A few weeks ago a priest involved in campus ministry proclaimed over social media that something should be done about 85% of church goers never having asked a young adult ‘the vocation question’. Therefore he decided, every time he saw a young chap in the chapel or at Mass he was going to ask them the ‘have you thought about being a priest’ question. A quicker way to empty your campus ministry of male participants is hard to imagine. Let me explain why asking this question of any young man with a pulse is a very bad idea.

Firstly, it is God’s call and His choice alone, who He calls and when He calls them. Our task is to notice when that call has been made, and then to support and encourage it. One hundred busybodies asking ‘Have you thought about being a priest?’ does not equal even a tiddle of a call from God Himself -even if they happen to be priestly busybodies.

As a parent of a young man who has often been the only young man present at church, I know the harm such questions cause. Both ‘the wrong question at the wrong time’ and ‘the right question at the wrong time’ actually make hearing what God is saying harder, not easier. The oceans of unnecessary soul searching they cause is reprehensible.

Consider that the way God deals with a soul that He is calling to a priestly vocation is very similar to a young man wooing a young woman. He is never ever going to ‘pop the question’ until He is very sure the answer is going to be a Yes from the heart of his intended. Usually this wooing is very delicate and very slow and needs privacy. Having someone pre-empt God’s question is like a rookie cop fouling up a very long and sensitive federal investigation. Did you read the stories that came through during lockdown about the lack of visitors at the zoo helping the pandas to achieve successful courtships? It is something to remember when you are trying to foster vocations of all kinds.

Secondly, the only person who has the right to ask the vocation question is someone who has taken the time to know the young person well; to know his or her likes and dislikes; to see how the young person conducts relationships, to assess gifts and talents, and who can consequently answer these questions:

Can they sing? A dear friend, now deceased, was adamant about this being crucially important. It is rather difficult to help lead others in worship if you can’t sing. A priest needs to intone the beginning of many sung liturgical prayers. Will we mention the archbishop who grimaces each time he has to intone the Gloria? Perhaps not. Even a parent needs to be able to sing nursery rhymes and to initiate sing-a-longs on long road trips. Big liturgical occasions need a deacon who can sing the Gospel.

Are they capable of tertiary study? This is particularly pertinent to priestly and religious vocations. Priestly studies go for around 7 years with lots of exams. But even religious are required to do extensive study on the founder of the order, the charisms of the order, the rule, and how to live out poverty, chastity and obedience.

Do they work well in a team? This capacity is essential for a well-functioning parish. It is essential for religious life. It is essential for the husband-wife relationship.

Do they have the capacity to listen? Without this capacity penitents are going to find going to confession very difficult. Without this capacity any kind of pastoral care is going to fail. Without this capacity your spouse will not feel loved. Without this capacity a troubled religious will have trouble confiding in a religious superior.

Do they have the capacity for self-sacrifice? All vocations need this capacity. When a priest gets a hospital call in the middle of the night he needs this capacity. It is the essence of a religious vocation. Parents too have regular opportunities for self-sacrifice in changing nappies, midnight feeds, when youngsters are ill, when budgets are tight.

Do they regularly have an outlet for serving others? Have they become good at it? Have they begun to find joy in it? Serving others is a regular part of priestly, religious and family life. Any inability to serve is going to cause great difficulties.

When they speak, do others listen, and do others follow? A latent capacity for leadership is essential for a priestly vocation. But even a religious often has to rally volunteers for a project, and a parent often has to rally unwilling offspring for chores.

Do they have sufficient people skills? Being able to engage parishioners in small talk after Mass is obvious. But being able to work the room at a social function so that everyone receives attention and no one misses out is less obvious and more important. It is also what distinguishes the great hosts and hostesses from the mediocre ones- at family celebrations, at retreat weekends, and at any event where newcomers may be present.

Can they admit when they have made mistakes? The inability to admit mistakes sours relationships. In times past regular public confession of faults was part of religious life. The ability to say, ‘I stuffed up, I’m sorry’ is also a regular part of a healthy marriage. Consider the case where a lay person has opened up the church for Mass, and set everything up, and is ready to go home on a Saturday morning and the priest says as the person is leaving, ‘there’s an adult getting baptised in 30 minutes time, I need you to stick around for it’. No apology for abusing their goodness. No apology for not communicating the need a few days earlier so that the lay person had a chance to either re-arrange their lives or suggest alternative helpers. Such behaviour may have got the baptism running smoothly, but it has set the private needs of the lay person at zero and has set up resentment in the lay person. Instead of a loyal helper the priest now has a ‘do the bare minimum’ helper. Short term gain, long term loss.

