We are gonna be celebrating Valentine’s Day all week, offering up Catholic Youth Ministry Valentines out to a few folks.

First up is the Archdiocese of Baltimore.  It is more than work or ministry… it’s home and, yet, it’s more than that… it’s family.  We gather for our annual reunion at the pilgrimage, we are honored to share time with one another at our youth contact meetings or events such as NCYC.  We are blessed with wonderful talented people in our offices, parishes, and schools.  We often claimed that the ArchBalt is the “Premier See,” but seriously we daily work hard to earn that claim.

HAITI:
Please continue to check our Haiti post which will be continually updated with additional news and resources. Keep Haiti in your prayers.

MARCH 31st:
Learn why the last day of March is a very important day in Catholic Youth Ministry here.

All right, everybody, back to it!

The break in the schedule, no matter if it was actual holiday/vacation for you or a series of programs, liturgies, parties at which you had to be present. . .  Well, that’s all over… (despite that, liturgically, we remain in the Christmas season.)

And, the Catholic Youth Ministry blog (est. August 2004) has also officially returned for another round. (Actually, we snuck back in on New Year’s Eve, what can I say… I missed ‘ya.)

Resolutions for the new year? A few.  We are gonna try to continue to ride the Caffeine second feature (which at 60 posts deep is worth the review we will have this week) for as long as we can. Sundays we will continue the lectionary based mash-up prayers that we started in Advent. Something from the Catholic Youth Ministry News world will be found on Tuesdays. Wednesdays always had a little something that was training-friendly, we are going to start the year trying something a little more different.  Come back in two days to check that out. Saturdays will still aim to be a little something something on the funsies side of things.

My best blog-related resolution… to keep stocking up some posts. placing them in the queue ahead of time.  When that happens, it allows for some more personal postings and “breaking news” items, without the pressure to feed the daily beast.

It’s a new decade and a new year and a new month and, a.n.d., a.n.d. a new day, a new dawn. You know how I feel. . Let’s get to it. folks!

After having learned how to replace the banner atop the site, I promptly lost the connection.  Christmas break allowed for some serious deciphering and last night, I broke the logjam.  With the new year, we have a new banner and the promise of frequent updating of the same

I found the image for the new banner from Thomas Peter’s American Papist site and he credits Reuters as the source.  Peters suggests that the unknown cardinal is texting… maybe.

It’s a different church, ain’t it?

In a typical year end function of most publications, we will be running a series on the “Top Posts of 2009.” (Review the whole top ten list here.) 

The # 1 posting of the year was published on April 1st. (Pay attention to that date… It plays into the story. There will follow-up postings acknowledging it was all an April Fools, looking at the comments that the video received, and the out-takes of the original video.

The Catholic YM Blog is No More

Please review the video clip for all the details as to why we are discontinuing the Catholic Youth Ministry blog as of today. 

We hinted at this yesterday on the blog as well as Monday and Sunday so everyday readers should have had a hint something like this might occur.

Please keep our entire blog staff in your thoughts and prayers.  We have suggested that they all try out for their homeland’s version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire over there in India in hopes that they will find love and/or make a fortune in rupees.

Condolences can be submitted through the comments link in the lower right section of this post.

Thank you for your viewership.

Goodbye, Farewell, Amen.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Most publications run a year-end series not unlike a “Top Posts of 2009.” Turns out that we are not above that sort of thing.  (Review #10-3 here.) 

The #2 posting of the year was published on May 14th and received a boat load of comments.  I followed up this posting with an open letter to the Catholic Channel.

Mr. Catholic Youth Minister Guy

Mr. Catholic Youth Minister Guy

On the Catholic Channel for Sirius XM radio, they have been running a series of “Real Men of Catholicism” ad clips.  They are based on the classic Bud Light “Real Men of Genius” commercials.

All fine enough. They have included the Overambitious Sign of Peace guy, the Mr. Write the Collection Check guy, and Mr. Church Fund-Raiser Helper guy.

Recently, however, they featured Mr. Catholic Church Youth Minister guy.  It’s tough to determine if one should laugh or cry. What do you think – -  funny or a reflection of low regard for the field of youth ministry?

Most publications run a year-end series not unlike a “Top Posts of 2009.” Turns out that we are not above that sort of thing. (Review #10-4 here.) 

The #3 posting of the year noted what was a seminal moment in my professional year.  It was published on June 12.

The Fifth Mark of the Church

A few years back, we based the theme of the annual Pilgrimage on “One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic,” the four marks of the Church.  Accompanying the large pilgrimage cross through the streets of Baltimore on that Palm Saturday were individual banners for each mark.

At the day’s end, Cardinal Keeler gave thanks to the many collaborators who made the day a success.  Then, he thanked the director of the Division of Youth and Young Adult Ministry, Mark Pacione, quipping that perhaps “Mark Pacione is the fifth mark of the church.”  And it was hard to disagree about that possibility . . .

