Franciscan at Home

In the previous issue of The Catechetical Review,[1] we took a look at the light Scripture sheds on the modern transgender movement, especially the creation narratives and law of Moses. Now we wish to look specifically at relevant texts from the Gospels and New Testament generally.

Jesus’ clearest teachings on sexual matters arise when the Pharisees press him on divorce in Matthew 19:3-6:

"And Pharisees … tested him, “Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause?” He answered, “Have you not read that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh? So, they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder."

Jesus only recognizes two sexes, male and female, and asserts that these have been created by God himself. Further, Jesus asserts that the physical/sexual union between man and wife in marriage is sacred, being established by God: “What God has joined together, let not man put asunder.” How does he derive this from Genesis 2:24, which describes the union of man and wife using the passive voice: “be united to his wife … the two shall become one flesh”? Jesus authoritatively interprets this as a divine passive, a literary device in biblical and Jewish literature in which the writer does not name God out of religious reverence, but phrases God’s action passively. Thus, the real meaning of Genesis 2:24 is, “a man … is joined by God to his wife … and the two are made one flesh by God.” In relation to modern transgender controversy, therefore, Jesus acknowledges only two sexes, and identifies God—not society, social construct, human psychology, etc.—as the author and establisher of those two sexes, as well as the institution of marriage.

Jewish law, based on the law of Moses (Lev 18:1-23), rejected sexual activity between persons of the same sex, or persons in any relationship outside of the husband-wife relationship, and there is not the slightest hint that Jesus disputed this teaching. On the contrary, Jesus pushes traditional Jewish teaching much farther, radically interiorizing it:

You have heard that it was said, “You shall not commit adultery.” But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and throw it away; it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell. (Mt 5:27-30)

According to Jesus’ teaching, then, the traditional prohibitions of sexual immorality apply also to interior acts of the heart and the imagination. Fantasizing about evil acts is already itself an evil act, and the inescapable standard of holiness (“You must be perfect, even as your heavenly father is perfect” Mt 5:48) requires us, if necessary, to take radical measures to avoid sin—hyperbolically expressed as “plucking out the eye” or “cutting of the hand.”

All of this really leaves no room for the disciple of Christ to imagine that he or she is some other gender than his or her biological sex. The feeling that one is a different gender than one’s biological sex may not be self-chosen, but disciples of Christ have to evaluate the truth of their feelings and sensations against the standard of Divine Revelation and the Church’s teaching. The sensation of erotic attraction towards one’s co-worker may not be self-chosen and may in fact be “natural” in a biological sense. Nonetheless, it does not justify a married person acting on that sensation; rather, Christian discipleship requires the married person to recognize that sense of attraction as a danger that needs to be rejected and suppressed. Likewise, physical attraction toward a legal minor may not be self-chosen and may be biologically “natural”, but Christian discipleship requires us to reject those feelings and sensations, and neither indulge them nor act on them. In the same way, the mere fact that we have feelings or sensations toward dressing, identifying, or behaving in ways associated with the opposite sex, does not justify indulging and acting on those sensations. We have to act in accord with what is true about our bodies and the truth revealed in Scripture.

Jesus taught and ministered mostly among the common people of Judea who lacked the wealth and leisure to indulge in more unusual or exotic forms of sexual behavior. However, St. Paul brought the Gospel to areas of great wealth in the Roman Empire, where exotic forms of extramarital sexual activity were common and popular. The emperor who put Peter and Paul to death—Nero—did, in fact, practice a form of transgenderism. He and his male lover dressed and presented themselves as young women when engaging in sexual activity with each other. Yet it was not Rome but the city of Corinth that was most famed for extravagant sexual behavior. Corinth’s temple of Aphrodite (aka Venus), the goddess of sex, employed as many as a thousand sacred prostitutes. It is not coincidental that Paul’s letters to the Corinthians contain his most explicit teaching on sexuality.

In Lumen Gentium, the Second Vatican Council’s Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, we are taught that “all the faithful of Christ of whatever rank or status, are called to the fullness of the Christian life and to the perfection of charity” (40). If wit and brevity are more your speed, perhaps Mother Angelica said it better: “if you’re breathing and you’ve got two legs, you’re called to holiness.”[1] This is an important thing for every catechist to remember, especially on days when students seem extra bitter, extra ornery, and extra closed-minded. God still loves each of them profoundly and intimately, and he wants to be in relationship with them.

One of the best ways to steer students in the right direction is to bring them to the Sacrament of Confession. After all, the whole power of this sacrament “consists in restoring us to God’s grace and joining us with him in an intimate friendship” (CCC 1468). However, those of us who are parents and teachers—especially of teenagers—know that this sacrament is not as frequently sought out as it ought to be. How can we change that? Here are three brief but hopefully effective strategies to integrating sacramental confession into the life of your high school.

En Christus vivit, el Papa Francisco escribe, “La pastoral juvenil sólo puede ser sinodal”. De hecho, este texto, escrito originalmente en lengua española pone aún más énfasis en la sinodalidad al compararlo con la versión en inglés que dice, “La pastoral juvenil tiene que ser sinodal” (206). ¿Qué quiere decir el Papa Francisco con el término “pastoral juvenil”? Y, ¿qué quiere decir con la expresión “sinodal”?