Are they free of addictions? This is considerably important. Sadly I have seen far too many vocations, especially priestly vocations undone by an addiction from early in their lives coming back to bite them 20 years or so after ordination, and that includes alcohol, and chasing the company of women as well as gambling and the nastier things. Addictions of any kind also wreck family life because it builds up a pattern of hiding and deceit, and for family life to thrive requires trust and honesty and wholesomeness.

Are they reliable? Can you rely on them to show up in sufficient time to do a rostered task? If you ask them to do something, do you have confidence that they will get it done? Do they keep their promises and their commitments? In days gone by this wasn’t such an issue, but with the advent of ‘yes, subject to a better offer’ and ‘yes, unless someone changes my mind in the meantime’ it has really become an issue. To someone who is reliable you can give more weighty tasks than to someone who is less reliable. Having seen the havoc caused by clerics who change their minds about an issue every time a new person speaks to them about that issue, I know that no one wants to experience that. Neither does anyone want the Christmas Mass roster changed several times in the hours prior to the first Christmas Eve Mass. Choosing a course and sticking with it enables others to trust your word and your ministry.

Do they have some resistance to peer pressure? All of us are susceptible to peer pressure and propaganda to some degree. Being somewhat resistant to it enables you to follow God’s will no matter what, and no matter the unpleasant consequences. The late Pope Benedict XVI received respect from all his peers because he could never be drawn into factions and any ‘us vs them’ mentality. Any group of human beings has factions, usually divided between what is considered progress and what is considered keeping to the traditions; or divided between pro-leader and anti-leader. Belonging to factions usually requires some conformity even if the conformity is nonsensical or sinful. Belonging to factions also closes the mind and heart to alternate ideas. Because groups of priests who drink too much exist, and groups of religious who take on the latest spirituality craze exist, being able to resist joining them is important for spiritual health. Even in families, being able to resist ‘keeping up with the Jones family’ really matters. Tight budgets get tighter if everyone else seems to be getting new golf clubs or kitchen renovations.

Are they able to express gratitude for help received? There is a strain of priestly culture which says you don’t have to thank anybody, because if you do thank them, you reduce God’s reward to them. That is erroneous. God cannot be outdone in generosity, and He rewards those who serve Him in lavish ways. Visiting a nursing home is very instructive. The residents who are unresponsive and cranky no one wants to serve or visit. The residents who are responsive and who show gratitude for assistance given, everyone wants to serve and visit them. Anything you reward with thanks, praise or tokens of appreciation will reinforce that behaviour. But it needs to be the right behaviour and not the wrong behaviour. I’ve seen too many rewards given to workaholics who sacrificed sleep, health and family to meet a business requirement. I’ve rarely seen a reward for someone who gets the job done quietly and efficiently and maintains a proper work-life balance. But going overboard with thanks for every little tiny thing is bad too. Appreciation when given must mean something and not nothing. It is the person who gets to the church early to open up for Mass who needs some encouragement and recognition now and then, since most people don’t see it happen. It is the mother doing the daily tasks of nurturing children who needs some encouragement and recognition now and then, and not only on Mothers Day. It is the religious who doesn’t hesitate to answer the door or answer the phone who needs some encouragement and recognition now and then. Having a heart of gratitude to God for all His gifts and blessings needs to spill over in gratitude for those who assist us.

Have they worked through any traumatic experiences to a place of acceptance and forgiveness? Very few people escape a traumatic experience in childhood or adolescence, and some of them are very big traumas eg domestic violence, death of a parent, serious illness, betrayal. Any unresolved grief, lingering resentment, unhealed soul wounds will eventually poison vocations if not dealt with. If a person is unable to say unequivocally that God is an utterly good Father towards themselves, then they will be unable to make that necessary proclamation to others. Until that level of acceptance and forgiveness is reached, they should not progress to the next step in their vocation, be that spouse, religious, deacon or priest. Yes, it can take a very long time to get to that place, but without achieving it they will be unable to give full consent to the next vocational step.

Do they include others in decision making processes? Only asking those who always agree with whatever you say doesn’t count. Unilateral decisions made by those in leadership are almost always bad news. Imagine making a decision about a new receptacle for the weekend collections without consulting your experienced wardens and your risk assessment people? Disaster. Where the new receptable was placed made theft easier and collections were pilfered. Imagine making a decision about a mission preacher without consulting your parish council and your parish influencers. Disaster. The mission preacher had the same accent inflections as the pastor, which were alien to the congregation. Getting to the better decisions requires some consultation with stakeholders and some consultation with those who have the necessary wisdom about the subject matter. It also involves having an attitude of seeking the best solution for the greatest common good, and the humble recognition that often you are indeed fallible and not omniscient. Without inviting input from his wife, how can a husband make the best decisions for their family?

