Offering surfboards rather than hymn books, Bondi's Catholic youth ministry teaches new surfies to ride the waves and tells them about the Catholic faith.

Last weekend saw over 25 Sydneysiders at the Bondi Catholic parishes' first sunrise surf session.

The youth ministry supplied a couple of surfboards (each sporting its Virgin Mary and Christ Child logo). After sharing breakfast and watching the sun rise, they began guided group surf lessons.

Monica Bautista says it was the perfect opportunity to inject faith into the local beach culture.

The parish is full of passionate young people looking for community and relationship with God and others, she says.

Fortnightly get-togethers at the beach seem to fit the bill, given the youth population and its interests.

"Catholics really want to meet other likeminded people through something fun and interactive."

Put out into the deep

Peter's first meeting with Jesus on the water inspired the surf-based youth ministry.

Jesus asked Peter to 'put out into the deep" - not just to catch fish, but to begin his mission of evangelising.

"Saturday surf sessions takes two elements of this story — it's in the water and also the idea of meeting people where they're at" Bautista says.

"Though we can definitely evangelise in the church, it's often hard to meet people where they're at when they're not at church.

"In Bondi, everyone's out and about and wanting to do different things.

"The water is an iconic part of the community, so what better way to get together in Christ's name than in the sun with a surf."

Ministry of presence

Monica believes above all in the ministry of presence.

"John Paul always talked about this, and I think it's something we struggle with in this society because we are so distracted.

"These events are an opportunity to witness the call of God through community.

"As Catholics we are called to be out there meeting people, taking a leap of faith and trying new things."

Bautista points out that all Catholics have the same vocation.

She describes this as "to live life and to do it well, making sure that everyone you come across along the way knows that they're loved."

Source

• Catholic Weekly

With confusion around identity in such a fluid and conflicting world, is it any wonder why young Catholic women are adhering to a more concrete and traditional faith, as the recent study by the University of Newcastle has found?

The subjectivity of modern society has put young Catholic women at a crossroads, forcing themselves to ask the question: Do we relax the moral law on issues such as contraception or our place in church leadership, and try to discern the limits of reform ourselves?

Or do we simply turn to the universal and timeless wisdom of Holy Mother Church?

Young women appear to be rejecting the former approach and taking the road less travelled — just 21 percent of women aged 18-40 told the survey they strongly supported reform in the church, compared to 83 per cent of over-70s.

Why is this so? As young Catholic women working in youth ministry, we have the privilege of meeting thousands of high school students and young adults.

One of the joys of our job is seeing young women come to recognise the truth of their femininity, as expressed through Christ and his church.

But this isn't because they're carried by cultural Catholicism. Rather, young Catholics must be more intentional and proactive in their faith, and this is made possible by greater access to formation.

Young women today are lucky enough to have grown up in the wake of St John Paul II's papacy. His legacy gave us clear teaching on the dignity of human life, sexuality and particularly women.

This asset of formation has provided younger generations with a greater appreciation for the beauty of sexual ethics, and the complementarity of the sexes, rather than a merely legalistic understanding of what one may or may not do.

God invites us into obedience to his will. A zeal for the faith is neither a justification nor a right to lead in the church. No woman or man has a right to anything that God does not call.

This is not a gendered thing — this is a Body of Christ thing.

Unlike previous generations where there existed minimal avenues for laity to genuinely share the faith, young women today have countless opportunities to serve the church without ever feeling the need to enter the liturgical space.

Whether in youth ministry, marriage support, charitable works, sacramental preparation, public school catechesis, teaching, administration or raising the next generation of saints, the space for feminine influence continues.

These charisms, held by women, are never to stray from the mystery of Catholic anthropology and the complementarity — not competition — between men and women.

Young Catholics of today are simply trying to protect these God-ordained differences.

Additionally, there seems to be a fear among the older generations that unless the church is entertaining or keeping up with the times, she will lose her young ones.

