When you love the work you do and the people you do it with,
   you matter.

When you are so gracious and generous and aware that you think of other people before yourself,
   you matter.

When you leave the world a better place than you found it,
   you matter.

When you continue to raise the bar on what you do and how you do it,
   you matter.

When you teach and forgive and teach more before you rush to judge and demean, you matter.

When you touch the people in your life through your actions (and your words), you matter.

When kids grow up wanting to be you, you matter.

When you see the world as it is, but insist on making it more like it could be, you matter.

When you inspire a Nobel prize winner or a slum dweller, you matter.

When the room brightens when you walk in, you matter.

And when the legacy you leave behind lasts for hours, days or a lifetime, you matter.

(Lifted from Seth Godin.)

ª Director Colete Kennett in Belleville loves her baseball Cardinals so the July 19th “Family and Friends of Youth Ministry” Day at the Ballpark has to be a special day for her.

ª Our friends in Chicago are probably still drying out from yesterday’s SPLASHaction at Deep River Water Park.

ª Coming up in Joliet at the end of the month is the X-treme Taste of Faith for middle schoolers.

ª There is a page dedicated to the Catholic Committee on Scouting in Peoria

ª Mike Patin is heading to Rockford in September for their Educational Leaders’ Day

ª Springfield has two TEC (Teens Encounter Christ) retreats throughout the summer.

ª Shannon and Orin at Oddwalk Ministries have a blog that often celebrates the fun stuff of their ministries.

For those who are techno-geeky enough to have occasionally watched Steven Jobs do a product announcement on Apple products or i-Phones, you can see that Life Teen President Randy Raus is channeling his best Steven Jobs. (right down to the shirt.)

Anyway, major props to the whole team at Life Teen in putting together resources for the filed of Catholic Youth Ministry including Life Teen & Edge resource subscription options, Parent Life program resources, a Chaplet of the Divine Mercy interactive DVD, a Oneight Confirmation program DVD supplement, and a Catholic Teen Bible by Life Teen.

At 24 minutes, it’s a longer watch than usual, but enjoy. If video is cut off, go here.

This Friday, the Year of the Priest, as declared by Pope Benedict XVI, begins.

The USCCB has pages of information available here.

As was previously hinted here, in the land of ArchBalt we we stole appropriated a good idea from our neighbors in Wilmington. 

We will be offering weekly videos offered by youth, young adults, and priests themselves offering a celebration of the qualities of the good priests present in their lives.  They will be on-line for ArchBalt before on on Fridays and well be posting them here on Sundays as a weekly feature. I edited five yesterday and they look pretty good,

Thanks to Patrick Donovan for this great idea!

ª In Boise, there seems to be some IT difficulties.  The front page of www.catholicidaho.org openly admitted that there are outdated pages.  I found two such pages regarding youth ministry stuff.

Idaho, are there any gems of web-sites or blogs that can help?  Comment away!

I went to portions of a conference this weekend. . . from my living room.  While others might talk about youth ministry and web 2.0, bless these folks or doing something about it. 

HOUMA, LA — Organizers of the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux’s annual Steubenville on the Bayou Catholic Youth Conference are always looking at ways to boost participation. This year’s conference, held at the Houma-Terrebonne Civic Center, marked the first time officials offered a live feed of what’s going on for those unable to attend. “The idea is something we have talked about for a couple of years,” said Sally Dubroc, conference coordinator for Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux Conference Office. “We are doing this to give everyone the opportunity to hear awesome Catholic speakers from all over the country and to see them interact wit the teens.” Read more here.

The following is a light critique about our efforts regarding service.  Perhaps it was the report’s own viewpoint, but I found it a little unsettling. Here a listing of quotes that came out of a recent workcamp.

CARSON CITY, NV –   About 60 young people camped out at a catholic school, bathing in portable showers and sleeping on classroom floors. But the somewhat primitive conditions were of little importance. Their focus remained on the service they were providing.
> “It’s been really good, I’m feeling closer to God with this. I’m finally giving back to the community after all they’ve given me.”
> “We really wanted to have a connection to the elderly and really make a difference in our community. We’re here for one purpose and that purpose is serving.”
> “The guy we were working for started to cry. He was so excited we were there helping him out, That was really touching. It almost brought me to tears.”
> “They just get you motivated and active. It’s just awesome.”
> “One of the biggest reasons most of us are here is to help people in need and know what it means to change people’s lives. It was life-changing for me.”
> “The littlest things can mean so much to people.” 

What’s missing from this Catholic workcamp conversation?  Words such as faith, God, Jesus Catholic….

Aloha.  We are visiting the land of Blessed Father Damien as they eagerly await his canonization.

ª It seems as if there is also anticipation of a potential hiring of a director for Honolulu and the reconstruction of the advisory board in anticipation of that possibility.

Mahalo, friends.  Any great parish sites or blogs we mainlanders should be aware of???

According to a recent survey by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, 54 percent of children raised unaffiliated with a religion later choose one — three-fourths of them by age 24. On Sunday, the New York Times told the story of one such young person

IN April, Bob Sweeney’s son, Ryan, 13, suddenly announced he wanted to start going to church. While Mr. Sweeney had been quite religious once, he’d stopped attending church 40 years ago, and he and his wife had raised their son without religion.

On the ride home from middle school (one day,) Ryan said, “You know what we’re doing this weekend, Dad?”

“No,” Mr. Sweeney said, figuring he had forgotten one of his son’s track meets.

“We’re going to church,” Ryan said.      Read more here.

In the land of Peaches, we resume our third week examining the State of Youth Ministry:

ª Down in ATL, they hold CLI at SCC.  (Atlanta, Christian Leadership Institute, Southern Catholic College)

ª Within Savannah, Macon County Deanery’s Youth Jam will be on August 18.  Also, a little investigation uncovered that diocesan director Chuck Frost is the guitar players for the Fisheyed Fools!

It would be the pits if Georgians did not comment and let us all know of great parish sites or blogs from their state!

I didn’t go once last year at all. It used to be that I would get to a game four-seven times a year.

But, today…  with a mostly sunny day predicted with 80° temps. with a winning pitcher on the mound and a win over the Braves last night . . . 

you will find me down the right field foul line cheering for them O’s.  Play Ball!

<<UPATE:>> Ty Wigginton’s two homers and Robert Andino’s trio of RBIs highlighted a huge day and helped back Brad Bergesen’s complete game as the O’s drubbed the Braves, 11-2.