One of the stupidest scandals in Christianity involves the territorial in-fighting over the sacred spaces involving sacred space.

Here’s a video mocking the very same. This misbehavior, culled from real news footage, does not tell a positive story of faith.

Yet, doesn’t this all work into the call for Spiritual Bipartisanship that Kristin Witte made during the Youth Contact meetings last month?

It’s as if we imagine the Lord God tallying up points that we score on behalf of our own righteousness. We have completely missed the point of the Gospels.

I’ve really tired of going for the win, but I do want to find a way to tell a better story with my life.

Over the next four weeks, we continue our examination of the Emmaus Walk, offering a critical look into the journey through these perspective.

> We talk a look at the Emmaus story from the perspective of the disciples.

> We’ve heard faith formation involves head, heart, and hands.  Is that all of it?
> Educators look towards the learning domains of Affective, Behavioral, and Cognitive.  Did Jesus appeal to the same?

> There’s been lots of talk about content regarding adolescent faith formation…  Where does that all fit in

> We will take a look at the USCCB’s pastoral plan for adult faith formation. In Our Hearts are Burning Within Us, we will examine the characteristics of a mature adult faith that the General Directory for Catechesis clarifies as involving “a living, explicit, and fruitful confession of faith.”

> And, just in case the point can not be made any other way, we’ll throw in characters from the classic movie The Wizard of Oz, just for good measure. 

(Meanwhile, it’s been a while since we offered a reminder that follow the whole series here.

I’m still thinking and praying about our brother-in-ministry Marko.  His predecessor at Youth Specialties was Mike Yaconelli who once wrote this article on 10 Easy Steps to Guarantee a Successful Youth Ministry.  Know that Yac had his tongue firmly planted in his sarcastic, edgy cheek as he suggested such things as dumbing down the gospel, letting youth group take the place of church, and never allowing down time.

Read the article. It makes for a healthy examination of a youth minister’s conscience.

The Emmaus walk is important regarding Christian formation because it was the first presentation of the Christian story. More importantly, it is Christ himself offering the premier presentation of the Christian story.

At the end of any true presentation of the Christian message, the response should be the same. The one presenting the Christian message should be recognized.  There should be a point where “eyes were opened” and the teacher teacher gets recognized.  Not as a teacher, but as THE Teacher. “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was speaking to us on the road, while he was explaining the Scriptures to us?”

And this is where it starts. “Apostolic succession” runs through story after story of a teacher encountering those along the journey who eventually become teachers as well. The story each time seems to involve walking with involves the least likely, encouraging and affirming the most unsuccessful, and lifting up weaknesses that can be strengthened through humility and prayer.

(Update:  Embedded video was not working. Here’s another.)

I’ve been reading Donald Miller’s A Million Miles in a Thousand Years.

I had heard of Blue Like Jazz, but never read it.  I understood that Million Miles was going to be about “editing” one’s life into a better story. So I bought four copies because I thought it might play into an office project.  Four copies on a blind whim… really, that’s not me.

When the books arrived, instead of delivering them right way, I put them aside.  I started reading that night and got halfway through. 

The next morning, the books were on everybody’s desk. It’s a wonderful, challenging read.

At the office, we walk for lunch or back and forth from the parking garage alot.  When I’m by myself, I’ll set the pace depending on what’s going on around me…  A little more leisurely is the sun is offering warmth, a brisker gait is the winds are whipping around the buildings from the west. 

But, when I’m with others, I find myself attempting the walk at another’s pace.  The younger ladies move a little faster, another moves a little more slowly , and yet still another, especially when she is not feeling well, walks deliberately – - you can detect that she’s hurting.  

Another lesson of the Emmaus walk comes from “Jesus himself drew near and walked with them.”  Jesus did not walk at the pace of a lesson plan, a curriculum, or a framework. He walked with them, at their pace.

Sometimes, what constitute a catholic youth ministry news item should probably takes us out of the catholic youth ministry world, and invite us to examine the mainstream news.  Below, Steve Breen at the San Diego Tribune just does exactly that. 

Catholic Relief Services is responding  and no one had to launch themselves in a homemade balloon.

You get defined by the direction that your story takes.  This is but one of the many lessons of the Emmaus walk.

The two disciples were “going to a village seven miles from Jerusalem called Emmaus,” They were going to a village called Emmaus. They were going seven miles from Jerusalem.

At this point of the story, will these two become define by the direction of to Emmaus or from Jerusalem?

“Jesus himself drew near and walked with them, but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him.”

How could they possibly recognize him?  He drew near and walked with them – - that’s the act of a living being.  The Jesus that these two knew (or thought that they knew) was dead and buried.  Death can be an unknown causing fear. “Walking with” is an act of life and love. We all know this!  Ask your spouse, your kid; ask any dog!

At this point of the story, will Jesus become defined by death and fear or life and love?

He asked them, “What are you discussing as you walk along?”

The following is a Catholic News Service article authored by columnist Father Eugene Hemrick.  My first notice of the article came from John Rinaldo on San Jose’s blog and then I found it reprinted in the Sunday bulletin for Immaculate Conception in Hendersonville, NC.

As I flew to Chicago recently for a youth ministry meeting, I wondered, “Why am I doing this?” During my first pastoral assignment, I was in charge of youth ministry. I spent many evenings chaperoning dances. Then for five years I was a campus minister, living in a dorm with students who acted out all sorts of rites of passage. During my postgraduate studies, I was once again in a dorm with young students. Eventually I felt I had paid my dues in youth ministry, so I moved on to ministering to families and the aged. That Chicago meeting dramatically changed my attitude, however. It helped me to realize that no matter our stage in life, youth ministry is a lifelong mission.

Why do I say this? Between 2001 and 2005, the National Study of Youth and Religion found that 84 percent of Catholic youth see their faith as extremely to somewhat important. The survey was funded by the Lilly Endowment under the direction of Christian Smith, professor of sociology at the University of Notre Dame, and Lisa Pearce, assistant professor of sociology at the University of North Carolina.

The survey’s results are good news. But what is disturbing is that a significant number of Catholic youth cannot verbalize what their faith is. The concepts found in our creed are either foreign to them or vaguely understood. Furthermore, today’s youth are exposed to drugs more than generations before them, are increasingly raised by a single parent and live in a highly stimulated culture that often nullifies any taste for life-giving reflection and contemplation.

New challenges face youth. How do we attract Hispanic youth, get on the wavelength of African-Americans and relate to Middle Eastern cultures? What in Catholic liturgies needs re-examination to reflect our multicultural church? It has been proven that those who cohabit before marriage have a greater probability of divorce. This is a critical message that is vital for youth to help them enter wholesome marriages.

The aforementioned is only the tip of the iceberg of youth issues. Youth ministry is not solely about people getting a degree in this field and working with youth. For it to be successful, parents, priests and the entire parish community need to be involved. But how do we accomplish this with both parents working and priests keeping a greater distance from youth after the news of sex abuse scandals?

How do we come together in a spirit that says, “We are all in this together and need to roll up our sleeves for the task”? As these questions buzzed around in my head on my return from Chicago, they reminded me that we never pay our dues fully when working with youth. Youth ministry is a lifelong vocation.