There were hints of this same sentiment at the most recent World Youth Day week in Portugal; the relentless noise and general lack of reverence felt more like Coachella than celebrating the mysteries of Christ.

It is no wonder that an overwhelming majority of young Catholics want to return to a more traditional participation in the faith.

But it is not tradition for tradition's sake. We want to set our feet in the apostolic tradition for the sake of drawing upon the richness it provides, along with scripture and the church's magisterium.

The truth, beauty, and goodness of the faith speaks for itself. Young people don't need to be sold the faith with festivals or diluted teachings.

Young Catholics want to return to the basics, to the complementarity of men and women, the sacraments, and to Jesus himself. This is their identity, and the appeal of tradition.

• Catherine Phillips and Anna Harrison are youth officers for Sydney Catholic Youth.
• First published in Catholic Weekly. Republished with permission.

The awards are named in honour of Cardinal Reginald Delargey (1914-79) who was noted for his tireless work for young Catholics.

The awards are presented by the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference every two years to recognise outstanding involvement in Catholic youth ministry.

The winners for 2022

• Both Janette Bradbrook and Mike Fidow come from the Catholic Parish of Christchurch East. They won the Catechesis category, for their commitment to building the youth ministry in their parish and diocese.
• Peter Fuga is from Our Lady of the Assumption Parish, Onehunga. He won the Advocacy, Catechesis, Community Life, Evangelisation, Leadership Development and Prayer and Worship categories. Fuga was chosen because of "his limitless energy in providing opportunities and inspiration for young people".
• The fourth award winner is Michelle Schaare from the Catholic Parish of New Plymouth. Her Advocacy category award recognises her passion for the employment, support and governance of youth ministers.

Bishop of Auckland Stephen Lowe, Secretary of the NZ Catholic Bishops Conference-Te Huinga o nga Pihopa Katorika o Aotearoa spoke about why the winners were chosen.

In each case their nomination letters spoke of their deep investment, leadership, faith and remarkable contributions to the young people of the Church in Aotearoa New Zealand, he said.

The Delargey Awards have been presented since 2004.

Besides recognising long-term involvement in Catholic ministry with young people, they also recognise the winners' efforts to raise the ministry's profile.

Source

• New Zealand Catholic Bishops' Conference

Attendance numbers at weekly worship are down across the board, and anecdotally, pastors, youth ministers and campus ministers are almost universally reporting greater difficulty in accessing and engaging Gen Z.

Currently, 40% of 13- to 25-year-olds claim no religious affiliation or institutional trust in religion, continuing a decades-long trend of erosion.

Although many have rushed to proclaim these trends as evidence of declining demand from young people for religion, we firmly believe that's the wrong story.

The reality is that our world has undergone a significant shift in the last 20 years.

The decline of institutional trust, increasing demographic diversity and rise of social media among many other factors mean that young people are operating in a much different social environment than the one that gave rise and success to the program-driven models of youth ministry that have dominated the church landscape for the last 50 years.

As Megan Dobbins wrote in the blog "The Rebelution":

For years, the American Church has approached youth ministry as a numbers game. "Whatever gets them in the door" has been the anthem, turning the church ‘relevant' in order to connect.

Cool lights were installed, loud music was played, all the pizza was bought, and a room filled up with teenagers to give us a thirty-minute motivational speech about how fun it is to be a Christian.

This has gone on for more than four decades … (but) we are now faced with an entirely new phenomenon and a new generation.

Gen Z is no longer engaging with religious institutions in prototypical ways, though majorities say they're religious (71%) or spiritual (78%). According to Springtide Research Institute's State of Religion & Young People 2021, most don't attend weekly worship services, and only a quarter (27%) say they attend a youth group.

However, Springtide also found that about the same number of young people have gotten more religious over the last five years as those who have become less religious.

They're simply not conforming to existing frameworks for what it means to be a typical "Christian," "Muslim" or even "atheist."

