Sunday, December 31, 2006
AULD LANG SYNE
  Nothing against the Scottish and their need to commemorate "times gone by," but I am so ready for the new year. In previous year-ending postings, I’ve done the classic "review/ best of" thing. I’m gonna pass on that this year.  Not that it hasn’t been a memorable year- – - there has been much good worth commemorating.  But, all the good stuff has truly felt as if they were not ends unto themselves but the means to something more. To describe it as a transitional year, however, is an injustice as well.
  Change is coming and I’m happy to be in the midst  of all.
  But, I’m excited about the growth and changes happening in the lives of myself and my kids. I am energized about my various many projects in the works.  I’m eager to unleash some new design stuff for the web site which should begin to go live… tomorrow! Bring on 2007 and let us be intentional with the gift of one more year offered to us.  Stephen Covey offers a great reminder for us all as we enter the next twelve moths: Anything less than a conscious commitment to the important is an unconscious commitment to the unimportant.  [blogging]
A NOD, NONETHELESS, TO THE UNIMPORTANT
John in Connecticut forwarded his congratulations regarding this news item he discovered:
"Citation," Scott Miller (Sugar Hill). "Citation," the third solo studio album by former V-Roy Scott Miller, takes a little more time to warm up to than previous efforts, but it’s worth the effort. "Citation" swerves from a bluegrassy song about Sam Houston to a steamy take on the loss of innocence, and hits cruising speed with a churning rock commentary on the Iraq war, "8 Miles a Gallon."  Takes a little more time to warm up, but it’s worth the effort.  A fitting epitaph, doncha’ think?  [funny business]

Saturday, December 30, 2006
A MOTIVE OF SADNESS
  With regard to the capital punishment of Saddam Hussein, which happened last night, the director of Press Office of the Holy See, Fr. Federico Lombardi S.J., released the following declaration to journalists this morning.
Capital punishment is always tragic news, a motive of sadness, even when it’s a case of a person guilty of grave crimes.
  The position of the Catholic Church against the death penalty has been confirmed many times.
  The execution of the guilty party is not a path to reconstruct justice and to reconcile society. Indeed, there is the risk that, on the contrary, it may augment the spirit of revenge and sow seeds of new violence.
In this dark time in the life of the Iraqi people, it can only be hoped that all the responsible parties truly will make every effort so that, in this dramatic situation, possibilities of reconciliation and peace may finally be opened. [church]
HISTORY OF RELIGION IN 90 SECONDS
Here’s a fascinating look at the world wide expanse of religion throughout all of history.   See it here. [culture]
NUEVO CATHOLICS
The New York Times Sunday Magazine reports: Nationally, Hispanics account for 39 percent of the Catholic population, or something over 25 million of the nation’s 65 million Roman Catholics; since 1960, they have accounted for 71 percent of new Catholics in the United States. The vast increase, both proportionally and in absolute numbers, is mostly because of the surge in immigration from Latin America, above all from Mexico, that has taken place over the course of the past three decades. Today, more than 40 percent of the Hispanics residing in the United States, legally and illegally, are foreign-born, and the fate of the American Catholic Church has become inextricably intertwined with the fate of these immigrants and their descendants.  (Read more here. ) UPDATE: A critique of the Times article can be read here. [church]

Friday, December 29, 2006
  THE GOOD SHEPHERD
A statement oft repeated in recovery groups is that "you are only as sick as your secrets."  The movie The Good Shepherd is about the sickness of secrets.  As a story about the formation and development of the CIA, it was surely timed as a critique of the Bush Administrations’ (both Bush I and Bush II) sense of being enamored with the power of the secret and who knows what, when, where, and how.  It is certainly to be found within the movie.  But, for me, it also powerfully portrayed the sickness of secrets within relationships. Transparency in relationships is always the way to go.  But, I have learned to also not become caught into the web of other peoples’ deceits, deceptions, and duplicity. Lord, help me to clearly be the best me that I can be, no other than the one who came from my mother and the one who is brother to my brothers. Lord, help me to clearly be the best me that I can be.  [blogging]
  FURTHER ADVENTURES IN MISSING THE POINT
At the year’s end, TIME magazine has a large slate of top-ten lists.  One worth noting and reviewing is the Top Ten Underreported Stories of the Year. What should we know that we don’t about Somalia, the Congo, and Afghanistan? Have we been sweating about the bird flu and ignoring TB? [culture]

