Hole in the Roof
I don’t think I ever took the time to explain its title, “From a Hole in the Roof.” It refers to the story in the Gospel where four guys take a sick friend to the house where Jesus is teaching. I’ve always believed (though there is no biblical evidence to support this) that the four men on the roof were probably youth ministers and the man on the mat was probably a teenager...

It Goes with the Territory
When I was growing up almost every time I would whine and complain about something, my dad would simply say – “It goes with the territory." The reality for us in Catholic youth ministry is that there are a lot of potentially unpleasant things we face simply because it goes with the territory...

Into the Examen
Young people - teenagers especially - find themselves in the situation of this boy all the time: stressing over what's next and what's to come. Many times, it is all drama and every test, every encounter seems like it is life-changing - or life-ending. The video illustrates the value of prayer - whatever form that may take...

The Summer Time Cure
Do parents a favor. It’s already been a long hot summer in most of the country and we still have got more to go. E-mail or place in the parish bulletin this video link...

Strawberry Lemonade Cookies

Unchaining Confirmation
Given all that we now know about adolescent spirituality, good catechesis and youth
ministry, how can we enhance Confirmation’s potential to be a more formative
experience in the lives of young people?...

5 Ways to reach New Depths in Prayer with Middle School Youth
Recently, I was struck by our 8th graders who were able to enter into Eucharistic Adoration so prayerfully during our annual 8th grade “Welcome to Life” Retreat. It occurred to me that their prayer resembled that of an upperclassmen’s...

An Organic and Comprehensive Ministry for Youth
The USCCB document, Renewing the Vision, listed eight necessary components of youth ministry: advocacy, catechesis, community life, evangelization, justice and service, leadership development, pastoral care, and prayer and worship. But many don’t understand how they should connect with each other....

Missouri
And we are off on our annual summer tour again. Our goal: to discern the State of Youth Ministry by scanning diocesan web-sites via a state-by-state virtual visitation. Our tour continues, which leads to another return stop-over to Missouri.

Distinguishing Knowledge, Wisdom and Understanding

Grading on a Curve: Critical Questions to Ask When Evaluating Your Ministry
Right at this moment, stop and rate your youth ministry program on a scale of 1-10. What rating did you give? Better yet, why did you give the ministry that ranking? When we evaluate our ministries, there are several factors that we use to judge its “successfulness.”...

Getting the Most Out of Youth Group Games
This week over at YouthMinistry.com there was a great series of articles on using games in youth ministry. Part one...

Trading Heroes for Ghosts
In "Toy Story 3," the toys find themselves donated to a local daycare center. They are greeted warmly by the toys who already live there, and they begin to look forward to their new, utopian life, being played with all the time by kids who truly appreciate them. It seems that they have gone to toy heaven...

The Volunteer
Another really great video from YS. Maybe rip it and show it at your next volunteer meeting to remind them that what they do matters...

Dog vs. Vuvuzela - Dog Wins

Funny Church Sign