This is the raw material necessary for any potential seminary candidate. Some of it can be learned and increased, some of it can’t. However these are also the potentialities for success as a parent, as a religious, and as a leader in any kind of organisation. Therefore anyone with this necessary raw material will have several organisations competing for his or her potential. Be aware that this kind of fierce competition is happening.

What can be learned and increased needs to become the aim of youth ministry and young adult ministry. That’s what we need to measure and celebrate, not numbers of emerging vocations. An emerging vocation is worth very little if it flames out due to lack of necessary raw material.

Thirdly, it takes time to distinguish between someone responding to the normal Christian vocation to holiness and mission and between someone responding to a higher call than that. Outwardly they often look the same.

A normal Christian vocation to holiness and mission will have a daily prayer life, and regularity about going to the sacrament of penance and attending Mass. All of us are called to love God with all our hearts, minds, souls and spirits. Attendance at adoration is normal. Getting excited about the bible, and papal documents, and saints, and prayer meetings and prayer retreats is normal. Getting enthusiastic about bringing the news of Jesus to others, and about helping those in need, is normal. All of these are needed to live a full Christian life whatever our vocation may be.

So what distinguishes a higher call?

A priestly vocation needs the desire and ability to preach, it also needs desire and ability to lead God’s people in holiness and mission.

Religious and priestly vocations also have a wideness and a focus in love. That’s the desire to love and serve as many as possible because it’s the only way that is big enough to return the overwhelming love that Jesus has shown them. There’s a sense that to focus the outpouring of their love for Jesus only into spouse and children is insufficient.

Higher calls are also distinguished by longer preparation times, seasons of wilderness, and a greater share of trials and ordeals. Have a quick read through how God prepared His biblical heroes especially Abraham, Isaac, Joseph, Moses, and David and you will begin to comprehend. There’s also that line in scripture, ‘My son, if you aspire to serve the Lord, prepare yourself for an ordeal’. Ecclesiasticus 2:1

Higher calls can be given to lay people too. Consider those called to found ministries and those called to exercise charisms at levels of national and international significance: Writers, Artists, Musicians, Mercy, Evangelists, Healing, Signs and Wonders, Prophecy, Preaching, Teaching.

Any of these higher calls require extraordinary commitment. To be confronted with the possibility of a higher call when you are far from ready to even begin cautiously taking a surreptitious peek at it – is enough to make a young person run as fast as possible in the opposite direction.

That’s why it is so hard for young men to commit to any kind of youth group. They are already scared about how much God may ask of them, especially celibacy. Getting serious about God is dangerous stuff for a young man. Then when a seminarian or newly ordained priest visits the youth group to talk about answering God’s call, they very naturally take fright and go missing.

That’s why we’ve got to start doing things differently. Having a vocations director turn up to speak about priestly vocations when there’s only one young bloke in the youth group must stop. If that young bloke is already at church regularly, he’s already carrying the expectations of the whole congregation – a heavy and unfair load – and now he feels targeted by the talk, and then has to endure the shy and sly glances of everyone else in the room when the vocations director finishes his talk. I’d run, wouldn’t you?

About the only way around this impasse is to have a wide panel of people speaking about vocations. What you want is a holy accountant, a holy nurse, a holy grandmother, a holy police officer, a holy electrician, and a holy religious sharing about God’s call in their lives as well as the priestly representative. Then if a young person does get up sufficient courage to have a quiet word with the priestly representative, everyone else is lining up to know more from the other speakers – and the shy and sly glances are reduced to a minimum. What you want is for everyone to be excited about following God’s call, no matter what it happens to be.

Seminary itself is supposed to be a time of discernment. Sadly far too many people think that beginning seminary training means that becoming a priest or a religious is therefore a done deal. As soon as a youngster makes a tentative announcement about entering the seminary, priestly or religious, he or she is considered public property. That kind of pressure makes true discernment far more difficult than it needs to be. Please listen to this next statement very carefully. God has a track record of sending young men to seminary for a few years, and then calling them out again for other ministries. He knows they need the book learning for what He has for them to do. St Mary McKillop’s father had a few years in a seminary. One of the best regional St Vincent de Paul conference leaders had a few years in a seminary. Stop shaming the ones who exit seminary, and instead help them to follow whatever God is calling them to which needed that seminary experience. This is also true for those who enter religious life, learn to live in community and under the rule, and then leave. God isn’t finished with them either.
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Our focus must turn to helping each young person to develop the traits which will make them successful in whatever God calls them to do, and to helping all of them to listen, discern and respond to what God is calling them to do. Because everything God calls us to do is important. Even responding to a nudge from God that a certain acquaintance needs a phone call is important. Learning to listen, discern and respond to the easy stuff is the best preparation for listening, discerning and responding to the greater stuff.

