Ideas for the Whole Community

Spiritual practices inspired by Julian of Norwich

2007-10-05T11:16:00.000-07:00

In the November/December 2007 issue of Today's Parish Minister, Colleen Griffith wrote a splendid piece on how to discover love this Advent. She describes how Julian of Norwich attuned herself to recognizing God's love for all humanity. Here are two spiritual practices for Advent from Colleen which are inspired by St. Julian.

Take a few moments to enter silence. Allow your own depths of spirit to be opened to drink in God’s love. Stay with your heart’s stirring. Write your own psalm in response.

Julian makes many references to God’s maternal love. Spend some time in prayer with Scriptures that reference the maternal love of God. Choose, for example, Psalm 131 or Isaiah 46:3-4 or Isaiah 49:15.

Should we give money to street people?

2007-10-04T11:29:00.000-07:00

Want to start an argument? Ask a group of Sunday-going Christians if we should give money to panhandlers. I've been on both sides of the issue. There are many good reasons to not give money to street beggars. I was at a dinner with some folks from a liturgy conference once. The food was bounteous, and many of us had to take home doggie bags. As we were walking away from the restaurant, a woman in our group placed her bag on the sidewalk next to a beggar and wished him a good evening. In the few steps it took for him to realize the bag had food in it, he came rushing up to her to return it. He was looking for cash or something he could sell for cash.

People who work with the homeless (and even more who don't) will tell you of professional beggars who can clear several hundred dollars a day, tax free, with the right story in the right part of town. Some city governments will tell you it is your civic duty not to contribute to panhandlers because it encourages them to keep begging and discourages tourism. Drug and alcohol rehab counselors will tell you that contributing to panhandlers is simply contributing to their addiction. And some beggars, no doubt, are aggressive and dangerous. It wouldn't be prudent to interact with them in any fashion if you were by yourself. Some people walk around with McDonalds coupons or bus tokens to give to beggars, but those are refused as often as accepted. And they can also be sold for cash.

Lunch and a beer
That was more or less my thinking for a long time. Then one day, many years ago, a colleague and I were walking to lunch in a nice part of town. We were approached by a beggar who wanted a quarter. Without hesitating, my colleague pulled out his wallet and gave the guy a dollar. A little embarrassed that I hadn't responded as quickly, I fished out a dollar for the beggar as well.

During lunch, I asked my colleague, who is not a Christian, why he had given the beggar money. "It's lunchtime," said my friend. "And I can spare it."

"But what if the guy spends your money on booze?" I asked.

"It's not my money now," he said, lifting his glass of beer. "Besides, that's what I'm spending it on."

So I've changed my thinking. If I've got some spare money and someone asks me for a handout, I'll often give him something. I don't ask him if his hourly rate is higher than mine. I don't ask him what he's going to spend it on. My change in attitude led to an interesting relationship.

Sunday drivers
Shortly after the lunchtime incident, I was driving to church. I came to a red light, and there was a beggar with a sign, asking for a handout. I lowered the window and gave him a dollar. Next week, same thing. That went on for weeks, and then months, and then a couple of years. We'd chat for as long as the light would allow or until another driver waved a bill at him. Then one Sunday he asked me to pray for him. "I'm going to a job interview tomorrow," he said. "Good luck!" I said. "God bless," he said as the light changed.

I told some friends at church the story. I laughed about it a little. I didn't believe him. It sounded like he was rehearsing a new story for drivers that weren't as soft a touch as I.

But he wasn't there the next week. He hasn't been there since. Maybe he found a more profitable corner. Maybe he really got a job. I don't know if he changed, and it doesn't matter. I did.

Reform of the sacrament of reconciliation

2007-10-03T11:32:00.000-07:00

Bill Huebsch writes in the November/December issue of Today's Parish Minister, "Advent is coming soon. Let's find a way to help folks celebrate [reconciliation] in a way that will touch their hearts and reconcile them to the gospel."

Below is a brief timeline of the reform of the sacrament after Vatican II.

