Why I'm against peer to peer fluff

We've all seen it...

Some big event planned and executed with the help or even the exclusive facilitation by "peers" of the group you are "ministering" to. Hey, what's not to like? Friends sharing their "faith journeys" and experience with the great Spirit (whoever it may be for them). They'll listen to "one of their own" right? yeah..sure...

First of all. I have faith (though weak and lacking), and sometimes I go places, but I don't have a "faith journey" so don't ask. Its a term that's not in Scripture, Tradition, or the churches of the East. In fact, I defy anyone to find a Christian prior to the last century use the phrase, and if you do, it probably doesn't mean what we all know it means now.

On with my point about peer to peer nonsense...

Peer to peer ministry is unchristian. Of course I believe in authentic christian community which builds each other up as brothers and sisters. Of "spurring each other on" as St Paul calls it. But for evangelization and catechesis (which can be the same thing) this is ludicrous.

Father/Son, Shepherd/Sheep, Teacher/Student, Elder/Younger, Bishop/People - these are the biblical and time tested methods of handing on the Faith. We have a natural hunger to be fathered (I wonder where that came from...) and we WILL look for this somewhere. We need to see a path that has been worn by those ahead of us, those who have learned how to avoid the dangers and overcome the obstacles that will befall us. We need fathers, and I don't just mean biological, who will show us how. We need shepherds, because we're sheep that can go astray. We need a teacher, because we are ignorant and in need of teaching. We need teachers and we need elders, because we know deep down that we need to learn from them. We know (or at least hope) that they have had passed down to them wisdom collected from the fathers, Shepherd, teachers, and elders before them. Please, just read Proverbs or Sirach to get a taste of the value of these biblical truths.

Does St Paul refer to Timothy as his "peer" when he is instructing him? No, its his son. Does St Paul say that all the new Corinthian Christians are now his "brothers", well sometimes, but he often says that he is their spiritual father, especially when it comes to instructing or rebuking. Christ is the foundation, but he laid it.

We need fathers more than brothers and sisters. When someone grows up without siblings, we shrug. When someone grows up without parents, especially fathers, we sigh for them.

Us men especially know this truth. We know that a father figure has the ability to totally destroy us, or to totally build us into true men. And out spiritual life strengthens exponentially when we realize that we have a Father who loves and fathers us. Talk to any strong Christian male and he will be able to tell you of his mentors and spiritual directors.

Peer to peer ministry is the answer to the lack of father figures in our times. And its a stupid answer. I am not saying that the Holy Spirit will not lead young people to the Father through the Son on a peer to peer team or retreat, but it will be majorly lacking. It will lack the maturity that faith requires. It will create baby Christians constantly looking for emotional highs and unsure of how to navigate the waters of the virtuous life. And please know that "effectiveness" should not be based on how much of a "good time" a kids has.

And hey, I love to allow young people to take ownership, learn leadership, and develop into mature Christians through learning what all Christians must learn - passing on the faith is the next step to receiving it.

BUT.

This does not mean letting kids evangelize and catechize each other. They are simply incapable. And any attempt at focusing a ministry on being "peer to peer" will lead to a weak and perpetually adolescent ministry.

Bring back fatherhood and stop trying to let kids due what is mean for fathers.

Women were not given the right to vote

I just wanted to make this comment which I have seen brought up on other blogs I check out. This is a point that I think needs to be remembered:

Women were not given the right by the government to voice their opinion by voting.

Women already had that right and the government simply recognized what was already there.

We are endowed by our Creator with rights and we have these because of our very nature. If we fail to recognise what we catholics call "natural law" which includes the rights of man, we are in big trouble (reason being is not going to be posted on this blog, but it has nothing to do with a particular faith).

The people grant rights to the government, not the other way around.

The baby in my wife's womb (who's heartbeat I saw yesterday at 6 weeks) has a right to life whether or not the government recognizes it. If its not a baby..what is it? If its not a baby..then Katie's not pregnant. If its a baby..then its a person. If its a person..he or she has rights. Its irrefutable (but deniable) logic.

Blacks had the right to freedom before the government gave it to them.

Get it?

Confusing the young...