Thursday, December 28, 2006
  OUR LONG NATIONAL NIGHTMARE
"I believe that truth is the glue that holds government together, not only our Government but civilization itself. … In all my public and private acts as your President, I expect to follow my instincts of openness and candor with full confidence that honesty is always the best policy in the end. My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over." - President Gerald R. Ford, upon taking the oath of office following the resignation of Richard Nixon.  Since he was not confirmed by ballots in 1974, he asked to be confirmed by prayer.  Listen to it here. [culture]

Wednesday, December 27, 2006
  CHURCH COMMUNICATORS
Outreach magazine has listed their top 20 web sites for church communicators.  If it is any noteworthiness, I was already a regular visitor on five of their recommended sites.  [blogging]
  A PATH TO FOLLOW
“As a matter of course, every young Catholic man should consider (the priesthood) as an option in his life,” said Father Shooner, associate director of the Archdiocese of Louisville Vocation Office. “I know that sounds like a departure from reality. But that is the broad view." "To bring about such a reality," he said, “you have to create a culture that values that life-choice and recognizes such a vocation, not as an aberration, but as a realistic path to follow.”  Read more here. [church]

Tuesday, December 26, 2006
  GOOOOOOD MORNING, BLOGOSPHERE!!
  Last night, for Christmas dinner, my daughter Nichole prepared Roast Beef and Cheesy Potatoes.  Very satisfied with the outcome of her efforts, she reported that "This was a meal worthy of a dad blog mention."  And it was! [family & friends]
  THE DOUBLE MASS CHALLENGE
As many others did on the 24th, we went to two masses in less than twelve hours.  The parish mass was a little different and was followed by a news worthy conversion of the church. Read more here. Then, for the sake of variety, we attended a crowded but nonetheless smaller mass at St. Anthony Shrine. [parish]
  YOU CAN’T BYE A CHRISTMAS MOMENT LIKE THIS!
Sports bars are wonderful places. The kids and I were well parked at Champs to cheer for the Ravens over the much hated Steelers as well as to watch the Indianapolis (nee Baltimore) Colts doing one of the great season-ending swan dives since the ’69 Phillies.  It was beautiful. [family & friends]
  PERSON OF THE YEAR
Swear to God – - I’m updating my resume.  After being named TIME magazine’s person of the year, and now blogging self-referentially about it, I think I’ve earned the resume line addition for my accomplishments. Read more here. [culture]
  IN THE NEWS
While I was on holiday hiatus- Katie Couric and CBS news did a report on youth ministry.  See more here. [youth ministry]
  ROCKY BALBOA
Traveled north to experience the wonder that is Rocky with my Philadelphia-based and Balboa-obsessed brothers. The quote: "Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It is a very mean and nasty place and it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t how hard you hit; it’s about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward. How much you can take, and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done. Now, if you know what you’re worth, then go out and get what you’re worth. But you gotta be willing to take the hit, and not pointing fingers saying you ain’t where you are because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that and that ain’t you. You’re better than that!" [culture]

Saturday, December 16, 2006
  AND THIS SHALL BE A SIGN UNTO YOU
  Until the next, may the peace of Christ be with you.  Allow the moments to the holiday to be a sign unto you. Merry Christmas! [family & friends]
CLOSED FOR THE HOLIDAYS
  I have family around for the holidays. . . I am really going to attempt to concentrate on some projects and, therefore, am going to focus my writing energies there instead of this blog. . . Whenever, I do shut down my daily postings on the blog, I do find it a little restorative. . .
So. . ., despite an uptick in traffic recently (of which I am grateful and a little bit amazed and humbled) and a little need to feed the beast of that traffic, I’m about to engage in my longest self-imposed break from blogging. You will find no updates on this site until December 26. 
  Please know that you are all in my prayers during these seasons of waiting and new life. Please pray for me as well as I can use whatever assistance God might extend my way. [blogging]

Friday, December 15, 2006
THE COMPANY OF MEN
  I am blessed to have some truly great women in my life.  They are bright, imaginative, passionate, and they seemingly are foolish enough to love me without any ‘romantic’ complications.
  Last night was not about them, however.  A new partnership is developing on a project that we might see in the new year.  It involved a dinner with one of the guy partners and an airport pick-up on another. . . except that was the planned schedule in reverse. Air travel complications prevented us all from gathering together but I was blessed to spend time with each of them.  Guys can be bright, imaginative, passionate, and free of posturing when there is service to be done- for the greater community and with friends they value and respect.
  And they seemingly are foolish enough to love me as well (errr, ummm, and without any ‘romantic’ complications.) [family & friends]