Many parishes are stuck in what seems to be an endless, and fruitless, cycle of sacramental preparation for children; First Penance, First Holy Communion and Confirmation.

It doesn't seem to make any difference whether in a diocese First Holy Communion comes before Confirmation, or vice versa. Even delaying Confirmation until the teenage years makes no difference.

Lots of parish resources are poured into the sacramental preparation of children, and then we don't see those children and their families again.

Because they don't know how else to do it parishes feel stuck, and all parishes seem to be doing much the same kind of preparation.

However a few parishes have begun experimenting with different models for the sacramental preparation of children, and the initial fruit is good even though the different models require significantly more man-power and teamwork.

If you don't mind reading through cathartic layers of grief and pain explaining why the current models don't work as a lead in to a description of these experimental models, then these 9 pages are for you. P.S. There's a bit of ranting included too.

But our human grief and pain is only a drop in the ocean compared to the grief and pain of God at this situation. The desire of His Heart is for life-long relationships of deep intimacy with these youngsters, not for the precious sacramental gifts won by His Passion and Death on the Cross to be disdained so thoroughly.

If we desire to please Him, then we must whole-heartedly seek fruitful alternatives to replace our currently fruitless models of sacramental preparation of children.

Dear God, please send Your Holy Spirit to help us pioneer effective new ways of bringing children into the fulness of the sacramental life which You long for them to experience. Amen. 

Lord Jesus, grant us a holy dis-satisfaction with the way things are, and sufficient holy frustration to do whatever it takes to find and implement the new sacramental preparation pathways You have for us. Amen.  

Yes a book review is a little unusual for this blog, but the book reviewed is also a little unusual. I came across Kim Meeder’s writings some time ago during my regular internet meanderings, but it has only been recently that I’ve actually read some of her books. All of them thus far have been good, wholesome and inspiring. Her book ‘Bridge Called Hope: Stories of triumph from the Ranch of Rescued Dreams’ is a good place to begin to read her books.

258 pages, Kindle; 256 pages, Paperback
https://www.amazon.com/Bridge-Called-Hope-Stories-Triumph/dp/1590526554

Each chapter is usually a stand alone story, although there are some chapters that form a story arc, so it is suitable for read aloud time with children and grandchildren.

Kim Meeder runs a horse ranch dedicated to rescuing and rehabilitating abused horses, and dedicated to assist the healing process for disabled children, youngsters in juvenile detention centres and women who have suffered trauma. It is a safe place to try something new and become a little stronger after taking the risk of learning to ride on a pony or of touching and learning to groom a horse.

The book contains (at least for me) some eye-opening knowledge about horse management, a living example of what it means to live guided by the Holy Spirit, examples of God’s plans being much bigger than our own, and plenty of take-home quotes to chew over.

Horse management
Not ever having gone through a stage of horse-crazy, I learnt a lot about communication between horses and horses and horses and humans. It was a real eye-opener on what it takes to keep a horse healthy, food, water, shelter, sufficient space to move about in, hoof care, medications to deal with worms and other nasties. Likewise it was an eye-opener on the barbaric practices to obtain ingredients for beauty products from pregnant horses. Truly it takes an extraordinary amount of painstaking work to bring an abused horse back to physical and emotional health.

Guided by the Holy Spirit
Time and time again through the stories Kim’s first recourse is to prayer. Then she does expectantly wait for answers, and is also responsive to moments when she is invited to stop, listen and look deeper at situations. Willingness to drop everything at a moment’s notice to serve others in need is another part of that responsiveness to the leading of the Holy Spirit.

God’s bigger plans
Two stories in particular stand out for me as examples of this. One is the sudden death of a much-loved horse, and the bigger plan was to teach a youngster about how to open her heart to new love after a time of grief. The other is the tragic house fire suffered by a single parent family, and the bigger plan was to provide not only a better home, but also a whole new set of supportive relationships.

Quotes to chew over
Horses are incapable of lying.
‘I trust You Lord, I trust You, even though it doesn’t make sense. I trust in You.’
Being loved changes us all.
If God is in it, He will provide for it.
Faith like the wind, is invisible … but what it moves is not.
Words from a father, ‘Maybe sometimes I treated my daughter too much like a princess…but that’s only because when I thought of her as my daughter…I felt like a king.’
Just because we’re not where we want to be…doesn’t mean that God has abandoned us.
Instead of asking, ‘Lord, how can I get out of this season of pain?’ ask ‘Lord, what can I get out of this season of pain?’
Everything changes when we choose to release our grip on ‘my plan for me’ and rest in God’s plan for me.
It never was about serving me… it always was about serving You.’
Hope is not only something we should aspire to attain…it is also something we should aspire to give.
It might not be how you think… but the Lord does answer prayer!

