketchy every now and then… but the cool weather, an open window, a heating blanket on low, and a shot of Bailey’s at bedtime, and I am a new man the next morning- good to go to face the new morning and new challenges.  [work day]

 

  Thursday, September 21, 2006
  Welcome to the Blogosphere
to Boston’s Cardinal Sean O’Malley! News story here.  [blogging]
  Death sucks
There have been at least seven deaths tangential to those in my life in the last ten days.  Let’s offer up prayers fopr the whole slate of them.  Meanwhile, the words of Andy Dufresne from Shawshank Redemption echo through my mind, "Get busy living, or get busy dying." Soooo, got to go get busy… living! [blogging]

 

  Wednesday, September 20, 2006

  The siege and the Geneva convention
Let’s all conduct a little discussion about human dignity and respect for life.  Denzel, the floor is yours (from the seemingly prophetic movie, The Siege.)
[culture]

 

  Tuesday, September 19, 2006
  Don’t you forget about me
   Entertainment Weekly rated out the 50 Best High School Movies of all time. I’ve seen all of the top ten and agree with number 1.  Here’s the top ten.
10. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
9.   Election
8.  Boyz in the Hood
7. Clueless
6. American Graffiti
5. Heathers
4. Rebel Without a Cause
3. Dazed and Confused
2. Fast Times at Ridgemont High
1. The Breakfast Club
I would have rated Ferris and Graffiti higher in the Top Ten. Not sure Boyz or Dazed merited a rating in the Top Ten but Say Anything belonged there, not at #11. Dead Poets #20, Hoosiers #25, To Sir, With Love #27 and Bring It On #30 should have all rated higher than they did. [culture]

 

  Monday, September 18, 2006
  what i did with my weekend
   What?  Beyond the monster Muslim memo below, you mean???  Well, let see…  Iowa over Penn State.  Notre Dame loses to Michigan. Support the son in his new part-time youth ministry at a local church.  (part-time?  Heh… It started with an overnight senior-high lock-in, two hours sleep, an afternoon middle school religious education program, dad delivering Red Bull, and then off to his college campus ministry for the evening.  Welcome to the church, boy!)  Ravens over the Raiders.  Some light therapy by shopping.  Cowboys over the Redskins.  All in all, a restful weekend filled with quality napping.  (To regular reader JC {no, not that JC}. . .  do you see what we sometimes get when I attempt to blog every day??  Sometimes, life just ain’t that interesting!)    [blogging]
  The Fred Factor
   Back in to the business section at the book store and I picked up The Fred Factor.  A motivational speaker gets inspired by the real-life example of his own postal carrier providing quality customer service. This book might have implications for our future Youth Contact meeting related to volunteer recruitment.  But, I also think the connection might be made to my constant topic of discipleship.  So, are you a Fred?  [youth ministry]

 

