A little under a year ago, I suggested that our field might be quickly approaching a state of hysteresis.  This is where we might be finding Catholic youth ministry bending to such a point where it snaps and we will never be able to put it back together as it was before. . . and that this might not necessarily be a bad thing.

Yesterday, my buddy Marko blogged about Youth Ministry in Decline referencing an USA Today article entitled ‘Forget Pizza Parties,’ Teens Tell Church which starts with this attention grabbing opening line:

“’Bye-bye church. We’re busy.’ That’s the message teens are giving churches today.”  (more…)

Kenda Creasy Dean has long suggested that, too often, when we think “mission,” we think “trip.”  As a Catholic Youth Ministry field, we were first introduced to these concepts at the 2008 NCCYM, but she has gone onto expand them recently in a Youth Worker.com posting:

A missional imagination assumes that young people take part in the church’s mission—that every Christian teenager is a missionary called to translate the gospel across boundaries, not because he or she is capable or even interested, but because he or she is baptized and therefore is sent into the world as an envoy of Christ. The more teenagers tell this story, the more it starts to "tell them." In other words, as the Holy Spirit aligns young people’s lives with the gospel and empowers them to proclaim and enact Christ’s embrace, a missional imagination takes root: Teenagers begin to view the world as a place where God acts and to see themselves as participants in God’s action.

Of course, the challenge is that we can only invite young people to think this way when we have fully engaged adults in imagining in such a manner.

I’ve been reading Kenda Creasy Dean’s OMG: A Youth Ministry Handbook.  It is a brilliant and worthwhile read.  In it she offers a retelling of the story of a young man named Eutychus from Acts 20: 5-12.

On the first day of the week when we gathered to break bread, Paul spoke to them because he was going to leave on the next day, and he kept on speaking until midnight. There were many lamps in the upstairs room where we were gathered, and a young man named Eutychus who was sitting on the window sill was sinking into a deep sleep as Paul talked on and on. Once overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third story and when he was picked up, he was dead. Paul went down, threw himself upon him, and said as he embraced him, "Don’t be alarmed; there is life in him."

(more…)

This post is as much for my daughter who is an education major at college as it is for you, dear reader. 

The current issue of Newsweek has a lengthy article about our creativity crisis.  In it, they suggest is that where we will fail competitively in the future is that we have stopped encouraging creativity, especially in our problem solving.  A notable quote:

We should be “no longer encouraging kids to spring straight ahead to the right answer. When UGA’s Runco was driving through California one day with his family, his son asked why Sacramento was the state’s capital—why not San Francisco or Los Angeles? Runco turned the question back on him, encouraging him to come up with as many explanations as he could think of.

Preschool children, on average, ask their parents about 100 questions a day. Why, why, why—sometimes parents just wish it’d stop. Tragically, it does stop. By middle school they’ve pretty much stopped asking. It’s no coincidence that this same time is when student motivation and engagement plummet. They didn’t stop asking questions because they lost interest: it’s the other way around. They lost interest because they stopped asking questions.”

and, one wonders: What are the implications when it comes to faith…?

OK, hunker down for a little bit, folks.  This is gonna take some space.  Blame Roy. We are both big fans of Mark Oestricher and, on facebook, Mr. Petitfils called my attention of a recent blog post of Marko’s.  In it, he ponders upon the question of adolescence extending later and later in life into a third stage of “emerging adulthood” and the implications for the Church in utilizing the services of 18-24 year old adolescents ministering with adolescents in our high schools or middle schools.  Read the whole post and the comments, it is an engaging dialogue.

And throughout it all, I was reminded of Paul’s message to the Galatians (3:26-28): For through faith you are all children of God in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free person, there is not male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If racial, social-economic, and gender identity really does not matter to God, why do we think age should?

Paul did not. He reminds Timothy (4:12) to Let no one have contempt for your youth, but set an example for those who believe, in speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity.

So, Marko is sweating brain development and its impact on ministry, and I’m wondering… does it matter?

We are failing to fully engaging the many generations within our Church into ministry with young people.  I remember attending a regional LifeTeen training a few years back, When it came time for the break-out, a percentage went to the “experienced core team member” group, a few others went to the catechesis group, but the overwhelming majority gathered for the musician / worship leader group – -  and most of them were young adults. And I wondered back then… Is this about involvement in liturgy? Is this about praise and worship music in a Catholic setting? (and/or) Is this about being young adults together?  My guess back then was it was a combination of all with a mix of willingness to be in service to the Lord.

Leaving young adults alone to ministry is not a failure of wrongful placement of trust… It’s abandoning an age group to their own devises in a Church were we don’t dispose Jew or Greek, we do not forsake one who is a slave or is free, or renounce males or females…  They is no place in our Church for the contempt of age-segregation of young people any more.

The rEVOLution in Catholic Youth Ministry must, must, must be us actually living up to our own rhetoric.  Renewing the Vision outlined the challenges thirteen years ago: We are deeply concerned by America’s neglect of young people…. Ministry with adolescents will need to be more comprehensive and community-wide…  the continuing development of the Church’s understanding and practice of ministry needs to be incorporated into a contemporary vision and strategy for ministry with adolescents today.