Gen Zers are more likely to engage with art as a spiritual practice (53%) than prayer (45%), more likely to engage in yoga and martial arts as a spiritual practice (40%) than attend a religious group (25%), and more likely to practice being in nature (45%) or meditation (29%) as spiritual practices than study a religious text (28%).

As Nancy Ammerman in her 2013 book "Sacred Stories, Spiritual Tribes," wrote: "In a time of significant change, we cannot assume we will find religion in the predictable places or in the predictable forms. And if we do not find as much of it in those predictable places as we did before, we cannot assume that it is disappearing."

Two years later, in a presentation at a meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, Ammerman went on to say: "We are only just now coming to terms with the fact that more and more religion happens outside of traditional institutions."

This shifting landscape requires that we approach youth ministry differently if we want to have success in reaching and engaging Gen Z and the generations to follow.

Fortunately, Springtide Research data suggests that there is still a positive association between engagement with a religious youth group and a flourishing spiritual life.

Fifty-nine percent of young people who attend a youth group agree, "I try hard to carry my religious beliefs over into all my other dealings in life," compared to 43% of those who do not, while 37% of youth groupers agree, "Over the last five years I have become more religious," compared to 26% of those who do not.

Those attending a youth group are also more likely to agree that they feel connected to a higher power (19% vs. 15%) and know a higher power exists with no doubts about it (27% vs. 22%).

There are signs of hope out there that young people are flourishing in their faith lives despite the overwhelming and misguided decline narrative by those who only focus on a few traditional markers such as attendance and affiliation.

One example that came out of the work at Princeton's Institute for Youth Ministry is "Table Bread," a ministry of The Table United Methodist Church in Sacramento, California.

The Table believed that the baking and breaking of bread could create community for young people that alleviated some of the isolation and loneliness they experience. As they form authentic relationships around baking bread, they have rich and honest conversations centred around Wesleyan concepts and questions.

The project eventually evolved into a youth-led social enterprise toward forming an intergenerational community through farming and bread-making.

An intriguing example from outside Christianity was shared with us by Asha Shipman, Hindu chaplain at Yale University:

Among Hindu and non-Hindu students I've interacted with who self-ascribe as nonreligious, they often cultivate a form of spirituality that is deliberately unbounded; larger than a single institution, not confined to one day a week, and manifested as a mosaic of practices and beliefs.

For example, they may express their spirituality through dance, through music or through volunteer work. Those who come to our Hindu worship services may also pray to aspects of the Divine from other religious traditions.

The programs I offer and co-sponsor at Yale that emphasize these aspects of Hinduism do draw many non-Hindus as well as Hindus who consider themselves as nonreligious — and perhaps people who might check off that "none" category. This includes programs on yoga, meditation, and community art.

Another example outside Christianity was shared with us by Adam Lehman, president of Hillel International, a Jewish organization that engages college students at more than 550 universities across the globe:

The current generation of students is the most diverse ever, including in how they define themselves spiritually and religiously. Beyond the many traditional religious services and experiences Hillels typically offer, we also provide students a mix of informal learning programs, civic engagement, community outreach and service opportunities, Israel engagement experiences, leadership and career development programs, cultural experiences and social events.

While these experiences are typically grounded in some way in Jewish wisdom, tradition and community, they don't assume or require of participants any particular religious or spiritual beliefs.

Beyond honouring the substantial diversity of the students we serve, our approach also reflects the fact that, while Judaism is a religion, it is also more than just a religion.

These are just three of the many examples of faith groups across the country that are innovating their approach to reach young people and promote spiritual flourishing.

What distinguishes these efforts is that they don't rely on bowling alleys and movie theatre to get young people in the door, nor do they surrender to the decline narrative that deems young people "the disengaged."

They understand that even young religious nones ("nothing in particular") have spiritual curiosities and impulses that defy the category they are assigned in surveys and polls.