Following the blog post of 30 Aug 2020, 
​august-discoveries.html
it seemed like a very good idea to produce a beginners guide to Reddit, to assist anyone who felt called to take up Bishop Barron's challenge. 

What's Reddit?
Reddit is basically a large group of forums in which registered users can talk about almost anything you can imagine, from news, to pop culture, to technology, to comics, to film, to literature, to the weirdest things in the world, including 'Not Safe For Work' stuff.  Reddit is a massive and diverse community. And just like a vibrant city, there are the nice parts of town and there are those notorious streets where you shouldn’t park your car. Redditors are looking to learn, read, and debate all the important issues in their life.

What's a subreddit?
Those specialized forums are called "subreddits," which are referred to as r/"topic" (example: r/gadgets). There are more than 138,000 active subreddits. You can read and participate in all of them freely except private subreddits, which require an admission process. You can also subscribe to the subreddits, so their most popular posts appear on your personalized Reddit front page.

It can sometimes save time just to type in the subreddit you are primarily interested in at the search bar at the top.

Why join in?
Because it is a place where many young people (aged 13-30) go to ask questions, most of them young men, questions that they are not getting answered elsewhere or that they are not comfortable asking in person. If people with faith, experience and knowledge don't answer them there, other people certainly will (directing them to sites like Recovering From Religion).

The subreddit r/Catholicism gets a vast array of questions ranging from the precise liturgical, to pre RCIA and RCIA questions, as well as lots of God-seeking questions, confession related questions (lots of people with scruples), how to deal with demonic influence questions, and lots of struggling with male chastity questions. This last one is a real need, one which could really do with input from people experienced in helping young men via the training received in seminary or in religious formation, and from those with life experience in guiding other young men through to victory in these areas.

At times it can be hard to judge whether a question is honest, or someone larking around. For these questions it is better to assume they are honest ones, lest a real one slip through the cracks.

r/Catholic is a less safe place
r/exCatholic has a lot of vitriol, but the occasional honest question
r/agnostic is a bit on the wild side, but it is far less toxic than r/atheist
r/Christianity gets its fair share of 'how can I know God is real?' questions like R/Catholicism does, and a few other questions where a gentle Catholic perspective would help
r/CatholicPhilosophy is also available
r/RCIA exists, and is very small compared with other subreddits

But if no one shines a light in these dark corners, how are they going to find it?

With some questions, all you can do is pray, and that may be enough.

Sometimes all that is necessary is to upvote someone else's good answer.

There are some bishops (few), priests and seminarians who are active on Reddit. Should you find someone that has a track record of talking sense, by clicking on their Reddit handle you can choose to follow them and therefore have their posts etc show up in your personalised feed. Many of them need the support and encouragement of upvotes particularly when they are trying to present unpalatable truths in the most palatable way possible.

Don't be surprised to see people who profess to be Catholic holding opinions at total variance to the teachings in the Catechism. Be gentle, everyone is on the path to the fullness of faith and will have many mini conversions along the way. The most we can do is pray, and offer the best counter arguments possible, without getting personal, vindictive or emotional.

This is a specialised ministry/apostolate that only some people are equipped for. Not everyone has the requisite combination of active faith, solid prayer life, wide knowledge, diligent ongoing study and sufficient life experience. Should you come across such a person, please invite them to take up this ministry/apostolate.

Because it is really is a ministry, you need to pray for the help and guidance of the Holy Spirit each and every time you open up Reddit. The Holy Spirit knows the answers that the questioners need most, and the best way of lovingly expressing those answers.

You may never know the impact the answers inspired by the Holy Spirit, pulled together from the raw material of your experience, studies and interests, will have. It isn't about chasing votes, it is about helping souls. Should you go to a lot of trouble to pull together a comprehensive answer, and it gets no public response, that's OK. You never know when that answer might be pulled up by a search engine in answer to a query, and have more impact than you could have ever dreamed possible. But if it only gets read by the questioner, that's OK, because we know Jesus is willing to go in search of a single stray whatever the cost.

How do I submit to Reddit, comment and vote?
Reddit is open to anyone to navigate and read freely. This means that you can take your time getting to know how the subreddits function before signing up.

You can also register and become more involved.

Registered users can make submissions to any of the public subreddits. This is like posting information on other social media sites. They can also join the subreddits, an action that will affect how Reddit's front page will look for you (more on this later).