  Sunday, September 17, 2006
  letting THE pOPE BE POPE
   Yesterday, the New York Times editorial opted to lecture the Pope. "There is more than enough religious anger in the world. So it is particularly disturbing that Pope Benedict XVI has insulted Muslims, quoting a 14th-century description of Islam as ‘evil and inhuman.’" Here is Benedict’s complete speech at Regensburg in which he discusses "why spreading the faith through violence is something unreasonable. Violence is incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of the soul. "God", he says, "is not pleased by blood – and not acting reasonably. (This) is contrary to God’s nature. Faith is born of the soul, not the body. Whoever would lead someone to faith needs the ability to speak well and to reason properly, without violence and threats… To convince a reasonable soul, one does not need a strong arm, or weapons of any kind, or any other means of threatening a person with death…"
   This was a speech given the day after the fifth anniversary of 9/11.  This was a speech given in Germany the day after a 70-year-old Salesian priest was severely injured at his rectory door because his attacker believed he was the "incarnation of evil."  The speech was given in a world of contrasts regarding religious freedom. (Please do click on the picture inserted above to enlarge.)
   The position of the Pope on Islam is unequivocally expressed in the document Nostra Aetate: The Church regards with esteem also the Moslems. They adore the one God, living and subsisting in Himself; merciful and all- powerful, the Creator of heaven and earth, who has spoken to men; they take pains to submit wholeheartedly to even His inscrutable decrees, just as Abraham, with whom the faith of Islam takes pleasure in linking itself, submitted to God. Though they do not acknowledge Jesus as God, they revere Him as a prophet. They also honor Mary, His virgin Mother; at times they even call on her with devotion. In addition, they await the day of judgment when God will render their deserts to all those who have been raised up from the dead. Finally, they value the moral life and worship God especially through prayer, almsgiving and fasting. (n. 3).
   The Pope has nothing for which to apologize. 
   If any Islamic leader want to win credibility on the world stage, they should look the world in its eyes and reject violence. For instance, the heroic editor of the Khaleej Times responded, I must emphasise that it’s important for the Muslims everywhere to respond to all allegations and abuse against their faith and the Prophet with utmost restraint and reason. Of course, they have a right to protest any attempt to denigrate their faith and the Prophet. But any violence in the name of such protests would only prove Islam’s critics right. The best reply to the Pope’s diatribe would be a sincere and systematic movement to present the real face of this great religion before the world. This is a war of ideas.
   Of course, fire bombing two churches in Nablus in the West Bank or burning the Pope in effigy in Jakarta does not necessarily communicate non-violence in the name of Islam, does it?  [pope]

 

  Saturday, September 16, 2006
  the last kiss
"The world is moving so fast now that we start freaking long before our parents did because we don’t ever stop to breathe anymore." Went to see this movie last night.  Because it hit tangentially close to my life in a previous universe, it was one of the most discomforting movies I ever watched.  Nonetheless, the one line that got repeated through the movie was the plaintive "Were you bored?"  In the movie and in life, the reality is that the one reasonable for being bored or overwhelmed is the one who is bored or overwhelmed. "Remember to breathe."  [culture]

 

  Friday, September 15, 2006
  why smart people do dumb things
(Let me let you in on a deep dark digital secret of mine.  I occasionally scan business blogs like this one. Another one had this insightful blog entry synopsized below and it spoke alot to some situations  <<not office related!!!>>  For the full blog entry, read more here.)
These are comments on the book Why Smart People Do Dumb Things by Dr. Mortimer Feinberg and John J. Tarrant, and it answered this question. The authors list four reasons why smart, famous, powerful, and rich people who should obviously know better end up crashing and burning:

• Hubris. Pride to the point that you no longer feel shame, no longer believe that you are subject to public opinion, and no longer need to fear “the gods.” Examples: Gary Hart’s involvement with Donna Rice that ended his run for the presidency and the Dennis Kozlowski’s (Tyco) $2 million toga party.
• Arrogance. From the Latin word arrogare: “to claim for oneself.” Arrogant people believe they have claim to anything and everything they want–they are “entitled” to it. King David, for example, felt entitled to the wife (Bathsheba) of one of his soldiers. Modern day King Davids feel entitled to corporate jets and an entourage to tell them that their keynote speech rocked.
• Narcissism. Self absorption to the point that you are blind to reality. The world only exists to provide you gratification. Examples: Richard Nixon and Watergate; the Clintons and Whitewater—really just about every politician and CEO who falls from grace.
• Unconscious need to fail. If you think failing is hard, try winning. The questions that go through people’s minds when they they are on the doorstep of success are: Do I really deserve to win? Do I want the pressure of constantly having to win in the future? Can I really handle success? Perhaps this explains why professional athletes still take performance enchancement drugs even after watching their colleagues get busted.

The authors go on to discuss maturity (the “capacity to make constructive use of our inmost feelings”) and what they call the “Six Basic Principles of Maturity.”