The Reform of the Sacrament

In 1973, a new rite for the sacrament of reconciliation was promulgated. The new rite followed norms set down by Vatican II itself, and there were five:

the rite should be clear and the effect of the sacrament comprehensible,
the role of the community should be emphasized,
a public form of the rite should take precedence over the private form,
readings from Scripture should be central to the rite,
and the rite should be short and free from useless repetitions.

The revised rite has four forms:

the individual rite,
the communal rite with individual confession and absolution,
the communal rite with general absolution,
a brief rite to be used in emergencies.

Three ways to link liturgy and justice

2007-10-03T11:24:00.000-07:00

Gregory R. Kepferle, the CEO of Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County in San José, California, wrote a splendid article about liturgy and justice in the November/December issue of Today's Parish Minister. Below are three more ideas he has for linking liturgy and justice.

Three ways to link liturgy and justice in your parish

Cross train your liturgy team and your social justice team. Help folks that are liturgically-oriented see the justice themes in Scripture and the church year. Help social justice-oriented folks appreciate the richness of the liturgy. Participate in an immersion action-reflection experience together and ritualize what you learn.
Celebrate your social justice and outreach ministries. Institute a commissioning ceremony for your parish volunteers engaged in social concerns. Invite the liturgy team to work on it in collaboration with the social concerns team.
Plan ahead and calendar special occasions that can link liturgy and justice through Scripture, music, prayers of the faithful, the choice of eucharistic prayers, and psalms.

Some examples include:

the Feast of Christ the King, which is often the Sunday for the Catholic Campaign for Human Development’s anti-poverty collection;
a Sunday when Catholic Charities has a special collection for the needs of the poor;
January, when the USCCB Migration and Refugee Services celebrates immigrant and refugee awareness.

Litany for the church's social ministry

2007-10-03T09:51:00.000-07:00

In the November/December 2007 issue of Today's Parish Minister, Kenneth R. Himes, OFM, wrote a guide for helping parishioners live a life of justice and peace. Below is a litany he composed.

Dear Lord, we ask these things in your Name:

Victims of violence, may your suffering end.

Sufferers of injustice, may your rights be vindicated.

Wounded creatures of God, may the scars of waste and pollution be healed.

Builders of Peace, we pray your work bears fruit in our world and our hearts.

Defenders of Justice, we pray your example inspire us all.

Protectors of the Environment, we pray God’s creation may be cared for by us all.

Children of God, let us serve our brothers and sisters.

Followers of the Lord Jesus, let us practice what we profess.

Receivers of the Spirit, let us be inspired by divine vision.

Be a dreamer this Advent

2007-09-28T07:39:00.000-07:00

I have one of those weight-lifter art books that nobody really reads. You know, the kind you get one of the kids to help you drag off the bookshelf onto the coffee table when company is coming over. Well, in this tome is a picture of a painting by a 15th-century painter, Domenico Ghirlandaio, titled “Adoration of the Shepherds.” It’s a nativity painting in which the whole world is coming to adore the newborn Christ child. Seriously, this painting looks like it could have been inspired by the crowds at LAX the day before Thanksgiving. And every one of the throng is focused on Jesus. Everyone, that is, except Joseph.

Joseph is oblivious to the commotion, gazing far off into the distant sky, looking, in fact, in the opposite direction of his adopted son. He is depicted as an elderly man, and, when I saw the painting, I thought he’d already slipped off into dotage.

We know from Matthew’s gospel that Joseph is a man of dreams. And we know that a guy who dreams up the kind of stuff Matthew tells us about—angels appearing right and left with life-changing exhortations like “flee to Egypt”—isn’t a guy who only has three or four dreams in a lifetime. This guy lives in a dream.

How did Joseph get to be saintly? After all, when he found out Mary was pregnant, he planned to divorce her (Mt 1:19). Not shocking, but also not what you’d expect from a saint. It was his dreams that changed him. Because he was a dreamer, he was able to welcome Mary into his home and into his heart.

I took another look at the picture. In Ghirlandaio’s painting, Joseph is not an addled old man. He is a man of purpose. His hand rests firmly on a sarcophagus that serves as the Christ-child’s crib in the painting and a foreshadowing of his fate. That is to say, Joseph is grounded in the paschal mystery. With that foundation, he looks to the sky, far off in the distance, focused on what everyone else is too busy to see.