Around half of young nones told Springtide in 2021 that they are at least slightly spiritual (57%), are at least somewhat flourishing in their faith lives (47%) or feel at least slightly connected to a higher power (48%).

How can we reframe the conversation about young people and religion to appreciate the efforts of these groups and highlight Gen Z's dynamic spirituality? We need to focus more on the possibilities instead of the problems — more on what's happening than what's not happening.

Right now, the dominant and misleading narrative is one of decline. But we are working to change that, and we hope you would be encouraged to do the same.

• Josh Packard @drjoshpackard is the executive director of Springtide Research Institute.
• The Rev Abigail Rusert is director of the Institute for Youth Ministry at Princeton Theological Seminary.
• First published in RNS. Republished with permission.

Young people have lessons they could teach the Church about synodality, Pope Francis says.

"They have asked us in a thousand ways to walk alongside them — not behind them or ahead of them, but at their side. Not over them or under them, but on their level."

Francis made the comment in the introduction to a new Italian book of essays about youth ministry.

"Around the Living Fire of the Synod: Educating for the Good Life of the Gospel," was written by Fr Rossano Sala, a Salesian priest.

Sala was one of the special secretaries of the 2018 Synod of Bishops on young people.

"Discernment" was one of the key topics at the synod. It was also a key focus in "Christus Vivit," Francis' 2019 post-synod apostolic exhortation.

In his comment in Sala's book, Francis says he is not trying "to transform every member of the people of God into a Jesuit."

The Jesuit order specialises in teaching spiritual discernment or prayerfully reading the signs of the times and seeking to know how God wants individuals and the church to respond.

Some people think "the pressing call to discernment is a fad of this pontificate and it is destined to pass quickly," Francis says.

However, in his view the spiritual practice is essential today when things are changing quickly. Many people are struggling and many need to hear the Gospel, he says.

To achieve spiritual discernment, listening and dialogue are key first steps, Francis wrote.

"It is more necessary than ever today to enter into an honest listening to the joys and struggles of every member of the people of God, and especially of every young person.

"The church as a whole still has a lot of work to do" in learning to listen "because too often, instead of being 'experts in humanity,' we end up being considered rigid and incapable of listening."

The Gospel shows us that listening was the first attitude of Jesus. It should be our first response to encountering another person made in God's image and loved by God, Francis explained.

Dialogue is the natural second step, he continued.

"It is born from the conviction that in the other, the one who is before us, there are always the resources of nature and grace.

"Dialogue is the style that exalts the generosity of God because it recognizes his presence in everything and, therefore, one must find him in every person and be courageous enough to let him speak," he wrote.

There are many signals showing the church it must change. These include the digital revolution, the climate crisis, migration and "the plague of abuse" and the COVID-19 pandemic, Francis wrote. These are "transforming everyone's existence and we don't know where it will lead."

Francis says the choice to focus on "synodality" at the next general assembly of the Synod of Bishops, in 2022, is a natural outcome of the synod on young people.

BSource

• National Catholic Reporter
• Image: Vatican News

The Menlo Church volunteer in question first told Senior Pastor John Ortberg about his feelings two years ago, though congregants weren't officially notified about the situation until January.

That the volunteer was the pastor's younger son, John "Johnny" Ortberg III, was kept secret until a whistleblower leaked the news late last month. Read more

Begun in 2008, the biannual awards are named in honour of Cardinal Reginald Delargey (1914-79), a former Bishop of Auckland and Archbishop of Wellington who was noted for his work with young Catholics.

The awards aim to provide recognition for ministry workers and supporters of ministry with young people; to educate the community about ministry with young people; to raise the profile of Catholic ministry with young people, and recognise the place of long-term involvement in Catholic ministry with young people.

Sponsored by the NZCBC, the awards are given in various components of youth ministry, including Advocacy; Justice and Service; Catechesis; Leadership Development; Community Life; Pastoral Care; Evangelisation; Prayer and Worship.

