I’m been sorting and packing and I came across this old (slightly edited) cartoon that I thought might make a reflective comment before we wrap up.

For those not of the Doonesbury generation, this (at least) nine year old scene features two characters-  Zonker is the perennial hippie / slacker who never seemed to grow beyond the 60’s / 70’s.  He is presently crashing with some old college chums, BD and Boopsie, who married and are dealing with their own evolving circumstances, which includes their daughter, Sam. Zonker is earning his keep by being a child care provider for the kid – the job title punch line in the fourth panel that was slightly edited.

Far too often, as youth ministers, we have dreams of becoming a powerful, respected leader in our field…  Taking the stage at a Franciscan or NCYC conference, writing the game-changer book, getting the recognition award that you are deserving, being surrounded by adoring young people who laugh at all our puns.

Powerful is when you share the stage with another bringing them to the fullness of their ministry. Power is listening to others and building off their ideas and visions. Respect is setting the table for others to shine. Respect is offering praise and encouragement.

These are the dreams of disciples and I need a dream like that.

Take care not to perform righteous deeds
in order that people may see them;
otherwise, you will have no recompense
from your heavenly Father.

Matthew 6:1

No, we are not discussing Franciscan University, but the scandal.  Sadly.

Fox News’ Dr. Keith Ablow recently helped to pose  many questions regarding the culture of a community where such callousness regarding rape and assault occurred. (Be advised, the hyperlinked article is graphic in its description of the elements of the case.)

>> Are American teens infected with a psychological epidemic that has eroded much of their capacity to connect with genuine emotion and is, therefore, crushing their empathy?
>> Are they no longer able to  look upon the actual events of their lives with no more actual investment and actual concern and actual courage than they would look upon a fictional character in a movie?
>> Have they become absent from their own lives and those of others?
>> Is the new norm to be a bystander in their own lives as well as the lives of others, blandly choosing to not to step forward to save a victim?

And, for us, how are we to respond to this disturbing trends? Where should the Gospels be speaking to young people during these times? How can we empower parents to address this within their families?  What can we do to discourage the behaviors that even hint towards such a cultural mindset with our churches and youth ministry efforts?

We have lots of questions….

Today, Pope Francis celebrated Palm Sunday in the Vatican, which is also the annual occasion of Work Youth Day. His homily made mention of it:

Today in this Square, there are many young people: for twenty-eight years Palm Sunday has been World Youth Day!

Dear young people, I saw you in the procession as you were coming in; I think of you celebrating around Jesus, waving your olive branches. I think of you crying out his name and expressing your joy at being with him! You have an important part in the celebration of faith! You bring us the joy of faith and you tell us that we must live the faith with a young heart, always: a young heart, even at the age of seventy or eighty.

Dear young people! With Christ, the heart never grows old! Yet all of us, all of you know very well that the King whom we follow and who accompanies us is very special: he is a King who loves even to the Cross and who teaches us to serve and to love. And you are not ashamed of his Cross! On the contrary, you embrace it, because you have understood that it is in giving ourselves, in giving ourselves, in emerging from ourselves that we have true joy and that, with his love, God conquered evil.

You carry the pilgrim Cross through all the Continents, along the highways of the world! You carry it in response to Jesus’ call: "Go, make disciples of all nations" (Mt 28:19), which is the theme of World Youth Day this year. You carry it so as to tell everyone that on the Cross Jesus knocked down the wall of enmity that divides people and nations, and he brought reconciliation and peace.

Dear friends, I too am setting out on a journey with you, starting today, in the footsteps of Blessed John Paul II and Benedict XVI.

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Meanwhile, yesterday, the Archdiocese of Baltimore held their 20th annual Youth and Young Adult Pilgrimage walking through the streets of Baltimore. Find the Catholic Review’s full coverage and accompanying slide-show.

