NCCYM

I absolutely love my alma mater, Franciscan University of Steubenville.  I am also aware that as a graduate of FUS who is a youth minister, I fall into a certain stereotype and while I try to defy it by not hugging people and keeping my hands to my sides when I say "and also with you" at Mass, I acknowledge that sometimes I am pretty cliche.  I use Lifeteen materials and occasionally St. Mary's press but nothing crazy.  I follow Mark Hart on twitter.  We attend The March for Life and Steubenville Atlanta.  I go to the St. John Bosco Conference each year.  I re-read The Catechism of the Catholic Church to avoid a millstone and Evangelii Nuntiandi to be inspired.

It's not that I'm opposed to other views or ways of doing things.  It's more that I just feel that I don't have time.  I know that my fellow graduates and I are infamous for not checking out other resources and writing it all off as fluff.  The days are just so busy that I get into a routine and forget to go outside of it.  I also thought NCYC was a little overwhelming and cheesey, so I categorized these as one and the same in my head and didn't give NCCYM a second thought or column in my budget.

When I had 5thousand and Apex Ministries come to Hilton Head to lead retreats in October (I highly recommend both ministries, by the way.  Catholic, low-maintenance and engaging) and in addition to swapping all sorts of hipster music topics, they strongly encouraged me to check out NCCYM.  When I straight up asked Gene if it would be lame, he replied, "I'm an organizer".  Oh. 

Plus it was in New Orleans and I had never been.  I made reservations.

I realized I had never been to a gathering of just youth ministers-- I love the Bosco Conference at FUS because it's all people who are in ministry for Team Catholic, but it's always comical to swap stories with teachers and DRE's cause we all still have such different challenges.  DRE's worry that their catechists are teaching heresy...  youth ministers worry that their teens are like, bringing pot on retreats.  The cool thing about NCCYM is that it was over 2000 people who knew exactly where you were coming from.  Anyone you struck up a conversation with may have been from a different state but still "got it".  Even the people from Notre Dame!  Who knew us FUS folks had anything in common with them?

NCCYM was also a crazy fun reunion.  There was something crazy about walking to the French Quarter for beignets with friends from college, South Carolina and even twitter and all just chatting about fashion, theology and safe environments.  The workshops were helpful, but I think the networking and socializing was my favorite.  I was even in a flash mob, which you can see here on my new Canadian Friend Clayton's website.

Did it have it's share of cheese?  Of course.  Old school praise and worship made an appearance in addition to cross-clapping.  However, it was cool that there was a collective awareness that this is where we're coming from and this is what we're working with and if we can't laugh about safe environments well then, what can we laugh at?  Just like youth ministers need to take time for retreats and ongoing theological training, NCCYM made me appreciate the need for ongoing socializing.  I'm rarely cognizant of the fact that I am the only full-time youth minister for team Catholic in my deanery (not to minimize the very competent part-time youth minister in the parish in the next town over).  NCCYM made me appreciate what I didn't even realize I had been missing out on.  Communio.

After my first NCCYM I can say without a doubt that as long as I'm in youth ministry...  I'll be there.

why yes...

as a matter of fact, I do believe in Santa...  click to read the latest Pastor's Corner column.

Flannery, Doritos and Pepsi

Yesterday, Thomas Peters, aka, @americanpapist, posted a link to an advertisement that Pepsi/Doritos posted to youtube and has since removed.  I'm not sure if I found it offensive or clever.  In it two pastors (both in Roman Collars) discuss how they can better "feed their flock".  (while they may appear to be Catholic, to the experienced eye they clearly are not.  They call each other "pastor" and use the "shot glass" style communion cups found in non-catholic churches).  They decide to use doritos and pepsi max in lieu of traditional communion.

While the ad is certainly controversial it does raise the question, why?  Why are we offended when doritos and pepsi are substituted for bread and wine at church?

While conversing with others about communion someone made the comment, in the presence of Flannery O'Connor, that it was a nice symbol.  Her reply?  "Well, if it’s a symbol, to hell with it."

Indeed.

and we don't even use vuvuzelas...

I, for one, would've attended the World Cup in the US for... uh...  love of the game?

 

Originally published in The Bluffton Packet:

By ALISON GRISWOLD

Published Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Watching the players in the World Cup reminds me of one of my most embarrassing moments involving my college's soccer team -- and my friend Ann failing to look out for me.
Ann had invited me over to her house for an evening cookout her fiance and his family. Despite the fact that her fiance was the soccer coach, I was not intimidated by hanging out with him (taken) and his family (from Detroit). So I rolled out of bed from a nap, threw on jeans and a T-shirt and went to what I thought would be a quaint family gathering. What Ann failed to mention was that this was a quaint family gathering with her fiance, his family and his entire team.

