Franciscan at Home

Whether it be Captain America and Iron Man fighting over whether or not the Avengers should submit to governmental authority, or the constant slew of stories that portray the bad guy as the good guy, Hollywood loves moral ambiguity. “The Walking Dead” is still popular not only because of the horror of zombies but also because of the constant moral dilemmas the protagonists must face: if a child is bitten by zombies and will become a zombie in a few days, should we kill the child before she becomes a zombie or should we wait until she might kill us? Such questions seem unanswerable.[i]

This continual barrage of “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” scenarios is symptomatic of an ethically relativistic society, and leads young people to the conclusion that there is no “right” answer to moral dilemmas— whatever the person decides is best. Like all heresies, there is a measure of truth in that statement. People of good conscience can still make bad decisions. However, we do teenagers no favors by posing the most difficult of moral situations, when the vast majority of their day to day decisions have far clearer answers to questions as: “Should I cheat on this test or lie to my parents?”

“The truth will set you free” (Jn 8:32). A large, prominently displayed banner with this proclamation greeted my high school students every semester that I taught Morality class. I spent many of the ensuing months unpacking this verse and its implications. What is truth? Or better, who is truth? What does it mean to be free? Crucial to this inquiry was a thorough study of the Church’s teaching regarding conscience. Any catechist would agree that we do not want to train our students to blindly follow a set of rules; instead, we want to be the conduits for them to develop a dynamic freedom to choose the ultimate good. This is the importance of properly teaching about conscience, which is “present at the heart of the person” and “enjoins him at the appropriate moment to do good and to avoid evil.”[i] If we merely memorize a list of laws and then try by our own power to live by them, we will always fail. New, unique moral challenges arise every day. However, if we have a well-formed conscience, then we have the ability to choose the good in every situation.

Last year, on the eve of All Saints Day, a teenager showed up at my door searching for candy and donned a self-made t-shirt for his costume that can only be described as “genius.” The shirt simply said, “Terrifying,” and had two images emblazoned upon it: the icon of a dead phone battery and the icon representing “no wi-fi available.”

I laughed out loud. It was the perfect indictment of modern culture through a teen’s eyes. It also illuminated a severe problem that parents and catechists currently face when trying to introduce this next generation to the timeless and eternal Father. How do we guide a young soul with little or no prayer life into an intimate relationship with God, especially in the midst of this over-stimulated and screen-based culture?

Waiting on God

We had just begun our new catechetical year at the parish. Following an opening session that was offered in large group, I made my way around to the various confirmation classes to sit in and see how things were going and how I might better support the catechists and candidates that year.

Trying to catechize a young adult who has never had a conversion to Jesus is like trying to teach marine biology to someone who has never seen an ocean. We might be able to transmit some knowledge, but we might also leave him or her disinterested to the reality that the ocean is dynamic, beautiful, and powerful.

Herein lies the issue in many of our current catechetical models with young adults in the Catholic Church: our sequence, method, and execution of young adult faith formation is not working because it is out of order, ineffective, and unattractive to young people.

The statistics tell us only one side of the story, yet they also help frame our problem with young adults in the Catholic Church. According to Pew Research, only 30% of Catholic adults are still “practicing” their faith (that is, attend Mass at least monthly). Another 38% self-identify as Catholics, though they rarely attend Mass. That leaves nearly 32% who no longer identify as Catholics.[i] In the young adult population, the numbers are even worse.
Other questions arise: How many of those who go to Mass are intentional disciples who understand their identity as children of God? How many are open to sharing their faith? How many are seeking out opportunities to serve the poor? How many have a personal prayer life? How many are making good moral decisions?

While the numbers can seem overwhelming, the opportunities to make a change to something better are everywhere. For decades, the Church’s mode of operation with young adults in the average local community hasn’t changed much. Consequently, most young people feel disenfranchised from the Church and many have stopped caring about faith issues at all.

Algunas consideraciones para los padres de familia

En el último número, Jim Beckman describió como los ministros juveniles puedan trabajar con una mentalidad que respeta y habilita a los padres a familia para ser los catequistas principales de sus hijos adolescentes. Jim concluye esta serie que consta de dos partes, dirigiéndose a los padres de familia en cuanto a los puntos fundamentales para encaminar sus propios hijos hacia una vida en Cristo.

El discipulado se escribe T-I-E-M-P-O

Si es nuestra intención conducir a nuestros hijos hacia una relación más cercana a Cristo, primero y ante todo debemos de pasar tiempo con ellos. Por supuesto, el apartar tiempo para algo es un reto singular en la cultura de hoy en día. Pero no es imposible. Con un poco de creatividad, a menudo encontramos el tiempo en nuestra agenda semanal para las cosas que son prioritarias para nosotros - aun cuando originalmente quizás no creíamos que encontrar un tiempo adicional fuera posible. Pasar tiempo con nuestros hijos tiene que ser una de esas prioridades.