La “pastoral juvenil” en Christus Vivit

Para muchos entre nosotros, la “pastoral juvenil” se refiere al ministerio con adolescentes, es decir jóvenes que cursan la secundaria o la preparatoria (12-18 años de edad). El Sínodo sobre los Jóvenes, la Fe y el Discernimiento clasifica a un joven como una persona entre 16-30 años de edad, un grupo demográfico que anteriormente fuera clasificado por la Conferencia de Obispos Católicos de los Estados Unidos (USCCB) como “joven adulto” (16-39 años de edad).

Esta distinción es importante. Francisco no está sugiriendo que una pastoral con chicos de 14 o 15 años de edad [los de la adolescencia media] debiera de ser sinodal. Propongo el argumento que la naturaleza sinodal de una pastoral con las personas que cursen desde los últimos años de la adolescencia [o adolescencia tardía] hasta finalizar la década de los veinte años es lo que la distingue del tipo de pastoral que requieran los adolescentes.

La pastoral con jóvenes adultos en los Estados Unidos ha sufrido cuando las metodologías efectivas con adolescentes (por lo menos en ciertos contextos) también fueran aplicadas a ese grupo demográfico de mayor edad. Aunque los grupos quizás disten de unos pocos años nada más, están en muy diferentes etapas de desarrollo y viven contextos culturales diferentes.

In Christus Vivit, Pope Francis writes, “Youth ministry has to be synodal” (206). The original Spanish text gives this more emphasis: “it is the only way.” What does Pope Francis mean by “youth ministry” and what does he mean by “synodal”?

“Youth Ministry” in Christus Vivit
For many of us, “youth ministry” refers to ministry with adolescents, either in junior high or high school (12-18 years old). The Synod for Youth, the Faith, and Vocational Discernment classifies a young person as 16-30 years old, an age group that the USCCB had previously defined as “young adult” (16-39 years old).

This distinction is important. Francis is not suggesting that a ministry to 14 to 15-year-olds should be synodal. I would argue that the synodal nature of ministry to those in their late teens and twenties is what distinguishes it from the kind of ministry needed by adolescents.

Ministries with young adults in the United States have suffered when methodologies that were effective with teenagers (at least in certain contexts) were also applied to that older age group. Though the groups may only be a few years apart in age, they are at very different stages of development and live in different cultural contexts.

Do You Believe in Me or Not?

When I was a student teacher of Grade 12 Philosophy Religion and Grade 11 World Religions classes, I felt inspired to have the students in both classes do an assignment that would involve them spending time before the Blessed Sacrament. The emphasis for the Philosophy class was more on whether or not they can know God exists, as we were covering St. Thomas Aquinas’ Five Proofs for the Existence of God at the time. For the World Religions class, the emphasis was more on communicating with God, as we were covering meditation. The students then had to journal everyday, indicating what they thought about the exercise and what their experiences were. I emphasized the fact that I wanted them to be honest with me and not just tell me what I wanted to hear.

I have to admit that I was reluctant at first to have the students do this assignment, because I was afraid that if nothing happened it would just confirm their doubts about God’s existence or that he is a personal God who cares about them. I suddenly felt God nudge me with this very gentle rebuke, “Do you really believe I am present in the Eucharist or not?”

At the beginning of my second year of teaching religion in a Catholic high school, I began prompting my students in each lesson with a question that helped them apply that lesson to their own life circumstances. One day, in the middle of a lesson on original sin, I asked the students to write a letter to Jesus telling him what the “forbidden fruit” was in their lives and asking his help to resist it. Because students knew I would be collecting and reading their responses, I did not anticipate anything very serious. I was surprised, therefore, when “Monica” wrote that her forbidden fruit was alcohol. I took her paper to the guidance counselor, who directed me to tell Monica that the counselor would meet with her to help her with this struggle. When I next saw Monica, I passed along this message, awkwardly adding that I thought she was a great girl, and I had spoken to the guidance counselor because I wanted her to be free to receive everything God had for her. “Ok,” she said, and left the room, leaving me convinced I had lost her trust and consequently all hope of bringing her to Jesus. To my astonishment, Monica later asked me to be her Confirmation sponsor. In the course of our sponsor-confirmand meetings, I learned that Monica’s mother was an alcoholic, and Monica was struggling to cope. Because of the school’s intervention, Monica developed the resolve to resist these and other temptations. She gradually became more serious about her faith, more committed to Jesus and to Mass attendance, more consistent in living out what she learned in the classroom.

Monica’s response to this prompt was not an isolated self-disclosure. Over the years, students responded to these kinds of prompts with stories of their alcohol or drug use, sexual activity, suicidal tendencies, self-harm, guilt over believing they caused the death of a schoolmate or friend, as well as more “typical” examples of fallen human selfishness. These and other challenging experiences, chosen or inadvertent, extraordinary or mundane, often hindered their ability to believe in God, trust him, follow him. They illustrated, for me, an important reason why “many…adolescents who have been baptized and been given a systematic catechesis and the sacraments still remain hesitant for a long time about committing their whole lives to Jesus Christ.”[1] Monica taught me that I could more effectively prompt my students to commit themselves to Jesus if I could help them recognize the place they needed him most, which often meant facing their own painful life situations in the light of truth. Day in and day out, the classroom presented me with wonderful opportunities to shine that light, for the sake of helping them begin and grow in intimacy with Jesus.