Registered users can also comment on other people's submissions by just clicking on the open comment field right under the submission. In the same way, you can reply to people's comments by clicking reply.

And finally, registered users can upvote or downvote any of the submissions, which is the way that Reddit makes submissions surface to the front page. An upvote is not the same as a like, it is a vote for a worthy argument. In a similar way a downvote is not a don't-like, but sending a message that this is a poor, unworthy argument or not relevant to the discussion.

Posts on Reddit come in two categories; statements/something to share or questions.
The questions are usually far more interesting.

How does the front page work?
Reddit has a front page in which certain submissions are featured, thanks to different algorithms. This front page has different tabs.

If you are not registered, the default tab is "Hot," which is basically a view of the submissions with the highest scores over a period of time. The score is determined by subtracting the downvotes from the upvotes.

If you are registered, then the default tab is called "Best." It features the most-voted posts from all the subreddits but it takes into account other things, like the submissions in which you have spent time before or the subreddits you have joined. This is a personalized view that will also eliminate things that you have already clicked through the next time you load the front page. This is done to ensure that the Best page remains fresh.

On a subreddit you can choose how the posts are sorted, eg hot, new, top, controversial or rising. My preference is for the fresh questions, so my default is new.

No self-promotion or spam is allowed. Just be mindful about what you do, try to be respectful of others, and you will be fine.

Do subreddits have extra rules?
Yes, beyond the logical etiquette, (no self-promotion or spam allowed) each subreddit has its own rules that you should read and abide by when posting or commenting. Some subreddits — like r/pics — may only accept image submissions and no external links, for example. Others will require you to be more descriptive in your posts, like r/science.

What's a "flair"?
Some subreddits will require you to apply a "flair" to your submission, which roughly identifies what it is about. Example: The subreddit r/gadgets has flairs like Phones, Desktop/Laptop, TV/Projectors, Music or Transportation, among others.

There are other tabs, like "Rising" — which features posts that are new and are getting upvotes quickly — and "Controversial" — which uses an algorithm to determine which posts are the subject of conflicting opinions by looking at the fluctuation of the upvotes and downvotes.

Common flairs are 'Question', 'Support', 'Rant', 'Advice', 'Experience Report'.

Others are related to the subbreddit, for example r/Catholicism has a rule that promotions are only permissible on Fridays, hence the flair 'Free Friday'.

Other Tips
Setting up an account requires an email address, and for you to provide a username and password. The username cannot be changed. Anonymity is highly valued on Reddit.

Read the rules for individual subreddits, not all subreddits want you to act exactly the same.

If you don't have time to comment, but want to do so later, you can save the post. Just click in the top right hand corner there is a white icon. Then later open up your profile, and one of the options is 'Saved'. You will find any saved posts there. It is a rather useful feature.

It can also be useful to click on someone's reddit handle, or hover over it. Sometimes there are descriptions. If you click on the handle/username you can see their most recent posts. Often there can be more than one post on a developing situation or struggle.

Start getting karma by commenting smart/funny/constructive things and eventually post your original content on relevant subreddits.

/s means sarcasm which may result in a bunch of downvotes if you interpret this incorrectly.

At first, you will have a limit on the number of comments you can make. This is to ensure that you aren't a spam-bot. Once you get some positive karma, you will no longer be limited.

Seriously take the time to really become a Redditor, so you can understand the platform, its features, and its users.

Find the Subreddits you are passionate about so that you can better understand the conversations happening. Become familiar with the intricacies from one Subreddit to another and participate with a sense of authority around the topics and discussions you already understand.

Take the time to really understand all the features Reddit has to offer, including settings options and the various sections of your profile.

