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Tag Archives: Church

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It’s Easier To Reach Rising 9th Grade Students Now Rather Than Later!

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Once they start school in the fall and get involved in all kind of school activities, it will be much harder to reach those rising 9th grade students. Here are 5 things you can do to reach out to the rising 9th grade students at your parish: 1. Visit them in Edge or their current [...]

2012 Way of the Cross at the Colosseum – Pope Benedict XVI

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Tomorrow in Rome, Pope Benedict will again lead reflections on the way of the Cross at the Colosseum. The Vatican announced March 15 that the pope had asked Danilo and Annamaria Zanzucchi to write the meditations, which are read over loudspeakers as a cross is carried through and around the Colosseum on Good Friday. Along with Chiara [...]

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Watching YouTube “Religiously”

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By now, anyone who has, or who works closely with teens has undoubtedly heard about the “Why I hate religion but love Jesus” video that has gone viral on YouTube. Forgive me for not linking to it… my Mom taught me to keep gasoline away from matches (after my brothers and I almost launched our riding mower into outer space in 1982). Incidentally, my mother also taught me not to use the word “hate,” but that’s a different story for another day.

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Are You Tebowing?

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Other than illegal hits to the head and questionable calls by referees, the most controversial part of the NFL season is a phenomenon called “Tebowing”. Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow openly proclaims his faith in interviews, post game press conferences, in coffee shops or wherever he is. After touchdowns and during particularly tense moments of [...]

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Time, Talent AND Treasure

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Eventually it was gut-check time. While giving time and talent is great, that’s only 2/3 of what I’m called to do, and I’m either going to be 100% Catholic or not at all. There are no fractions when it comes to living out the Catholic faith, so I began to offer up my treasure as well. And now, I can safely say that my wife and I do the same. I know this is not an easy topic for those of us in ministry.

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Have You Talked to Gladys?

Ever feel like you don’t know where to start? Youth ministry at your parish needs a boost, or maybe you are getting ready to kick off youth ministry and you don’t know the first step? Well – Have you talked to Gladys? You know her – the lady who organizes the rosary prayer group at [...]

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Life Teen @ World Youth Day 2011 – Madrid, Spain

Are you heading to World Youth Day in Madrid this year? Do you wish you were heading to World Youth Day? Either way, you are going to get a chance to experience Life Teen at World Youth Day this year. Life Teen has a big event planned as a part of World Youth Day. Over [...]

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10 Reasons Why Youth Ministry is Going to Thrive at Your Parish

1.) You and your team are praying everyday for the teens you serve 2.) Hospitality toward teens and their families is overflowing 3.) Continually improving the teen Liturgy is a main focus 4.) There is a core team of adults who laugh, pray together, evangelize and spend relational ministry time with teens 5.) Each meeting [...]

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What (Teens) Want

One of my favorite blog writer’s is Seth Godin. Seth inspires me to always think out of the box. He recently wrote a blog entitled “What (People) Want”. I couldn’t help but notice how it applied not only to adults but to the teens we serve. So here is my reframing and tweaks to Seth’s [...]

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Who’s Barbra Streisand?

Think you are current on teen culture? Here is a reality check I just had. A song currently becoming popular by the dance mix group Duck Sauce is entitled “Barbra Streisand”. You remember Barbra – singer, movie star etc? It is a catchy song with several dramatic pauses that utilize the songs only lyric – [...]