Thursday, December 14, 2006
HANGIN’ AT THE MALL WITH MY LORD AND SAVIOR
"Jesus went to the mall and a movie Saturday. As one might have hoped, he was welcome wherever he went. The life-size cutout of Jesus was accompanied by a youth group from Lamoni United Methodist Church who came to Jordan Creek Town Center in West Des Moines to view the movie The Nativity Story." Read more here. [youth ministry]
MYSPACE TOPS YAHOO
"The online hangout MySpace got even more popular in November, beating Yahoo in Web traffic for the first time, a research company said Tuesday." Read more here. [culture]
I GET PAID FOR THIS STUFF?
Today, I came into the office late, loaded up Christmas gifts to be sent to a charity, worked on the office newsletter, developed a power-point Christmas trivia game (which I advanced the effort of Doug Field’s folks), and had really long conversation with others about the future. Tomorrow, is the first of three office parties. [work day]

Wednesday, December 13, 2006
THE TRUE MEANING OF CHRISTMAS
Last year, I helped to lead the charge on obnoxious decorating of our offices for Christmas. (See the Dec. 3 entry from last year.) This year, I am a slacker, making the final addition to our staff’s "decking the hall" this morning.  I’ve added a string of Christmas lights around my door that offer the black light effect and look sorta purple-ish.  Then, I have added a large note to my door that reads, "Dear Santa, all I want for Christmas is for the Baltimore Ravens to beat the Pittsburgh Steelers on Christmas Eve. Scott. PS. Oh, yea, and peace on earth and goodwill to all humanity. PPS. and toss in a Wii, too [work day]

Tuesday, December 12, 2006
15
Because I know how Scott in Massachusetts worries about this stuff, my youngest daughter turns 15 today.  People driving on the roads of Florida should be advised. Happy b-day, sweetie! Hurry up north this weekend!  (Begin packing now!!) [family & friends]
THE BELLS. . .  THE BELLS
At the Basilica across the street, the bells are ringing.  It is really something that we have lost in America.  I’ve been to Germany and have heard the bells. I’ve been to the Holy Land and have heard the call to prayer over the Islam sponsored loud-speaker.  It is a gentle disruption in our day of which we don’t often have a daily experience anymore. I like the bells. [blogging]

Monday, December 11, 2006
WILL "THE NATIVITY STORY" SURVIVE UNTIL CHRISTMAS?
The Nativity Story opened at 4th in the box office stats last weekend.  This weekend it dropped down to 8th. Ironically, Mel Gibson’s Apocalypto opened this weekend and won. [culture]

Sunday, December 10, 2006
BRINGING YOUTH MINISTRY OUT OF THE 20TH CENTURY
TIME magazine has a cover story about the future of education.  Listen to how their report starts and wonder to yourself…  could the same be true of catholic youth ministry in the last two-three decades????
There’s a dark little joke exchanged by educators with a dissident streak: Rip Van Winkle awakens in the 21st century after a hundred-year snooze and is, of course, utterly bewildered by what he sees. Men and women dash about, talking to small metal devices pinned to their ears. Young people sit at home on sofas, moving miniature athletes around on electronic screens. Older folk defy death and disability with metronomes in their chests and with hips made of metal and plastic. Airports, hospitals, shopping malls—every place Rip goes just baffles him. But when he finally walks into a schoolroom, the old man knows exactly where he is. "This is a school," he declares. "We used to have these back in 1906. Only now the blackboards are green."
  American schools aren’t exactly frozen in time, but considering the pace of change in other areas of life, our public schools tend to feel like throwbacks. Kids spend much of the day as their great-grandparents once did: sitting in rows, listening to teachers lecture, scribbling notes by hand, reading from textbooks that are out of date by the time they are printed. A yawning chasm (with an emphasis on yawning) separates the world inside the schoolhouse from the world outside.  Read more here. [youth ministry]
ADVENT-UALLY WE’LL GET TO CHRISTMAS
The head cold introvert in me recouped from Vegas by laying low in the apartment this weekend, venturing out only for groceries and one meal.  Today begins the Christmas tour.  The Our Lady of Guadalupe Mass is followed by an office related open house. Out-of-town guests bookend this week which finishes with an office party and the beginning of a Meghan visit. Meghan will assist with the selection of the tree and the final decking of the halls. Next week, three parties, Meghan is still over, and the week concludes with the Millers’ celebration of the premier of Rocky Balboa. Hoping to work in the celebration of Christ’s birth into the whole experience. [family & friends]
ADVENT-UALLY NOT READY FOR CHRISTMAS
Just took MSNBC’s holiday movie quiz. Sadly, I only answered 64% of the questions correctly earning a grade of "Fair." I was told that I "should really study up on your holiday movie lore. If I don’t start doing better on these tests, I might be held back a grade, and have to repeat Christmas again next year."  [culture]