The challenge that Advent poses for us is to dream. And to teach our children to dream. But what are we to dream of? Joseph teaches us: A messenger of God, bearing good news.

The wicked stewardship problem

2007-09-20T07:19:00.000-07:00

"Stewardship" has become the new beige. It goes with everything and seems pretty neutral.

Here's what I struggle with. If the parish belongs to the parishioners, how do we get them to take ownership? At the same time, how do we legitimately assert the authority of the bishop and the pastor to make "final decisions"? And, in the midst of all this, how do we ask parishioners to pay for the re-sources needed to accomplish a mission they don't always feel completely responsible for?

How do we even begin to solve the problems surrounding stewardship? If you are like me, you fantasize that there is "an answer" out there. Some parish or some person smarter or more experienced than I am must have solved all this already. But down deep, we know that really is a fantasy, don't we?

Wicked problems
These kinds of problems are what Horst Rittel, a pioneering theorist of design and planning and late professor at the University of California, Berkeley, called "wicked problems." Rittel figured out that many problems cannot be solved by "experts" dropping in and delivering a ten-point plan, even if they have experience in your specific area of difficulty. This is, in fact, the very type of solution most of us go looking for. We go to a workshop or buy a book or hire a speaker to just tell us what to do. The thing that makes your problem "wicked" is that there is no one solution. And each potential solution raises other problems. And, this is really key, each problem is unique.

Jim Conklin, author of Dialogue Mapping: Creating Shared Understanding of Wicked Problems, went on to develop Rittel's ideas further. Conklin says wicked problems have these characteristics:

The problem is not understood until after formulation of a solution.
Stakeholders have radically different worldviews and different frames for understanding the problem.
Constraints and resources to solve the problem change over time.
The problem is never solved.

Don't you just hate that last one?

There is no "solution"
But think about it for a minute. Isn't the lack of a "solution" the very thing that makes the whole of parish life an encounter with grace? Stewardship is not a puzzle. There is no final answer. In the end, we are stewards of a mystery—a mystery of love. How do we solve that mystery? We can't. We can only enter into it.

Conklin says, "Because of social complexity, solving a wicked problem is fundamentally a social process. Having a few brilliant people or the latest project management technology is no longer sufficient." We might paraphrase that to say that because of the radical, loving relationship of the Father and the Son (in which we are immersed through the power of the Holy Spirit), solving a wicked problem is fundamentally an ecclesial process. Having a few brilliant theologians or stewardship experts is insufficient.

The answer is the community
In other words, stewardship is the responsibility of the entire parish community.

This means that all the multiple, complex, disjointed, busy, and distracted parts of the body of Christ must share a commitment to entering into the complex process of stewardship together. And they must share a commitment to love and support one another in that process. This won't "solve the problem." But it will bring us all more fully into the love of Christ.

[This was inspired by knowledge-management expert Jim McGee. See his post on "Solving puzzles or framing mysteries" for more information on wicked problems.]

Stewardship: Hospitality is the key

2007-09-04T12:29:00.000-07:00

In the September issue of Today's Parish Minister, Cathy Rusin describes how hospitality is the key to good stewardship. She offers some criteria for measuring the "welcome factor" in your parish:

Can people locate and read your sign, including Mass times?
Is the entrance to the church building easy to find and attractive?
Once inside, what sort of experience will they encounter?
Do new members simply get a set of donation envelopes, or perhaps a basket with a ministry handbook, city map, and freshly baked bread?

Learn more
For more on stewardship and hospitality, Cathy recommends you contact the Archdiocese of Louisville (502-636-0296, comm@archlou.org). They publish Christian Hospitality, a comprehensive handbook which “provides a theological basis for hospitality,…tips for welcoming all people, and a sampling of models and programs…. Parishes will be able to evaluate their hospitality ministry and find suggestions for improvement.”

Liturgy lacks imagination

2007-08-28T10:34:00.001-07:00

In the August 27, 2007, issue of America, Cardinal Godfried Danneels writes about liturgy 40 years after the Council. The entire article is deserving of a careful read, but here are my favorite lines:

How many celebrants consider the homily to be the climax of the liturgy and the barometer of the celebration? How many have the feeling that the celebration is more or less over after the Liturgy of the Word?

