I wrote about LifeTeen here, on the Catholic Culture site.
I suppose it is possible that the Life Teen liturgy could be brought into conformity with the letter of the GIRM...Nevertheless, I think this movement is profoundly and fundamentally flawed because it does two things. First, it separates young persons at the most decisive stage of their lives from their families. Second, it panders to the teenager's inclination to live in a mentality of entertainment.
I realize parents are concerned about their young people keeping the faith, and when "everyone" is sending their kids to youth conferences, it seems hard to be that family that doesn't. But I urge parents to resist this failed system of youth ministry.
Fr. McTeigue has some good posts about the flaws of the "youth ministry" approach.
Young people are actually searching for meaning in tradition. They may seem diffident, but they need their family in the teen years just as much as in the toddler stage. We need to shed our 70s attachment to innovation and emotionalism and return to practices of the faith that don't fade or tarnish. From my article:
Moreover, the suggestion that today's parents are too distracted seriously underestimates their true longings. Most of them are anxiously, if ineptly, seeking a way to help their children find meaning. Although we might not agree that it takes a village to raise a child, it certainly takes a family, together with a Church and a community. If parents are not doing a good job, it is certainly not for lack of interest on God's part. Perhaps the lack is elsewhere.
I could not agree more as a former LifeTeen youth minister. Truly!
ReplyDeleteThe entire concept of LT is to be a "relational ministry" - that is, to build relationships with these kids so that when you preach the Gospel to them, they believe what you say because you have a pre-existing relationship.
But to make it work, you need a huge volunteer team! Because...it's really hard to have a genuine relationship with 50 teens. How could we solve this? Who could have a genuine relationship with each of these teens that would have natural authority and mentorship? Oh if only God would give us the answer! (heavy sarcasm)
Also I wish I could explain to people how LifeTeen actually encourages a culture where sex abuse, or at least inappropriate relationships, thrive. Everything is based on emotion and you're actively encouraging very intimate relationships between adults and teens. Honestly the entire thing is so inappropriate! Even moreso today when teens want to text their youth minister at all hours.
There just isn't a program that can fix the lack of a faithful family.
Key “ There just isn't a program that can fix the lack of a faithful family”. So. True.
DeleteI really appreciate your comment here, Kay! Thank you for your insights into the defects of this approach.
DeleteYup. It's funny, seeing the approaches to faith of me and my siblings. Two of us did not have youth groups. One of us *loved* youth group, went to camps, was "involved"--and that one does not have a mature faith. It's a faith based on how she "feels."
DeleteI have watched painfully as our new parish LifeTeen started up. The first few sessions drew in a decent group of curious teens from all types of families, but the kids from solid families lost interest quickly. The ones who kept going were from divorced or dysfunctional families. My teens' diagnosis was that it was "cringy" and ridiculous, being forced to do stupid games with 40 year olds whom they wouldn't ordinarily associate with. The "lessons" are kindergarten level Catholic, or the same stuff they hear often about "don't drink" "don't do drugs" - hello, my teens are not fully formed or super mature in their faith yet, but they go to a stuffy, Latin mass Classical school where you wonder if they know how to have fun, so almost pointless for them to be there. My reflection is that the kids who need support and belonging at the parish have a place at LT, but then it becomes even less desirable to the teens who are already supported in their faith because of the high percentage of desperate, off-kilter people there.
ReplyDeleteAnother note: We are embarrassed for our good-natured priests who are put in embarrassing situations - getting wrapped in Christmas wrapping paper with a bow on top of their head and the pictures all over social media????
Family to family friendships might actually be the answer rather than taking all the kids from dysfunctional families and putting them together separated from their parents. A functional family plus a dysfunctional family could help fill in the gaps where those kids don't see a man and wife interacting in a healthy manner. We need to stop treating kids like herd animals, and start working on the supporting a healthy family unit.
DeleteMarianne, because the bishops lack the courage to deal with dysfunctional families in a truly Christian manner, they irresponsibly back youth ministry. Until they are willing to teach the 10 Commandments and Christ's truth, things will spiral downwards.
DeleteI've seen Life Teen complete with the hiring of a youth director, begin with a bang then fizzle within 6 months. Another program will not solve the problem of youth falling away from the faith. On a side note-another dislike is the full time daycare centers built on to the parochial elementary schools that now take babies from 7:00 am to 6:00pm through the year.
ReplyDeleteYou wrote the linked article in 2004? In 2004 I was a teenager in the process of apostatizing from the Church, in part because of the condescension of programs like Life Teen, which even then I knew were embarrassing and tacky. I am now in my 30s, am the mother of a growing gaggle of children, and (along with my husband) am raising them in the traditional Faith, strictly attending Latin Mass. Most of my generation, subjected to fleeting emotional appeal of Life Teen and then left with nothing to cling to once the good feelings faded, have left the Church, and I doubt they're coming back. Have we learned absolutely nothing about what works and what doesn't work? Are we so proud that we cannot accept the obvious failure of novel approaches? At this point, Life Teen isn't even novel; it's outdated, cringeworthy, and still entirely void of substance.
ReplyDeleteYes, I did! It's so funny because I was having a discussion on FB (thinking ugh can this still be a thing) and did a search for critiques of LT -- and came up with this article that I had forgotten I had written!
DeleteI would have lots more to say now. You are so right -- it's cringe-worthy. And there are decades of statistics showing that at the minimum, youth leaving the Church correlates with youth ministry. Enough so that we need to stop and think.