Saturday, December 9, 2006
CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP
Dietrich Bonhoeffer in Life Together reminds us that "The first service that one owes to others in community consists in listening to them. Just as love for God begins with listening to His Word, so the beginning of love for the brethren is learning to listen to them. It is God’s love for us that He not only gives His Word but also lends us His ear … Many people are looking for an ear that will listen. They do not find it among Christians because these Christians are talking where they should be listening. But he who can no longer listen to his brother will soon be no longer listening to God either; he will be doing nothing but prattle in the presence of God. This is the beginning of the death of the spiritual life, and, in the end, there is nothing left but spiritual chatter and clerical condescension arrayed in pious words" [church]
GOD’S INBOX
Obviously through some deep investigative reporting, TIME magazine offers a look at God’s desktop. Besides that God is (this year, at least, a New Orleans Saints fan) we discover that many have been praying for the unbelievers to perish. See it here. [funny business]
THE AFTERMATH
Post-Vegas recuperation has thus far sucked.  I clearly blew out my sleep patterns with last weekend’s social schedule.  I have a head cold and am generally draggy. If this is the basic effect of the NCCYM on all youth ministry types, perhaps we should rethink running a national conference. . .  NAHHHHH!!!   [blogging]

Friday, December 8, 2006

HAND-MOTIONS IN HEAVEN
Live from the stage in Vegas come the new classic "Hand-Motions in Heaven"  Must-See TV.  You can also find the Jesse/Padgett danceoff here. [funny business]

Thursday, December 7, 2006
A MANDATORY RANT
Today is another meeting of our Confirmations task group who are planning our Bishops’ Summit on the Sacrament of Confirmation. One of the anticipated results of our May gathering is that we curb the use of the word "mandatory" in anything that we do with the sacrament of Confirmation.  You know. . . the mandatory parent meeting, the mandatory retreat, the mandatory group service project.   When we do that, we are setting up that young people and their families conform to our agenda and our program rather that treating confirmation as another moment in our continuing evangelization of them.  Relying on the power of "mandatory" is lazy ministry and not within the style of the One who washed the feet of his disciples.  Confirmation in almost all parishes is one of the largest programs that we have – - – we should give it our fullest and best efforts to make it so significant that young people do not "graduate" from our efforts but "commence" their own living, explicit, and fruitful confession of faith. (And my youngest daughter Meghan would say) End rant! [youth ministry]
IRRESISTIBLE
She is the flame and I am but a moth. The New York Times provides a profile of Kristin Chenoweth. It seems that she has a new album of Christian songs, a new production of Broadway, and a flakey love of her dog…  And yet, I love the woman. [culture]

Wednesday, December 6, 2006

THE WAY BAPTISM SHOULD BE
Often, the act of total immersion is a sense of submission, entrusting the baptizer to dunk us back into the holy waters and bring us back into new life.   Nonetheless, in typical younger person fashion, I think this kid has a different theology with slightly more gusto. (Kudos to Marko for this one!)  [funny business]

Tuesday, December 5, 2006
CATCH UP DAY
Both at office and on blog, today was spent catching up.  NCCYM documented below. [blogging]

Monday, December 4, 2006
SHORTEST DAY OF THE YEAR
Yes, I know that it is actually the winter solstice still a few weeks away.  But waking up after a few nights of short sleep, packing quickly early in the morning, and getting on Southwest before breakfast is not the way to start a day. Add to that a four hour flight and a three time zone jump, and you are throwing your bags into your own car at sundown hungry for dinner. [work day]

Sunday, December 3, 2006
NCCYM GENERAL SESSION 3
Dr. Sr. Jamie Phelps took the stage today. I can’t comment much with out re-listening to the tape. My hope is that she was being prophetic and that made her difficult to listen to.  My immediate reaction was that she was possibly angry. [church]
CLOSING LITURGY- WHY I GET WEEPY AT MASS
My father passed away over 20 years ago. Whenever my three young brothers, their families, and my mother get together (which is rarer than it should be), we do head off invariably to Mass.  My mom always gets a little weepy during the Eucharistic Prayer.  I came to understand that as my own kids got older and we would invariably gather at the altar ourselves. I would also get a little leaky.  At the closing liturgy, my eyes also began to well up.  It’s a family thing. [family & friends]
GOLFING WITH THE ANGELS
There were three options- a best ball tournament on a regulation 18, a chip-and-putt par three course, and a pitting tournament (on very long putting greens- no there were not windmills) Having had my set of golf clubs sold out from under me over ten years ago, I wanted to participate in the tournament without actually golfing much. I was partnered up for putting with Msgr. Michael Cherup of the Catholic Youth Foundation (the beneficiaries of the tournament) and Mike Patin (known trash-talker).  I must say- it was one of the finest days of my affiliation with the NFCYM.  I literally laughed and laughed throughout the entire course.  I had wonderful post-golf conversation and wonderful dinner companions.  The surprise of the night was that I actually won the putting tournament!!! [family & friends]