Too much attention is also given to the intellectual approach to the liturgy. Imagination, affect, emotion and, properly understood, aesthetics are not given enough room....

Liturgy is neither the time nor the place for catechesis....

Nor should liturgy be used as a means for disseminating information, no matter how essential that information might be. It should not be forced to serve as an easy way to notify the participants about this, that and the other thing. One does not attend the liturgy on Mission Sunday in order to learn something about this or that mission territory....

The church fathers, too, adhered to the principle that mystagogical catechesis (in which the deepest core of the sacred mysteries was laid bare) should come only after the sacraments of initiation. Their pedagogical approach was “sensorial”: participate first and experience things at an existential level in the heart of the community, and only then explain....

Knowing Christ is our goal

2007-08-27T08:25:00.000-07:00

When I was a kid, we didn’t have “tech.” If we did, I would have been identified as “tech-challenged.” I once tried to make a telephone out of two soup cans and string. Let’s just say AT&T’s R&D department has nothing to fear from me. I also bought a set of those X-ray glasses that were in the back of the old Superman comics. In the ad, the kid using them could see people’s bones. When I finally got them, they were two plastic rims, each encasing a single chicken feather. I guess it was supposed to look like you were seeing “bones” when you looked through the feathers.

My next door neighbor, on the other hand, two years younger than I, was a budding scientist. He built a volcano one summer. It was about four feet high and spewed rivers of colorful muck all over his father’s driveway. He also built a working telegraph, which put my tin-can phone to shame. We stretched the wires between our bedroom windows, and he’d send me Morse code messages. The fact that I didn’t know Morse code dimmed neither his enthusiasm nor my amazement.

I feel the same amazement when I see children text messaging their friends or tricking out their MySpace pages. While I struggle to set the alarm correctly on my cell phone, people who have to be “this high” to get on a Disney ride are practicing a tech wizardry that must surely be classified somewhere under the dark arts.

How do we know?

I suppose I should be more disturbed than amazed by this. After all, as an elder to these tech-savvy youngsters, I should be the one who, after long years of experience and study, has acquired a superior and even mysterious knowledge. But I don’t think of knowledge that way.

To think of knowledge as something I have, like a bottle of water, which I open up and pour over you at my discretion, isn’t really how knowledge works. That bottle of water is more like information

Knowledge on the other hand is more like the ocean. It’s not mine to give or to keep, but only to discover. I can help you discover it or not. But if you get anywhere near it, you’ll discover it with or without me. The more of us who dive in together, the more we will discover. The more we will know.

As catechists and teachers, our ministry is about discovering knowledge, not dispensing information. The General Directory for Catechesis says our goal is “to know [Christ’s] ‘mystery,’… the requirements…in his gospel message, and the paths that he has laid down for anyone wishing to follow him” (80).

If we discover a new facet of the mystery, we could try to let others know by using my soup-can phone. But the kids will have it posted on their MySpace pages before I can find my can opener. More than any previous generation, they’ve turned the idea of “teaching” on its head. They are teaching us elders what it is to be co-discovers of the Mystery of Christ. Just as the gospel requires. I think that’s amazing.

Mary on Edge: A Homily for the Fourth Sunday of Advent

2007-08-14T22:03:00.000-07:00

Do not be afraid, Mary.

We hear the gospel words
but any mother can tell you
fear and worry fall heavy on the heart.

Do not be afraid, Mary.

What about colic and ear infections?
What about school?
Will my child have friends?
What will I say when others make fun of my child?

Do not be afraid, Mary.

It began in fear, and the fear did not flee.
It tugged at her heart each time the baby’s cry turned shrill,
each time he ran from the house—as little boys do—
only to come back with a swollen lip or blood matted hair.

Fear.

This son of hers,
cradling lepers with open sores
lifting children into his lap;
going down to the river, out to the desert
out on the sea to pull in fish
with arms bronzed with the sun.