Learn the Reddit language, so when you are engaging in each Subreddit, you sound like you belong. There are a lot of Reddit terms and phrases you definitely do not know but should if you want to have success on Reddit.
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Is there any specific Reddit lingo?
Yes, there is. Aside from the usual internet acronyms like 'As Far As I Know' or 'In My Opinion', Reddit has a lot of specific acronyms and expressions. Here are some useful ones: 
AMA: Ask Me Anything. People — generally those who are famous or have done something of interest — use this acronym on a submission to have a dialogue with redditors. There's also a subreddit dedicated to AMAs in which everyone from Barack Obama to NASA scientists to Bill Gates (who often participates) answers questions from users. To get an idea, here's a top 10 of best AMAs ,or just go to the subreddit here.
ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5 (years old). If you have a question about a complex subject, use this to ask it. There's a subreddit for this, too.
EDIT and ETA: Edit and Edited To Add are expressions added to comments when people edit them. It seems to be etiquette to explain why you edited a post or comment.
TL;DR: Too Long; Didn't Read. This is used at the end of long text posts or comments to criticize an article or comment as being too long to read. It can also be used to provide a summary of the main point of the text in case people don't have time to read the entire thing. 
Alt - Alternative user account.
AMAA - Ask Me Almost Anything
At a [0-10] - "Being at a [0-10]" is a sliding scale of "highness" from marijuana, with 0 being sober and 10 being blown into space. Mostly used in subreddits like /r/trees. Example: "I wrote this at a solid [7]"
Cakeday - The day a user joined reddit. Like a birthday. It displays a small icon next to the username.
Crosspost - Indicates that the post was also posted on another subreddit where OP recognized it.
Ctrl-F - Indicates that the user was searching for this specific reference in a thread.
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References:
https://www.tomsguide.com/reference/what-is-reddit  viewed 5 Sep 2020
https://www.wikihow.com/Use-Reddit   viewed 5 Sep 2020
https://www.searchenginejournal.com/social-media/reddit-guide/#ok    viewed 5 Sep 2020
https://www.reddit.com/r/TheoryOfReddit/wiki/glossary   viewed 5/Sep 2020
 
Blog-post last updated 21 Sep 2020

During the month of August, a lot of good, thought provoking content came my way. It was my intention to complete a blog-post about one of them, but that’s still in process. So instead I will share the rest of the thought provoking content with you now.

If you haven’t read many of Pope Francis’ recent speeches and homilies, you have been missing out. I went searching through them for excerpts suitable for meditating on the Joyful and Glorious mysteries of the Rosary, and found some gold. You can find those edited excerpts on the Resources – Prayer 2 page, about half-way down.

Then there was the discovery of ‘The Letter’ produced as the fruit of the 2016 Synod from the archdiocese of Detroit. Please read it: https://www.unleashthegospel.org/the-letter/
Truly it is everything I ever hoped our Plenary Council would produce. Do you want a road map for the new evangelization? Well, this is about as close and as clear as you are going to get.
(#PlenaryCouncil)

Related to that is a small article by Fr Stephen Pullis of the same archdiocese on practical and doable pathways of evangelization for people in the pews. https://www.unleashthegospel.org/2020/08/three-key-ways-to-be-missionary-at-your-parish/

After that, recommended to me was Bishop Barron’s presentation to the 2019 USCCB’s Conference on Reaching Out to the Religiously Unaffiliated, available on YouTube. It is 1 hour 24 mins in length, but the beginning is a video presentation, then Bishop Barron speaks and following that the Q and A session is sufficiently interesting. https://youtu.be/bUmg-DLBa1E

The bit that interests me the most starts about 12.5 mins in,
and here is a basic transcription of it:
‘Young people, the people that we are interested in reaching, they have so many questions that have remained answered for them, I hear from many of them every single day in my internet work: What’s religion? It’s stupid, it’s irrational, it’s pre-scientific nonsense, it’s bronze age mythology, they use all the phrases of the new atheists. Of course, it breaks your heart. Yes, we have a beautiful tradition, but we have a very smart tradition, but we have not it seems to me communicated that effectively to our young people. And it leaves a lot of their questions unanswered, which is causing them enormous difficulty. You know, I use the language of (Pope) Francis again here, to my mind this is simply one of the key ways that we accompany young people. Anyone who accompanies young people know that they are filled with questions. I hear them every day in my work. I’ll give you a recent example, I think last June I mentioned this to you, Reddit is a very popular website, one of the most popular in the world. And it is a forum for the exchange of ideas. So think of like Hyde Park corner, or the Areopagus, now updated to the internet. So you can exchange views. It is a very popular website. There’s something on it called the Reddit A.M.A., which means Ask Me Anything, so it is like a quodlibetal question from the middle ages. It’s just, here I am, ask me anything. So I did one about a year ago, and I just did a second one a few months ago. My first one was the third most popular Reddit AMA of the previous year, this last one was number two. I was just after Beto O’Rourke and ahead of Bernie Sanders. Now I say that not to say, O aren’t I famous, because I’m sure 98% of the people on it had no idea of who I was, but you announce yourself, I did it this way, I am a Catholic bishop who loves dialoguing with atheists, agnostics and non-believers, well 15,000 questions later, that’s in about 2 hours, 15,000 questions came through. And it’s very interesting, to go on Reddit you need galoshes and rubber gloves, I mean it’s a pretty messy space, you have to get through a lot of silliness and obscenity and all that, but once you’re past that, some very clear patterns emerge, and I’ve seen it in my own work, but, Who is God? How do you know there’s a God? Can you possibly prove there’s a God? Doesn’t science disprove God? I mean, just thousands of questions along those lines. Secondly, to no one’s surprise, the problem of evil, how can there be a God is there’s suffering in the world? Third, typolitic of our time, How do you know your religion is right? Aren’t there a thousand different religions, how could you get up and say yours is right? Fourth issue, sexuality, especially homosexuality and trans-genderism. So I mean, 15,000 questions, and you can discern very clear patterns. Well, we’ve got a smart tradition, and I think providing good answers to honest questions is a major part of accompaniment. Something we brought up a lot at the Youth Synod last year was the Emmaus image. So here’s Jesus walking with the disciples, and doing all these wonderful things like walking with them, even as they walk in the wrong direction, listening to them, yes indeed, what are you talking about as you go on the way?, non-judgmental accompaniment, all those wonderful things and then at a key moment Jesus teaches and then their hearts caught on fire. Were not our hearts burning within us as He explained the scriptures to us on the way? So to my mind, that’s all just part of a process of accompaniment and presenting a smart version of Catholicism is key to it.’