"They are an opportunity to acknowledge those wonderful people in our parishes and dioceses who tirelessly give of themselves in so many different ways," says Siobhan Dilly, NZCBC Executive Officer.

Past Delargey Award Recipients
2004: Gil Price, Auckland, Advocacy; Kevin and Helen Plant, Wellington, Leadership
Development; Fr Peter Fahy, Palmerston North, Community Life
2006: Mary Bennett, Palmerston North, Catechesis; Philippa Pidd, Wellington, Advocacy;
Raylene Dwyer RSM, Christchurch, Leadership Development
2008: Kitty McKinley, Wellington, Justice and Service; Br John Paul Wilson FMS,
Auckland, Evangelisation; Susie Jorgensen, Dunedin, Pastoral Care
2010: Br Doug Dawick FMS, Auckland, Pastoral Care; Tina Shore, Auckland, Pastoral Care; Michael O'Sullivan, Michael Buchanan, Kirsty Campbell, Palmerston North, Pastoral Care
2012: Fr Mark Chamberlain, Dunedin, Community Life and Pastoral Care, Fr Frank Bird SM, Auckland, Leadership Development; Ron Allen, Palmerston North, Leadership Development and Community Life
2014: Linda and Paul Darbyshire, Palmerston North, Pastoral Care; Norma Bellamy, Palmerston North, Pastoral Care
2016: Anne and Andy Lovell, Wellington, Evangelization; Joanne Bell, Dunedin, Catechesis, Prayer and Worship; John Rogers, Wellington, Advocacy
2018: Delphina Soti, Auckland, Justice and Service; Pesamino Tili, Dunedin, Community Life

Nominations close on January 17 2020, with the awards expected to be announced at the Takirua 2020: Shaping the Mission conference in Wellington at Anzac weekend.

Click here for full details and the nomination forms

Further information: Please contact Kate Aduna, NZCBC, admin@nzcbc.org.nz

Source

Supplied: David McLoughlin
Communications Adviser, NZ Catholic Bishops
Te Huinga o nga Pihopa Katorika o Aotearoa

Image: aucklandcatholic.org.nz

The statue depicts Jesus at 18, the average age of an incoming college student.

According to Aloysius Hogan, S.J., who envisioned the project when he was the college president in the 1930s, the figure was the first artistic depiction of Christ at the age of a college student.

The life of Jesus Christ as a young person, something not often depicted in art, is one that Pope Francis invites us to consider in his newly released exhortation, "Christus Vivit," his official follow up text to the Synod on Young People, the Faith and Vocational Discernment that took place last October.

In this long letter to young people, the pope urges them "to contemplate the young Jesus as presented in the Gospels, for he was truly one of you, and shares many of the features of your young hearts" (No. 31).

What difference might it make to contemplate Christ as a young person? What different might it make to consider how Christ is alive in the young, baptized members of his church?

For Francis in "Christus Vivit," the answer seems to be twofold. First and foremost, by seeing Christ in young adults, the church is called to acknowledge that young Catholics are not simply the "church of tomorrow," as many will often say, but they are the church of the present.

Citing his address at World Youth Day in Panama, Francis describes young people as the "now of God" (No. 178).

This is something that was also brought up in the final statement of the synod, which emphasizes that "Young Catholics are not merely on the receiving end of pastoral activity: they are living members of the one ecclesial body, baptized persons in whom the Spirit of the Lord is alive and active. They help to enrich what the Church is and not only what she does. They are her present and not only her future" (No. 54).

To recognize that Christ is alive in the young members of his body affirms both the agency and responsibility of young people in the church and society.

In the letter, Francis several times affirms the social commitments of young adults, including the recent "news reports of the many young people throughout the world who have taken to the streets to express the desire for a more just and fraternal society" (No. 174).

For the pope, this is an important gift that young people offer the church and the world.

