Life Teen has been running a series of blog entries from me regarding the Sacrament of Confirmation. below is yesterday’s contribution.

Consider your Confirmation preparation process to be like a high school dance. There is the bishop right in the middle, attempting to gather up a line dance of discipleship. The pastor and the parish staff are all racing around the room attempting to ensure that the environment is conducive for a successful dance. Other caring adults, catechists, and leaders are each attempting to keep the energy and enthusiasm up . . . and there are all those kids, each on the floor with a wide range of proficiency and passion for the dance of the Spirit.

Unfortunately, we can look around many confirmation preparation “dances” and find some sacramental wallflowers over in the dark corners of our efforts. It is not uncommon that those who are not fully engage into the rhythm of our efforts are “other” adults – both parents and sponsors.

A wallflower is one who remains on the sidelines of an activity due possibly to shyness or unpopularity. It goes against our instincts towards evangelization, however, to not invite parents and sponsors to be fully engaged in the dance of Confirmation preparation.

The Code of Canon Law (890) reminds us that both “Parents and pastors of souls, especially parish priests, are to see that the faithful are properly instructed to receive the sacrament and come to it at the opportune time.” It is beyond time that we go beyond offering programmatic lip service to the reality that parents are truly the primary catechists of their children. “Nothing replaces family catechesis, especially for its positive and receptive environment, for the example of adults, and for its first explicit experience and practice of the faith.” (National Directory for Catechesis, 202)

The Code of Canon Law (892) further reminds us that the sponsor’s function “is to take care that the person confirmed behaves as a true witness of Christ and faithfully fulfils the duties inherent in this sacrament.” Sponsors are called to be companions on the journey dedicated to confirmandi’s personal and spiritual growth. They are both a personal model of lived faith as well as a living face serving on behalf of the larger church.

Yet, when it comes to many parishes’ efforts regarding the preparation for the Sacrament of Confirmation, we only ask two things from these adult audiences… 1) Show Up and 2) Make sure to Turn in Your Paperwork. And then, after the fact, we wonder why they were so disengaged, so much like wallflowers.

Parents and Sponsors should anticipate three things from us.

Clear and Consistent Communication –- We can often wrongly treat parents and sponsors as consumers in our Confirmation preparation efforts. If we do so, we can anticipate that when they no longer need our Sacramental product, we should not expect to see them or their young people anymore.

Parents and Sponsors are actually our largest cluster of volunteers in our efforts – - not potential volunteers, but active volunteers already recruited and willing to serve on behalf of their young people! They need to be consistently informed of both schedule and expectations.

Training – When we gather our volunteer parents and sponsors, we should train them for beyond the moment of the Sacrament of Confirmation. We need to move beyond a “Carpe Diem” approach that only provides them with information related to the immediate needs of the program. A “Carpe Mañana” approach would equip them with skills for their relationships with their young people, the ability to share faith with them, and the importance and value for young people of the personal witness of their lives.

Prayer – Our personal and communal prayer, when it comes to the Sacrament of Confirmation, naturally turns towards the confirmandi. The sacrament is not only about young people coming towards the Church, but the Church, through parents, sponsors and the Confirmation team coming to the young people. Our prayer intentions should celebrate, in the words of Isaiah (52:7), how beautiful are the feet of those “who brings glad tidings, announcing peace, bearing good news, announcing salvation, and saying to Zion, ‘Your God is King!’”

At a recent diocesan delegation meeting set in advance of our travels to the National Catholic Youth Conference, the Archdiocesan Youth Advisory Council was teaching cheers to the participants. Many parents and advisors were present, but mostly were just wallflowers, looking on as their kids learned hand motions and chants.

At the end of that process, one AYAC member, a young woman named Molly, took it upon herself to challenge the adults in the room. “When you baptized your kids,” she said, “You committed to supporting and encouraging us in your faith. This is one f those moments!” She then asked the young people to go to their adults and re-teach the same cheers to the elders in the community. Throughout the room, pockets of young people and adults formed, each attempting to out-cheer one another.