It’s very clear as you peruse the Internet that young people are increasingly drawn to a more “traditional” Catholicism. In fact, post Summorum Pontificum, it appears that the bandwagon is getting more crowded every day. Just visit any parish that has either a very “reform of the reform” attitude or offers the extraordinary form of the mass from the ’62 missal and you will see more young people than old. Even the eastern rite parishes are literally busting at the seems with youthful faithful.
You would think that this would be welcomed by most of the clergy and leadership of the Church (it’s better than all the young people leaving the Church right?), but on a local and parish to parish level it’s met with a strange and confusing opposition.
This opposition can confuse and discredit those dishing it out. Why? Because by telling us (the young) that something that was of value and held to be sacred in the past is not sacred now, you communicate that our Faith is something constantly seeking to be relevant thus making itself constantly irrelevant (trust me...you'll never be "caught up"). We don’t want the Church to constantly seek to chase the world and its ways and attempt to conform to it. No, we want to discover that rock which is the Catholic Faith that we can build our lives on to withstand the changing and chaotic winds of the world. That’s why traditional Catholicism appeals to me so much. It communicates so much more than the often uneventful or irrelevance of a parish trying to appeal to me instead of worshiping God.
At "traditional" liturgies and parishes there is an attitude which communicates that what is happening at the altar is the most important event they will ever attend. At a "come in your flip flops and eat a meal with us" parishes, the attitude communicates that this is one among many activities we participate in and its farely....well....(and this is what it seems to youth, trust me).....unimportant.
Now, are there anti-sematic wacho so called traditionalist out there? Yes, and they are nuts. But just like many liberal Catholics have never seen a real clown mass, many traditional Catholics have never met a so called Traditionalist who acted more Catholic than the pope.
Please support any expression of authentic Catholicism. If that means that youth are drawn to a byzantine of tridentine parish, so be it! In fact, you should actually support that with all the muster you can. This is harder for the last generation who may have to admit that all their liturgical, theological, and ideological experiments may have been, well, wrong (or worse). I understand, but don't you dare have the arrogance to impose an impression that if you like traditional liturgies, you're crazy. Its not crazy to hold sacred what was held sacred by our ancestors. If you think it is, time's are changing and you're the one in the dark ages.

Again...should the media's bias surprise us?

http://www.ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=90626

Whats objectively bigger news? 5,000 people gathering for a cause or 1,500 gathering for a cause? You would think that would be easy, but the above article continues to communicate to us narrow-minded right wing theocratic fundamentalist crazy stupid heads that our thoughts are simply not worth the time...

No bias in the media my ass.

Must Read

Ok. I guess its a good thing that the addition of books focused on YM increases all the time (even Catholic stuff!), but that trend can also cause confusion. Mainly this confusion arises when we have to ask ourselves what book exactly we're going to pickup. We don't always have a ton of time for reading, but as Fr McClosky says in his 7 Habits of Holy Apostolic People piece (http://www.catholicity.com/mccloskey/sevenhabits.html), the point of "reading dozens of books which enlighten our intellect [is] so we can put the ideas expressed there into action." And among the "ideas" we can put into action there is none greater than the action and experience of prayer. I usually make sure that volunteers know that if you're not praying, you're not volunteering with any youth ministry I'm coordinating.





In fact... I and the book I'm about to recommend would propose that if your prayer life is not strong and you think you are working in the Lord's vineyard, you may actually be in the vineyard but employed by the wrong landowner (i.e. it might not be opus dei, the work of God).





Even if we know this, perhaps its still not in practice. Well this book will articulate the argument for a stronger prayer life in a way that will employ your intellect and stir your heart. Its truly a must read for anyone in apostolic work.





Ok, are your excited? Here it is:

The Soul of The Apostolate by Jean-Baptiste Chautard

http://www.amazon.com/Soul-Apostolate-Jean-Baptiste-Chautard/dp/0895550318/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1219756382&sr=8-1

Seriously?

Over the weekend I attended a youth ministry training day hosted by the diocese I work in. The new Director of YM is a very solid guy and the day was, for the most part, a great success.

However, there was one occurrence that literally kept me awake last night as I thought about it. Here's what happened:

One youth minister asked a panel of priests in the sweetest, softest and gentlest way she could, how to deal with her desire to teach what the magesterium teaches while having a seemingly liberal priest and parent council who may see her catechesis as too "religious" (whatever that means). She also stated that all her teaching comes straight from the Catechism. The priest responded with these main points (paraphrased):

1. Its not your job to teach what the magisterium teaches.
2. Its the job of the homily (i.e. the priest alone).
3. Its preferred that "experiential catechesis" be used anyway.