And she knew—as only a mother can know—
blood would string down his arms
now so strong, but once so small.
And nails would pierce the hands she once washed.

And some day soldiers would come—she knew—
they’d come for him.

--Jim Schmitmeyer

Expect September to be full of possibility

2007-08-14T21:55:00.000-07:00

It was a warm September day more than 20 years ago, and I was late for my first day on the job. (I hadn’t lived in Twin Cities long enough to fully grasp the difference between I-35E and I-35W.) I didn’t have a key yet and had to ring the bell. The parish secretary answered the door, and she seemed to know who I was. She showed me around the building—a converted rectory—and eventually showed me to my office on the second floor. A real office with a window, a door that closed, and a typewriter on the desk. (Back in those days, personal computers were still too expensive for most church workers.)

She left me there, with instructions on how to use the intercom if I needed anything. I sat down on the armless swivel chair and stared at the wall. I remember two dominant feelings: creeping panic and a sense of unlimited possibility.

The panic eased with time, but the sense that anything is possible never has. Sure, it wanes and waxes, but it seems like every September there is renewed expectation and hope. Perhaps that comes from those early days in the parish. Our parish, like most, was a little drowsy in the summer. But come September, everyone was back from vacation, rested, and ready to go.

One of the first things I did to those unsuspecting-but-well-rested souls was start a liturgy committee. I’m afraid I conducted it a bit like a graduate course, showing off my new master’s degree and my book learning. They were a tolerant bunch of folks though, and together we read the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Environment and Art in Catholic Worship, and Music in Catholic Worship. It was only the third or fourth time I’d read the liturgy documents. It was the first time for most of them. We had a couple of English teachers on the committee who the bemoaned the grammar and sentence structure, especially of the Constitution. But no one failed to get excited by the promise those texts held. Ours was a Vatican II parish. The Council had only closed 15 years earlier, and everyone on the committee knew what liturgy was like before. While they weren’t ready to endorse every trend and fad coming down the pike, they were heart and soul committed to the primary aim of the Council: the full, conscious, and active participation of the people.

Well, that was a long time ago. Some say those days are over, the reform has been completed, and perhaps we should think about returning to some of the practices from before. I don’t know. It doesn’t sound right to me.

The last liturgy committee I served on was just a few years ago. I was a parish volunteer, not the staff liaison. At my first meeting with them, I was the only one who grew up speaking English. I’m pretty sure I was the only one who had read the liturgy documents. But we didn’t talk about that. We didn’t talk about Vatican II. And we really didn’t do much planning. We did talk a lot about what we loved about liturgy.

We also told stories about the best liturgies we’d ever participated in. And every story was about the participation of the folks. In every story, the people were heart and soul fully involved the priestly action of doing the liturgy. We all agreed we wanted more of that.

When he opened the Second Vatican Council, Blessed Pope John XXIII said, “The human family is on the threshold of a new era.” Maybe I’ve got too many “Septembers” under my belt, but it still feels to me like we are only on the threshold. Unlimited possibility lies ahead of us. Why would we ever think of going back?

Teaching as a sacrament

2007-07-23T09:58:00.000-07:00

Fall is a good time to look forward. It is often a time of new beginnings, new hopes, and new quests. In looking forward to this year of publication, Religion Teacher’s Journal began by looking back. In the first issue, Neil Kluepfel, editor and publisher, wrote:

If the articles [in this first issue] have helped to reinforce your convictions to continue to strive to make our religion the most important thing in the lives of your students, then the magazine this month has achieved its objective.

As we looked at that first issue and at the mission Neil laid out for the magazine, we realized that the core of the catechetical ministry is teaching. However, it is not teaching so much in the pedagogical sense (although it often includes that). Primarily, catechesis is teaching in the sacramental sense.

What is a sacrament?
The more ancient word for “sacrament”—the word the apostles used—is “mystery.” The sacraments take on a slightly different meaning when we call them mysteries. We certainly “receive sacraments,” but we “encounter mysteries.” A mystery is something that draws us in, fascinates us, perhaps even frightens us. Sacraments are always about an encounter with the Mystery of Christ. And like any mystery—the mysteries of love, or art, or music, or nature—there is much to be revealed. It can take a lifetime.