Those involved in youth and young adult ministry accompany and mentor young people as they center their lives on Christ. We hope you enjoy this testimony written by a young adult woman, who describes a significant instance of this conversion from her own life.

Recently, I spoke to 100 young adults on a retreat in the mountains of Prescott, Arizona. The majority of attendees were single and feeling uncertain about their lives and the direction the Lord was taking them. In addition, many spoke of the ache they have in their hearts—the longing they have to find someone to love them in marriage. I remember this feeling myself when I was a single younger adult praying for my vocation and wondering if God would ask me to be single for the rest of my life. The thought made me feel so sad and lonely. Then something changed.

“Lo, all things fly thee, for thou fliest Me!” (The Hound of Heaven, Francis Thompson)

Christian history is awash with the affirmation that human beings have been created to desire God, like the beautiful “cor inquietum” of St. Augustine: “You have made us for yourself O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.” Since the sixteenth century, however, many academic philosophers have disputed this and have claimed that there is no evidence that human beings are “made for God.” I have no intention of entering into this controversy. Instead, I would like to draw attention to the insights of the saints and the teaching of the Church through the centuries. St. Thomas Aquinas expressed the same thought when he wrote, “Wherefore God alone can satisfy the will of man, according to the words of Ps 102… Therefore God alone constitutes man’s happiness;” and St. Francis de Sales wrote, “Thou hast made me, O Lord, for Thyself, to the end that I may eternally enjoy the immensity of Thy glory.” St. Alphonsus Ligouri had the same idea and worded it thus: “Eternal salvation… is the one and sovereign good of man, seeing that it is the one end for which he was created.” In our own time, the Catechism insists: “The desire for God is written in the human heart because man is created by God and for God… Only in God will he find the truth and happiness he never stops searching for.” We can therefore rely on this desire to draw our students to God. My experience also tells me we can. Before I say how, I need to offer some caveats: first, it is God, who draws his children to himself at his appointed time; second, the individual human being is always free to reject God’s invitation; moreover, the relationship between God and the individual soul can never be reduced to an automated mechanical response: love can only be love if it is freely given and freely accepted.

Thirty years ago, in 1985, coinciding with the “International Youth Year” proclaimed by the United Nations, St. John Paul II wrote Dilecti Amici, a letter to the youth of the world. Though many of his previous documents mentioned young people, Dilecti Amici was unique among St. John Paul II’s letters because its entire content was directed towards the young. It revealed not only what he thought about them but also how he felt they should be addressed. For these reasons, it offers much, by example, about how the Church should relate to youth. Much of the letter reflected on the story of the “rich young man,” who didn’t follow Christ because he could not give up his many possessions. With keen spiritual insight, St. John Paul II wrote that the greatest possession this man had was his youthfulness. “Youth is in itself (independently of any material goods) a special treasure of man.”[i] Christ not only asked this young man to leave his material possessions but to offer up his own youthfulness to follow him. Evangelists today should realize how significant this sacrifice is, especially in a culture where people are reluctant to “grow up.” Though the young man’s possessions kept him from following Jesus, it was his youthful curiosity that brought him to Christ in the first place. Young people aren’t afraid to ask difficult questions, such as the young man did in the story. Christ not only provides the answers, he is the answer. Those who speak with the young must not be afraid to answer their questions, but they must also do more. They need to help young people ponder new questions, such as the meaning of life, the meaning of good and evil, and the importance of eternity.

The values of secular society are increasingly divergent from those of our Catholic Faith. We live in a time that seems to fit St. Paul’s description of a people who are “ingenious in their wickedness” (Rom 1:30). The task of forming Catholic conscience in children and youth might at times seem impossible in today’s world, and we might be tempted to despair. Indeed, no human methodology could accomplish this task. “For human beings this is impossible, but for God, all things are possible” (Mt 19:26).

Catechesis, in the mind of the Church, however, is not rooted in human methodology, but in the pedagogy of God. It is the Church’s mission to be a “visible and actual continuation of the pedagogy of the Father and of the Son.” How can we as catechists use the divine pedagogy, the way God teaches, to form the consciences of our learners? Here are five ways, corresponding to five aspects of the pedagogy of God.

Invite the learners to be their best selves

The pedagogy of God is invitational and person-centered. Jesus invited his followers into relationship with him (and continues to do so today). He often saw potential in people that they did not see in themselves. Consider St. Peter, for example, who tells Jesus to go away, saying he, Peter, is “a sinful man” (Lk 5:8). But Jesus sees what Peter could be, what he was made to be. While we might think many different things will make us happy, the only true and lasting happiness is found in each becoming the person God created that person to be.