My issues with these three points are as follows (corresponding to those above):

1. Really? Because we've spent alot of the day reading the bishops documents that say we are vital to the catechesis and evangelization of youth. It we're not teaching what the magesterium teaches, then what are we teaching? Remember that its not as if the magesterium only speaks about NFP and abortion (which is what comes to mind for most people when you say "magesterium"). Isn't the Gospel contained within the teachings of the magesterium? Are we to spread the Gospel as laity or not? Look at Catechism paragraph 863...oh wait, thats a magesterial dosument... JP2 also pointed out the catechesis and evangelization are so closely tied that they can be one and the same. Yes, my reverend father, we are suppose to teach. And if we're worth our meager salary, we'll teach what the magesterium teaches.
2. If you think for one second that teens, who don't have a real relationship with the Lord, listen to homilies....I have bad news for you - they don't. And if you think that the younger generations are going to pick the Faith up from 10 minutes of blah blah (which is what they hear) in a homily once a week (if you're lucky), you're wrong. Its not as if they're going to pick it up from the boomers ahead of us who are probably some of the worst educated catholics you can find and then some how the homily will help to piece it all together. This is not to say that homilies are bad or that their parents are bad, its just the way it is at present. Homilies are for the faithful and are not necessarily the way most faithful catholics learn what the magesterium teaches. By the way, Sunday is for worship primarily. So, if someone is lost (whether in or out of the Church), the way they are going to be evangelized and catechized is not through homilies. So, again, as I said above: if we're worth our meager salary, we'll teach what the magesterium teaches. Do you want us to evangelize and catechize or not? If we're not, are you just paying us to have fun and games with the kids? They can have fun and games anywhere. What they want and what they need is solid catechesis. The truth is what will set them free not ultimate frisbee. Not to mention, if the homily is the only place people learn what the Church teaches, we're in bigger trouble that you can imagine. Not to mention that you should probably fire all DRE's, YM's, and other lay ministers as a waste of money. By the way, this also relates to the misunderstanding of the difference between ministry and apostolate, but thats for another post.
3. Experiential catechesis? This doesn't deserve to be discussed. Anyone who can take an objective look at the past few decades can see that experiential catechesis has not only failed as the primary mode of catechesis, but hearing it still discussed as if that's the direction the Church is moving is embarrassing.

That being said. The priest seemed like a very loving and holy man, but he was way wrong on this issue. Youth ministers are either in the trenches loving, evangelizing, and catechizing young people, or we're not. Get good people to do the job, make sure they are indeed in line with what the Church teaches, make sure they themselves have a living frienship with God, and let them do their job. Also, to you priests out there, please read Renewing the Vision....please.

Surprise Surprise Surprise

I am consistently amazed at the media's reporting on Catholic issues. If the manner of reporting Catholic issues is any indication of the reporting of other issues I wonder if we can ever really trust what is bring presented. Its amazing how often a story is less of relaying the story and more of a commentary. And hey, I love commentaries (especially liberal ones that are easier to dissect). So is it surprising that the World Youth Day coverage was so bad?

Perhaps this is harsh though, especially since the reporting of the Pope's US visit was so positive and fair. As someone who did view the Catholic Church as a scourge, participated in some less than objective research, and still ended up within the very Church I disliked so much, I can say that the disinformation, misunderstandings, and good ol' ignorance regarding the Faith is truly astounding.

But below is a great retort to all the negative focus on protesters at World Youth Day. World Youth Day is one of the larges gatherings of young people ever for a reason other than war. Hundreds of thousands of WYD participants engaging in fascinating prayer, discussions and peaceful activities and all we get reported is that the Pope mentioned taking care of the earth (part of the green frenzy that's so popular now) and how there were protesters. Wow.



