Aren't you Gladvent it's finally Advent?

Speaking of venting....

I have been tagging along at my younger brothers' youth group for the past few weeks, and let me tell ya that they should be calling it Fail formation instead of faith formation.

If youth ministry is a sham, then what is to stop these kids from thinking that Catholicism is a sham as well?

The first day I stopped in, the teacher had everyone take a little test to see how well they knew their stuff. Tests. So far we are on the right track. That is, until you read the questions.

Where was Jesus born?
Who gave birth to Jesus?
What are Jesus' followers called?

Talk about a waste of time. What do these questions profit us? There was no mention of how sin is divided. Nothing was said of what the precepts of the Church are. Death, judgement, heaven, and hell were not spoken of. What are the marks of the Church? Just how infallible is the pope? What are indulgences all about? How is excommunication incurred? What's the deal with the sacraments? Angels?

I understand the other questions might help us understand the life of Jesus better, but we're not kindergartners anymore. In fact, I can whip up a quick test that will be just as applicable to us guaranteed:

Who is the wife of Zeus?

What is the Greek god of the sea?

Why does Thor say thee nay?

I'm not trying to relate the life and death of Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to mere pagan myths, yet there hardly seems to be any point to knowing the answers to all of these questions. The next couple of weeks the teacher made up for this by putting the class in groups so that they could do arts and crafts, and play icebreaker games.

I overheard one of the students say that other churches (Baptist, Presbyterian, Pentecostal, etc.) are more funner. (good luck keeping that kid Catholic).

In the early centuries of the church, it was said of the false sects and heretical groups that "they are nothing but thieves and wolves." This is obviously still true today. We should not compete to be fun. We should instead boldly proclaim the truth. Give us what we want. 

Give us this:

...not this:





We want body to our faith. Something strong. Something with foundation. We want our faith to be an unmovable, unshakable rock. We want something to chew on. Why would anyone look for empty spirituality? How long would the Marines last if they went soft on their recruits? If they can live up to their motto of The Few and the Proud, then why can we not live up to our name of The Church Militant?

Where is the faith that strengthened so many holy men and women? Where is the faith that gave us such cool people like:

 Santa Claus



"And I'm not afraid to beat you
with this crosier either"

Along with Athanasius, Saint Nicholas forcefully argued for the doctrine of the Holy Trinity at the Council of Nicaea. And he did it by punching the Archheritic Arius square in the face. How dare he deny the divinity of Jesus Christ, and spread such great confusion.

Count Claus von Stauffenberg

"A good German if there ever was one."

He was born into one of the oldest and most influential families of Catholic nobility in the south of Germany. He was going to Mass daily. When hanging out with the Nazis, he soon grew uneasy with Hitler's regime, and decided to do something about it. He may have failed, but he got pretty darn close and  remains a hero in my book.

Christopher Columbus

"I will live up to my name"

Columbus was looking for a new trade route, and won the support of the royalty when he said that his goal was "to carry the Name and doctrine of Jesus Christ into regions so distant." He and his crew recited the Angelus 3 times daily. He named the first island he landed on "San Salvador" which means Holy Savior. He came upon a group of island which he called the Virgin islands in honor of the virgins martyred with Saint Ursula in 383 AD. Another body of land was called the Trinidad (Trinity). He just never quit. He was also a third order Fransiscan.

Michelangelo Buonarroti

"Not a self-portrait."

Michelangelo was a great artist who argued plenty with the pope. He might not have gotten along with Julius II, but he did respect his office. Julius II was known as the Warrior Pope, so Michelangelo wasn't fighting with just any old man.

Saint Fidelis: Who was surrounded outside of a church after he had finished saying mass by a crowd led by the preachers who offered to save his life if he would apostatize. Fidelis replied: "I came to extirpate heresy, not to embrace it"  Powerful words. They were understandably his last.

Saint Jerome: While he might have lost his temper plenty of times, he was always harshest on himself. He kept a human skull on his desk as a reminder of deah, and would frequently beat his chest with a rock.

G.K. Chesterton, Hilaire Belloc, J.R.R. Tolkien, Therese of Lisieux, Dietrich von Hildebrand, Blaise Pascal: They are genuises

Faustina Kowalska: Her diary is more exhilarating than any Stephen King novel you will ever read.



"The Dominicans are better!" "Says who? Franciscans are where its at!"

The Fraciscans, Benedictines, Carmelites, Dominicans, Jesuits, Cistercians, Carthusians, etc: They live such amazing lives. Check out some of their vows.

The Crusaders: Who else could have stood up to the threats of the Jihad? There were many Crusader Orders; Teutonic Knights, Templar Knights, Knights of Saint John (known also as the Knights of Malta). The Firefighters insignia actually is a hat tip to the Maltese Cross because of a battle the Knights of Malta had. The enemies they were fighting were throwing Molotov cocktail things. The Knights still bravely fought the enemy and rescued their brothers in arms.

Advent season is a period of preperation, so let's hope this dumb class can get on track and prepare these kids for a life in the Church.

for the lolz