I don't know what it is about soccer players. Maybe it's that, unlike many sports, they don't wear helmets so you can actually see their faces as they casually push hair out of their eyes with a savvy that Justin Bieber could never pull of. Maybe it's that they all have accents. Maybe I haven't gotten over my crush on the coach from "Bend it Like Beckham." In short, I wished I had dressed differently for the evening.
Ann, being blissfully engaged, was oblivious to the fact that the scenery in her Ohio home had dramatically improved, and I'm not talking about the river cleanup. She was excitedly introducing me to her future in-laws when one of the soccer players, a graduate theology student with dirty blond hair and blue eyes asked, "Who's your friend?" So I extended my hand and said brightly, "I'm Alison's friend, Ann." Yes. I forgot my own name. And introduced myself as Ann.

I was mortified. But it served as an important lesson to me: There will always be moments when you are caught off-guard by life and literally cannot think of what to say, even if it's your own name. Sometimes it's an innocent problem and you merely embarass yourself, but sometimes it's serious. The question, when you're left speechless regarding sin, is simply this: Who are you really hurting?

One of my favorite illustrations of this is in Charlotte Bronte's "Jane Eyre." If you haven't read the book, you should. But allow me to spoil the climax for you. Jane Eyre has fallen in love with Mr. Rochester, and discovers he is married. He tries to convince her to run away with him anyway. She wants to, and he asks who, exactly, they would be hurting?

Jane's reply is so eloquent that you should read the whole bit, but let me summarize. She acknowledges at the moment, her feelings have completely carried her away. She wants to be with the man she loves to the point where she describes herself as "mad." But she firmly states, "I will keep the law of God, sanctioned by men... Laws and principles are not for times when there is no temptation; they are for moments as this... If at my individual convenience I might break them, what would be their worth?"

Now, maybe it won't be as dramatic as a wealthy Englishman asking us to be his mistress, but we all encounter moments where we are at a loss as to the right answer. Our feelings may push us one way, even though we know deep down that way isn't a good idea. I re-read this passage often to remember that the law of God exists for one's well-being and the common good. In the end, it works out for Jane. And when we do what's right, it works out for us, too.

It's.... Advent!

Making a list and checking it twice?  this will make you think. 
In a day when people are punching each other over toasters at Target, I think they're onto something here. 

oh, Justin Bieber...

I didn't see it but people cooler than I who were watching the AMA's tweeted that Bieber was rocking this rosary as a necklace while he performed.  oh, kids wear the darndest things.

Now, I don't know if it counts when you replace the Blessed Mother with a "D&G" label, but rosaries, and variations of them are all the rage these days.

My dear friend Adam who is my polar opposite in pretty much everything except our mutual love of red wine, Glee, and the art of sarcasm rocked a rosary as a necklace a few years ago.  It was one of the first times I felt that I really knew someone well enough to say something.  My awkward moment of evangelization went something like, "uh so friend, I know that you wouldn't want to intentionally offend anyone, so can I be completely honest and say that you wearing a rosary, something I pray with, as a fashion accessory...  kinda does?"

Because he's cool, he pocketed the rosary and patiently accepted the booklet on praying the rosary that I gave him.  He tried to salvage his purchase and wear it two more evenings when he didn't think he'd be around Catholics, but after unexpectedly running into me and every other catholic he knew that evening I think he got spooked and retired it to a nail hanging over his sink. 

While I don't advocate the rosary as an accessory and certainly think Lady Gaga needs to be catechized on this, it's not very understood by many, including Catholics.  Rather than cry "sacrilege", don't miss the opportunity to share why you pray the rosary.

the nun run...

I haven't actually seen the whole episode, given that 1) it was broadcasted during middle school youth group and the first part was about a woman who married a man in prison.  I didn't feel the need to introduce "conjugal visit" to the 6th graders vocabulary.  also, 2) we do not have DVR.  But we survive.

Anyways, the clip with our girls actually made the cut.  So proud, you can see them here.

I will say, they condensed about 13 minutes into twenty seconds seamlessly...  it's a little scary how well they can edit.  I thought they made the girls sound really good, but yikes, they've got power.

and read more about our "nun run" in the Catholic Miscellany.