Frances E. Jensen, MD, on the teen brain

Do you ever wonder why teens behave the way they do? Frances E. Jensen, MD, senior assistant in Neurology at Children's Hospital Boston and a professor at Harvard Medical School, is translating the most up-to-date research on the teen brain which she shares with parents, teachers and teens during her presentation, "Teen Brain 101"...

Teen Suicide Risk Factors: Parents Are Too Often Clueless

Suicide is the third leading cause of death among teenagers, and it's a tragedy that can be prevented. Given that almost 15 percent of high school students say they've seriously considered suicide in the past year, parents and friends need to know how to recognize when a teenager is in trouble and how to help...

Sexting and Your Kids: Strategies for Parents to Reduce the Risk

Combine their legendary ability to make boneheaded decisions with the ease of sharing digital photos, and it's no wonder that teens can find themselves in a heap of embarrassment, or even legal trouble, for doing something they thought of as sexy fun...

Text messaging explodes as teens embrace it as the centerpiece of their communication strategies with friends.

Cell-phone texting has become the preferred channel of basic communication between teens and their friends, and cell calling is a close second. Some 75% of 12-17 year-olds now own cell phones, up from 45% in 2004. Those phones have become indispensable tools in teen communication patterns...

Just in time for VBS

Is rhyming the key to women's relational ministry?

Things That Are Out of Date in Youth Ministry
Ever wonder if what you are doing is reaching teens? Here is a list of things that I consider to be out of date for Catholic Youth Ministry...

When Jesus Said, "No"
One of the struggles that many Christians experience is that the needs around us are so great and yet we are limited both in personal strength and in resources. And, lurking in the back of our mind, is a notion that what ever the problem, Jesus would help and so should we...

Missing the Point of First Communion
Two of my three children have already received their First Eucharist, so I've seen how this holiest of sacraments can get turned into a three-ring circus, what with the fancy hair-dos and even fancier dresses, not to mention the after parties that rival weddings in some families and towns...

First Things First
Last weekend I had a chance to see my youth minister, Luis. I haven’t seen him in over ten years, and haven’t talked to him in over five or six. It was great to reconnect with him after such a long time. In the course of our conversation I tried to brag a bit about how many ministry things I have going on. He was impressed, but was more concerned to impress upon me the importance of keeping God first...

Twilight, Vampires, and the Holy Eucharist

Someone Didn't get the Memo that N'SYNC aren't so cool anymore

Going "Gaga" - or Not..
Lady Gaga has "come out" - so to speak. She has announced that she is "celibate."

Gender issues take new level of insanity in Maine
By Mary DeTurris Poust Just when you thought the world couldn't get any crazier, someone in Maine opens the door to a whole new kind of crazy. The Maine Human Rights Commission has issued guidelines that will ban schools in that state from "enforcing gender divisions" through such out-dated and outrageous things like having separate bathrooms and locker rooms for boys and girls.

99-Year-Old Ghanaian Man Graduates College
I don't want to ever hear another young person complain about how it's too hard to get a college degree or that it takes too long or that it's too late for them to start studying for one. Ninety-nine-year-old World War II veteran Akasease Kofi Boakye Yiadom has just graduated from Presbyterian University College's business school in Ghana. He enrolled when he was 96.

Amazing Fire Tricks

The Face of Jesus Revealed

Technology for Parishes is about Relationships
...Technology can help Catholics sideline unimportant meetings and ‘concentrate on the important stuff … keeping focused on worship and ministry,’ he said, but he added that such an approach will work only if we steer them toward that primary focus on worship, mission and ministry...

Some Differences between Jr. High and High School Ministry
Last night my wife and I had dinner with some friends who are getting ready to start a full-time middle school position. It is is his first full-time position and, up until now, he has only worked with high school aged students as a volunteer...

Why there is no Mass on Good Friday
Many people are wondering today: Why is there no Mass on Good Friday? Of course, there is the Liturgy of the Presanctified, or the Commemoration of Our Lord’s Passion; but it is true that, although communion is distributed, Mass is not celebrated...

Catholic actor booted from ABC show for refusing sex scenes

Almsgiving - all $300 billion of it