"Christus Vivit" urges young people to continue to deepen this social commitment and to make their voices heard, even if political and ecclesial leaders may not want to hear them. In one of the more approachable sections, he urges young people to be active agents in their world:

Dear young people, make the most of these years of your youth.

Don't observe life from a balcony. Don't confuse happiness with an armchair, or live your life behind a screen.

Whatever you do, do not become the sorry sight of an abandoned vehicle! Don't be parked cars, but dream freely and make good decisions.

Take risks, even if it means making mistakes.

Don't go through life anesthetized, or approach the world like tourists. Make a ruckus!

Cast out the fears that paralyze you, so that you don't become young mummies.

Live! Give yourselves over to the best of life! Open the door of the cage, go out and fly!

Please, don't take an early retirement (No. 143).

This leads to a second implication for seeing Christ alive in young people. Youth, campus and young adult ministry must be rethought through a missionary and participatory key.

A recognition that Christ is already active in young members of the church calls for a rethinking of youth ministry and a move to more participatory models where young people can become, as the Second Vatican Council called for, "the first apostles to the young" (Apostolicam Actuositatem, No. 12).

For Francis, this means moving away from models where young people are passive recipients and a priest, religious or lay minister is the only agent. Instead of top-down approaches, Francis calls for a model based more on synodality, collective discernment and accompaniment.

The church is called to acknowledge that young Catholics are not simply the "church of tomorrow," but they are the church of the present.

"Youth ministry," he writes, "has to be synodal; it should involve a ‘journeying together' that values "the charisms that the Spirit bestows in accordance with the vocation and role of each of the church's members, through a process of co-responsibility....

"Motivated by this spirit, we can move towards a participatory and co-responsible church, one capable of appreciating its own rich variety, gratefully accepting the contributions of the lay faithful, including young people and women, consecrated persons, as well as groups, associations and movements.

"No one should be excluded or exclude themselves" (No. 206). Continue reading

• Image: Logos

The four-day event is getting so big might "soon outgrow" present its venue.

The conference took place 22 to 25 September. It drew more than 1600 registered participants, a marked increase on last year's event.

The travelled as far as Melbourne, Canberra, Perth, New Zealand and Canada.

Ten people from Challenge 2000 traveled from New Zealand to take part (see photo above).

Challenge 2000 is a Youth Development, Community and Family Social Work agency based in Johnsonville in Wellington.

Keynote presenters from around the world played a primary role in engaging teenagers with new and contemporary ideas on the faith.

They included former X-Factor contestant Fr Rob Galea from Sandhurst diocese and Canadian musician Joe Zambon.

Ignite Conference is an "Australian national Catholic youth conference held in Brisbane. It is for adults, students, kids, ministry leaders, teachers, priests and religious."

It is the brainchild of Brisbane's Emmanuel Community.

Since it began in 2001 the conference has grown to become the largest Catholic conference for young people in Australia.

On its website the Emmanuel Community describes itself "as a Catholic mission community in the Archdiocese of Brisbane called to be a force for renewal in the Church and the transformation of the world."

It was formed in 1975, as the Brisbane Covenant Community but changed its name a year later.

Source

• catholicleader.com.au
• emmanuelcommunity.com.au
• igniteyouth.com
• facebook.com

In today's faster paced world, are those un-ordained people living their faith and ministering to others as an integral part of who they are, their work, and their daily interactions with others becoming the new ‘priests'?

Andrea O'Hagan and Elaine Dyer, reflect on their encounter with the Logos Project.

Recently they trained the Logos team to present Jade Speaks up, a resource for helping to put strong safety strategies in place to support children, should violence occur in their lives.

Last year our paths crossed the path of a group of Catholic youth workers known as Logos.

One morning I (Andrea) received a phone call from Anna, the Finance and Funding member of the team.

She had heard of a programme we developed through Violence Free Waitakere to address the issue of domestic violence with children.

Anna was interested because the programme, Jade Speaks Up, seemed to fit with the work of the Logos team in schools.

