Each August since 1998, Beloit College has released the Beloit College Mindset List, providing a look at the cultural touchstones that shape the lives of students entering college this fall. It was originally created as a reminder to faculty to be aware of dated references, and quickly became a catalog of the rapidly changing worldview of each new generation. As for the entering college this year, the class of 2015 has no memory whatever of George Herbert Walker Bush as president, they came into existence as Bill Clinton came into the presidency.

>> Ferris Bueller and Sloane Peterson could be their parents.
>> Their school’s “blackboards” have always been getting smarter.
>> Amazon has never been just a river in South America.
>> Music has always been available via free downloads.
>> Public schools have always made space available for advertising.
>> Altar girls have never been a big deal.
>> Refugees and prisoners have always been housed by the U.S. government at Guantanamo.
>> “PC” has come to mean Personal Computer, not Political Correctness.

The cultural references of kids keeps changing, it might be good for you and/or your volunteers to update yoursevles by reviewing the whole list.

Never forget.

Never forget.

9/11 is a defining moment for a generation and so we commemorate it today. 

On your left, America Magazine’s Father James Martin offers a video pilgrimage of New York’s Ground Zero. (Of course, Ground Zero is also found at the Pentagon, in Southwest Pennsylvania, and within our cultural psyche.)

Below right, filmmaker Andrew Jenks produced a short film for MTV in which a cross-section of the country’s millennial generation give their personal accounts of that historic day: where they were, who they were with and how 9/11 has impacted their lives.

Our prayer today is for the Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time which is also Patriot_Day:

How long, O Lord, will it take to forgive my brother? Seven years? Seven decades? Seventy times seven years?

We are the Lord’s, yet, do we desire to set the pattern of our relationships to reflect our relationship with our Creator? Do we remember the Most High’s covenant of love and aspire for something more – even mercy?

Redeem us, Lord, from destruction – in our lives, in our relationships, in our world.  Lord, help us to forgive and place all transgressions away as far as the east is from the west. Put away our transgressions that separate us from You.

We will never forget Your mercy and love.

It is the first second Saturday of the month so it must be time, overdue actually, for a “CaptionThis” contest.

So, after the whole cowboy incident and the subsequent bowling pin encounter, I now walk through my life wondering if there would ever be another similar CaptionThis event in my life…

This one is in honor of the near-end of the baseball season (the Orioles wrapped it up in like June) and the beginning of professional football. I was recently reminded of this incident from spring training from a few years back. (Oh, and be advised that the posting of this picture in no way serves as an acknowledgement or endorsement of Talk like a Pirate Day to be celebrated on September 19th.)

Contenders:
> Shannon’s Hey look! People actually go to Pirates game.
> Fr. Austin’s It’s not easy being green…so I compensate by eating youth ministers.
> Mike Patin’s The Pirate mascot has decided to abandon Jared’s Subway menu for the “less filling” Miller brain.

But Katie Corrnell takes the honored “CYM no prize.” with Youth ministers – nom nom – tastes like chicken!

Our hope is that . .  we will see youth ministers and all ministers
working to integrate each families’ faith and life-style
with that of the larger Christian family of parish and diocese

In 1980, the National Catholic Youth Organization Federation (predecessor to today’s NFCYM) published Hope for the Decade: A Look at the Issues Facing Catholic Youth Ministry.

Throughout Fridays in September, we are pulling a few quotes, wondering about change and growth in our field.

Previously: Hope for the Parish

Amy Welborn recently wrote an article that appeared in the Knights of Columbus Headline Bistro that deserves our attention – not only for the topic matter as well as for its intended audience. (h/t to Matthew Warner for pointing out the article) All that hyper inking is there ‘cause we are going to do something we rarely do – -  run the whole article…

Catholics fret about youth ministry. They worry about the kids and the young adults and how best to reach them and keep them and lure them back. Every few years a new wave of models and programs surges through the American Catholic landscape, promising new levels of “engagement” and “relevance.”

Some of these efforts are probably effective, others are window-dressing, and still others are just more of the same, just with different slang.

Last week – as anyone who isn’t totally dependent on the secular media (which barely covered it) is aware – more than a million Catholic teens and young adults, along with hundreds of clergy and religious, gathered in Madrid with the Holy Father for World Youth Day. 

Anyone interested in the question of how to minister to young Catholics might want to set aside – just for a few minutes – all the expert advice you’ve bought and paid for over the years and watch and listen to what the Holy Father said during his time with these millions of young people. No charge.

(more…)

In a recent J-League match, Kashima Antlers trailed Cerezo Osaka 1-0 in the first half when a free kick ended up safely in the hands of Cerezo keeper Jin-Hyeon Kim.

The goalkeeper can walk the ball up a little bit, allow his teammates to race up the field, kick it down the field and change his team’s posture from defense to offense.

And, so he does what he has down over and over for day after day, month after month.  He drops the ball and looks downfield.

The mighty (and sneaky) Antlers tied the game on this score and won the match 3-1.

If this is your second day or week or month or year or decade in ministry, DO NOT default to going through and repeating the sloppy motions of your first day or week or month or year or decade in ministry.

I don’t have a clue about what the sports announcers are saying but the groan at the :28 mark, repeated at :44 is the soundtrack of neglectful over-confidence.

Prayer and work – remember both this day.  Saint Benedict of Nursia, pray fro us all.

Meanwhile, if you are returning to the office tomorrow, here’s a little pick-me-up (be advised, one swear word included)

Our prayer for the Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Lord, God, you have appointed your disciples as watchman for your house. Watchman, of course, you meant as protectors, but my pop-culture saturated mind immediately leans towards super-heroes and the question: Who Watches the Watchmen?

Their are differences between disciples and super-heroes, of course. The good guys are called to action.  The god guys are called towards singing joyfully, bowing down in worship, and kneeling before the Lord who made us.

We are called to reiterate Your words, not our own, in speaking warning to others, reminding them of faults,  first, between us and them alone.

But this is not our prime directive, our first initiative. That would be Your command that "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

Super-heroes seem to resort to violence, disciples do not. Love does no evil to the neighbor; Disciples are not called to violence in any form- physical, emotional, spiritual. Blood has already been spilled, Lord, Your sacrifice is enough.

You, Lord, are the watcher of the watchmen. Lord, help us to harden not your hearts to stones of persecution of others. Help us today to hear Your voice.

As for me, well, not in my house, Lord…

You got served, Master.

< Meanwhile, you might have come looking for the monthly CaptionThis contest which hits every first Saturday.  Just not on Labor Day weekend! See you next weekend…?