#Fathers4Daughters, praying for @PPact

As much as I tell teens that it’s important not to say things on the internet you wouldn’t say in person, sometimes I forget this myself.  Especially these last few weeks-- feelings about abortion, the HHS Mandate, Planned Parenthood, even Susan G. Komen and Nikki Minaj—have been very strong.  

Like many, I follow Planned Parenthood’s twitter-- @PPact—to stay up to date on what they’re up to, and as a sort of evangelizing, I occasionally tag them in tweets when I want to respond to something they’ve said.  It’s the beauty of social media, that everyone has a chance to speak up.  

Yesterday, as I was responding to yet another tweet that I disagreed with, it occurred to me that @PPact is one of the few accounts I frequently tag that I don’t actually know in person.  And then, I began to think that it’s not Planned Parenthood tweeting, per se.  It’s a person.  Well, probably a team of people, but a person nonetheless.  

I started thinking about this.  Wondered about them.  I’m friends with a lot of people—both on twitter and in real life—who I don’t agree with.  I wondered if I met the @PPact tweeter, if we’d get along.  If we could make small talk about shoes and movies, outside of this huge issue that is at the forefront of our disagreements on twitter.  Anne Marie Cribbin and I even invited them to meet up with us for happy hour.  

After reading Unplanned by Abby Johnson, we’re all more aware of the importance of prayer in bringing about a culture of life.  In the middle of 40 days for life, let’s recognize the social media workers behind @PPact and pray for them, specifically.  Not as a nameless organization, but the tweeters, specifically.  They’re just as passionate as we are.  They do their job with a great deal of tenacity.  Their role in promoting Planned Parenthood is critical.  They need our love and prayers. 

There is a great presence of priests and fathers in social media.  Anne Marie Cribbin and Joia Farmer had the great idea to ask priests and fathers to specifically pray for the women behind @PPact.  Priests, who have the special privilege of celebrating mass, are asked to offer masses for @PPact… and announce it on twitter!  Use the hashtag #Fathers4Daughters—stating the truth in love—that God the Father has a plan for each and every life.  That fathers matter.  That spiritual and biological fatherhood changes lives in an earthly and heavenly way.   That the women of @PPact are known, loved and awaited by God.  

I’m praying, specifically, that the women of @PPact encounter the love of God the Father in a real way.  I’m praying that as I continue to speak up in my own little way, protesting what Planned Parenthood does and says, that I do it in charity—with a desire not to win arguments but souls.  

And, I’m praying that that happy hour happens.  Why not?  It’s Lent.  Go big or go home.  

Will you commit to pray for @PPact?  You don't have to follow them, but tweet them when you do.  Remember, love wins.

the behavior desired...

My friend Bridget is a special ed. teacher.  When we were all in college and RA's together she used to remind us, sagely, to "model the behavior you desire".  I think it's how the heathens interpret Bosco's, "get your students to love you and they'll fallow you anywhere".  (For the record, Bridget is not a heathen.  But I think she had to read a few for her major).

This came to mind this week.  Between my homeschooled background and FUS, there's rarely a moment when I don't know what to do in Church.  Genuflecting, sign of the cross, the reverent bob of the head for the mention of the Lord's name-- I got it covered.  However, I take for granted and sometimes forget to impart this on the kiddos.  Walking by the adoration chapel Wednesday, I suggested we duck in to say a quick prayer.   When they walked into the chapel and were totally at a loss I realized that I hadn't given them any instruction on how to act, assuming they knew. Whoops.

I could have whispered hushed, forceful instructions in the tone I typically reserve for repossessing cell phones on high school retreats.  "Genuflect!  Pray!  Focus!".  Instead, in a moment of laziness which could maybe now be seen as the Holy Spirit, I realized that as little 7th grade bunchkins, they do everything I do.  So I just knelt and prayed.  And wouldn't you know it...  They did too.

I had a similar revelation this summer when I realized if I spent less time eyeballing the teens for bad behavior during mass and spent more time just praying I would stop making myself mental, stop driving them crazy, and actually pray during Mass like I was supposed to.  Win all around. It sounds so simple, but it changed my whole summer, when I realized the best thing I could do for the kids was just pray during Mass.

We still have to intervene when kids are setting fires or busting out their horoscope in Church, but I think Bridget was really onto something.  I've seen youth ministry turn into an observation role-- of giving instructions from a distance.  But when we model the behavior we desire we not only instruct those around us, but we stand to get holier too.