What the Media Missed in Sydney

Pilgrim Reveals Real Youth Day Story

By Sophie CaldecottOXFORD, England, JULY 31, 2008 (Zenit.org).-

A couple of weeks ago, more than 223,000 Catholics gathered together in Sydney to celebrate their common faith in the largest event Australia has ever hosted -- World Youth Day.Despite the fact that a representative from almost every corner of the world could be found at this dynamic event, despite the atmosphere of elation, energy and love, and despite many interesting talks, the main -- perhaps only -- interest of the English media was the relatively small group of protesters who wanted to make sure that their objections to the Catholic Church didn't go unheard. The angle the media was trying to spin on the story seems absurd to someone who was there, singing and dancing in the brightly coloured crowd. This was not just any crowd -- when else and for what other reason in the world would that many young people get together and be so considerate and friendly toward each other, so joyful and excited and unselfconscious without being drunk or on drugs? There was clearly something else going on at that gathering, something unique and fascinating that the media completely failed to pick up on, and it had nothing to do with protesters. The protesters who made their presence felt around the events surrounding World Youth Day can be broken down into several main groups: representatives from the gay community, people angry about cases of sexual abuse in the Church, atheists trying to "educate ignorant believers," Protestants who believe that the Catholic Church is the "whore of Babylon" and people who believe that condoms are the solution to AIDS.The smattering of various protesters holding signs and watching thousands of young Catholics pass by probably weren't sure what reaction to expect, but I would imagine they were prepared for the worst. Far from receiving abuse, however, the people holding the rainbow flag sporting the message "Gay, Free, Happy" received cheery waves and smiles, while many people assumed that the protesters holding the signs saying "Think: Don't Be a Sheep" were actually Catholic, and part of the World Youth Day crowd.It took us a while to figure out that the leaflets handed to us as we walked out of the train station -- about how we are saved by God's grace and not by our own works -- were not actually from fellow Catholics, but from Baptists who were concerned for our souls.Contrary to the expectations of the general public and, perhaps, the people who instated the "annoyance" laws, many World Youth Day goers relished the opportunity for some friendly discussion in the street with people who, on the whole, had little accurate knowledge and understanding of the Church and Catholic teaching.I only wish we had had more time to talk to the protesters, getting to the root of their anger and sharing our point of view with them. Unfortunately, reducing an opinion down to a slogan on a T-shirt or a sign is rarely an adequate means of expressing an opinion. One speaker, Christopher West, delivered a series of talks on Pope John Paul II’s Theology of the Body during the week in Sydney, and listening, I couldn’t help but be brought close to tears, wishing that the Church’s critics could hear this teaching.This teaching is not the authoritarian, repressive set of rules that it is so widely believed to be. It is teaching of freedom, love and logic. This is the truth that the whole world is searching for, thirsting for desperately, whether or not they fully acknowledge it. John Paul II exposed the flaws of modern thinking about sexuality, answering the deep ache for love that we all experience by pointing us back to the constant teaching of the Church throughout history -- the teaching that the human person has an inherent dignity, that we are created in God's image, and as men and women are described by him as being "very good." I became deeply convinced that I am called, along with all the people of the Church, to witness to Christ by addressing this ache that the world is feeling. As West put it, there is only so long that you can eat out of the dumpster before getting sick. This world has been eating out of the dumpster for far too long, and it desperately needs to be shown the way to the wedding feast. Benedict XVI commissioned us young people to be bold witnesses of Christ to the ends of the earth, praying for a new Pentecost and an outpouring of the Spirit. I for one am convinced that John Paul II's Theology of the Body holds a vital key for doing this.Being part of World Youth Day is to experience the Church in all her varied glory and youthful energy. The various flags seen in Sydney that week pointed to the universality of the Church, her children being fed by the sacraments and living and breathing as one body, in Christ. Perhaps the reason that the secular world was inevitably bound to miss the point of World Youth Day is because without Christ there is no way that humanity can be united in truth and love.The great joy with which the young Catholics of the world greeted Benedict XVI proved that the Church is not only alive and growing, but ready to listen to the Holy Spirit speaking through Peter’s successor.The secular media had to focus on the protesters, missing the real point of World Youth Day, because they didn’t know what to make of the Pope’s powerful words to the expectant youth of the Church: "Our world has grown weary of greed, exploitation and division, of the tedium of false idols and piecemeal responses, and the pain of false promises. Our hearts and minds are yearning for a vision of life where love endures, where gifts are shared, where unity is built, where freedom finds meaning in truth, and where identity is found in respectful communion."This is the work of the Holy Spirit! This is the hope held out by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is to bear witness to this reality that you were created anew at baptism and strengthened through the gifts of the Spirit at confirmation. Let this be the message that you bring from Sydney to the world!" (Address at Sydney Harbour, July 17).* * *Sophie Caldecott, a student of English literature at Durham University, participated in the World Youth Day pilgrim group from the Oxford Oratory. Her accounts of the event were featured in The Catholic Herald newspaper in Britain and in Second Spring magazine, published by Thomas More College of Liberal Arts.

Fr Rutler on young people and the "reform of the reform"

The New Liturgical Movement has a great interview with Fr George Rutler that includes this good question and even better answer:

NLM: On the topic of the usus antiquior, many believe that
the spread of it into
parish liturgical life, or even just the fact of
priests learning about this form of the Roman liturgy can be a leaven for the
reform of the reform. Do you have any thoughts on this?