Jesus never administered a sacrament. At least not in the sense of following a ritual text inside a church. Jesus is as sacrament. Jesus is mystery. When Jesus wanted to feed the first disciples, handing on small bits of himself to his nervous, confused, child-like followers, he told stories. He drew them into the mystery of himself with parables and signs. He taught.
Teaching is first of all a mission of mystery. Pope John Paul II said the first task of a catechist is to lead people to intimate communion with Christ. To even imagine what that might look like, and how to go about it, is both fascinating and frightening.

Perhaps we fail more than we succeed. Sometimes we are stiff and formulaic. Often we are not quite sure what we are doing. Sometimes we feel like we haven’t accomplished much. But we teach, nonetheless, because we are fascinated by the Mystery. And perhaps we succeed more than we think. Because we know that even on our worst day the sacrament happens.

As we begin this new year, Religion Teacher’s Journal joins you in looking forward to the future of teaching the faith, just as it did more than 40 years ago.

Help parents share faith at home

2007-07-23T09:41:00.000-07:00

In the September 2007 issue of Religion Teacher's Journal, Harry J. Dudley has written a terrific article on how to involve parents in the faith formation of their children. Below is a lists of resources he suggests for use in the household churches.

Harcourt Religion has a section of their Web site dedicated to faith at home. Go to tinyurl.com/yqwzto.
Loyola Press prints a parent newsletter called “Finding God” Our Response to God’s Gift. For more information go to tinyurl.com/2djgoo.
Twenty-Third Publications offers a number of resources to help you become more comfortable with faith sharing and the stories from Scripture. Go to 23rdpublications.com and search on “family faith.”

Welcoming new members

2007-07-01T12:40:00.001-07:00

Bob Harris, CAE, offers free tips for nonprofits and suggests this plan for welcoming new members:

In the 1st month of joining, members get a welcome kit.
In the 4th month a member of staff calls to introduce her or himself as a source of contact.
In the 7th month, a member of the board calls to inquire about member satisfaction.
In the 9th month a membership committee member calls to encourage renewal (as bills will soon be mailed in the 10th or 11th month).

How can his schedule be adapted for parish communities? What welcome strategies have you used and found successful?

For more of Bob Harris' thinking, visit www.nonprofitcenter.com.

Family Prayer Resources

2007-05-25T10:17:00.001-07:00

Looking for ways to support the domestic churches in their prayer lives? Check out these resources:

"Harcourt Religion - Family Prayers." your.harcourtreligion.com. 25 May 2000. 25 May 2007 .

Lewis, Suzanne. Children's Daily Prayer. Chicago: Liturgy Training Publications, 2006.

Martin, Michaelann, Carol Puccio, and Zoe Romanowsky. The Catholic Parent Book of Feasts: Celebrating the Church Year With Your Family. : Our Sunday Visitor, 1999.

Renz, Kelley. God Listens to Our Children: Kids' Prayers for Every Day of the Liturgical Year. : Our Sunday Visitor, 2006.

"Ten Prayers Every Catholic Child Should Know - Ten Prayers for Catholic Children." Catholicism - Roman Catholicism - Roman Catholic Christianity. 2007 .

Thompson, Katie. The Complete Children's Liturgy Book: Liturgies of the Word for Years A, B, C. Mystic, CT: Twenty-Third Publications, 2004.

United States Catholic Conference. Catholic Household Blessings & Prayers. Washington D.C.: Usccb Publishing, 1989.

Catholic Prayers (Small Prayerbook). Chicago: Liturgy Training Publications, 1990.

Table Prayer Cards: Table Prayer Card for Autumn and Winter. Chicago: Liturgy Training Publications, 2001.

What would Jesus drink?

2007-05-11T06:54:00.001-07:00

I'm a fan of Starbucks. It's not so much that I like paying $4.00 for a cup of coffee. It's my amazement at how many people, especially young people, seem to be hanging around all the time. Starbucks is good a creating a community gathering place. That didn't happen by accident. Starbucks CEO Jim Donald says it is part of their marketing psychology. Starbucks wants us to think of their coffee shops as a primary place in our lives.