1. Accept yourself.
2. Accept others.
3. Keep your sense of humor.
4. Accept simple pleasures.
5. Enjoy the present.
6. Welcome work.  [youth ministry]

  survivor
(Click to enlarge.)  [culture]

 

  Thursday, September 14, 2006
  what’s hot, cool, up, down, in, kicking  (whatever the kids call "it" nowadays)
The Center for Parent/Youth Understanding provides updated lists on the latest in pop culture and society. Read more here.  [culture]

 

  Wednesday, September 13, 2006
  kneeling
It’s been very hectic with the weekend away in Texas and now the New Youth Ministers’ Orientation coming into the office today.  There does not seem to have been a chance to breathe, much less anything else so far this week.  Meanwhile the soundtrack in my head reminds me to be Kneeling. [work day]

 

  Tuesday, September 12, 2006
new edition
The office reformatted our e-newsletter and sent it out yesterday.  I’m jazzed about how it all ended up!  Read more here.  [culture]
  disengagement
A new study by The Barna Group (Ventura, California) shows that despite strong levels of spiritual activity during the teen years, most twentysomethings disengage from active participation in the Christian faith during their young adult years – and often beyond that. Read more here.  [youth ministry]

 

  Monday, 9/11/06
our task as catholic Christian Americans
for today, as with everyday, is forgiveness.  [church]

 

  Sunday, September 10, 2006
  quiet noise
When near a large body of water (Corpus Christi Bay) I am usually compelled to find myself waterside when dawn hits- such was the case this morning. It was a light walk and there were just discrete shades of pink behind the large bank of clouds.  The quiet I experienced was stunning.
The water lapped gently against the wall on which I sat. A fishing boat was crawling out of its dock and it’s motor hummed for at least ten minutes until it was both out of sight and earshot. Seagulls flew overhead; their wings slapping against the humid morning air. My own thoughts echoed throughout my head.
The pink evolved into deeper shades of red with beams of yellow leaking between the clouds and then the morning’s blue sky eventually declared itself the sky’s color of the day.   [blogging]

 

  Saturday, September 9, 2006
  greetings from corpus Christi, Texas
Hit the road for the weekend. Walked the downtown area a little last night.  It looked like there was a semblance of nightlife, interesting bars but mostly empty. Headed back to the hotel where the atrium bar was very filled; but the revelers had all been there for quite a while.  Up to the room and called back to Baltimore to wish a constant blog reader a happy Nordic birthday.  Early to bed… early to rise. [blogging]
  no sunsets for meghan
(An in-joke blog promised to my youngest daughter:) Meghan is not failing any classes this semester. We are all very proud of her. [friends and family]

 

  Friday, September 8, 2006
  More on 9/11
(From Youth Specialties:)
A Prayer Service for a National Tragedy. This is a prayer service. During times when our country is being affected by something larger than ourselves, we often ask, "What can I do?" The answer is almost always "pray." This service focuses on the power of prayer.
These Things: A Reading of Memorial and Hope, in Reflection on September 11 by Curt Cloninger
"Where Hope Lives" Script by Dave Tippett  [youth ministry]
Featured articles from the September issue of St. Anthony Messenger recall the 2001 terror attacks in New York, Washington, D.C. and Pennsylvania. Read New York City: Five Years After 9/11, Flight 93 Memorial: Sacred Ground in Pennsylvania and Can We Forgive 9/11? [culture]

 

  Thursday, September 7, 2006
  commemorating 9/11
Not many are aware that while for all American people September 11, 2001 is a black day of mourning and hopelessness, for some it is a day of hope and harmony. It was on September 11,1906, that Mohandas K. Gandhi launched the first major, public nonviolent campaign against race prejudice in South Africa thereby demonstrating to the world that nonviolent resolution of most conflicts is possible. . . Can we observe September 11 as a Day of Prayer for Peace and Harmony? Gandhi’s vision of nonviolence was not a pipe-dream. He demonstrated that we can practice it effectively if we “become the change we wish to see in the world.”  Read more here.  [culture]

 

