Youth and the Church

1
Youth and the Church

• Todays Challenge,
• Tomorrows Promise

2
Past AssumptionsMeet A Changed Context

• Children Inherit the Faith of Their Parents
• A Culture of Choice
• Teen and Young Adult Withdrawal From Church
  Ultimately Gives Way to Active Involvement in
  Adulthood
• Only for SomeA Minority Return
• Teens Are Preoccupied with Other Things, Faith
  and Practice Will Come Later
• The Hunger for Spirit, Service, and Community Is
  Ravenous!

3
Young Catholics Religion In A Culture of Choice
(Catholic Univ)

• Loose and Tangential Affiliation (Occasional)
• Indifference (Fringe vs. Belonging)
• Not Enough Depth Understanding of Catholicisms
  Core
• Sufficient Superficial Knowledge
• Want to Distance Themselves From It

4
Freedom, Choices, Decisions

• Context Expansion of Choice, Diversity and
  Pluralism
• Self-Determinism and Authenticity
• From Imperatives to Free Choices
• From Ethics Leads to Salvation to Salvation
  Leads to Ethics
• From After-Life to a Resource for Living

5
More About Context

• Self-Determinism and Authenticity
• Choice Inventing Ourselves
• Authenticity Choice Awareness, Taking
  Responsibility For Our Choices
• From Obedience to Discernment and Authenticity
• Inviting and Sharing Our Faith
• Attractive Faith Communities As Authentic

6
The Task Evangelizing Youth in a Culture of
Choice

• The Work of Evangelization
• Focus is Experience (Then and Now)
• DialogicalRequires Listening First
• Emphasizes InvitationAnd Support
• Teach Practice More Than Theory
• Centered on the Basics, the Core
• Plants SeedsThe Harvest Comes Later

7
Focus on Experience

• Learning Reflective Modes
• Journaling, Story Telling/Active Listening,
  Contemplative Practices (Meditation, Prayer,
  Silence, Solitude)
• Retrieving the Experience Embodied in the
  Tradition
• Revelation and Experience
• Metaphor and Symbol in Scripture and Sacrament
• The Experiential Foundations of Doctrine, Ethics

8
Listening and Dialogue

• Youth Ministry Requires Earsand Patient Empathy
• How Well We Listen More Important Than What
  We Say
• Dialogue Begins with Respect and Openness
• The Assertions and Sufferings of Youth
• Understanding Emerges From Candor and Honesty
• Being Ourselves Neither Naïve nor Conned, Phony
  nor Condescending

9
Invitation and Support

• Culture of Choice Requires Invitation
• EvangelizationAn Institutional Commitment
• Making Religion Credible
• Catholicism A Trustworthy Spiritual Path
• Support Continuous Inviting
• Not Nagging, but Personal Inviting

10
Exploring Spiritual Practice

• Experience As Greatest Teacher
• Learn More By Doing than Hearing About the Doing
• Intentional, Consciously Aware PracticeOrientatio
  n and Effective Transformation
• Effective Pastoral Plan Focus on Practice

11
5 Pillars of Catholic Spiritual Practice

• BaptismAnd Its Annual Renewal at Easter
• Eucharist As Community Action and Transforming
  Experience
• Service and Working For Justice
• Private Prayer and Reflection
• Marriage and Friendship (Relationships as Sacred)

12
Without Practice

• Catholicism Yields No Transformative Results
• No healing, no reconciliation, no liberation
• We Are Sucked Into the Flat Emptiness of
  Conventional Culture
• Into an imprisoning fundamaterialism
• Disciplined Practice Key to Conversion and
  Reconversion

13
Catechesis

• What Is Central, Put Simply
• Catholicism Is About One Thing Intimacy With God
• The Four Noble Truths
• We are loved (Grace)
• We deny/flee that love (Sin)
• Jesus turns from sin to grace (Redemption)
• We become redeemed in following him
  (Discipleship)

14
Pastoral Strategies

• Catholicism As Spiritual Path
• A Joseph Campbell Approach
• Catholicism As Transforming Process
• Distinct From Catholicism as Rules and
  BureaucracyShame-Based Catholicism Grounded in
  Fear Guilt
• Focused on the End (Intimacy with God)
• Not the Means (The Whole Tradition)

15
Insights From Other Traditions

• Buddhism gt From Ignorance to Buddha Consciousness
  (Enlightenment)
• Hinduisms Ahisma gt Changing Our Hearts from
  Hostility to Peace
• Islams Haya gt Surrender in Grateful Reverence
• Our Stance Sharing Our Path As Transforming
  Process

16
Community, Community, Community

• Retreats and Trips
• Community Serviceand Reflection
• Attentive Selection of Peer Leaders
• SolidarityThe Breakthrough to Honesty
• Musicand More Music
• Working with Pop Culture (Movies, TV, and
  Celebrities)

17
Tomorrows Promise
18
Their Faith and Their LoveCan Change the World

• tj

19
The Church They BecomeWill Serve the World
20
And Be Christ PresentIn and For One Another