CARDINAL CONTACT LAST ROUND
    At the end of Friday, Cardinal Keeler took at lap around all of his offices in the Catholic Center, shook hands, and said "thank you." God bless you, Cardinal Keeler.   [church]
YOUTH CONTACT ROUND 2
    Today is our second round of the Youth Contact experience 2008. Differences: Mark, the boss, is back from his Ecuador travels, so we are relieved to have a fourth presenter.  Also, the crowd has tripled in size. Pray for us.    [work day]  
UN CHRISTIAN
    When young people were asked to identify their impressions of Christianity, one of the common themes was "Christianity is changed from what it used to be" and "Christianity in today’s society no longer looks like Jesus." These comments were the most frequent unprompted images that young people called to mind, mentioned by one-quarter of both young non-Christians (23%) and born again Christians (22%). See more here.   [youth ministry]

 EMBRACING TECHNOLOGY I
   The new laptop is here. It's a Dell Latitude D620 and it's pretty sweet. Can I just say how jazzed I am that there was no noticeable disruption in service for you. Whew!  [blogging]
EMBRACING TECHNOLOGY II
   You probably can figure out where I stand on this. . . this report indicates that "where K-12 schools are hampered by fear of technology and how teens might abuse it, lack of resources/staffing and the mandate of teaching to the test, colleges and universities are embracing technology and beginning to see the positive impact on learning." [youth ministry]
PILGRIMAGE '08
     For the Youth Contact meeting on Saturday, I've prepared two presentations to help promote.  This second one is my latest effort as a producer of YouTube content.  The editing is done by a highly skilled local youth minister.    [work day]

Saturday

Sept. 22

HERE COMES THE POPE
   One of the consequences of my unscheduled "systems crash" earlier this week was the inability to forward or comment on this report and this report that the Pope will be in the states April 15-20, 2008.  All indications are that New York and the UN are the cornerstone of the trip.  DC and Boston seem to be intended additional stops and Baltimore (God help us!) is mentioned as in the running as well.  What has not been mentioned is a youth event, which seems to remain a JPII holdover on the papal itinerary for BXIV's travel. (see: Loreto, September 2007; Assisi, June 2007; Brazil, May 2007; Pavia, April 2007; and Poland, May, 2006)  Meanwhile, is it too much to hope, that if he is visiting, that he wears some funky vestments such as he does in the picture? (Click pic to enlarge!)  [pope]
YOU CAN’T STOP THE BEAT
   There was one movie on the must-see list all summer and I almost missed it before summer was over.   Hairspray was great.  It was an overly optimistic coda to a complicated week.  From the opening strains of “Good Morning, Baltimore” to the celebratory finale of “You Can’t Stop the Beat,” the movie doesn’t relent on earnest hopefulness.  John Travolta will likely get some award nominations, but it shouldn’t be for lifetime achievement or cross-dressing.  It should be because he nailed the Bal-mer “hon” accent.  Amanda Bynes plays Penny Pingleton by spending a majority of the movie in a Harpo Marx-ist mime that conveys vacuous blonde innocent combined with a deeply buried but simmering lust. Queen Latifah is the peaceful rebel-rouser. Brittany Snow’s character and performance demand the spotlight despite a full and talented cast.  Finally, Nikki Blonsky is irresistible as the movie’s moral center, Tracy Turnblad. If you haven’t seen this yet, catch the DVD when it comes out! I will.  Summer Movie Final Count: 16   [culture]
STATE OF YOUTH MINISTRY
   Whew!  Cool!  It all started on July 7th and the tour has finally wrapped up.  Hope you enjoy our visit.  Next stop (after an appropriate break for the virtual world's equivalent of packing, repacking, and washing underwear.) . . .  our neighbors in CANADA!  [state]
CO-WORKERS:  REVISIT AND REDEFINE
   Bishop Gregory Aymond, in The Movement of the Spirit: Challenges and Reasons for Hope suggests: the document Co-Workers in the Vineyard of the Lord is being rewritten by  this conversation. The Spirit is helping us put flesh on the bones. That document represents the  bones of lay ecclesial ministry. This conversation helps to rewrite it. The document was written after much work, consultation, deliberation and many, many revisions. As we live it, as we discuss it here, we rewrite it. I call our attention to page sixty-seven of the document that says, and I quote, “Within the next five years, it will be helpful to revisit the material here and redefine it in the light of our experience.” This revisiting must be guided, and is guided by the Holy Spirit.  [church]