Saturday, December 2, 2006
NCCYM GENERAL SESSION 2
The day started with the morning… well, duh.  But, it was a morning worth starting the day.  Mike Patin was up to bat and he was swinging for the fences.  I watched the presentation from back-stage clicking away at a power-point (which is challenging in getting into a rhythm with a speaker, having not heard the full text and learning live in front of hundreds of people.)  Nonetheless, some of the visuals that I contributed got an audible reaction from the participants and Mike, I hope, ended up looking great.  [family & friends]
BEST PRACTICES IN ADOLESCENT CATECHESIS
And here came the vision thing, in which I was fortunate enough to participate.  Maura Haggerty looked at RTV and the GDC and found the convergence. I suggested that regarding Catholic Identity we find many in today’s generation "spiritually homeless" and that it is time to add to Head (cognitive) , Heart (affective), and Hands (behavioral) with Home/ Feet (Spiritual).  Mike Carotta chimed in that we need to drive kids out of their minds and into the mind of Jesus and the Church. Carmen Cervantes  suggested we get out of the way of the Hispanic community in addressing the needs of their own culture. Bishop Malone from Portland spoke of the Bishops offering an upcoming sequence of subject matter for adolescent catechesis.  Carotta suggested that is was the closest thing to a "poetry slam" that he has ever participated in.  Both the participants and he panelists will continue reverberating from this one. [youth ministry]
BIRTHDAY PARTY
And here came the vision thing The "evangeltainers" took the stage by storm and had us rolling in laughter with a comedy perspective on the 25 years of Catholic youth ministry. It was brilliant! Great Moments in Youth Ministry, another skit on catholic youth ministers dating and "Hand Motions in Heaven" were the highlights. [youth ministry]

Friday, December 1, 2006
NCCYM GENERAL SESSION 1
Father Allen Deck was first up this morning.  He spoke of evangelization and how the American church needs to recognize her evolving hispanic face.  We evangelize so that God’s mission has a church.  [church]
BEST PRACTICES IN ADOLESCENT CATECHESIS
Leroy Orie of Richmond was one of the panelist for this first session in the track.  He had a clear presentation on a thoughtful design of his parish program.  Also featured was a vacation bible school format as well as a multi-faceted program presented by a local. [youth ministry]
AWARDS
The session mixed a wonderful min-keynote with ValMar Jensen and the award winners.  Co-worker Kristen was be-spackled and she and co-presenter Kevin Driscoll (in a tux) added a touch of class to the event. [family & friends]

Thursday, November 30, 2006
BLOG ENCOURAGEMENT
Scott from Malden comes up to me in the NCCYM hallways and acknowledges that my oldest recently turned 22.  What’s up with that???  Oh, yeah— there are actually a few folks that read these ramblings.  I had a handful of comments from the likes of my Boston-area blog reader.  It was very encouraging.  Thanks to all those who offered generous encouragement yesterday. [blogging]
24 HOURS IN A DAY
Was awake for a complete day’s worth of activity yesterday.  Served as airport limo service for two folks on our way to Vegas. The long airplane ride followed aand we arrived for a 10 am (PST) breakfast.  Took a luxurious tour of the exhibit hall, attended portions of the NACYML meeting yesterday, worked on Patin’s power point, read and finished my 5 Dysfunctions book, attended a sponsored dinner (err- healthy appetizers actually), went to a regional mass, and then attended the opening session. (See more elsewhere.) The night concluded with a run out to a neighboring bar (in Vegas, who would’a thunk?) and a return to the hotel and crashing two parties.  Not bad for the first day of the conference- 24 hours, 1 full meal, lot of fun. [work day]
NCCYM OPENING SESSION
Lots of video in last nights opening session, which to a tech-ish guy was appealing.  The Angel golf tournament video, a welcome to Vegas, and a animated introduction to Bob McCarty last night were some of the highlight.  Bob’s comments are synopsized here by Margmor. On the low-tech side but just out-and-out-funny-from-an-unexpected-source was the greeting from the Vegas Religious Education Office, Sr. Pat.  Jesse Manibusen was delightful as the MC, the music was hot, and the prayer was deep.  We are off and starting. [youth ministry]