CHARLESTON, SC — Top 20 Blogger Alison Griswold recently wrote in her local newspaper about Honoring Our Bodies and Our World. It’s a great article and worth the read. She comments:

Yesterday I was listening to one of those internet radio accounts that links to your Facebook and reads your mind to deliver relevant advertising, and it kept spewing ads for contraception. I guess that since I’m a woman in my twenties — with great taste in music — they figured I needed birth control suggestions.

Accompanying the advertisement were the warnings and side effects. In addition to the typical nausea, cramping and irritability were a slew of unpronounceable issues. These are strong chemicals they’re promoting. Nice try, but I don’t even use Splenda. Read the whole Catholic Miscellany article.

TOLEDO, OH —An estimated 3,500 people attended the first Exclaim!Christian music festival Aug. 15 at the Msgr. Schmit CYO Athletic Complex. The daylong Christian music festival featured local musical groups Jacob’s Well and Universal Worship Experience and was headlined by Matt Maher.  (more…)

ALBANY, NY — According to  two now-active Catholics and many youth ministers in the Albany Diocese, delaying an adolescent’s confirmation until he or she feels ready can be a smart choice.

Eileen Davenport, assistant for special programs at St. Bernard’s School of Theology and Ministry in Albany — the diocese’s graduate school for theology — said questioning one’s Catholic faith during adolescence is “not a bad thing.” “It shows they’re developing in their faith and they’re looking for answers,” she said. Read this recent Catholic News Service article.

BALTIMORE, MD — We upgraded the banner above recently to note the availability of this workshop at the upcoming NCCYM in New Orleans.

It is an honor to be able to serve the church by “Equipping the Saints for Ministr.”

  MELBOURNE, AUS – -  Youth ministry leaders from around the nation will gather for the first time for the Australian Catholic Youth Ministry Convention (ACYMC) held at the ACU’s Melbourne campus. "The Australian bishops are continuing to support and nurture young people in the life of the church," Fr Chris Ryan, coordinator of the WYD08 Cross and Icon pilgrimage in 2007/2008, said. "Youth ministers will find the ACYMC an excellent opportunity for formation and a rare chance to gather with so many experienced and gifted youth ministers from around Australia." Read more of the CathNews article or find convention information at www.acymc.org

CHALAKKUDY, INDIA — More than 10,000 Catholics — including 30 international delegates — took part in a rally launching a global campaign against land-grabbing to produce bio-fuel. As dancers performed Kerala’s traditional ethnic dances at the July 24 rally, elderly women could be seen holding colorful umbrellas with placards declaring, "Stop land-grabbing, this soil is our future."

The campaign is spearheaded by the International Movement of Catholic Agricultural and Rural Youth, which works with young people ages 12-30 on four continents. Syro-Malabar Archbishop Andrews Thazhath of Trichur, secretary-general of the Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council, congratulated the Catholic youth movement for taking the lead to raise awareness against land-grabbing and food security. Read the Catholic News Service article.

We use this regular Tuesday feature to report what is going on in the world of Catholic Youth Ministry as reported in the news.  Sometimes, we don’t have to look too far. (Besides, we are proud of our programming  and talent folks in the ArchBalt.)

BALTIMORE, MD — Before he departed for potentially five years of studies at the Pontifical North American College in Rome July 18, Seminarian Josh Laws had one last thing he wanted to do in the Archdiocese of Baltimore: be a staff member in Justice Action Week. “I kind of look at it as the church at its best and really Baltimore at its best,” said Laws, who grew up a parishioner of St. Stephen in Bradshaw and is an alumni and past staffer of JAW. “I wanted to spend time with Baltimore and the local church.”  Read the whole Catholic Review story.

BRIGHTON, ENGLAND –  CatholicYouthWork.com has begun a virtual tour of the dioceses of the British Isles. The plan is to take a brief look at each diocese in England & Wales, Scotland and Ireland and to review the websites in that area devoted to Catholic Youth Ministry. They have already got as far as Arundel & Brighton with six dioceses already reviewed. Jack Regan from the site explained: "the way in which the Church uses the internet is still sadly a little patchy. There are places where it is done really well, publishing the very latest that the web has to offer, but there are also projects and departments with little or no presence on the web.

The idea of taking a brief look at each area was taken from the popular US based ‘Catholic Youth Ministry Blog,’ which often takes a similar look at all the US states. With a far smaller Catholic population in the UK it is unlikely that there will be quite as much to see, but the organisers are still confident that there are a lot of good sites which need to be seen by more people. Read the entire Independent Catholic News story.

ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA — Despite the difficulties in language barrier, the Community of St John has accepted the request by the archdiocese in Ethiopia to head the local youth ministry. Br. Iovane, who is one of three brothers who went to Ethiopia, told ACN that one of the biggest challenges has been learning a new language. The brother said that with two others, they had spent three hours a day learning Amharic, the country’s official language, one of 80 spoken in Ethiopia. "You have to speak the language to communicate with the young people it’s not a question of whether it’s difficult or not," he added. "What matters is that it’s what the Lord is calling me to do." Read the entire AllAfrica.com story

NW INDIANA — The Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend boasts a plethora of strong and effective parish-level religious education programs for high school youth as well as many dynamic youth ministries to meet the catechetical needs of this energetic population. The youth group at Sacred Heart,for example,  has grown exponentially with “teens inviting teens,” students encouraged to be peer mentors to each other, in church and school. Read more of the Today’s Catholic News article

Young people being worked into strategic plan… quite a concept, eh?

