Youth Ministry Office Calendar

Visiting Good Shepherd Catholic Parish in Fort Worth, TX I found all three of the youth ministers (yes...three!) have these amazingly huge year calendars on their wall in their offices. Made out of a sheet of dry-erase material screwed into the wall (I'm guessing you can find this stuff at Lowes) they used some electrical tape and printed labels for the months and dates. I love this idea because it helps you see the entire year in context for planning youth group nights, a semester curriculum, large events, deadlines for paperwork, and meetings in a way that constantly reminds you of the bigger picture. The summer is coming up and as I transition to a new youth ministry position at a different parish, I'm starting to think about how best to plan a year in a way that I will actually stick to. In the past I've sat down and planned out great youth nights, awesome events and activities, and goals that I want to accomplish, only to throw out the entire plan two months in.

How do you plan out your school year and make sure you stick to the plan? I'd love to hear from you and I reply to every email and comment.

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Part of the Professional Youth Minister Series:

Grace builds on nature. So if you are paralyzed by 347 emails you haven’t read, find yourself despairingly browsing Facebook for most of the day, haven't had a good idea in weeks, lack vision in your youth ministry, or just need some motivation to get back to work, welcome to the club. This series is about working on our nature and becoming a professional youth minister so all that grace has room to build. Check out all the posts in this series by clicking here.

Strange Notions: Atheist and Catholic Conversations

 You need to know about the launching of a new website, Strange Notions, spearheaded by Brandon Vogt who knows a thing or two about "new" media and the new evangelization. (Check out his book here: The Church and New Media: Blogging Converts, Online Activists, and Bishops Who Tweet)

After St. Paul preaches in the Areopagus in Athens to the intellectual elite, they respond saying "May we learn what this new teaching is that you speak of? You bring some strange notions to our ears, we should like to know what these things mean." (Acts 17:19-20)

[youtube=http://youtu.be/ieDRMoxhySo]

With a website trailer like that, the adrenaline is already flowing just at the idea of a site that sets out to bring intellectual conversations between atheists and Catholics to an internet in dire need of it.

StrangeNotions.com is designed to be the central place of dialogue online between Catholics and atheists.

Its implicit goal is to bring non-Catholics to faith--especially followers of the so-called New Atheism. As a 'digital Areopagus', the site will include intelligent articles, compelling video, and rich discussion through its comment boxes.

The site is laid out in blog post format, with by-topic articles from a team of contributors presumably written with an atheist audience in mind.

The list of main contributors for the site is world class, with some of the best of the best as far as Catholic writers and thinkers go. In my humble opinion, this is one of the best lineups I've ever seen for a Catholic website of this nature.

I also like the extensive recommended books list that doesn't pull punches and is intellectually demanding.

I'm very interested to be watching this site unfold and participating in the conversations.

I do wonder, however, what will draw intelligent atheists to this site and the conversations and not just your normal trolls that lurk on Catholic websites. It would be great to see this website reach out to atheist bloggers and speakers to engage them in open dialogue in a way that goes beyond just the comment box. To have a thinking atheist write a response or article defending his position would add to the website's claim to be an open forum of reason and dialogue. Maybe even a HuffPoLive-esque Google Hangout would work well.

This is a site to watch and get involved with, learn a thing or two, and even send to your skeptical atheist friends challenging them to engage in dialogue with the authors and thinkers. Pray for this "digital areopagus", because it is a much needed space in the mission territory of the internet.

The Brains Behind It All:

Brandon Vogt is an award-winning author, blogger, in speaker. In 2011 he released his first book titled The Church and New Media: Blogging Converts, Online Activists, and Bishops Who Tweet (Our Sunday Visitor). The book includes a Foreword by Cardinal Sean O'Malley, an Afterword by Cardinal Timothy Dolan, and was endorsed by a several other cardinals, bishops, and leading Catholic thinkers.

Since then he’s established himself as an expert on Catholic new media and in May 2011, Vatican officials invited him to Rome to discuss social media. At the meeting, Archbishop Claudio Celli explained that the Church's mission today is to "open a conversation with the world." That's precisely what StrangeNotions.com is designed to do.

Confessions of Cultural Heretics

I am overjoyed to introduce a wonderful and saintly married couple and their blog "Confessions of Cultural Heretics".

My wife and I first met the Burkes at a Franciscan University alumni meetup in Toledo.  We moved to a town not knowing anyone and were desperate to find Catholic community.  Brian (it's Dr. Brian now right?) and Joanna gave us more than just community and fellowship, but also lots of good advice.  Their blog is just what we experienced sitting in their living room: the experiences of a family striving to be holy.

Check out Dr. Brian and Joanna on their blog that is one part homemade practical advice for living the good Catholic family life and one part shining light of human dignity from the medical field.

Bob Rice: "How the Catechism Made Me Catholic"

Here is a witness from Bob Rice about how his life was changed by reading and praying through the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

"I remember looking down and seeing blood on my hands. My head was still spinning from the line of cocaine that I snorted in the bathroom. The prostitute I just had sex with was face down on the bed, murdered. Did I do it? I couldn’t remember. I heard sirens outside and footsteps running up the stairs to my apartment. That was the moment that I realized I needed a Savior. I needed Jesus.

Okay, none of that is true."

"Truth be told, I have a very boring conversion story: I always loved Jesus. And then I loved Him more.