SYSTEM CRASH
   So- what happened, where have I been?  My office laptop crashed Sunday morning... (Thank God it was after the youth contact meeting!)  The system reverted to its most primitive state, I couldn't find any files and couldn't access any programs. I was out of the office  for the last two days and had difficulty gaining IT's attention to my issues until today.  Meanwhile, I have also slept more in the past three days than I could possibly imagine. This period of "systems crashing" has offered much - both for your inspection as well as personal introspection. But will pick that up tomorrow.  [blogging]
CO-WORKERS: BEST PLACE TO WORK
   Michael Brough, in Raising Expectations in the Ministerial Workplace, asks us to: Imagine if you opened your daily newspaper and saw the headline, “Catholic Church voted ‘Best Place to Work’ in national survey!” Those who create such lists define great places to work as where employees "trust the people they work for, have pride in what they do, and enjoy the people they work with." Co-Workers in the Vineyard speaks of “close mutual collaboration” and “enabling all the disciples to realize their calling to holiness and service…” . [church]
"STATE" OF YOUTH MINISTRY: VIRGIN ISLANDS
** The Diocese of St. Thomas does not have a youth ministry page but does report the following in their "vision and ministry" report: Bishop Vincent Darius of St. George-in-Grenada, led the Regional Catholic Youth Conference on St. Thomas; Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church hired a full-time youth minister; youth choirs were started at Holy Family Church, St. Anne Chapel and St. Patrick Church; youth groups were started at Holy Family, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church and St. Anne Chapel; and three Catholic schools hosted summer camps.  [state]

CALLED TO WITNESS
   Your prayers are encouraged for the participants of Catholic Relief Services annual immersion trip for professional youth ministers.  They depart today, after a two-day orientation in Baltimore (where CRS is housed) for Ecuador. This trip is co-sponsored by the NFCYM. More information here and here.  [youth ministry]
YOUTH CONTACT
   Your prayersToday is the first of two of our annual gatherings of our Youth Contact meeting. Subject matter:  Evangelization and Safe Touch/ Sexuality.  What a mix! [work day]
CO-WORKERS: THE WORD "MINISTRY"
   Msgr. Michael J. Hoeppner, in his Thoughts and Concerns Regarding the Authorization of Lay Ecclesial Ministers states that: Co-Workers is presented as “A Resource for Guiding the Development of Lay Ecclesial Ministry” (emphasis added). The document “attempts to ensure that development of lay ecclesial ministry will occur in ways that are faithful to the Church’s theological and doctrinal tradition and that respond to current pastoral needs and situations” (emphasis added). Certainly, as Avery Cardinal Dulles and others point out, the word “ministry” is validly applied to the service of both the lay faithful and the ordained.  [church]
"STATE" OF YOUTH MINISTRY: PUERTO RICO
** There are five dioceses in Puerto Rico, none of whom seem to have a significant we presence. They include: Arecibo, Caguas, Mayaguez, Ponce, and the Archdiocese of San Juan.  [state]

TRIUMPH
   I first met Danielle Rose  at NCYC's and was always impressed more by her backstage manners than her quality on-stage leadership on song and prayer. She would greet the security guards by name with a smile and a hug. Now comes the news that on August 2, 2007 Danielle Rose entered religious life as an aspirant with a community of Franciscan Sisters called "The Disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ." Read more here. [church]
CO-WORKERS: NO SUCH THING AS A FREELANCE LEM
   Susan Wood, regarding the Authorization of Lay Ecclesial Ministers reminds us that: One of the challenges among lay ecclesial ministers will be whether or not they see authorization as a vehicle for communion in a church, or whether they see it as an exercise of power, which limits them. Ed Hahnenberg said last night, “Power is a reality” and I think we have to recognize that the person who authorizes is exercising power. But, may I hasten to add, that the principle behind authorization is that there’s no such thing as a freelance lay ecclesial minister.  [church]
"STATE" OF YOUTH MINISTRY: WASHINGTON, DC
   After we toured past Maryland, I got an e-mail pointing out that it looked as if I was skipping DC.  Nope, it was the plan all along to get through the fifty states and to continue into the rest of the US Catholic population, wherever we find them. . .  which includes:
** Washington, DC has the district as well as some counties in Maryland and Virginia. The Our Lady of Mattaponi youth retreat and conference center is past of the youth offices services.
** The Archdiocese of Military Services, USA has a well designed site, which is so important for a diocese dependant on the world wide web to reach their world wide diocese. They have a podcast site, which includes the director's visit inside the youth ministers studio. In just over two weeks, Baltimore will acquire Archbishop O'Brien from the military chaplaincy.  [state]