Renewing the Vision reminded us of Pope John Paul II’s claim that “This is what is needed: a Church for young people, … a Church which will know how to invite and to welcome the person who seeks a purpose for which to commit his whole existence; a Church which is not afraid to require much, after having given much; which does not fear asking from young people the effort of a noble and authentic adventure, such as that of the following of the Gospel.”

If we are going to require much, after having given much, then we are going to need even more collaborators than we can imagine. Molly was right to look into the lives of young people themselves to find parents and other caring adults as partners in this task. Molly found the wallflowers and invited them to join in the dance.

 The following article appeared today in the Catholic Review as part of a series of articles supporting the diocesan Why Catholic program.

There have been a few instances where I had the honor and pleasure of seeing a sneak preview of a movie before it was released in theaters.  A few years back, one of those movies included “The Nativity Story.”

The movie, of course, is the retelling of some of the earlier chapters of the Gospel of Luke where Mary and Joseph travel toward the Christmas moment of the birth of Christ. What was unique about that evening, however, was the audience. I sat in a theater full of Catholic bishops who had been especially invited to the preview.

In “The Nativity Story,” there was a scene that created a great disruption amongst the church leadership sitting in the dark quiet. In the movie, as well as in the Gospel of Luke, Mary goes to Judah to visit her relative, Elizabeth, who is also “with child.” Elizabeth greets her with lines that we would all recognize from the prayer “Hail Mary” (Lk 1).

What caused the bishops to be outwardly startled, however, is that Mary’s prayer, “the Magnificat,” did not constitute the very next portion of the script. The producers of “The Nativity Story” made an artistic choice and saved Mary’s prayer until the very end of the movie.

That choice utilizes the Magnificat as a perspective on Mary’s whole life, not just the moment of her encounter with Elizabeth. Mary’s soul proclaimed the greatness of the Lord always; her spirit consistently rejoiced in God her savior. Mary always recognized that the mighty one had done great things for her, and holy is his name. Mary was in a covenant relationship with the Lord and she remembered the promise that the Lord made to “our fathers, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”

In Mary’s role as a parent, she must have taught the same comprehensive style of prayer to her son. When Jesus teaches us the Lord’s Prayer, we find that our prayer takes us beyond the moment and leads to a way of life.

Jesus prays, but he also lives in such a manner that respected the hallowedness of the Lord’s name. The life of Jesus, not just his prayer, called for God’s reign to come and God’s will to be done. Through our prayer as well as through our lives, Jesus is asking us to seek the Lord’s aid and forgiveness, while actively being agents of the same in the world.

Both Mary and Jesus, by their example, contradict that concept that God awaits our prayers so that creator of all things might personally address our individual needs and wants for wish fulfillment. Both Mary and Jesus, by their example, show that our prayer leads toward following one who is greater than ourselves; submitting to one whose plan is superior than our own petty ways.

Ghandi has suggested that “You must be the change you want to see in the world.” In the movie “Bruce Almighty,” Jim Carrey’s character suggested that we all “be the miracle.” Christians understand they have a role to play within their own prayer – not only must we pray it, we must live it.

In First Thessalonians, Paul encourages that Christians should “Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. (And) in all circumstances give thanks, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thes 5).

Prayer without ceasing does not relegate prayer to the weekend within church, to the beginning or end of the day, nor to those times of crisis or despair. Prayer without ceasing calls for us to rejoice always and, in all circumstances, give thanks. With each breath, our souls rejoice and thank God for the great things he’s done for us. In all circumstances, we give thanks to a Lord who gives us this day our daily bread.

(Wrote this 2 1/2 years ago… still true today,)

It all started on an elevator.  It was at a hotel next to Baltimore’s Inner Harbor.  From the lobby of the hotel, one enters into a glass encased elevator car.  For the first three floors, you are rising above the front desk and the bland nondescript setting of a hotel lobby.

But, after the fourth floor, you are ascending above Baltimore’s waterfront: the cityscape of streets, bright lights, and tall buildings, the harbor of placid water and gently moving ships…, higher and higher.  Never a fan of heights but impressed by the vista before me, there was but one response to share with my two elevator companions at that moment.

I raised my hands above my head and exclaimed, “Weeeeeeeeeeeeee!”

This has become my philosophical catch-phrase which is getting me through my days.

