News from ‘All Around:

BOONE, NC – - For more than 20 years, young people have been fighting hunger and poverty in their own communities through Souper Bowl of Caring, raising more than $81 million for soup kitchens, food banks and other charities. Several churches within the High Country are set to participate in this nationwide outreach next Sunday. including St. Elizabeth of the Hill Country Catholic. Read more from the Watauga Democrat

LAKE HOUSTON, TX – - Coinciding with the 2012 Texas Rally for Life in Austin on Saturday, Jan. 28, the Youth Ministry of Huffman’s St. Philip the Apostle Catholic Church prayed the Holy Rosary and spoke prayers of petition outside a surgical facility.

“We are honoring what they are doing in Austin, remembering the Roe v. Wade decision, but we are coming here, local, because [the message] is still incredibly powerful and it is easier for the kids to get out here — get a lot of them involved in it rather than one or two that can take the trip to Austin,” Youth Ministry Director Becky Pursell said, pointing out the benefit of teaching young parishioners the faith in a practical sense. “I think it is wonderful for the kids to actually see it. I think that anytime we can get them out of the church, where we are teaching them the truth and we are teaching them what the church believes — and show them how it actually works in real life — that is going to help them as they get older. They leave the school environment of learning and are actually doing. Of course, it is so much more powerful for all of us to be out here and see the people.” Read more form the Lake Houston Observer.

News from ‘Round Here:

The week started out, of course, with the annual celebration noting the occasion of my birth. A solid work day followed by a lovely glass of wine and the girls coming over for dinner.

Tuesday was our St. John Bosco lunch and meeting. We get to hang with some of the most thoughtful and professional youth ministers in the land.  It was certainly an Awesome Weekly Experience (A.W.E.) In the early evening, I met with Harford County Area Youth Ministers (HAY) and their Respect Life counterparts and we started negotiating a shared event.  Then, after a long day, it was off to home.

Wednesday involved setting up the office newsletter for delivery the next day, cutting a few videos, and other tasks. In the evening Georgina Vac and I met with a local volunteer regarding doing some human sexuality training with Hispanic young adults. Thursday was a daylong e-team meeting at O’Dwyer. Friday was more editing of videos as well as starting to write a potential article for the Catholic Review.  The evening involved home-cooking and an On-Demand viewing of Moneyball.

Saturday was a very chill day full of relaxing and writing.  Snow and slushy rain came with sundown.

Sunday- Ran out to the Archdiocesan Youth Council Meeting – It was their turn for the parish planning listening session (last week went to young adults).Watched the first half of the Super Bowl and Madonna (awesome!) at a friends and was home asleep before the final whistle. 

Back on Monday, I started a medifast diet – tough to start with both a birthday and a big meeting- In my first seven days, anyway  I also continued into a second week of being much more consistent regarding workouts. Since Monday, I’ve dropped 7.4 pounds. (according to my scale in the am); 8.5 lbs. according to the official weigh-in later in the pm.)

News from ‘All Around:

My associate in blogging, Jack Regan from over in England, wondered if the March for Life here in the States might be suspect in adults trying “to push their cause by telling the world that it’s popular with young people.”  I get that possibility, Jack, but there are an abundance of young voices engaged in this.

WASHINGTON, DC — Mary DeTurris Poust of Our Sunday Visitor reports that” People don’t go on the March for Life to feel good about themselves; they go because they have convictions, because they believe in the dignity of human life for even the most vulnerable, because they take their duty as Christians seriously. They walk in the rain and the cold. They ride for hours and hours on cramped buses. They get nasty things shouted at them and written about them — even by fellow Catholics.” Read her whole post.

Additionally, Brandon Vogt called my attention to this Marc Barnes produced video.

The Catholic Review’s Matt Palmer offered yoman’s coverage of the event with > Loyola Alive president says being pro-life in college is hard,  > Loyola University Maryland students speak out for life,  > Home school teens on speaking out against abortion,  >  One boy’s surprising testimony of choosing life,  > John Carroll School students speak out against abortion, and  > Audio of Monsignor Charles Pope’s Rally for Life homily.