The Evangelistic Mission of the Catholic School

The Catholic Church views the Catholic school as a critically important place of evangelization. Consider the document The Catholic School, promulgated by the Sacred Congregation for Catholic Education in 1977:

Evangelization is, therefore, the mission of the Church[2]…To carry out her saving mission…[the Church] establishes her own schools because she considers them as a privileged means of promoting the formation of the whole man.[3] The Catholic school forms part of the saving mission of the Church, especially for education in the faith.[4]

In three consecutive paragraphs, the Congregation makes it clear that the Catholic school exists primarily for the purpose of evangelizing, that is, for proclaiming the Gospel message to students and for training them to live according to that message.[5] This is not proselytizing or coercion, which would be contrary to the students’ intellectual development and free will.[6] Rather, it is fulfilling the very purpose of a school, which is to form the whole person: mind, body, heart, soul, and spirit.[7] The student is an embodied person who has been given intellect and free will to use to spend eternity with God; therefore, education is meant to offer formation of that intellect and will not just for the sake of getting a good job (though that is important), but for the sake of living this life in such a way as to get to heaven. The very nature of a school makes the Catholic school a genuine instrument of the Church to evangelize.[8]

By definition, Catholic schools are an extension of the Church’s saving mission of evangelization, with a special responsibility to provide “a privileged environment for the complete formation of her members” within that context.[1] That “complete formation” must have as its goal a lively and enlivening relationship with Christ specifically in the Eucharist, around which all apostolic work and even the other sacraments are centered (CCC 1324). Turning that belief into practice is one of the most critical activities in which a Catholic school must engage if it is to fulfill its own identity within the larger context of the Church’s mission.

Evangelization and the Eucharist
The Church understands evangelization and the Eucharist to be mutually coefficient. Evangelization is directed in a very real way towards the Eucharist, and the Eucharist is what unleashes the spiritual energies upon which the fullness of evangelization depends.[2] They support and feed each other, and where one is absent, the other will eventually struggle and fail, or at the least be a pale shadow of what it should be.

This means that the Eucharist must have a privileged role in the life, activity, and identity of every Catholic school. Spiritual formation should be centered on the Eucharist, spiritual programs should revolve around it, and catechesis specially devoted to it must have a priority; but, above all, evangelization should be specially directed toward it, and any activities centered around the Eucharist should be in some way linked with evangelization as well.

This is a paid advertisement in the October-December 2019 issue.

I never thought that I was going to work with middle school students. All throughout college, I fully expected that I would spend my years in ministry with ninth through twelfth graders. But the Lord had other plans, and post-college I found myself tasked with building a new middle school youth ministry program. I was young, I was inexperienced, and I had no idea what I was doing. So, I did what any typical type-A, nerdy, recent college graduate would do in the midst of feeling overwhelmed; I reread my notes, where I found this:

“Step One: build a team of adult volunteers.”
Thus, I began. Now, after four years of practice in forming adult leaders, I can honestly say that it has become the most life-giving aspect of my job. There is truly nothing I enjoy more than working alongside the amazing team of adult volunteers I get to serve with, but it didn’t start out that way. It took years of combating and conquering my belief in a number of myths about how to build a healthy leadership team.

And so, in the spirit of learning from the many mistakes I made along the way, I present to you, “Five Myths of Finding and Forming Leaders.”

Maybe it’s too much of a stretch to say that an unmarried tailor who lived with his mother is the reason communism fell in the west. Then again, maybe it’s not.

Venerable Jan Tyranowski was, in many respects, an ordinary working class bachelor. But when he was 35, a homily changed his life. “It is not difficult to become a saint,” the priest said, and Tyranowski believed him. He began reading the Carmelite mystics and praying up to four hours a day. When many of Poland’s priests were sent to death camps in 1940, one of those left behind asked Tyranowski to become more involved in youth ministry.

That’s where he met Karol Woytyla. The young man who would become pope was just a 20-year-old in youth group, but his relationship with Tyranowski changed everything. Karol had become unsure about the wisdom of putting so much emphasis on the Blessed Mother, but Tyranowski pointed him to St. Louis de Montfort, thus shaping the life and papacy of the man who would be the most Marian Pope since St. Peter. Perhaps more importantly, Tyranowski’s work with the young Woytyla (especially after Karol lost his father in 1941) greatly influenced Wotyla’s vocational discernment. A friend of St. John Paul’s from that same youth group insists that John Paul owed his priestly vocation to the single tailor.

Tyranowski died only a few months after Fr. Woytyla was ordained. He didn’t live to see his young friend consecrated bishop or elected pope. He didn’t see the work of the Polish pope break the stranglehold of communism on Poland and her neighbors. Through it all, though, St. John Paul kept a picture of his youth minister on his desk, a single man whose life changed the world.