It certainly works for those times of accomplishment and celebration.  Yet, it also reminds one to embrace the twists and turns of life with enthusiasm and optimism.  Finally, it is a statement that one is not in this alone.  We are graced by the gifts of friendships as well as a relationship with God.  Life does not revolve around “I” or “me;” it is truly best experienced as “WE!”

The Psalmist reminds us that regarding whatever it is that we face, it is “by the LORD has this been done; it is wonderful in OUR eyes. This is the day the LORD has made; let US rejoice in it and be glad.” Shorthand for that could certainly be “Weeeeeeeeeeeeee!”

Tomorrow’s edition of the Catholic Review will pick up the “I Dare You” opinion piece that was previous posted here.  (If you are looking, it’s page 11.)

Here’s a pull quote to whet your appetite:

I dare you to do better.

As the older generation passing along the baton in what are clearly difficult times, it is easy to send the young generation forth with our apologies for the present challenges. This does not serve them well.

We should not only caution young people about the need to risk failure. They need to also hear of our anticipations of their successes.

I dare you to do better.

Pike is offering Kirk an opportunity, a choice. He is presenting a style of life, of moving between star systems rather than from moment to moment,

In spring, we find ourselves fully engaged in a time of beginnings. Confirmations invite young people to live their faith more fully within their relationship with the Church. Graduations send students outside their school halls towards their future in the world.    

They are many messages that can be offered at these times. Last year, Harry Potter author JK Rowling reminded Harvard graduates that “It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default.” Oprah spoke at Duke’s graduation last weekend. In previous commencement speeches, she has said, “What other people label or might try to call failure, I have learned is just God’s way of pointing you in a new direction.”
Yet, the truest commencement speech I heard this year came from the recent movie release of Star Trek. Early in the story, Captain Christopher Pike encounters the son of a fallen comrade. Now a young man, James Tiberius Kirk is reckless civilian who has taken up harassing Starfleet recruits.

Pike confronts Kirk suggesting “You’ve always had a hard time finding your place in this world, haven’t you? Never knowing your true worth. You can settle for less in ordinary life, or do you feel like you were meant for something better? Something special.” Pike offers this final challenge: “Your father was captain of a starship for twelve minutes. He saved 800 lives, including yours. I dare you to do better. Enlist in Starfleet.”

I dare you to do better.

As the older generation passing along the baton in what are clearly difficult times, it is easy to send the young generation forth with our apologies for the present challenges. This does not serve them well.

We should not only caution young people about the need to risk failure. They need to also hear of our anticipations of their successes.

I dare you to do better.

Pike is offering Kirk an opportunity, a choice. He is presenting a style of life, of moving between star systems rather than from moment to moment.

It is with this tone that Pope Benedict XVI, in March, encouraged the young people of Angola. “Do not be afraid to make definitive decisions. You do not lack generosity – that I know! But the idea of risking a lifelong commitment, whether in marriage or in a life of special consecration, can be daunting. You might think: ‘The world is in constant flux and life is full of possibilities… By making a definitive decision, would I not be risking my freedom and tying my own hands?’” The Pope responded that “These are the doubts you feel, and today’s individualistic and hedonist culture aggravates them.”

“I say to you: Take courage!” the Pope challenged, “Dare to make definitive decisions, because in reality these are the only decisions which do not destroy your freedom, but guide it in the right direction, enabling you to move forward and attain something worthwhile in life.”

This is a season of beginnings, of commencement. Beginnings, however, do not happen by looking nostalgically on the past. They occur when we commit with hope and love and prayer towards the future.

“Live long and prosper” has long been a salutation offered by Star Trek’s Mister Spock. As a commencement address, however, it takes on the nature of a direct challenge. I dare you to make definitive decisions. I dare you to do better.

This article appeared in the Catholic Review yesterday.  It is the fifth in a series of articles about the six-week fall session of Why Catholic?

Question: What do the economy, the presidential election and “High School Musical” all have in common?

Answer: We are all in this together.

We are all well aware of the turn in the economy. The stock market, banking and credit and our sense of fiscal security seem quite uncertain. This is true no matter if you were “Joe the Plumber” or “Bill the Billionaire.” Whatever happens next, we are all in this together.