News from ‘Round Here:

The week started out early… very early. I was motoring on down to DC for the Rally and March for Life.  It was a long good day, early in the morning on the radio from across the street from the Verizon, impressed with Gene (at our site) and Brad, grabbed the guys from Jacob and Matthew band to clinch up a Pilgrimage promotional video, Rosary and Mass, and, otherwise, walking the ramps visiting with various friends and contacts.

Tuesday brought supervisions in the morning along with pilgrimage video production.  I had a meeting down in Annapolis at lunch and then back into the office for e-mails.  Two previous long days resulted in a short day Wednesday with some reports developed and some desk cleaning.  Then, home for some rest and light advance blogging.

Thursday morning started with repaying a favor to my daughter and heading out early to purchase textbooks for her. It was simple but that was this week’s A.W.E. (Amazing Weekly Experience). I like being asked to do dad stuff, even by a 27-year-old. We had an E-Team staff meeting in the morning and I worked some preparatory stuff up for the new Archbishop (Just ‘cause we don’t know when the announcement occurs does not mean we should not be ready.)

Friday, I realized I had mis-filed an appointment on my calendar… Missing a dinner/reception the night before.  So, it started with apologies. The day was spent scripting twp presentations, getting a new flyer developed and a quickie e-mail out and prepping for my accountant tomorrow. Despite the confused calendar, I got a good dinner anyways.

Got my W-2’s earlier in the week, so I scheduled my earliest tax accounting appointment ever for he day. Got a nice refund coming in February.  I also took yet another appointment still to pursue some preventative health matters. The evening finished off with a mad dash to go watch The Artist.

Sunday was a good close-out sort of day of the old year of life.  I putzed along most of the morning on a spontaneous project and then hunkered down to prep for the seasonal young adult Mass and the shopping for the snackage that followed it.  Early to bed, but that didn’t stop some late night text messages with greetings and plans.

News from ‘All Around:

VATICAN CITY — Many are already engaging in plans for Rio in 2013, but aren’t you also beginning to wonder where the next one after that will be?

h/t to Jack Regan for the link.

EVANSVILLE, IN — Some 350 area residents, many of them youths, will participate in local Catholic churches’ second annual Pilgrimage for Life this weekend to Washington, D.C. Hosted by the Diocese of Arlington, Va., the pilgrimage is centered around two anti-abortion events: Life is Very Good Night of Prayer Sunday evening at Bishop O’Connell High School in Arlington and a Rally and March for Life on Monday in the nation’s capital. The march is expected to draw more than 400,000 Catholics from across the nation. Read more from the Courier Press.

News from ‘Round Here:

Despite the holiday for Martin Luther King, I woke up at 4am Monday to start the week. I was in the midst of a “fast and cleanse” in preparation for the colonoscopy that is suggested for guys over 50. All went well, and I spent the rest of the day quietly chillin’.

Tuesday was a staff meeting in the morning, and pilgrimage and MAC errand running in the afternoon with some desk work thrown in just for good measure.  Wednesday involved a Pastoral Life Director’s meeting and a conversation regarding youth ministry (and a preview of our upcoming Bosco lunch) The evening was spent with some LifeTeen core teams receiving a training from Joan Root (who I also had dinner with the previous evening – introduced her to the wonders of a good crabcake.)  This day combined with two phone consultation with youth ministers constituted the Amazing Weekly Event. (A.W.E.)

Thursday was mostly spent with the e-team directors and fussing about getting out a newsletter on schedule.  That concept was abandoned late in the day, but it did go out Friday morning.  We were prepping for the Springtime Equip classes and packing out for the March for Life.

Woke up Saturday to an icy day and took on a total snow-day attitude lounging around. A few errends and a nap lead into a delightful home cooked meal.  Sunday involved the chore of running Rally for Life tickets out to central Maryland where I also found Mass. I wrote  half an article during the first half of the AFC Championship and then joins the daughters for a heartbreaking last minute Ravens loss.

