How to Find Freedom from Lust
IT'S ALL ABOUT ME!!!I was two years into my parish-based youth ministry job when we decided to do a middle school (EDGE) night on pornography. We would talk about it from a positive and life-affirming view of human sexuality. We split the guys and girls up so that we could talk more freely.
I took an anonymous poll with these 85 seventh and eighth grade boys. Out of 85 boys, 83 had seen porn at some point in their lives; 78 had seen it in the last 2 months; 76 in the last 2 weeks; and around 71 out of 85 had seen porn in the last 2 days. Talk about a train wreck!
Pubescent drives are intensely powerful, but they do not have to define us. The sins of lust are probably the most difficult to break once a habit has been established. Some young men progress from occasional use to habit to addiction to full-on compulsive behavior. My hope is to break the habit. Addictive and compulsive behaviors are way above my pay grade. But always remember the words of Pope John Paul II: "You are not the sum of your weaknesses and failures, but rather, you are the sum of the Father's love..."
passing thoughts: Election Time
Texas election time is right around the corner and this constantly brings up the old debate about voting your conscience. The Church teaches that it is one of the highest obligations for an individual to follow his/her conscience. But first and foremost, one has the prior obligation to form one's own conscience, so that when you follow it, you are not only being true to yourself, but to God.
Truth is not really a tricky thing, although 2,000 years ago an abusive and whiney tyrant named Pontius Pilate asked a particular bearded Savior "What is truth?" It would seem that politicians will try anything to escape accountability, even if it means denying that truth itself exists! ("what is 'is'?")
All I am asking of Catholics this election is that we place first things first.
Pro-life means just that, we are for life. We are not against it. We ought not to fight abortion and ignore euthanasia. We ought not to fight the death penalty, but avoid ending warfare. Each and every person has the right to life because of what/who they are substantially, not accidentally.
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.