I was the good kid. Never drank. Never did drugs. Knew to save sex for marriage. In fact, I lived in fear of letting others down: my parents, my teachers, or even God. I was a straight A student and prayed every night.

So it might not be a surprise when I tell you that one of the most exciting moments in my conversion is when I did something that many consider boring:

I read the Catechism."

-->Read the rest of the article here, and then go read the Catechism.<--

Two practical takeaways from his post:

+     If the Catechism seems overwhelming, try committing to reading one "In Brief" summary at the end of each section in the Catechism every day.

+     If you need an easy place to start, the fourth pillar of the Catechism on prayer is a good place.

_________________________________________________________________

Bob was my professor for many many classes while I attended Franciscan University, and I have to thank him for forming me as a Catholic, catechist, and youth minister, (and actually as a father too) through his deep love for Jesus, his witness as a father, and his love for the Catholic Church.  Maybe one day I will write a post about all the ways he has so tremendously impacted me, but it would be too sappy.

Thanks Bob.

Dr. Brant Pitre Talk on the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYDSPcEoC74]

How would ancient Jews have understood the Eucharist?

This mind blowing talk by Dr. Brant Pitre on the Jewish roots of the Eucharist answers that question.  Prepare to have your little Catholic brain explode - you'll never look at the Eucharist the same again.

Just a little teaser for you as I read and write a super-review of his book "Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist".

Catholic? Where's the evidence?

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPHe51B7Z00&w=560&h=315] "You may say you're a Catholic but....there's no proof!"

What makes you Catholic?  The clothes or jewelry you wear?  Going to Mass on Sundays?  Being raised a Catholic?  If you were put on trial for your faith, would there be enough evidence to convict you of being a Catholic?  This chilling video, written by Bob Rice and produced by Outside da Box, challenges you to think about what really makes you a Catholic.

"Not everyone who says to me 'Lord, Lord' will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but Him who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." Matthew 7:21

Right now Americans are getting mixed signals about what exactly Catholics believe.  Faithful Catholics are fighting a battle to faithfully live out what the Church believes, while many who call themselves "Catholic" are living in opposition to the Gospel and the Church's teachings.  We need to challenge our brothers and sisters.

####Let's flood the internet with this video.  Facebook post it on your friends' wall, tweet it on Twitter, email it to everyone you know, or write the video URL in marker on your forehead. (If you do that last one, please send me a picture...)

Comment below and let me know how many places you posted the video, so I can give you a virtual high-five.

+JMJ

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Profession of Faith & Oath of Fidelity

I. PROFESSION OF FAITH

I, Edmund Mitchell, with firm faith believe and profess everything that is contained in the Symbol of faith: namely:

I believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen. I believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten not made, one in Being with the Father. Through him all things were made. For us men and for our salvation, he came down from heaven: by the power of the Holy Spirit he became incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried. On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and the Son he is worshiped and glorified. He has spoken through the Prophets. I believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church. I acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

With firm faith, I also believe everything contained in the Word of God, whether written or handed down in Tradition, which the Church, either by a solemn judgement or by the ordinary and universal Magisterium, sets forth to be believed as divinely revealed.

I also firmly accept and hold each and everything definitively proposed by the Church regarding teaching on faith and morals.

Moreover, I adhere with religious submission of will and intellect to the teachings which either the Roman pontiff or the College of Bishops enunciate when they exercise their authentic Magisterium, even if they do not intend to proclaim these teachings by a definitive act.

II. OATH OF FIDELITY ON ASSUMING AN OFFICE TO BE EXERCISED IN THE NAME OF THE CHURCH

(Formula to be used by the Christian faithful mentioned in Canon 833, nn. 5-8)

I, Edmund Mitchell, in assuming the office of Catholic Blogger, promise that in my words and in my actions I shall always preserve communion with the Catholic Church.

With great care and fidelity I shall carry out the duties incumbent on me toward the Church, both universal and particular, in which, according to the provisions of the law, I have been called to exercise my service.

In fulfilling the charge entrusted to me in the name of the Church, I shall hold fast to the deposit of faith in its entirety; I shall faithfully hand it on and explain it, and I shall avoid any teachings contrary to it.

I shall follow and foster the common discipline of the entire Church and I shall maintain the observance of all ecclesiastical laws, especially those contained in the Code of Canon Law.

With Christian obedience I shall follow what the Bishops, as authentic doctors and teachers of the faith, declare, or what they, as those who govern the Church, establish.

I shall also faithfully assist the diocesan Bishops, so that the apostolic activity, exercised in the name and by mandate of the Church, may be carried out in communion with the Church.

So help me God, and God's Holy Gospels on which I place my hand.

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam Edmund Mitchell June 03, 2012 The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

Profession and Oath Taken from : Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith

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NOTE: Canon 833, Nos. 5-8 obliges the following to make the profession of faith: vicars general, episcopal vicars and judicial vicars; "at the beginning of their term of office, pastors, the rector of a seminary and the professors of theology and philosophy in seminaries; those to be promoted to the diaconate"; "the rectors of an ecclesiastical or Catholic university at the beginning of the rector's term of office"; and, "at the beginning of their term of office, teachers in any universities whatsoever who teach disciplines which deal with faith or morals"; and "superiors in clerical religious institutes and societies of apostolic life in accord with the norm of the constitutions."

I am not any of these, however I do deeply love and respect my Church and voluntarily bind myself to this profession and oath.