News from ‘All Around:

A recent article offered a repeatable statistic and then included many denominational responses, including Catholic.

KANSAS CITY, MO — The Barna Group, a Christian polling company based in California, spent five years studying why young Christians like Greer leave church. Teenagers, young adults, parents, youth pastors and senior pastors were interviewed.

The study of young adults focused on those who had been regular churchgoers and then disconnected from the church in their later teen years. It revealed that almost 3 out of every 5 young Christians (59 percent) left permanently or for an extended period of time after age 15…

Tim Volk, director of youth ministry at St. Therese Catholic Church in Parkville, says it is important for the youth to get involved in a strong youth ministry when they go to college. Then there is less falling away from the church, he says.

“But if they don’t get in such a group, their faith often is put on the back burner,” he says. “The next time you see them may be when they come home for a break and then when they get married.
“Ideally, there needs to be a full-time ministry that will help support the high school ministry and a young adult ministry,” he says. “A lot has to do with staying connected with them.”

Read more from the Kansas City Star.

News from ‘Round Here:

Monday was full of stops and starts. I had prepared a presentation weeks ago to preview for others.  I updated the previously submitted script  and completed a power point presentation to accompany it… went to the preview meeting and edited it down on the spot by 50%. On the better side, I started to re-edit our pilgrimage publicity.

Tuesday was one-on-one supervision, always a pleasure.  The morning started first with a radio interview, assisting with the young adult newsletter, shifting some Rally for Life tickets, and an evening Msgr. O’Dwyer Retreat House board of directors meeting. I returned to the House for a lunch on Wednesday with youth minister/ campus minister “customers.”  Also filed a report and worked on Pilgrimage publicity and publicity for our John Bosco event.

Thursday was an e-team meeting which takes up most of the morning.  I outlined an article to be written soon and finished my recruiting for the O’Dwyer board.  On Friday, I was a man on fire with tasks! Met with Margaret regarding BYCC and Georgina on Pilgrimage, completed the city Pilgrimage paperwork, set up an Equip meeting, advanced a new form relates to Child Protection, and counted out 1600 stickers for the March for Life for a mailing. I cooled off by turning in mileage and receipts – - special check coming next week!

The weekend brought so time out, some time away to visit my brother’s family in PA, some time to cheer for the Ravens (who won ugly but WON!), and, finally some time to fast and prepare for Monday’s procedure (for which I should have entered this CBS support contest – - just saying…

News from ‘All Around:

LONDON, ENGLAND — Wembley Stadium will be the setting for the Flame National Youth Congress 2012 on 24 March.  The band Indecisive, RISE Theatre and a troupe from Kenya will be headlining. Speakers taking part include: Archbishop Vincent Nichols, Barry and Margaret Mizen, Fr Timothy Radcliffe OP, Sr Catherine Holum, Fr Christopher Jamison OSB, Mgr John Armitage, Edwin Fawcett  and Paschal Uche.
The Flame Congress aims to promote the very best of Catholic Youth Ministry in England and Wales. Read more from the Independent Catholic News.

WORCESTER. MA – Young people throughout the diocese now have a greater sense of what it’s like to live in Haiti and to be unable to afford basic necessities, such as shoes.

“Take a Walk in My Shoes” was an Advent service project sponsored by the diocesan Office for Youth Ministry. A shoe drive, held in December, yielded 1,274 pairs of new and gently used shoes. These range from “the tiniest” to size 13, according to Terese Meilus, who coordinated the program. Her husband, Deacon Eduardas V.  Meilus, is director of the youth ministry office.

“It’s really cool to see how generous people are to help people in need,” said Victoria Paulino, of St. Paul Cathedral, as she joined others in the Chancery sorting and counting the donations last week  Read more from the Catholic Free Press

News from ‘Round Here:

January 2nd continued the holiday break, but I was up early getting Clark off to the airport. The rest of the day involved de-constructing the Christmas wonderland of my apartment and a few SKYPE calls, one which you can see posted last Thursday.  The evening finished in making a set of resolutions (Sweating procrastinating by a day was not one of them.)

