5 Keys to Big Event Planning
My primary role on the team is that of "Event Coordinator". I love pretty much everything about this role. Much of the organization and big picture thinking of events comes naturally to me and so, even though I feel like I'm making it up most of the time, I thought I'd start sharing some of my learnings here. So, what are the big 5 of Youth Ministry Event Planning...

Best Youth Ministry Blog Post of the Week
I hate them. I’ve pulled them off 10 year-old boys on my soccer teams, called out guys in our high school program for wearing them, and questioned girls who walk proudly with them on- the latest of which was earlier today...

What Would Joseph and Mary Tweet?

Someone has an idea, and we'll start to see it unfold this Christmas season: Throughout Advent, Twitter users will be able to follow "Natwivity" and witness different figures from the world's most famous story bash out 140-character updates each day. The characters will include Joseph, Mary, the shepherds, the three wise and King Herod...

The Racism of Abortion
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s 2004 Abortion Surveillance Report black women had 38 percent of the abortions that year, the most recent data available, even though blacks make up only about 13 percent of the U.S. population...

The Truth about Mary and Scripture: MUST SEE!

Healthy Youth Ministry requires healthy Youth Ministers
Youth Ministry necessitates some really odd hours. Long after the Parish secretary has rolled the phones to voice mail, you’re trying to track down 50 pens that actually write or 20 Bibles that never made their way back to the bookcase. By the time the last teen is picked up, the last door gets locked and the last parking lot conversation ends, your last brain cell is running on overdrive....

How to Succeed in Ministry
Over the past few weeks, I’ve had a number of young people ask my advice on how to “do what I do”, namely, being someone who travels around the country/world as a speaker or be successful at playing music/making CDs, etc. My first response, which I think is the most important, is: I’m probably not as “successful” as you think...

Promote Vocations
The Diocese of Austin posted this list of 100 suggestion of how to promote vocations. They included: # 5 Provide Eucharistic adoration on certain days, asking for prayers for vocations. #23 Do something creative! One parish hung a priest’s cassock and a sister’s habit in the church for prayer until someone from the parish decided to pursue a vocation. It worked!

The Chilean Miners - What Catholic Families Can Learn
The past day I have watched as 33 miners were pulled from a half mile beneath the earth in a small rocket looking carrier to the surface. They spent over 2 month’s underground. What intrigued me most was hearing how they survived the ordeal so well. I thought of Catholic families today and all the obstacles we face and how the miners survival instincts might benefit us all...

2 Corinthians 11 & 12, if Paul had been a Youth Worker

Diffusing Angry Parents
There are few things that give me that uneasy feeling more than the flashing voicemail light the morning after a Youth Event. Things didn’t go well, you might have brought the students back an hour late, lost your temper with a kid, allowed a trout to be thrown across the gym and land in the church’s air intake vent. These things happen, and they can really put a bee in the bonnet of a parent or colleague. Here are 4 proven ways to diffuse a hostile and angry person or situation...

In My Wildest Dreams
I’ve often imagined that something amazing happens to me and a reporter asks the question, “Did you ever, in your wildest dreams, think this would happen?”And I would answer yes. Because I have very wild dreams...

Living Out Loud
Remember the first ten minutes or so of "Up"? At this point, those who saw the movie are sighing, "Oh, I cried!" Come on: admit it. I did too. The story of Carl and Ellie was magical in its simplicity and universality. Without ever speaking a word, they give us a sense of their love for one another, their commitment to one another, their absolute fidelity and willingness to give anything for each other...

When God Says "No"
It is common for all of us to have to struggle as to the great mystery of God’s providence and will. If it is not our own struggle then we must often commiserate with others who are in distress. Some will say to me, “I’ve been praying, Father. Nothing seems to happen.” I am not always sure what to say and God doesn’t often explain why we must suffer, or why he delays, or why he says, “No.”...

How to Pray the Rosary Well

Armless Pianist Wins China's Got Talent

Diocese Purchases Downtown Landmark for Diocesan Center
The Diocese of Kansas City – St. Joseph announced October 1 that it has purchased property in downtown Kansas City for use as a diocesan center. The historic New York Life building at 20 W. Ninth Street will be the future home of diocesan and Catholic Charities offices which are currently spread across three locations in the city...

Help for New Youth Ministers
A few weeks ago my diocese hosted a new youth minister orientation. As I prepared for the day, it brought back a number of memories of my first years in parish life. There was a certainly a steep learning curve that first year and, honestly, in subsequent years as well...

Getting Ready
I love watching Ray Lewis play. He brings an intensity to the game that, despite having done this so many times before, and play after play, is as if he had hopped fresh off the bench after college...

What's the point of CCD?
There has been much discussion of the new Pew "Religious Knowledge Survey" in which atheists and Mormons outpaced everyone else and Catholics, as a whole, came in last. These results were given a poignant concreteness when a commenter on the Dotcommonweal blog decided this morning to ask her son the questions that the Pew surveyers asked. The result?...

Schedule for KCYC!

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