  Wednesday, September 6, 2006
  examination of conscience ii – not religious but spiritual
We live in a time when young people are caught in a double-even triple-bind concerning religion. Prominent cultural voices insist that faith is always a private, subjective matter; that apart from science, there is no such thing as objective truth. At the same time, a strong presumption in our heterogeneous society insists that tolerance is what makes the whole thing work. As a result, many young people are hesitant to assent to a self-limiting creed, first, because they don’t want to compromise their integrity or their authenticity by committing themselves to what is not objectively verifiable; and second, because they don’t want to seem dogmatic, rigid, or intolerant. . . Such questions typify the quandary of intelligent young people, caught in a seeming paradox between spiritual longing and an inclination to “see through” religion. Read more here.  [youth ministry]

 

  Tuesday, September 5, 2006
  examination of conscience  
A young women, maybe just like the girls in your youth group, blogs about why she have given up on youth group.   Read more here. (A tip of the blog cap to Marko for the link.) [youth ministry]

 

  Monday. September 4, 2006
  labor’s day 
Will the Roman Catholic Church confer sainthood on a Greenwich Village radical and activist who had an abortion, was divorced, and bore a lover’s child out of wedlock? Read more here about Dorothy Day. [church]
  go navy 
Oh, yeah, weekend update: Navy Middies 28-23 over East Carolina on Saturday. Quarterback Brian Hampton ran for 149 of Navy’s 403 yards in the win. Hampton, who runs the option, kept the ball 34 times in his first start for the Midshipmen and also scored on a 2-yard run.  [friends and family]

 