RTV goes on to elicit a quote from John Paul II’s 1995 World Day of Prayer for Vocations.  You will likely recognize it as the “This is what is needed: a Church for young people…” quote.  Yet imagined if it read…

This is what is needed: a Church that sets aside young people into youth groups or youth liturgies, speaking to their hearts for only the short while of their adolescence hyping upon their hormone-driven emotions and inspire enthusiasm for joy and strength, but not necessarily about the really hard stuff like the Gospels or the Eucharist; a Church which is only bold enough to ask to Confirm your presence for a certain amount of service hours or contact time and not get involved in embarrassingly pulling a “rich young man” demand on a kid and asking him or her to  commit his whole existence; a Church which is afraid to require much because the young people won’t really be good for it, a Church which gives the impression it is incapable of having have given much; a Church which does not fear asking from young people the effort of a noble and authentic adventure, such as the summer youth conference or the workcamp, from which they will quickly return home safe and sound.

Yea, that sounds wrong, does it not?  But how are we programming…?

If we are to be a Church for young people…

> We’ve got to engage the “adult” church to speak to young people’s hearts and enkindle, comfort, and inspire enthusiasm in them with the joy of the Gospel and the strength of the Eucharist. The core team can “represent” but even the most successful youth ministry effort sweats not having enough adults.
> We’ve got to invite young people into the full community and not into a safe segment of the community.  This is us giving much because that safety factor is for us adults who rather not deal with the messiness of adolescence and discount their membership.
>  We’ve got to follow John Paul II’s example and call young people to “discipleship;” follow Benedict XVI’s example and call young people to “making definitive choices;” and not fear asking from young people the effort of a noble and authentic adventure.

OK, I’ve gone on way too long. It is not about adolescence, brain development, it’s about God’s call and God doesn’t card at the door. Comment away… What are the other “We’ve got to’s” if we are to be a Church for young people?

This whole legacy thing is not actually a looking back at the end of your life thing… but at the end of your day thing. 

What did you move forward just a step or a half-step or a quarter-step? How did you present yourself today?

Did you reach, did you grasp? Did you do WOW?

Every day does have a legacy; every day can be a masterpiece.

Want a legacy?  Start with that next morning, that next meeting or program, that next new relationship… Start with what’s next not with what’s gone by.

Twelve years old Adora Svitak recently spoke at TED for a brief eight minutes and encourage more “childish thinking.”

“Kids grow up and become adults just like you. The goal is not to turn kids into your kind of adult but rather better adults than you have been. 

No matter your position or place in life it is imperative to create opportunities for children so we can grow up to blow you away.

You need to listen and learn from kids, and trust us and expect more from us.

The world needs opportunities for new leaders and new ideas. Kids need opportunities to lead and succeed.  Are you ready to make the match?  Because the world’s problems shouldn’t be the human family’s heirloom.”

Come with me
And you’ll be
In a world of
Pure imagination
Take a look
And you’ll see
Into your imagination

Remember when you were five and anything was possible?

If we rethunk what was possible, what would it be for our young people and our Church?

If you want to do great youth ministry, there are lessons to be learned from the experiences of St. Timothy’s in Mesa, Arizona.  A quarter of a century ago, they started this little youth ministry effort called Life Teen… (perhaps you have heard of it???)

Randy Raus recently celebrated the differences that made Life Teen last…
> The teens at St. Tim’s know that they are an important part of the parish.
> The Teen Liturgy was the core.
> Taking teens away for retreat experiences.
> Teens learn experientially
> The Music is awesome.
> The Core Team. the Core Team, the Core Team
> Sharing blessings with others.

Looking towards the next 25 years (if I might hack away for a moment), I’d suggest that we build upon the momentum of Life Teen and enlarge the scope of our ministry so that…
> The parish knows that they are an important part of the lives of teens and of all their members
>  Liturgy becomes the core for all the ages.
> Taking teens into immersion of parish life beyond the youth group
> Teens learn from the rich faith experiences of their faith community
> While music should remain awesome, quiet should be celebrated as well as to better hear the voice of God
> The Parish, The Parish, The Parish, and, the Parents (where Life Teen has already begun initiatives.)
> and, of course, share blessings with others.

Twenty-five years is a great opportunity to stop for a moment and look back and celebrate.

Twenty-five years is also a great opportunity to stop for a moment and look forward and then start anew by rolling up your sleeves and continuing to advance with the work of the Spirit. Opera Christi non deficiunt, sed proficiunt.

In the March edition of FastCompany (whose print edition is the rare publication to which I still hold a snail mail subscription), they profiled The World’s Most Innovative Companies.  In naming Facebook as #1, they offered an extensive profile of the attitudes of both the company as well as their young founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg.

At Facebook, they are “keenly aware of the importance of rapid deployment and iteration, even as the company has become too big for staffers to shout updates to one another across the room. At the heart of the process is the notion of “hacking,” which is not about breaking and entering: “It’s about being unafraid to break things in order to make them better.” It is a mix of arrogance and curiosity. “The root of the hacker mind-set is ‘There’s a better way.’  Just because people have been doing it the same way since the beginning of time, I’m going to make it better.’”

“Determined to keep that mind-set alive as the company grows, Facebook has raised the all-nighter to an art form. ‘Hackathons,’ which started when the site was just a handful of friends around a dining table, are now all-hands meetings held every other month or so. Any project, any idea is on the table. If you can find some friends to work on it with you, go for it. The company provides food, music, and beer. It sounds like so much code-boy BS, except that most everyone shows up, even the lawyers…”‘

I’d love to have deeper richer conversations …about confirmation – especially parents and sponsors …about adults in ministry in general and training and how the Catholic identity question rests completely with the previous generation, not the next …about if we are truly living up to the framework of Catholic Youth Ministry as proposed over a decade ago …about vocations …about adolescent catechesis …about social networking like Facebook and its impact on our ministry …about??? 

What about Catholic Youth Ministry should we be unafraid to break things in order to make them better?