We say the first place is home, second place is office, and then Starbucks is a third place. They use our stores for gathering spots, and we think that that that's what makes that whole experience what it is today.

Anyone see "church" on that list? Me either. What I wonder, every time I stand in line with people ordering "half-caf fraps" and "double shot lattes" is what can we learn from Starbucks to make our parishes as inviting, especially to young people.

[ABCNews.com]

Prayer space in the domestic church

2007-05-09T11:06:00.001-07:00

We arrange our homes to reflect our personalities and interests. Literature lovers fill their rooms with books and comfy reading chairs. An enthusiastic cook may spend thousands turning a dull kitchen into a glittering showpiece. Yet aside from occasional holiday decorations, the spiritual side of life rarely plays a starring role in the home.

Read rest of this helpful article on creating a prayer space in the domestic churches of the parish. Click here.

How Latinos practice their faith

2007-05-02T07:23:00.001-07:00

According to a major study released this week, Latinos are very religious.

The report's main conclusion — that Latinos and their embrace of charismatic styles of worship are reshaping the nation's religious landscape — garnered the most attention when the document was released Wednesday. But the study also took a close look at how Latinos practice their faith.

Read all about it in the L.A. Times.

Cyber confession

2007-05-02T07:18:00.001-07:00

A woman kept her secret for nearly two decades.
Finally ready to confess, she turned not to a minister, but to her computer.
The confession appears at ivescrewedup.com, a website launched by the Flamingo Road Church in Cooper City. It's one of a growing number of such sites across the country -- some secular and others church-sponsored -- that offer a place to spill out ugly secrets or just make peccadilloes public.

The Miami Hearald reports confession Web sites attract hundreds of admissions a day.

Just click and confess. [via DallasNews Religion]

How important is religious literacy?

2007-04-27T08:40:00.001-07:00

Boston University professor Stephen Prothero says you need to be literate about religion in order to be an effective citizen. And he says religious literacy is on the decline in the U.S. In his new book, Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know--And Doesn't, he notes that while 20 million bibles a year are sold in the United States, many people are unable to name the authors of the Gospels or one of the apostles.

Read a Zenit report about religious literacy in Ireland and the U.S. here.

Concerned about the future church?

2007-04-26T10:37:00.001-07:00

You're not alone. Futurist Rex Miller writes:

The current church model (denominational, contemporary and postmodern) stands on the same modern platform along with every other institution that holds our world together. Our industrial mindset infiltrates the Church with its “efficient spiritual delivery” system approach. This efficient spiritual delivery system poisons the well of community life and threatens our spiritual eco-system. We should ask, “Are we creating the same kind of unintended negative consequences that every other institution now faces?” What if the activities of our traditional church model actually induces lostness?

Read more of Miller's thoughts and concerns about the future here.

If you want to hear him live, and you are in the Dallas area, click here.

Church kids are better behaved

2007-04-25T07:47:00.001-07:00

According to LiveScience.com:

Kids with religious parents are better behaved and adjusted than other children, according to a new study that is the first to look at the effects of religion on young child development....

The kids whose parents regularly attended religious services—especially when both parents did so frequently—and talked with their kids about religion were rated by both parents and teachers as having better self-control, social skills and approaches to learning than kids with non-religious parents.

Read the entire story here.

Read anything good lately?

2007-04-11T12:36:00.001-07:00

TeachersFirst.com has list of all-time great works for students young and old. While this list contains many classics for adult and young adult readers, it also includes many contemporary works, as well as material suitable for milddle school students. And they have links to loads of specialty lists, including Banned Books Online, A Guide to Girl's Literature, and Hispanic Fiction for Young Adults.

Why the church isn't dying

2007-04-11T07:17:00.001-07:00

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles, the nation’s largest archdiocese, with over 4.4 million Catholics, celebrated two Rites of Election in order to accommodate all 1,294 catechumens and their sponsors. In addition to the catechumens, nearly 1,500 candidates in Los Angeles will be formally welcomed into the church Holy Saturday.

To read more about the tens of thousands of people who joined the Catholic Church last weekend, click here.