  Sunday. September 3, 2006
  rebuilding his house 
On Thursday, August 31, the Holy Father met with the priests of the Diocese of Albano, where Castel Gandolfo is located, at the Swiss Hall of the Papal summer residence. After a greeting delivered by Mons. Marcello Semeraro, Bishop of Albano, the Pope responded to questions presented by five of the priests present. . . including this one~
D. Gualtiero Isacchi, in charge of the diocesan service for youth ministry: The youth are at the center of greater attention from our diocese, as in all the Church throughout Italy. The World Youth Days have brought many of them to a discovery of faith. So many have responded and are enthusiastic. But generally our parishes are not equipped to take them in properly. The parishes and our pastoral workers are not sufficiently prepared to dialog with them. Priests who are already committed to so many other tasks do not have the time to listen to them properly. One pays them attention when they become a problem or when we need their attendance to liven up a celebration or a feast.
How can it be possible for a priest today to show a preferential attitude for the youth in an already overcrowded pastoral agenda? How can we serve young people on the basis of their values instead of ‘using’ them for our own purposes?
THE POPE: I wish first of all to underscore what you just said. On occasions like World Youth Day or the recent Pentecost Vigil, we see a desire among the youth, a search, we might even say, for God. They want to see if there is a God and if so, what is He telling us. And so there exists an availability, an openness to God, even despite the many difficulties today. And not just availability but enthusiasm.
So we must do what we can to keep this flame alive, a flame that burns brightly on occasions like World Youth Day. What must we do? That is a question we all share.
I think that in this matter precisely is where we must exercise an integrated ministry because not every parish priest really has the time to occupy himself enough with young people. So we need a ministry that transcends the limits of the parish and even the limits of the priest’s work. A ministry that of necessity must involve many workers.
It seems to me that, under the coordination of the Bishop, a way should be found, on the one hand, to integrate the youth into the parish, so that they can be the ferment for parochial life; and on the other hand, to find extra-parochial persons who can work with them. Both should go together.
It must be suggested to our youth that they can integrate themselves into the life of the diocese, not only in parish work but in other contexts which ultimately point them back to their parishes. One must favor all initiatives in this direction.
I think that the concept and experience of volunteer work is very important. Young people should not be left merely to indulging their diversions, but they should be given tasks in which they see that they are needed, in which they have a sense of doing something good for others.
If they feel this impulse to do something good for humanity, for someone, for a group, then they will have a reason to involve themselves and will even find their own positive way of getting involved, their own expression of the Christian ethic.
It is very important that they find tasks that need their involvement, that enable them to render positive service inspired by Christ’s love, so that they themselves will look for the sources they can draw on to find the strength and the commitment for these services.
Another worthwhile experience for them are prayer groups, in which they learn to listen to the Word of God, to learn the Word of God precisely in their situation as young people, and to enter into contact with God.
This means they should learn to take part in the common forms of prayer, the Liturgy, which initially may seem quite inaccessible to them. It would be useful to have classes in liturgy, which they can attend.
This way they will learn that the Word of God seeks us out and speaks to us today even after so long a time [since Christ lived on earth], that we bring the fruits of the earth and our work to the Lord and we find them transformed into gifts of God, that we speak like children to our Father and in turn, we receive the gift of Himself. We receive the mission of going forth into the world with the gift of His Presence.
At the same time, it is useful to have special occasions during which the young people can present themselves in performance. I heard that recently here in Albano, there was a theatrical presentation on the life of St. Francis.
To be involved in something like this means to enter into the person of St. Francis, into his time, and therefore, to widen one’s own personality. This is just an example, and perhaps rather singular. It could be an occasion to educate oneself further, to appreciate the context of Christian tradition, to reawaken the thirst to know better what sources this saint drew from.
He was not just an environmentalist or a pacifist. He was above all a convert. I read with great pleasure that the Bishop of Assisi, Mons. Sorrentino, precisely in order to counteract the popular misuse of the figure of St. Francis, wished to declare the seventh centenary of Francis’s conversion as a "Year of Conversion" to underscore what was the true challenge in the saint’s life.
Perhaps we could all excite young people a little by making them understand what conversion means, using the example of St. Francis to show that conversion is a way to amplify life.
Francis at first was some sort of playboy who later felt that his way of life was unsatisfactory. He heard the voice of the Lord telling him, "Rebuild my house." Gradually, he would learn what it meant to "build the House of the Lord."
At the moment, I do not have answers that are very concrete because, thanks be to God, I find myself at a point where our young people are already united. But we should make use of all the possibilities offered to us by movements, associations, volunteer action, other activities to occupy the youth. We should also present the young people to our parishioners so that they see what they are and what they do. And we need a vocational ministry. All of this must be coordinated by the Bishop.
We will find pastoral workers among the youth themselves if we engage their genuine cooperation. This way, we can open the way to ‘conversion,’ show them the joy of knowing that God exists and cares about us, that we have access to God, and that we can help each other in "rebuilding His House."
In the end, it seems to me, this is our mission, at times difficult, but in the end, something very beautiful – that of constructing the House of God in the world today.
I thank you for your attention and I beg your pardon for the fragmentedness of my answers. We must work together so that the "House of God" may grow in our time, and that many young people will find the path of service to the Lord. [pope]

 

  Saturday, September 2, 2006

  enthusiasm 
The Greeks bequeathed to us one of the most beautiful words in our language—the word ‘enthusiasm’—en theos—a god within. The grandeur of human actions is measured by the inspiration from which they spring. Happy is he who bears a god within, and who obeys it." —Louis Pasteur   [blogging]
  holy act of congress, batman!! 

Someone uncovered this ancient commercial. If’n it were true forty years later.  [culture]

 

  Friday, September 1, 2006
  Disciples and Christaholics 
Many Christians are only "Christaholics" and not disciples at all. Disciples are cross-bearers; they seek Christ. Christaholics seek happiness. Disciples dare to discipline themselves, and the demands they place on themselves leave them enjoying the happiness of their growth. Christaholics are escapists looking for a shortcut to nirvana.
Like drug addicts, they are trying to "bomb out" of their depressing world. There is no automatic joy. Christ is not a happiness capsule; he is the way to the Father. But the way to the Father is not a carnival ride in which we sit and do nothing.  –Calvin Miller  [youth ministry]