Back to work early on Tuesday.  The day involved building a large task list and attempting to know items off one-by-one.  We held our first staff meeting of the year, including Mike from the O’Dwyer Retreat House.  It was a good and productive meeting within a 90 minute clip.

Wednesday, I was in early as well.  It will be a theme for the week. A couple more tasks off the list, a meeting with the e-team leadership, a prep for a training tomorrow, a delivery of the pastoral care cross due to the death of a school teacher, and then a trip to DC to visit with some  diocesan leader contemporaries.

Thursday, I came in early to make sure the office  newsletter got out and on schedule. Then, it was up to O’Dwyer for an E-Team meeting and a conversation on the Year of Faith. Friday, was the fourth morning in a row early… Relevant Radio and Cardinal designate breaking news wise. We also had a lunch meeting with Paulist seminarians. Took myself out to see The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo which was oddly quiet yet disturbing.

Saturday was a laid back morning and then a run to the Retreat House for a session during the Micah 6:8 retreat.  A nice dinner followed. Both constitued this week’s Amazing Weekly Event  (A.W.E.)   Sunday also had elements of work as I was off video taping at the Archdiocesan Youth Advisory Council meeting.  The Steelers lost while I was watching Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. A good day

News from All Around:

In December, Pope Benedict issues his message for yesterday’s World Day of Peace, celebrated yesterday. Entitled Educating Young People in Justice and Peace, it is worth a full look. Here’s some pull quotes:

1. Attentiveness to young people and their concerns, the ability to listen to them and appreciate them, is not merely something expedient; it represents a primary duty for society as a whole, for the sake of building a future of justice and peace.

The Church looks to young people with hope and confidence; she encourages them to seek truth, to defend the common good, to be open to the world around them and willing to see “new things” (Is 42:9; 48:6).

2. May young people be taught to savour the joy which comes from the daily exercise of charity and compassion towards others and from taking an active part in the building of a more humane and fraternal society.

6. Dear young people, you are a precious gift for society. Do not yield to discouragement in the face of difficulties and do not abandon yourselves to false solutions which often seem the easiest way to overcome problems. . . Realize that you yourselves are an example and an inspiration to adults, even more so to the extent that you seek to overcome injustice and corruption and strive to build a better future.

The full text of the pope’s message is worth a read. American magazine offered commentary. <image source>

News from ‘Round Here:

The post-Christmas festivities hangover engaged one and all in a sleep-in Monday. I woke to do a major closet cleaning as well as an attempt to bring the kitchen back into order. Sherlock Holmes was the afternoon (liked it more than the original), and Monopoly was later in the day. (Son Clark clearly understands the military capitalist culture.) The older girls were over for late night ice-cream.  My family laughs pretty hard when they are gathered together!

Meghan was out first thing Tuesday morning and the airport was packed but also in a tired civil sort of mood. Clark was out reasonably early with girlfriend so most of the day was directed to repair efforts on apartment and car. The evening was spent hosting a wayward traveler for dinner. Wednesday was more of same with a haircut, doctor’s office consultation, and the take-down of the Christmas tree (the rest of the holiday decorations remain up.) A belated birthday party for Kristin Witte followed in the evening.

While I would like to report that I did anything on Thursday of some impact, the day was full of nothing.  Friday, however, was the evening wedding mass of parish youth minister Cassandra and Catholic Review reporter Matt (who you might remember from NCYC and WYD travels) They are so very much in love and witnessing their Sacrament was the Amazing Weekly Event (A.W.E.)

Saturday involved my run with Clark to the PX to stock up on staples.  We got a few lines of bowling in as well – - It was disastrous, age has deteriorated my game. It was a quiet New Year’s Eve.

Off to St. Agnes early Sunday morning – - light crowd. Over to the daughters for their annual brunch and then prep for a small gathering to celebrate the Raven’s win and playoff hopes. A good way to start 2011.

News from Around:

CHARLESTON, S.C. — The Roman Catholic Diocese of Charleston, keeping up with technology as it revises its policy for dealing with sexual abuse of children, is prohibiting any church worker from using personal email to contact a child. The policy also prohibits workers from playing online games with minors late at night, asks them to avoid using personal cell phones to contact children and not be accessible to minors on an on-call basis.

