A Little Bit More

While this month is the typical business of Lent - parish mission, Living Way of the Cross rehearsals, special youth groups, additional small groups - a few more things have popped up on the radar.

I realized that on June 30 I will have completed 7 years here. That means this fall will be year 8. Given that I think in 4s (courtesy of the high school ministry), this carries some significance for me. I need to look at how things are going here. I sense there are places where I have allowed myself to get into a rut. This isn't inherently bad, but there are so many great resources and ideas out there to work with. Thus once I get through some things in the coming two-three months, I plan on spending June and July really examining the ministries, youth and young adult, with the leadership teams to see what we can do.

Also, I was given the great honor of going to the Pontifical Council for the Laity's 10th annual youth forum. This is adding to the general insanity as I need to work ahead of the game quite a bit so that the ministries can run smoothly while I am gone despite it being busier than usual.

Speaking of which, I have several emails about Way of the Cross rehearsals to get out, so it is time to sign off.

And the survey says...

Young Adults "Less Religious," Not Necessarily "More Secular"

This article from USA Today probably doesn't surprise any of us. It does give a few stats from a recent Pew survey you may be interested in.

The timing on this article is good on my end. Saturday I give three workshops on young adult ministry training for our diocese. This is the sort of thing that is helpful for our 'who are young adults' workshop.

Another Confession

Well, actually two.

1. I love free stuff. Utterly love it. I also fall prey periodically to the buy this and you'll get all this free thing. But when it is just something gratis, even better.

2. I love Bibles. There are so many different kinds.

Guess what this post is about - yup, free Bibles.

First off, while it wasn't really free, I rediscovered the Catholic Women's Study Bible. I needed something to use for my daily prayer. This is a great resource for me. The variety of writers for the reflections is great and keeps me interested and gives me fresh perspectives. A friend had her copy on the youth retreat (lucky girl not only volunteers for another church's youth ministry but her good friend is a youth minister). That got me thinking I should get a copy. As her cover was a red and orange cover, it did not look familiar. Luckily I was going through my book cases on Monday and ran across my paperback copy which is blue and purple.

Second, I got a copy of World Vision's Poverty & Justice Bible. I ordered it, but it wasn't too pricy on Amazon. I haven't really gone through it yet, but there are some interesting parts of it that I will likely pull for reflections when we cover social justice issues or are preparing prayers for our service trips.

What I am most excited about is the free copy of the new edition of St. Mary Press' Catholic Youth Bible. I've been a fan of their youth Bible for some time. This one is great in my opinion. There are more articles and reflections. The charts and graphs are great to help the visual learners with biblical literacy issues. My only mild dislike is the switch to the use of green. I preferred the purple, but that's just me. The content, lay-out, and overall product is great. I look forward to giving this to the kids in our high school RCIA program and slowly replacing the older Bibles as they need replacement.

Finally!

It is finally here - the official website (in English) for WYD 2011!

World Youth Day 2011
Madrid, Spain

Can't wait to go! Our pilgrimage is going to take us to Rome & Assisi for a week before we journey to Madrid. I love taking teens and young adults to those cities. The impact that they have on young people is quite profound.

On a traveling note, I will be out of town, if not the country for at least a week of every month from March through August. I think I may be in town for June, though I hope to get a least a weekend up north. That means posting may be sparse, but I hope to keep you up to date on several things as all those travels are for the ministry. Included is a chance to go to Rome for the 10th annual Youth Forum.

Haiti

This article requires no introduction. Please read. It is a beautiful piece.

The Hotel on a Hill
from cnn.com

"Go Forth & Blog!"

No, it is not some new, hip translation of the Gospels.

Rather, it is the latest from Pope Benedict XVI. Check out the article from the Washington Post on "Pope to priests: Go forth and blog."

Would love to comment, but this blogger has some real life work to do.

Necessary Items

I am taking a break from the swirl of activity to let some Tylenol kick in. As happens far too often in youth ministry, there has been a tragedy and the past week has been spent working, praying, and ministering to youths that are grieving.

This has led me to the fact that there are some necessary items for one of the most important things when you find yourself in the role of youth minister in a crisis - making sure you are taken care of (thereby able to minister and survive the tragedy without burnout).

• Pain reliever of choice. Headaches will happen. I try to always keep Tylenol & Advil in my drawer. This is also helpful for when those ice breaker games get a bit out of control.
• Some sort of way to treat yourself. I'm a girl. This means I have my favorite scented hand cream. The scent is calming and it gives me a moment that I can literally breath deeply, say a short prayer and carry on. And let's not forget the caffeine sources of diet soda, Irish Breakfast tea, and coffee.
  
• Tangible reminders that there are good times to the ministry. I have a page-a-day calendar of photos of Australia that remind me of WYD 2008. Then there is the little espresso cup I use for paperclips that two girls bought me along with chocolate covered espresso beans at NCYC 2007 so that I would be able to stay awake. They sit right under my monitor and give me something to think positively about.
• Prayer. Prayer for the kids, the families, the parish, the school, and for yourself. I have a few favorite things I go to. A book that I will do a shameless plug for is Walking Humbly by Thomas Flowers. The author is related to a college roommate. That aside, I find the poetry and scripture to be a great 10-20 minute chance for me to refocus. It has really been great to help me realize that there are so many ways to look at a situation.

Alright, the headache is coming under control and there are things to do.