We recently celebrated our nation’s democracy through the election process. We each had a role to play in ensuring a peaceful transition of our nation’s leadership. We had a voice in our future. And, whether “our” candidate lost or won we will share in a common future together.

The release of the Disney movie “High School Musical 3: Senior Year,” offers another opportunity for a reprise of the all-too-familiar anthem “We’re All In This Together.” The storyline, very popular with tween-agers (young people ages 10-12), follows the adventures of the Wildcats of East High as they prepare for graduation.

Each of these examples offers us a glimpse of the interconnected nature of the human community. As Catholics, our understanding of God as loving community of three Persons helps us to recognize that all of us are one human community: the Body of Christ – the church.

Unfortunately, when it comes to our sinful attitudes, words and actions, we try to “downplay” their seriousness by telling ourselves that “nobody was hurt.” Our individual sin does have consequences on those around us – diminishing our own capability to recognize the damage done not only to our honor but also to the integrity of our relationships. Sin brings alienation in a world desperately seeking harmony.

Too often, when we are able to note the ills of the world around us, we are quick to point the finger towards the other guy – an impersonal institution – anywhere else to deflect acknowledgement of our own culpability. It is easy to accept the notion that I personally value equality and find that bias due to race, gender or sexual orientation might be somebody else’s problem. Yet, this notion is rejected when we use inappropriate humor that offends the dignity and worth of a person created in God’s own image and likeness.

It is easy to bemoan the poor and disadvantaged peoples in Third World countries and how our systems oppress them. But our choices in wearing the latest fashion or drinking the trendiest coffee while ignoring the work conditions and unjust wage of the workers make us accomplices in injustice.

Bemoaning injustice and inequality can become part of our talk at a water-cooler or a cocktail party. We can wonder when leaders, the government, or even the church might fix the problems, and, therefore, wash our hands of our own responsibility.

Yet, the wisdom found within “High School Musical” reminds us: We’re all in this together. Once we know that we are all stars made in the image of God – and see that we’re all in this together – we better understand that love of neighbor is inseparable from love of God (cf. CCC, 1878). And it shows when we stand hand in hand (to) make our dreams come true.

Solutions to the world’s ills will not be resolved in individualistic heroic actions. Our world will change only when we join together. Our joining together is ensured to succeed if we collaborate to connect in with the plan and design of our Creator.

And, this is the “Good News:” No matter how unfair the world seems, God is with us challenging us to be in right relationship with one another. The life, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ is a sign to us that God joins along with us in singing “We are all in this together.”

We have now migrated all the blog posts from the old site and have also moved the articles as well.  We will be reorganizing and re-posting all the podcasts and anticipate resuming the Wednesday schedule next week.  Begriming with Des Moines, we are starting from scratch on posting power-points and videos used in trainings.

You have found us because you are probably a longer term reader and knew this site as www.dscottmiller.com. Clark and I missed a step on the site transfer and anticipate soon that we will be offering this site as well at www.catholicYMblog.com, where we suspect many readers are still awaiting the transfer.

When that happens we’ll let many know with a blast e-mail alert.  As we wait, feel free to pass the word to a few youth ministry contacts that the site is open and available for comments as well.

Appeared in the Catholic Review February 22, 2008

At the turn of the New Year, there was much excitement around my home. It seems that Time magazine had declared me their Person of the Year. And, God bless them, Time did the same for you. And you. And you as well.

Congratulations. Your parents all must be very proud!

Time magazine determined that we all were collaborating in the content of the news. News, however, is no longer found in the old media but on the Internet. As we make our own contributions to the home-grown online encyclopedia known as Wikipedia; as we develop our own media with podcasts and YouTube, as we chronicle our own lives on MySpace – we are revolutionizing the world. Therefore, “You” were selected as Time’s Person of the Year.

In earlier times, the news discussed the happenings of the world outside of our own personal experience, but, which also had potential consequences for us: a war, a murder, a direction or agenda being set by a political leader. More recently, the news has been distilled into manageable clips or sound bites, “news that I could use.” Today, however, the 1968 prediction by artist Andy Warhol that “In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes” is becoming reality. Today it is easy to fall into the trap of believing that “I am the news.”

