Catholic Youth Ministry Blog

Thursday, 3 July, 2008
HAPPY FOURTH
   Wednesday was a good day - - Gene sent this lovely wordle which is based on this web site (As always, click pic to enlarge.) Had a great phone call with Pat; thanks, guy! Two meetings and re-did my task white board.)
    Great! All ready for a break.
    I'm home the rest of this weekend and am going off-blog. See you Monday!

STATE OF YOUTH MINISTRY: SOUTH DAKOTA
> > Intern Meghan continues here tour of the States. (pretty impressive for a kid without a driver's license.) She discovered that Rapid City has a listing of their available r esources
> > Sioux City is updating their site but still allows access to information on stuff like their d-camp.

Wednesday, 2 July, 2008
GET SMART
You know you are of a certain age when you refer to things as of a certain age. You know you are of a certain age when the props of a 60's TV show are portrayed actually as museum pieces in a 2008 summer movie. Would you believe it was a pretty good movie? Would you believe it was good enough to stand on its own while offering enough respectful homage to the original a pretty good movie? Father Austin points out here that the movie reminds us that we should not objectify others, even our enemies. "It is the personal level of the heart is where true conversion, true forgiveness, and true peace come from."

STATE OF YOUTH MINISTRY: SOUTH CAROLINA
> > Charleston has a young ladies' retreat called "Discovering Your Gifts" which covers topics such as self-worth, self-image, chastity, relationships, and identity. Blog-site intern and temporary residential daughter Meghan found this one.

Tuesday, 1 July, 2008
SEE YOU IN SYDNEY
It's pope-apoloza month. . . here we go! The Catholic News Service blog sends a reminder regarding that which many of us already know. . . bring along the trade-ables. Sydney is also offering social networking on the xt3 site: I've set up a profile there as have many from our delegation. LifeTeen has an article posted on How Not to Ruin a Trip to World Youth Day. Finally, are there any others out there planning to blog from Sydney??? I hope to as well as snag a few podcasts as well. Let me know if you are blogging, I'd like to let others know of your hyperlinks!
STATE OF YOUTH MINISTRY: RHODE ISLAND
> > Providence offers the following prayer for the Pope:

"Lord, we offer our prayers for our new pope, Pope Benedict XVI.
Give him a shepherd's heart. Give him a champion's strength.
Give him Solomon's wisdom and give him a double-portion of Elijah's spirit of prophecy.
Through his ministry, guide your Church to perfect communion with you
through Jesus Christ and in the power of the Holy Spirit."

Monday, 30 June, 2008
WALL-E
   Youngest daughter Meghan is in town for a good long visit and so that means another tour of the area's movie theaters. Last night was Pixar/ Disney's Wall-E, which started out a little slowish but then picked up as it mixed in action-adventure for the kids and a wry, tough social commentary for the adults. Check this one out. It's a good'un.
OH, BLOGGING . . .
I LOVE BLOGGING . . .
   Mike Patin - this YouTube is for you, brother! (Mike is always sending me cartoons about blogging)
   Finally, someone who shares my struggle. . . A believer, someone who would want to blog about our ideals.

STATE OF YOUTH MINISTRY: PENNSYLVANIA
   > > The front page of the Altoona-Johnstown site identifies the A-J's youth page as a new page.
   > > Greensburg is hosting a summer retreat for upcoming Freshman "To Jesus through Mary, Back to the Basics"
   > > Over the the land of three rivers, the Diocesan Youth Council for Pittsburgh has a pretty extensive site of their own.

Sunday, 29 June, 2008
SET YOUR ECCLESIAL GAUGE
   Recently, Oblate Father Ron Rolheiser offered a presentation devoted to what he called “setting our ecclesial gauges” correctly in the new century now dawning. Specifically, he offered a list of “Ten Commandments” for Catholic life today, with a bit of commentary on each. They included:
- Incarnate both the Kenotic and the Triumphant Christ. The “kenotic” Christ, Rolheiser explained, is the Christ of humility and suffering (from the Greek word kenosis, for “emptiness”)
- Be Leaders without being Elitist
- Be Iconoclastic and Pious at the Same Time. The trick, Rolheiser said, is having the capacity both to “smash idols” and to “kneel in reverence,” depending upon what the moment demands.
- Be Equally Committed to Social Justice and Intimacy with Jesus. A balanced Catholic, Rolheiser argued, should be ready both “to lead a peace march and to lead the rosary.” As an example, Rolheiser offered Dorothy Day, founder of the Catholic Worker Movement.
- Ponder as Mary Did. Rolheiser noted that Mary is the only figure in the New Testament described as “pondering” the words and deeds of Christ; typically, his disciples and the crowds are said to have been “amazed.”
John Allen has a fuller report here. It really is worth a good read!
STATE OF YOUTH MINISTRY: PENNSYLVANIA
   > > Allentown continues to offer e-mail addresses and links.
   > > Harrisburg has an annual pilgrimage walk and Mass for young people on Palm Sunday.
   > > In Philadelphia, they are offering Adoremus Te, a powerful day of uplifting music, teaching and preaching by Fr. David Engo, OFM Cap and many more, prayer, Reconciliation in the field, Adoration, Mass and nighttime Benediction.
   > > Shouldn't Scranton make some sort of mention to their outreach to Dunder-Mifflin? They do have links related to Scouting, which one imagines make Dwight Schrute happy on some existential level!!

