Mike Carotta is someone I would travel hours to just hang out with.  So, when he was speaking last fall in Western Pennsylvania, I gave no thought at all to running out there and sharing a meal and videotaping him in a hotel lobby for this presentation.

For his own experiences as a national consultant and writer, Mike is challenging us to rethink/ rebuild how we go about the Sacrament of Confirmation. 

This sacrament is often the largest most consistent activity we do with young people in the Church.  We have to give our best efforts in such a brief about of time.

My favorite suggestion… How can we give them somethings to do that has them connected to taking responsibility for their own formation?  How can we developed resources for candidates to do “on their own?”

Kendra Dean has often called the field of youth ministry’s attention to this clip.  In my recollection, she uses it to encourage us to encourage youth workers to encourage parents to help generation after generation to think beyond the lid, doing something radical for faith, and enlargen (is that a word?) the world view/ faith view of their young people.

If this is true of family, it must also be true of our church family as well.  Where is the lid consciously or unconsciously placed on the next generations within our church?

A few weeks back, I suggested that youth ministers need to become General Managers, looking at the whole system and work the system on behalf of the mission.  We can no longer be mere Youth Pastors, but we need to be Pastors of the Church with eyes towards the Church’s responsibilities (not ours) with young people.

Basically, the fleas just ain’t parents and kids, but the church as well.

Relevantradio100611 by CatholicYMblog

While we traditionally have invited our Youth Contacts (profession and key volunteer leaders from our parishes).  This year, we added high school campus ministers as well.

Next up is Marissa Alspaugh.  She lead a great ice-breaker earlier in the day that set up the whole transformational vibe.  Marissa is the youth ministry leader (she has got a great team assembled) at St. Timothy in Walkersville which is in central Maryland. She is discussing how to integrate all that has been discussed throughout the day.

And, finally, Wayne Hipley and Ted Miles offer the conclusion to the day.

The handouts can be found at ArchBalt Contact Meeting page.

Next up is Helene Murtha (we introduced her yesterday) discussing Theological Reflection related to service experiences.

Discussing the whole response part of the pastoral circle is the (also previously introduced) Wayne Hipley.

It all gets wrapped up tomorrow in part 4.

Our Contact Meeting is something our office does each fall.  Over the past few years, we have made all the materials related to the training available on-line.

Next up in our presentation was Wayne Hipley, a youth minister at Saint William of York, a parish community on the line between Baltimore City and Baltimore County.  Wayne has a special place in his heart for social justice and came to youth ministry after many years in business and communications. (He had much more mad skills related to video editing than I ever will aspire towards) He is talking about a transformational model of learning.

Next up is Ted Miles (we introduced him yesterday) and he is talking about Social Analysis.

The series continues with part 3 and part 4

Over the summer, we did a survey regarding social justice experiences in our parishes and schools. in a question regarding  service learning, respondents were asked about if and how they “debrief” the experience. Almost half of the respondents indicated that they did not “debrief” the service experience and a little more than a quarter debrief after the experience. The survey found that over one-eighth of our programs did not processing of the experience at all.  Our Next Horizons group wanted to address this issue and we opted to use our annual Youth Contact meetings for this purpose.  (We discussed Change and the book Switch last year and Salt and Light. a discussion on diversity, ecclesial and ethnic, in 2009.)

This year, the office staff was not the primary presenters.  First up is Ted Miles, Relationship Manager for Religious Education for Catholic Relief Services (which is based in Baltimore) Ted has served the ArchBalt for many years as a high school Campus Minister and as a parish youth minister and was foundational in the development of our Justice Action Week summer program.

Helene Murtha is a high school campus ministry and served for many years in Student Services in an area all woman’s Catholic College.  She is presentling on scenarios that the contact meeting particioants used throughout the day as a basis for thier discussions.  The can be found at the ArchBalt page

Watch the whole series part 2, part 3, and part 4.

When I started out in youth ministry, back in the previous millennium, I often took great pride in my width and breadth of ice-breaker / warmer games.

Recently, I received feedback regarding what I thought was an especially beter-than-average presentation and was told the ice-breaker was quite memorable… and I thought… really!!???!

But, then I re-evaluated… the ice-breaker worked because it did engage the group with me (a stranger in their midst) and each other.

This video (despite the Glee slushy-ify-ing) does serve as a helpful reminder of what doesn’t work with ice-breakers.

My youngest daughter’s latest catch phrase would be applicable here…

Be Better!

h/t Jonathan McKee

“Yea, but you can’t do that.”

“Why not?”

“ ‘Cause it’s freaking me out.”

Thus concludes the maps scene from the Big Block of Cheese episode of West Wing.

Nonetheless, at the 2011 Collegeville National Symposium on Lay Ecclesial Ministry held recently, Bob McCarty of the NFCYM revisits a familiar theme in suggesting that we need to consider the changing territory of our ministry.

“One of the things that has become really clear in this symposium on lay ecclesial ministry is that the territory in which we do ministry is changing rapidly… What this is going to require of us in ministry is that we need to change our ministerial maps.”

The video provides a brief 15 minute in-service on reconfiguring the maps on our ministry.  Don’t allow yourself to be freaked out.