Today is Mark’s last day in the office as Director. After almost twenty-four years of serving in that capacity, Mark has been asked to work with the Archdiocese’s newly created Office of Schools Planning.  Through our country, catholic schools are struggling and Archbishop O’Brien has formed a blue ribbon committee locally to help create a plan.  Mark will now be in the middle of that whirlwind.

Which, needless to say, is an immense loss to our offices.  To sit with Mark is to be able to get “the vision thing” about church, youth ministry, young adult and campus ministry, the role of parents, the mission of our retreat house, national and international perspective of our work . . .  Mark has been the “programming” guy, “the guy” behind the events of World Youth Day in Denver and John Paul’s visit to Baltimore.   Mark has that intuitive feel for what works on both grand scales and on the personal level.

It is not an over-exaggeration to say that when I returned to work for the Archdiocese of Baltimore, I came back because I intentionally chose to work with Mark and the team he had assembled.

And, come Monday morning, Mark will still be with us in the Catholic Center building, still be a partner in our ministry, but will not be a direct collaborator in our fifth floor offices.  And, I and our office staff, while soldiering through towards the next tasks of the future, are clearly saddened by this turn of events.

Please keep us all in your prayers.  If you want to send your well-wishes, you can contact Mark here.

Most publications run a year-end series not unlike a “Top Posts of 2009.” Turns out that we are not above that sort of thing.  (Review #10-5 here.) 

The #4 posting of the year was published on September 16 and was part of the entire Caffeine series

Hysteresis

Stimulate? Is that the right word for these times?  I’ve got to tell you… the times concern me.

I worry that the economy is not bouncing back quickly and this is going to be a long haul.  Unemployment and a recessionary mind-set will have impact on church-giving, leading to tightening church budgets impacting the field.

I worry that, as a field, we have settled into a defensive posture of maintenance of the status quo and are not being proactively inventive enough.  This at a time when we are not not being evaluated kindly by such studies as the National Study on Youth and Religion.

I worry that we are not having deep and wide ranging conversations regarding the look and feel and values what the future of youth ministry might be.

Finally, I worry that Catholic Youth Ministry might have achieved Hysteresis. When discussing the job market this week, TIME magazine defines Hysteresis as

… a word that you (and the rest of us) should hope we don’t hear too much of in the coming months. It comes from the Greek husteros, which means late. It refers to what happens when something snaps in such a way that it can never be put back together. Bend a plastic ruler too far, drop that lightbulb — that cracking sound you hear is the marker of hysteresis. There’s no way to restore what has just been smashed.

Am I right to be concerned regarding Catholic religious educators being in hysteresis as they might be possibly perceived as an aging field with minimal new incoming personnel and little new energy? Are Catholic Schools not that far behind? If Catholic youth ministry is not next, what is it that stimulates our field from survival mode into thriving?

Most publications run a year-end series not unlike a “Top Posts of 2009.” Turns out that we are not above that sort of thing.  (Review #10-6 here.) 

The #5 posting of the year was published on August 6th.

Technology Procedural Recommendations

They have been a long time in development, but the Division of Youth and Young Adult Ministry in ArchBalt has finally released our Technology Procedural Recommendations.

The e-mail announcing this read:

In Pope Benedict XVI’s encyclical, Caritas in Veritate, the Holy Father reminds us that “human freedom is authentic only when it responds to the fascination of technology with decisions that are the fruit of moral responsibility.”

Technology Procedural Recommendations have been developed to aid ministers and church/ school personnel and volunteers in determining appropriate boundaries in regards to their use of technology within their ministerial relationships.

You are encouraged to review them in light of any presently existing policies that your parish or school might already have in place.

Please call the attention of those adults with whom you minister to this document. 

You should free to do the same.

The topic of Technology and Ministry has been getting some interest while we were developing this. 

As recently as last Sunday, Archbishop Vincent Nichols (Westminster, England) said the sites are leading teenagers to build “transient relationships” which leave them unable to cope when their social networks collapse. He said the internet and mobile phones were

“dehumanising” community life.  His comments follow the death of 15-year-old schoolgirl who took a fatal overdose of painkillers last week after being bullied on Bebo, another networking site. Tim Rodgers from Granger Community Church offers a counter-argument to Archbishop Nichols here.

The Diocese of Phoenix addressed it in this event and technology and ministry have been discussed in the bloggosphere here and here, at national conferences, and even in a Catholic Review article featuring a quote from this blogger.

If you are aware of any other resources on this topic, please comment away.  Further, we would live to hear your comments on the TPR document as well.

Most publications run a year-end series not unlike a “Top Posts of 2009.” Turns out that we are not above that sort of thing.  (Review #10-7 here.) 

The #6 posting of the year was published on May 11th.

I Dare You.

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.