Perhaps it is that I have spent too much time trying to teach teenagers recently, but I have experienced an unprecedented desire to form a punk rock band that I would call "Righteous Indignation." We would spend most of our time with our arms crossed over our chests staring broodingly at people trying to talk to us. When we weren't doing that, we would probably be making snotty comments about the person talking to us or panicking in our minds over some relatively inconsequential piece of teen angst. My punk rock band probably won't really do much music. We'll just mostly sit around and be surly.
At least that's the impression of what teens do. On two separate occasions and with two separate groups of teens I tried to teach about the incarnation, the real meaning of Christmas, and its connection to the Resurrection.
I may as well have been beating my head against a brick wall. Not a smile, not a response, not any indication that they had learned anything or had even heard a word of what I had just said.
I'm all for intergenerational catechesis and the like, but God help me, there are days when I would like to say, "I will be lecturing for ninety minutes, after which you will take a fifty question exam. You must answer 95% of the questions correctly or you will not be confirmed. Let's begin."
Between teen angst, the God of the Public School, and the rites for worshipping that God (otherwise known as varsity sports), I am sometimes convinced that its all hopeless. How am I supposed to compete with coaches and Pastor Feelgood up the street who can teach kids their faith (Are you saved? Do you want to be? Do you believe in Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior? Good! Now, let's sing a song.) in about four minutes?
But then again, it is the Christmas season, and I suppose that like most people, they were probably somewhat preoccupied. So, I'll try again next month. And so it goes . . .
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
A Punk Rock Band
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9 comments:
Tyler, I had to chuckle at your post. Every time we see a scene on TV with teens my husband will look at me and say "thank God our kids are past that". Not that they were 'bad', just the usual stuff. One is now the mother of four beautiful grandkids & the other is a JPII priest ordained last June. This just to say, don't give up. Somewhere, something is sinking in but its like the daffodils under the snow.
Tyler: What can I say? Offer it up and do your best. Give them the straight up truth.
That's a cool band name. Righteous Indignation. I like that. When can I download some of their tunes? :-)
I think this is why most "youth ministers" are perpetually youthful. It ticks ME off too but OBVIOUSLY it is not my calling to minister to "the future of the church" as they like to call themselves. I know, I know technically they ARE the future, but youth ministers drive me crazy with their guitars, and hopping up and down all the time, and saying "awesome" about a billion times a day, oh, and trying to get our parish to clap during songs, and say "AMEN!" when it is not called for...I could go onnnn and onnnn but let's just say that the reasons you are frustrated usually cause a really (30 year old youth minister that still lives with his mom, and eats pizza 4 nights a week with his youth groups, and teen support groups, and "core" group and etc., etc.) good, empathetic youth minister to hop all those kids up and really reach them. Okay, maybe for one night only, but hey, at least they don't let all that teen angst get them down. It's like a challenge to them to learn more hip stuff, and buy more "Jesus sandals", and cargo shorts, and Pope JPII t-shirts to fit in with the YOUNG crowd.
Whew, I've got some issues to deal with. I'm such a meanie sometimes.
Anonymous:
I'm sorry that you have had such a bad experience with youth ministers. And maybe some look like your description on the outside, but I wouldn't be so quick to judge them.
I'm a youth minister - I play guitar, I've hopped up and down before, and I've probably said awesome while eating pizza. I do these things to build relationships with the youth I serve. Teens today are not going to listen to just anyone - we have to earn the right to be heard. But I'm not a youth minister so that I can re-live my high school life. I'm a youth minister because I love Jesus Christ and His Church and I want nothing more than to bring the youth of today into communion with Him. But the youth of today aren't going to be converted by a long lecture, no matter how beautiful or how theologically correct. For the most part, they will be reached by the witness and love of a strong Catholic. I'm sorry that you have such a strong aversion to youth ministers, but I have seen them be more effect in bringing people to know and love Jesus Christ than just about any other leadership position in the Church.
Tyler,
That's exactly why I'm teaching RCIA and not Confirmation! I don't think I could get my feet wet in religious formation by doing what you've been doing.
I used to be one of those teens, by the way, and I didn't listen, either, and then I fell away. Oh, and youth ministers always made my skin crawl because what you describe spoke to me only of "superficial" faith. Still does.