The Logos team are guided by the Marist principles of quiet service to the poor and those on the fringes of society.

In schools and communities they work with children and teens who listen and connect with these ‘ministers' who are of the same cultures as the students and are not much older than them.

These youth workers model how to make life-choices based on a personal relationship with God.

Logos do their work on a shoestring budget.

While they work for the good of others rather than for financial reward, I understand they are considered too ‘churchy' to qualify for government funding and too secular to qualify for church funding.

What will it take to change that view?

What needs to happen to keep the Logos team, and others like it ministering to younger communities who need these spiritually inspired, service orientated young people bringing Christ into the midst of the vulnerable?

Last September we met the Logos team in Auckland's suburb of Newton and ran the two day training for them.

In a chapel room, under the steady gaze of Mary Mackillop's picture on the wall, the team welcomed us, arranged the chairs, and dressed an altar table with fabric.

The Logos team began each day of the Jade Speaks Up training with a bible reading, linking it to their work ‘in the market place'.

Standing in a close circle they sang hymns/waiatas in harmonies that reached deep into our body, touched our souls and connected us with generations of faithful who had stood in that building and sung to God.

Through their questions and conversations regarding domestic violence and the contents of the programme, it was clear that each team member was holding the children they would interact with love, respect, compassion.

If they queried their own delivery abilities, they never doubted the difference the programme could make for children needing a safe space with trusted adults to talk about domestic violence.

The training consisted of two days of looking at what domestic violence is, and guiding the Logos team in interacting with the contents of the Jade Speaks Up programme.

They worked in small teaching teams, getting to know the sessions and processes and presenting mini teaching seminars to the rest of us.

Each team received constructive feedback on what was working in the teaching presentations and what they could consider changing from their colleagues.

Elaine and I gave feedback and guidance from our place of knowing the outcomes the team could achieve through paying attention to their language patterns and using the pedagogical strategies we had incorporated throughout the programme.

You may wonder why bother having Youth Workers available to schools. I have been asked, ‘isn't this the work of the teachers? Don't the teacher's get paid to include this kind of learning into their Health programmes?'

Certainly teachers are expected to include programmes such as Jade Speaks Up to enhance key competencies such as managing self and relating to others.

They also seek such programmes that provide them with activities and plans to explore personal and interpersonal development.

The Logos team acknowledged that the class teachers ‘supported the delivery of the programme within their classrooms and were in the position to be able to reinforce the learning over the long term'.

However the value of having another group of young men and women from outside the school interacting respectfully with young people can be underestimated.

Some of our students in New Zealand do not have enough role models of adults showing respect, compassion and care for people - whether they know those people well or not not.

Feedback to the team from the teachers included the following comment:

• The team was always really well prepared and established an excellent relationship with both classes.
• They gave our boys opportunities to talk about their feelings and share common fears and experiences.
• This … has helped our boys greatly by letting them share their feelings and emotions with each other and letting them know they are not alone, and that they are not the only ones who are feeling certain ways.

One Year 8 students commented:
‘I learned that everyone has a place and that we all have feelings [and are in situations] which can trigger anger… [but] there are people out there trying to help us and that we just need to ask.'

The boys who experienced the compassion of the Logos team learned from them that to break cycles of violence ‘we just need to ask' [for help]. Isn't that one of the significant messages of Christ?

Driving away I found myself reflecting on the spirituality and service of this group of youth workers.

Are they the face of the future Catholic Ministry? What will it take to ensure Logos and other teams like them can continue doing their work?

Like any enterprise the team has needs such as a building with affordable rent to work from, and funding to cover costs and wages.

How can lay people, priests and bishops support and develop such people within our Church?