Our challenge becomes understanding how to address our own sense of celebrity. Those who are celebrities have gained some sense of notoriety or attention. The world can be quick to affirm that we are all worthy of such interest.

There are entire sections of any bookstore designed to help us be the better center of our own worlds. How can I be a better parent? How can I change my work environment? How can I become the life of the party?

Our faith, however, does not call us to be celebrities of our own little universes.

Our Catholic faith demands that we live lives that are worth being celebrated. Those who are celebrities have an impact that is very short­-lived.  A celebrated life can make a difference for  a lifetime, for generations. 

Throughout the public life of Jesus, he chose to live a life worth celebrating. Jesus Christ never opted to become a superstar.

Jesus had a public baptism, but he followed this event with a private retreat into the desert. The crowds gathered to hear his teaching, but he would often remove himself from the crowds after speaking about the reign of God. Jesus was a miracle worker who usually quietly asked those he healed not to tell others about what had happened. Miracles were not a special-effects device to keep the crowds intrigued, but a personal sign of God’s love and forgiveness.

At the conclusion of the Lenten season, we acknowledge the pinnacle of fame that the public Jesus achieved. During Holy Week, we see the celebration of Palm Sunday quickly fade into the scandal of a public execution. The fame and notoriety of the prophet/Messiah only called attention to his sacrifice.

It was a sacrifice for me. And you. And you. And you as well.

The public life of Jesus is rich with examples on how to be loving and forgiving, how to look to God for all our needs, how to be humble and open. For those of us of faith, we want to emulate a life so well lived. We want to live a life like Jesus whose life we celebrate. We want to be disciples.

So, let us take our newly found celebrity as Time magazine’s Person of the Year and see what we might achieve with it. Let us join in a revolution that doesn’t fade after 15 minutes but impacts lifetimes and generations. Let us lead lives of intention and sacrifice that are worth celebration. Not because they call attention to us, but because they call attention to the one who is the Good News.

Celebrity vs. celebrated life.  15 minutes of fame vs. impacting a lifetime and/or generations.

Usually, the claim "I’ve got nothing" is a statement of distress. "I’ve got nothing to wear" is often an over-dramatization of scarcity of the scarcity in one’s closet. "I’ve got nothing to prove" could often be an over-estimation of one’s accomplishments. "I’ve got nothing to apologize for" might just be an under-evaluation of one’s own culpability in doing wrong.

Today, I’ve got nothing to write about.  "Writer’s Block", blogging fatigue, author anxiety, call it whatever – fact is … I’ve got nothing.

Just to let you know, I have taken some immediate steps.  First off, I have admitted that I do have a problem. The next step is reconnect back into your sources. Of course, that should include the source
material of your subject matter.  It should, however, also not fail to remember the source of the gifts and talents given to you by the Creator. 

Owning your own vulnerability is not necessarily a bad thing.  It just might offer hints of authenticity
to your own writing once you are able to hit the re-start button.

Even with an impending deadline, allow yourself patience.  Step away and start again. Re-vision your project from a different angle. Breathe. Dream. Pray. 

When inspiration and completion finally does arrive, follow-up with a concerted effort to restructure
your efforts for the future.  Refuel and commit yourself to not tapping your energy to the extent of running "out of gas" again.

Meanwhile, I’ve got nothing.  Whatever should I write about?

With Memorial Day, we have entered summer. Vacations, picnics, those last hazy days. . .

With last weekend’s celebration of Pentecost, our liturgical calendar has entered into Ordinary Time. The name corresponds to the Latin term Tempus per annum (literally "time through the year"). The term Ordinary does not mean common or plain, but is derived from the term ordinal or "numbered."

The Sundays and weeks of ordinary time are numbered. There are fourteen weeks of summer between Memorial Day and Labor Day.

Pentecost, Memorial Day, the first of June, the end of the school year. each can serve as a day of beginning, a opportunity for resolution, a moment of commencement for renewed and changed life.

Together, let us make the next weeks and month extraordinary.  Seek meaning in your relationships and work, seek the presence of God in your every situation, find family and community as a source of strength and support, and strive to encourage the dignity and worth of others.