The new rules for the statewide diocese are part of the updated abuse policy signed by Bishop Robert E. Guglielmone on Monday. The document was last updated in 2003. "We have become a very technologically advanced society," the bishop said. "When the policy was written, these technological possibilities didn’t exist. However, there are all kinds of possibilities for children to be hurt through the use of technology."

The nearly 70 page document includes new rules for social media and prohibits church workers from using them to have personal communications with children and from friending them on Facebook. It also says that in each parish, "at least two adults must regularly monitor church-sponsored internet content and interactions." The policy suggests appropriate content in communications to children includes information on upcoming activities, calendars of events, spiritual links and prayer resources.

Guglielmone said the new policy takes effect next April so there can be workshops to train workers and volunteers on the rules. The bishop said the policy was put together in consultation with those involved in youth ministries and those who are experts in the new technology.

"In the past few weeks and months looking at Penn State, looking at Syracuse University, this problem of sexual abuse is a problem that is societal and very much with us," Guglielmone said.

Read more from The State

In related matters…

>  Given the importance of social media today, it’s no surprise that 44% of teens have lied about their age online (to access a site limited to sites meant for older audiences. Moreover, they’re not always being safe online since 30% of teens have shared a password with a friend, boyfriend, or girlfriend, and nearly 70% of teens say they see mean behavior online)
> Facebook aims to help users facing personal crises by launching a helpful feature (that makes counselors available to chat. If a user sees suicidal thoughts on a friend’s page, he or she can report it, and then Facebook will reach out to the user encouraging them to call or IM with a counselor. This method seems non-invasive and with the ongoing problems of cyberbullying, we think this is a good way for the social network to help.

News from ‘Round Here:

Monday was an all-right day, I knocked off another writing project, this time for slant33. Also, Georgina and I worked on the CRS Ambassador project.

Tuesday was crazily busy with ups and downs… supervision with staff (always good and a pleasure), two meetings, tracking down Rally for Life tickets… the day ended in the office by following up on my Thanksgiving Week/ Black Friday health physical by scheduling an January colonoscopy, (Ahem… you guys who are my age, we need to take care of ourselves) Highlights of the day were two… sharing a moment of Christmas with the staff as well as giving myself a decadent gift.

I hit the road in Wednesday… down to DC to pick up rally for life tickets, up to Frederick for a Central MD Youth Ministers meeting (got there early so counted out the 1500 tickets into forty plus groupings), sat in on a mentoring consultation, and then off for a social Starbucks run. Snuck in some tasks early in the morn and after dinner… too much of a day.

The E-team Advent retreat was on Thursday… so up early to provide morning snackage and then just a day of chillin’ as we had two great local presenters.  The evening had a combined meeting of our Archdiocesan Young Adult Council as well as the Youth Ministry Council.  In various corners, we talked World Youth Day Rio ‘13, the parish planning process, and the next steps for the direction of youth ministry.  Great, GREAT conversations all!

Friday was a good desk day, wrapping up some details of a class or two as well as developing something big for late January and debriefing the events of Thursday.  Had a great dinner in Little Italy with a friend.

Saturday was a day finishing off Christmas decorating, with the purchase of a tree and the hanging of ornaments. My daughters came over to inspect the work and share some personal news. The evening involved a viewing of The Descendants, a difficult story well told.

Sunday involved doing some homework from a Friday afternoon meeting, backing cookies during the early games of football, hitting the mall to exchange a gift already received, and then to pick up my son, Clark, at the airport as he returned home for the holidays .  Saving the best for last, that and the family dinner out afterwards was was this week’s Amazing Weekly Event: A.W.E.! (which is more than can be said for the Ravens’ loss on Sunday night football.)

News from Around:

In the past days, we noted the passing into new life of Lisa-Marie Calderone-Stewart and Michael Youngblood… both of whom were younger than this blogger, so it does offer a personal moment to pause and reflect. Eternal rest, grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them.