"Christ has no body now
on earth
but yours.
No feet but yours, no hands but yours.
Yours are the eyes through which God pours out
compassion
to the world."
Circle dance lyrics based on quote from St. Teresa of Avila

Co-written by Andrea O'Hagan, Positive Changes Coaching Services and Elaine Dyer, CEO Violence Free Waitakere

For more information:
www.logos.org.nz/
www.violencefreewaitakere.org
www.positivechanges.net.nz

The coordinator will have live-in oversight of Te Ahi Kaa,— a community of 4 young adults (students or workers) committed to a year of service, prayer, hospitality and formation of themselves and other young people.

The team of youth ministers will be helping to mentor and grow the faith of young adults and students through Tertiary Chaplaincy at Massey University and beyond. Read more

As I was thinking about this, I found myself almost immediately coming up with a list of the opposite.

I could readily come up with a list of traits that contributed to unsuccessful youth ministries.

I call these Fatal Flaws and I identified five of them. I wanted to share them with you to see what you think. I'm curious what you would add.

Fatal Flaw #1: Agenda Is Greater Than Relationship

I'm convinced that the relationships we make with students have to be seen as more than the vehicle for accomplishing our agenda.

I believe that the Christ-centreed relationships we make with students are just as important as the knowledge of God they gain through our ministries. Continue reading.

Andy Blanks is the co-founder of youthministry360, a ministry committed to equipping youth workers through resources, training, community, and networking. He lives in Birmingham, Alabama in the USA.

Source: Church Leaders

Image: Church Leaders

I can only imagine the apprehension of any church youth leaders using this activity last Wednesday. The Daily Mail headline, 'Minister: My fear for boys warped by porn' could have produced a rather uncomfortable conversation.

Twenty years ago as I started my teenage years, the internet didn't exist so the only access to hard core pornography would have meant me overcoming my embarrassment to purchase a top shelf magazine from the newsagent.

The rapid growth of the internet has changed that for young people today.Porn is everywhere. In fact, it's only recently that social networking has taken over pornography as the most popular use of the net.

With research showing that 97 per cent of boys have viewed online porn, many by the age of 11, the fear is that instant access to pornography, including extreme and violent images, is leaving boys with unrealistic expectations of sex and hence undermining future relationships.

The Church is not good at addressing these issues with young people. Where sex is taught it's usually in confirmation, and linked to marriage, ie it can be doctrinal rather than an exploration of young people's reality.

We cannot afford to shy away from conversations about sex and sexuality, because outside our classrooms and youth groups and away from family members, our young people meet the issues in the riskier surroundings of the playground, the media, and in the isolation of their bedroom with a computer. Continue reading.

Danny Curtin is the former National President of the Young Christian Workers, and continues to support their International Council. Danny writes and advises on youth ministry, and is a catechist and youth worker working in the United Kingdom.

Source: The Tablet

Image: Author's own

As in previous years, there has been little to no critical evaluation from inside the church as to the effectiveness and impact of the World Youth Day. While this youth festival corresponds well with the media-driven culture of globalization, several questions must be asked.

• Is it the most effective use of our limited resources?
• What theologies and ecclesiologies are reflected in the World Youth Day?
• Is the organization of the program done in a transparent, participatory and ethical manner?
• What is the impact of the WYD on the local economy and the global environment (carbon footprint)?
• More importantly perhaps, what is the real impact of the World Youth Day on the poor?

An excellent article by Philippe Vaillancourt in Quebec, puts it this way:

Since the arrival of Pope Francis, we saw the papacy question habits and adopt a new style…[However] WYD is strongly marked by obscene spending in the context of universal Catholicism, a paradoxical undeniable ecological footprint and a mixed impact. Recognizing this, a simple question arises: is the current formula for WYD still morally acceptable within the Church? Asking this question is ultimately to take an interest in the credibility that the Church wants to have in the eyes of young people. Continue reading

Sources

• Kevin J. Ahern in Daily Theology
• Image: Caritas Blog

Kevin J. Ahern will begin work as a professor of religious studies at Manhattan College in 2013.

A review document looking at resourcing across the archdiocese concluded funds ought to be channelled more towards supporting those already working with young people