CHICAGO, IL — The Archdiocesan Strategic Planning Steering Committee, overseen by the Vicar General, Very Reverend John Canary, offered parishioners an opportunity to participate in a “Faith and Practice Survey.” The survey generated over 8,000 responses, enabling the committee to draw important and helpful insights into the thinking of the people of the Archdiocese.  Read the executive summary. Some key quotes:

> Most Catholics who leave the faith do so by age 24. Further, in our survey, the one factor that correlated by far the most strongly with the frequency of Mass attendance as an adult was regular Mass attendance as a teenager. Those who regularly attended Mass as teenagers were the most likely to regularly attend Mass as an adult.

> With respect to evangelization, keeping our teenagers engaged in the faith has to be a high priority in our efforts of evangelization. We know that youth groups have shown to be a good way of keeping teenagers engaged, and the survey gives us some insights on what teenagers liked and disliked about Catholic youth activities, as well as what sorts of things might make them more interested in participating. Giving teens real responsibility in the life of the Church and providing significant service opportunities seem to be important ways to keep them involved in the life of the Church.

A portion of a Confirmation homily makes the news?  Now that’s Catholic Youth Ministry News for this week!

SPRINGFIELD, IL – - Recently, Chicago auxiliary bishop Joseph Paprocki was installed as the bishop of Springfield, IL.He closed his Instillation Mass homily with the same way he closes his Confirmation homilies… By SINGING!

Paprocki sang, “Jesus Loves You,” which was written by Brian Littrell, previously of the Backstreet Boys. Littrell now writes and performs Christian music. The new bishop a cappella with the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception choir as backup.

“This sums up my whole message as a bishop,” Paprocki said before breaking into song. (h/t to Deacon Greg.)

As we are touring the states, it seemed appropriate to look beyond our borders.

YANGON, MYANMAR — The Catholic Religious Conference of Myanmar (CRCM) has organized a program to train young sisters as youth trainers.Twenty nuns from ten different congregations took part in the participative June 10-17 course.

Topics included human development awareness, leadership skills, environmental awareness, facilitation skills, public speaking, creative dramatics and creative liturgy. “I am confident that the participants will gain skills to accompany young people in their spiritual and human development journeys,” Missionary Sister of the Columban (MSSC) Sister Ashwena. “We need more skills and knowledge to work with today’s modernized youth,” Reparation Sister Anastasia, who works with young people from the Taungnu diocese, added. Read more of the Union of Catholic Asian News article.

KNOCK, IRELAND — A three-day festival of faith and fellowship was held last weekend for youth from around Ireland. The Shrine of Our Lady of Knock was the site for the annual event, this year focused on “Walk by Faith.” The three-day program included talks, workshops, prayer, reflection and music. 

“The festival presents young people with the exciting opportunity of gathering with others to reflect on their Christian faith and the significance it has in our life journey,” Bishop Bishop Christopher Jones of Elphin said. “[...] We pray that it will help many young people to discover in their lives a lively, loving relationship with Jesus Christ and his church.”

Archbishop Michael Neary of Tuam said the annual festival is a “most welcome development of recent years.” “It is an ideal opportunity for so many young people to come together in a faith context, to meet, to have a positive experience of Church, to pray, to celebrate and to have fun,” the archbishop noted. “Young people are the future of the Church and they deserve the best in presenting to them the wonderful treasures of our faith.” Read more from Zenit News Agency and the Irish Independent.

INDIANAPOLIS, IN — Kay Scoville is the director of youth ministry for Indy.  She recently wrote: In youth ministry, we invite youths to find their relationship with Christ and to listen for the call of their vocation. We present our young people with the truth by integrating catechesis and Catholic traditions into all our activities. We encourage them to be engaged in the life of their parish and to serve their community. Once our youth have a relationship with Christ, hear his message in the word and receive him in the sacraments, we challenge them to follow their baptismal call, discern their vocation and embrace the spirit of servant leadership. We invite them to be open to God’s summons, and we provide witnesses for them to discern where he might be calling them. Read more of the Criterion article.

EL PASO, TX — The Diocese recently published their On and Off Site Youth Ministry Guidelines.  The most bolded statement in the document? No cause is worth putting young people in danger or a hostile situation!.  Find it published on-line here.

The Gulf Oil Spill has had an effect on Catholic Youth Ministry…  No, not only in day trips to the beach, but

HOUMA, LA — Large numbers of BP employees and government workers have kept local hotels fully booked or near capacity as the local oil-spill response effort has ramped up over the past month. It also has created a tight squeeze for events like the upcoming Steubenville on the Bayou conference for Catholic youth in Houma and the Manning Passing Academy, a football camp held in July at Nicholls State University. By themselves, those events usually book up local hotels on their respective weekends.  Read more from the Daily Comet.

LOUISVILLE, KY — Goodness Reigns is a short film competition on the Catholic faith for teens, young adults, and others interested in reaching the young church and the world through film. Winning groups and individuals will travel for free to World Youth Day 2011 in Spain or choose to receive video production packages worth thousands of dollars! Find out more at GoodnessReigns.com.