Start here.
I have written here since 2010 on evangelization, parish life, Scripture, apologetics, and the moral life. These six are the best place to begin.
Go Home and Live as Missionary Disciples
If your faith feels humdrum, you may not have entered the mission yet. A talk to men on what that asks of you.
Formed By Distraction
Eliot described minds pulled from one distraction to the next. We now carry that in our pockets. What is it forming in us?
What Is a Catholic?
A plain answer: who belongs to the Church Christ founded on the Apostles, and what holds that Church together.
Why You Need Your Men’s Group
Before asking whether men’s groups work, ask what problem they are meant to solve.
Why Protestants Are Becoming Catholic at My Parish
What draws evangelicals and mainline Protestants into the Catholic Church, as they told me in class.
How God Speaks in Human Words
The first of four articles on how the Bible is at once a human book and the Word of God.
passing thoughts: abortion exceptions?
Baby Samuel reached out and grabbed the surgeons finger during a crucial in utero surgery. The photographer became a pro-life activist after this.I can still remember my first pro-life rally. I was a pleasantly plump fifth grader with my family on the steps of the Oklahoma City courthouse, holding our Knights of Columbus pro-life signs, showing our support for all human life, separated only by the accident of birth.
Because of the Catholic Church's consistent stance against abortion and my family's pro-life commitment (my dad is a sidewalk counselor), I grew up assuming that if you were Christian, you must be anti-abortion. I could not understand how one could reconcile the Sermon on the Mount with abortion, though many of my Protestant friends were mostly against abortion, except for the "hard cases".
And this has always bothered me.
Abortion either is or is not the killing of an innocent human person.
Intimations of the New Evangelization
Pope John Paul II conquering this Jubilee for Christ JesusI believe in the mission of the new evangelization. This website represents my work and desire to see the Gospel of Jesus Christ rekindle the flame of faith in the "frozen chosen" scattered about in pews all across America. I have often reflected on what the new evangelization looks like. In this post I am not going for exhaustive analysis. What I want to do is toss out a brief sketch of what I think are 4 elements of the spirit of the new evangelization.
First, the new evangelization is about the "art of living" and of finding the path to happiness, which is Jesus. Cardinal Ratzinger in an address to catechists that he gave in the year 2000, taught that the new evangelization was necessary today because, in our joyless world, there is little room for God in the secularized and de-Christianized nations. In such a world that still yearns for happiness, the new way to preach the gospel must be provided that communicates this art of living.
Book Review: Youth Ministry 3.0, by Mark Oestreicher
Mark Oesteicher, aka "Marko", in his new book, confronts our commonly held assumptions on youth ministry and offers prophetic guidance on moving forward that can benefit greatly the new evangelization. He launches into this project with these disturbing words: "The problem is this: The way we're doing things is already not working. We're failing at our calling. And deep down most of us know it. This is why we need an epochal shift in our assumptions, approaches, models and methods." Youth Ministry 3.0 proposes to help guide 21st Century youth ministry into just such an "epochal shift".
"The way we're doing things is already not working. We're failing at our calling. And deep down most of us know it."Adolescence is a recent phenomenon. In the last 100 years we have watched at the holding period between childhood and adulthood has increased, from G. Stanley Hall's mere 18 months in the early 1900's to 15 years of adolescence today, starting with puberty and ending in one's 20s! This lengthening in of adolescence caused the evolution of youth culture in America. Knowing the experiences that define the adolescent years are crucial to responding authentically in youth ministry.
Book Review: Youth Culture 101, by Walt Mueller
If you work with middle school to college kids, you need to get this book. Walt Mueller has presented in this book the finest outline of youth culture today, aptly applying psychology, sociology and theology into such an overview that you would be impoverished to pass this one up. He is the founder and president of the Center for Parent/Youth Understanding, and is a 30-year veteran of youth ministry.
This book gives the best overview of youth culture today. Irreplaceable!What do I like about this book? I think Mueller was on the right track to not specify his research and writing too much so as to render it obsolete quickly, but rather he identifies big cultural trends and undercurrents of thought and behavior that characterize youth culture. Much of his attention is on media and marketing, as they are the primary shapers of young people. As the digital age continues to sweep over us, entertainment and the values it proposes to us are perpetually accessible. Whereas in yesteryear it was costly and rare to be entertained, today we have instant access to a virtually unlimited music, television, and movie catalogue for less than a dollar (or free with online piracy).
Book Review: A New Kind of Youth Ministry, by Chris Folmsbee
Chris Folmsbee, the director of Barefoot Ministries, is growing in popularity and impact among emergent church ministers, and this book is one of the reasons why. In A New Kind of Youth Ministry, you will not find pages of neat new tricks you can use in your program, tools to make bigger events, and techniques for being edgier. In fact, this book is the antidote to such thinking.
Not a bag o' tricks, just good intentions to challenge the idolatry of the status quo.This is a book about intentions. It contains holy intentions for true and lasting change. It offers new foundations for youth work, new approaches and practices, and an overhaul of the goals for so-called "successful youth ministry."
The purpose of the book is to get each youth minister to reculture his or her current ministry.