Fr. Rutler: The saying "a rising tides lifts all ships"
applies here. Learning about the usus antiquior can raise the general conscience
of parishioners to a clearer understanding of what worship is. Each age is
tempted to ape the current cultural milieu in its approach to God. The tendency
to make the Mass an ecclesiastical form of television entertainment is a mistake
of our day, but it is not more seductive than the inclination of an earlier
generation to make the Mass operatic. Pope St. Pius X tried to reform that by
his attention to Gregorian chant. Bad money drives out the good in every epoch,
and some of the worst elements in current liturgical life have just updated the
pietism of earlier times. From my experience, young people respond to classical
worship well, albeit at first with astonishment and bewilderment,
but their
response is healthier than that of some older people who lack the humility to
admit that their abandonment of authentic worship was a mistake. For those in
their twenties and thirties, the guitars and faux folksiness of the 1960's is as
archaic as the culture of the 1920's is to those in their sixties and seventies.
To recover the virile authenticity of true worship, I certainly prefer the
sacral language of the Latin texts but, more importantly, I think the "leaven
for the reform of the reform" would best begin with worship "ad orientem." The
psychological shock some may have when they realize the priest is not looking at
them when he prays can be a very good tonic.

(Seriously, that last line is one of the best lines thats ever lined.)

Youth ministry tactics in the Vatican

The time tested tactic of shaving a mohawk to get people to listen was employed at the Pentecost liturgy.

Forget the babies...what about the plants?!

As someone with a degree in horticulture, I just can't believe we're having this discussion while its questionable whether a baby in the womb has rights.

From the Weekly Standard (H/T Blackadder)

You just knew it was coming: At the request of the Swiss government, an
ethics panel has weighed in on the "dignity" of plants and opined that the
arbitrary killing of flora is morally wrong. This is no hoax. The concept of
what could be called "plant rights" is being seriously debated.

A few years ago the Swiss added to their national constitution a provision
requiring "account to be taken of the dignity of creation when handling animals,
plants and other organisms." No one knew exactly what it meant, so they asked
the Swiss Federal Ethics Committee on Non-Human Biotechnology to figure it out.
The resulting report, "The Dignity of Living Beings with Regard to Plants," is
enough to short circuit the brain.

A "clear majority" of the panel adopted what it called a "biocentric" moral
view, meaning that "living organisms should be considered morally for their own
sake because they are alive." Thus, the panel determined that we cannot claim
"absolute ownership" over plants and, moreover, that "individual plants have an
inherent worth." This means that "we may not use them just as we please, even if
the plant community is not in danger, or if our actions do not endanger the
species, or if we are not acting arbitrarily.

"The committee offered this illustration: A farmer mows his field
(apparently an acceptable action, perhaps because the hay is intended to feed
the farmer's herd--the report doesn't say). But then, while walking home, he
casually "decapitates" some wildflowers with his scythe. The panel decries this
act as immoral, though its members can't agree why. The report states, opaquely:
At this point it remains unclear whether this action is condemned because it
expresses a particular moral stance of the farmer toward other organisms or
because something bad is being done to the flowers themselves.

What is clear, however, is that Switzerland's enshrining of "plant dignity"
is a symptom of a cultural disease that has infected Western civilization,
causing us to lose the ability to think critically and distinguish serious from
frivolous ethical concerns. It also reflects the triumph of a radical
anthropomorphism that views elements of the natural world as morally equivalent
to people.

Turning your back on the kids...

Interesting article:

http://gkupsidedown.blogspot.com/2008/05/high-schoolers-facing-east.html

We had a similar occurrence with 7th graders after a confirmation retreat. At said retreat, much to the chagrin of Sr Pant Suit and Fr Bud from the GIA sponsored diocesan conference, we traded felt banners for sweet copes and arts and crafts time for an ad orientem mass (i.e. the priest was facing the same direction of the kids). Wait!...it gets worse...

Instead of a "trust exercise" we prayed the liturgy of the hours.

Instead of an "eco spirituality" talk we had the sacrament of confession available.

Instead of kids gathering around the altar in a circle we had orientation during liturgies, a schola leading chant in English and Latin, smoke, and even....::gasp::....bells!!!

In other words, we did what Vatican II asked.

So what was the outcome of the priest "turning his back to the kids?"

After explaining the whats and whys of ad orientem celebration and experiencing it (without bashing versus populum) they asked why on earth we do it any other way. They said that they felt even more connected to the actions of the priest and felt that they were all gathered before God in a more reverent atmosphere.

Amazing. 7th graders love oriented celebration. Good thing the new missal presumes oriented celebration which makes it easier to implement it.