At day’s end, in our Palm Sunday reminded the over 950 pilgrims that All day long we have been walking by faith and in life our pilgrimage has led us to this Cathedral of Mary Our Queen where we have listened to the story of the Lord’s suffering and death. We help Jesus carry his cross when… we pick up our crosses every day and carry them, those things in our lives we would like to change most but can’t, those things that make us unhappy, accepting that cross and bearing it willingly is how we help Christ carry his cross.

Last Thursday, Pope Benedict XVI received participants in the plenary assembly of the Pontifical Council for Culture, which had the theme of "Emerging Youth Cultures".  You can read the text of his whole message here (Grazie, Rocco!), but here are some clips…  (emphasis mine

The Churches’ work in relation to the reality of youth (is) a complex reality, as has been said, and one that can not be understood within a the context of a culturally homogeneous universe, but with in a horizon that can be defined as "multiverse", that is determined by a plurality of views, perspectives and strategies. Therefore, it is appropriate to speak of "youth cultures", since the elements that distinguish and differentiate the phenomena and cultural areas prevail, over those which instead, they have in common.

There is thus a climate of instability that touches the cultural, as well as the political and economic spheres

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“I would there were no age between ten and three-and-twenty, or that youth would sleep out the rest; for there is nothing in the between but getting wenches with child, wronging the ancestry, stealing, fighting”

- William Shakespeare

Here is the Good news: Kids’ brains are still developing.

OH, and he is more good news: The ability to take into account someone else’s perspective in order to guide behavior is still developing in mid-adolescence.

We know this, but it’s nice to see the research behind it anyway! (From another in the series of TED videos!)

h/t Doug Fields

What started as a witty way of saying to faculty colleagues “watch your references,” has turned into a globally reported and utilized guide to the intelligent if unprepared adolescent consciousness. Each August since 1998, alittle obscure school in Wisconsin gets its annual 15 minutes of fame as Beloit College releases their Mindset List, providing a look at the cultural touchstones that shape the lives of students entering college this fall. It quickly became an internationally monitored catalog of the changing worldview of each new college generation. Although we highlighted many be;low, you will want to check all 75 notes on Mindset List for the Class of 2016

> They should keep their eyes open for Justin Bieber or Dakota Fanning at freshman orientation.
> Michael Jackson’s family, not the Kennedys, constitutes “American Royalty.”
> Robert De Niro is thought of as Greg Focker’s long-suffering father-in-law, not as Vito Corleone or Jimmy Conway.
> They have never seen an airplane “ticket.”

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OK, the below information was designed regarding millennials in the workplace….   But re-read all the  information below and replace the word company with church… especially at the very bottom when it comes to how to keep millennials…<image source>

Recently, there has been a YouTube that has gone viral of a high school commencement address offered by faculty member David McCullough Jr. at Wellesley High School.

He had the audacity to suggest that “if everyone is special, then no one is. If everyone gets a trophy, trophies become meaningless.” (Full tezt)

McCullough suggests that we have cheapened worthy endeavors… (That)building a Guatemalan medical clinic (has) become more about the application to Bowdoin than the well-being of Guatemalans.

Tina Brown editorializes for Newsweek suggesting that ‘Today’s kids inhabit a world where the cultural hype they have been fed at home and at school about how wonderful they are is about to meet a rude comedown. The anthem they will hear after the champagne corks pop at graduation is not so much America the beautiful as America the beaten.

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UPDATE: I was interviewed on the Morning Air show with Sean Herriott this morning on this topic.  Find a recording after the jump.

The sad, sad story of Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman continues to remain in our national consciousness.  It has primarily been presented as a primary evidence that we are still not getting race relations right. The subsequent marches, rallies, and speeches have all alluded to it.

Treyvon was a African-American 17 year old who was deemed suspicious wearing a hoodie and beign black within a gated community. President Obama waded into the turbulent waters of issue by stating  "If I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon."  which I should suggest encourages to look at this case not only through the lens of race but also with a focus on generations.

If Treyvon was a 15 or 20  years older walking from the convenience store on a Skittle run wearing a button down shirt and a tie…

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