GRANVILLE, OH — Eighth-grader John Ball has visions of a semi traveling from Granville to Louisville, Ky., full of shoes — about 5,000 pairs of them. Local youth are about halfway toward that goal. Their Shoes for Water project has collected about 2,000 pairs so far, and many more are expected as the campaign continues.

"We know there’s so many pairs of shoes out there that people want to get rid of," Ball said as fellow youth group and church members counted and packed the shoes collected so far.

The project has snowballed from its start at United Church of Granville and now includes  the Granville Ministerium, which is composed of ministers of Granville churches, shoes were coming from St. Edward’s Catholic and First Presbyterian in addition to some parishes in surrounding communities. The Shoes for Water project became a centerpiece for the annual Granville Community Service of Thanksgiving. Read more from the Newark Advocate.

News from ‘Round: Here

Monday was my first day back after vacation, and I spent most of the day not actually being back.  Our Association of Professional Youth Ministers spent the day considering the topic of Giftedness, in honor of St. Nicholas.

Tuesday was my first day back in the office after vacation, But the day was primarily taken up with staff meetings. Mike Downes, the new administrator at the O’Dwyer Retreat House was in and we looked towards future collaborations.

Wednesday, I was back!  We knocked out the office newsletter as well as drafted a longer article (possibly a January blog post) on the dynamics of an effective witness talk.

Thursday, the office was closed for the holyday.  Tough to be back much with that, but I did have coffee in the afternoon with a youth minister working through some parish transition issues.

Friday, I got some more writing in… knocking off a four page (meant to be 10 minutes) presentation on Service in schools as well as started up another Slant33 article. The afternoon finished with a successful meeting and then a run to see Tower Heist which was reasonably engaging. All in all, the pm hours of Friday accumulated into an Amazing Weekly Event: A.W.E.!)

Saturday was primarily quiet with a later afternoon shopping trip and the purchase of the first Christmas present of the season. Sunday, I was off to the 9am mass at Saint Agnes (with many families and crying babies), then into the office for a redraft of the article developed Wednesday and some e-mail setting up this week.  The afternoon featured another Ravens win and some cookie baking.

News from Around:

It’s always fun to read about the new youth minister in town…

NORWOOD, MA — It is by the grace of God that she came to work at St. Catherine of Siena in Norwood said, Lindsey Webb. She is the youth minister at the church and said she couldn’t be happier about working there.

“I have a heart for youth,” she said. “I truly enjoy working with them and helping to lead them closer to Christ.” As youth minister, she oversees religious education for the kids in grades six through 10, as well as a youth group.

Before this role, she embarked on a journey that took her in a different direction. It culminated with her scoring a spot as an extra on her favorite TV show, the hit ABC series, “Lost,” she said. Lindsey took a blind leap of faith in 2008, when she left the Washington D.C. area and bought a one-way ticket to Hawaii. She left her job as an Associate to the Youth Minister and Director of Religious Education at a parish in the Archdiocese of Washington, DC, her first job out of college.

Read more from the Wicked Local (Cool name for a local newspaper, eh?)

News from ‘Round: Here

The second week of vacation time found me starting Monday sitting in the sun reading a book, a position that I took many times throughout the week.

I read three books last week, a fiction, a work-related in-service, and a non-fiction. (How’s that for well rounded?) I also read quite a few magazine articles from two different monthly magazines lying around my Mom’s place.  As is family tradition, there were considerable card playing as well.

I also saw two different movies, J. Edgar and the Muppets (which I saw with my youngest soon-to-be 20-years-old daughter – which mad that evening my Amazing Weekly Event: A.W.E.!)

After the flight home Saturday morning, there was grocery shopping, unpacking, and downloading a Skype video recorder for some future podcasting.

Sunday was an early Mass at St. Mark, my local church, purhased some tickets oin-line for a Raven game, headed up to O’Dwyer for their annual Christmas Open House, and caught a spectacular sunset (on the day and the vacation) before watching the Ravens win an away game in Cleveland.