The thing is, though, that kids aren't just reached by guitars and pizza. In my parish, we have LifeTeen, but many parents, other adults who work with the kids have told me that many of the teens are irritated by the LifeTeen Mass...they don't like the music, they don't like the loud noise, and they actually MUCH PREFER the traditional music of the Church. Yup. Gregorian Chant. When they are exposed to something authentic, they recognize it.
Tyler, try playing some Gregorian Chant softly while you are teaching, and see if it has an effect. It's been done in other places and actually worked!
Keep your chin up...as it is, you're already taking one for the "team", so might as well put it all out there and not give up.
My prayers go with you.
God bless
As a new director of Faith Formation, and (by default) the parish youth minister as well, and also as one of those who has a gut aversion to all the "sterotypical" youth minister tactics (guitar, happy-clappy, kumbayah, pizza snarfing be-their-best-friend times, etc etc).... I feel your pain. In my parish, however, we are a pretty stolid parish, not a lot of happy-clappy going on (though on the other hand, it's all Gather hymnal fare... though usualy a fairly good mix of what the Gather has to offer, not ONLY Hagen/Haas. Thank God.) and our kids are pretty well formed, I'm happy to say!
I will say this though, I feel that the number one problem with reaching youth in the Church today is the fact that they are OVERCOMMITTED beyond belief. Usually this is due to the sports gods, but not only that - you've got play practice, music practice, service projects up the wazoo, and family trips up to the cabin on any and every "off day". I have a great group of about 10 core youth, who are committed to the faith and want to live for Christ - but they are so scheduled that they ONLY time they have is after Mass on Sunday morning. Everything else that I've tried simply doesn't work - even if the kids want to do it, they can't because of other obligations that they and their parents think (rightly or wrongly... not going to go there) are a higher priority *at this time*. They know that the life of Christ is the highest priority, but take any particular day, and there's something else on the calendar, and it's VERY difficult to get them to prioritize whatever you are offering over whatever else it was, sports or otherwise.
And these are with the BEST kids. As for the ones who could care less and sit through Confirmation because their parents made them (the better Catholics of the parish bunch, really - I mean, at least they are sending their kids to Confirmation! Think of how many aren't!) - how do you even begin to reach them? You can't - but God can. So, I keep doing my job, trying to listen to what God and the Church is asking me to do, telling my catechists the same - and realize that these kids are, in the end, responsible for themselves when it comes to taking initiative in living their faith. We can only plant seeds, as the old adage goes. I'd love to talk to you more Tyler, in fact, I'd love it if you would consider (if your class schedule allows) coming to one of the new monthly orthodox DRE/YM gatherings here in the Cities (not the NET one - a "complementary" one myself and a couple of others have created), where we are in communal discussion about these issues. E-mail me for info (and any other interested DREs/YMs out there who wish!) mgibson@stjohns-excelsior.org
While my post wasn't necessarily meant as an essay on the efficacy of "youth ministry," I do think that it is important to note that teens are emotional people and they do often react to emotional stimuli. That wasn't my cup of tea as a high school student, but some people are really into the music and whatnot that seems to dominate youth ministry right now. However, it seems more important to recognize some of the generalities of the adolescent psyche. They are concerned about relationships - fitting in. It is important then, to be a good model of one in a relationship with Christ and to be able to portray, in action as opposed to word, the benefits of such a relationship. That will make a difference. But, there will still be lots of days when I feel like I am beating my head against a wall.
All my teenagers had to pass a test before confirmation. My boys had to come in individually at their appointed test time and take an oral test. My daughter a written one. The new priest we have made his students memorize something every week and then tested them in class orally the next class. The week before the final he gave them a pre-test. He made the test so hard none of them could answer the questions. After they had attempted the test, he asked the teens why they thought he had given them such a difficult test. One of them came up with the correct answer. "To show us we need to keep studying even after confirmation is over." The actual test wasn't that difficult, but it did take about an hour to complete.
I refer all of you to my earlier post "Theology in Practice" where I discuss the debate in my diocese concerning returning to the original order for the sacraments of initiation and lowering the age for confirmation. I think that it will do much to help alleviate some of the difficulties in preparing teens for confirmation, as they will already be fully invested in the Church before they reach their teen years. But, it will also force us to rethink how we do youth ministry.
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