Saturday, 28 June, 2008
TODAY'S SCRIPTURE LESSON
Be sober and vigilant. Your opponent the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion looking for (someone) to devour.
(1 Peter 5:8)

Thus concludith the only soccer related posting you'll ever see on this site.

STATE OF YOUTH MINISTRY: OREGON
> > Baker has pictures from an event named Barn Berakoth.
> > Portland has a resource regarding YM Budgeting Tips

Friday, 27 June, 2008
BLOGGER ENVY ? GETTING THE STORY
Fellow Baltimore blogger Father Austin has gotten some major linkage from Rocco as well as Deacon Greg regarding Archbishop O'Brien's recent interactions with the Regnum Christi / Legion of Christ. O'Brien's letter is available as well as his own report. The John Allen interview is a lesson is careful but transparent church leadership.
Last Saturday, there was a follow-up meeting. I was doing a little weekend office work (prepping for a Sunday World Youth Day delegation meeting) and was walking out as Austin and others were walking in. His blog posting from the event I missed is what the other bloggers (including me) are buzzing about. Proud of 'ya, Father Austin!

STATE OF YOUTH MINISTRY: OKLAHOMA
> > Oklahoma City and the rest of Region 10 will gather in Amarillo, Texas November 21-23 for the Region 10 Catholic Youth Conference which is themed Be Bold, Be Proud, Be Catholic
> > No, that isn't, is it? Could it possible be an image of a bobble-head Pope on the Tulsa site? AWESOME!

Thursday, 26 June, 2008
CREATED TO BE
   Yesterday was the intersection of two major writing projects. Our office printed our final draft of Created to Love, a curriculum which addresses both the need for human sexuality catechesis as well as child protection training in our parishes and schools. It printed out as 108 pages - - - yeeeesh! I also printed out the three-page outline of Project Be, this summer's writing project with a launch schedule of Spring 2009.
STATE OF YOUTH MINISTRY: OHIO
   > > Ohio and Cincinnati will have a local WYD celebration at Lehman High School in Sidney, Ohio. Here's hoping they will wrap up their gathering by going to the Outback for a bloomin' onion.
   > > In Cleveland, director Dobie Moser has a good synopsis on Adolescents_and_Faith_Formation:_An_Evangelizing_Catechesis
   > > Just in case you were concerned, Steubenville has posted their office hours
   > > Toledo will host Anna Scally for their August Youth Ministers' Conference.
   > > Best I can figure, this is Youngstown.

Wednesday, 25 June, 2008
ONE SHORT DAY IN THE EMERALD CITY
   Went to NYC yesterday. Really, just needed an intentional day off and away. I went to visit Mike Carotta who was teaching a class at Fordham.   It was valuable time to just be present anywhere but the office, and especially with Mike.
STATE OF YOUTH MINISTRY: NORTH DAKOTA
   > > In Bismarck, Matt Maher and his band will headline the fall High School Youth Rally at Trinity High School in Dickinson.
   > > Over in Fargo, seventeen-year-old Nathaniel Sharpe of Bathgate, N.D., never imagined the movie he created for a contest in California would hit the big screen in such a big way.
    Sharpe created “Wrinkles in Time” for a Cinema Vita Film Festival competition which focused on the dignity of life. The film, featuring his 77-year-old grandmother, Louise Carlson, and her great-grandson, Linus Carlson, received the first place award in the high school division. The prize was a camcorder and $250.Then, the Diocese of Fargo received a request for a video greeting to be shown prior to the Mass Pope Benedict XVI will celebrate April 17 at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C. Sharpe’s video captured the diocese’s strong commitment to dignity of life issues, and Sharpe was asked to condense the five-minute video into a 90-second message that would include a “welcome” for the pope.
    To see the welcome video, click here. (4.0 MB)

MAY PEACE BE WITH YOU
In May we began our tour of the States of Youth Ministry (5/04 - 5/30).
> Inside the Youth Ministers Studio featured Lisa Bagladi (5/07)
> SlideShare examined some career advice (5/02)
> YouTube included a look at millennial and politics (5/05), Simon Cowell being encouraging (5/08), and some Iron Man/ Bat Man smack talk (5/10), and a complaint about the Meatloaf (5/13), Gnarls Barkley Going Up (5/17), Famous Failures (5/20), Tom Peters on Politics (5/22), a cute Hey Jude (5/28), and a reminder not to kill anyone (5/31).

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