I highly recommend that you watch the whole presentation.

Which leads to https://www.reddit.com/. If there are young people out there asking honest questions, the least we can do is go and have a look see. So I spent about a week lurking, and then bit the bullet and joined. After about a week in the trenches I can confirm that there are indeed many young people asking good questions, and not enough well-educated-in-the-Catholic-faith people around answering them. The sub-reddits r/Catholicism and r/Christianity are good places to start.
Consider yourself challenged to do likewise.

If you are intrigued enough to investigate Reddit, here is a guide for beginners.

​This is a long story, and I'm the narrator. The protagonist is my son. We have been living the agony of the Youth Synod Process. Definitely at times this is not a pretty story, but it needs to be heard. Let's begin chronologically.

#Synod2018 #PreSynodYouth #PreSynod2018

Sometime in the latter part of 2017 there was an online survey carried out by the Australian Bishops Conference in preparation for the youth synod. Other episcopal conferences would have done their own. You can read the report from that survey here. If the questions in blue were the same as the survey questions, then the questions weren't framed for young people to answer, eg 4. What kinds and places of group gatherings of youth, institutionalized or otherwise, have a major success outside the Church, and why? 9. How do schools and universities or other educational institutions (civil or ecclesial) contribute to young people’s formation in vocational discernment?

Our son did his best to answer them. But as you can see these questions were formulated for parish priests and those in the upper reaches of youth ministry administration to answer. It would take a special kind of patient youngster to persevere in answering them and not just giving it the flick because it wasn't on their wavelength.

The next step in the process was to sign on to the pre-Synod Facebook private group. For this you had to jump through a few hoops to get approved as a member.

There were 15 questions that members were invited to answer. Here are 2 of them, together with one of the many answers that were given. This is not endorsing those answers, just showing you the type of prose being used for the answers.
(Please persevere through this bit.)

#Church
Q:(11) The Church’s manner of acting. 
What should be the characteristics of a Church which is enlightening, attractive and credible to younger generations, one which has the ability to engender respect and attractiveness in them?
A:The Church needs to end with corruption and to have more transparency. The means - priests should have college education always when possible. We need to communicate better the means the church has already taken to fight against the sexual scandals of the latter years. Some news are available, but maybe each dioceses should make a local press realize to communicate about this. People do not know that measures are being taken. It would also be good to try to have like "Representatives", normal people (young married couples, young priests, students) of the parish who live their Christian vocation to the fullest, have deep education and who are willing to explain in public the teachings of the church. That will give people a model to look up to. It would be amazing if these representatives show up every time someone types on google "how to be catholic?" or "how good Catholics are?"

 #WaysAndMeans
Q:(15) Instruments to be used. 
Which approaches appear to be the most accessible and what are the most effective ways of generating among young people a sense of vocation, attentiveness to one’s neighbour and a grace-filled life?
A:The most accessible approach in generating a sense of vocation in young people in the United States continues to be the Catholic school system. Faculty members and clergy at Catholic grade schools, high schools, and universities, welcome their students and challenge them to think critically and prayerfully of their unique purpose in life. Students who experience Catholic education realize that good guidance is not forceful or imposed but is true and direct. Good guidance at Catholic schools helps students to see the innate goodness of the actions they take in their lives and the impact of their decisions made in conscience. When all other supports fall away, many people look back on their education in Catholic schools as something that was true and good and which continues to serve them in their decision-making. #Synod2018 #WaysAndMeans

Have your eyes glazed over yet?
​Mine did, and I've read a lot of church-speak in my time. My son's did, and he felt very alienated by it. We agreed, which 17 year old, or 22 year old, would have the patience to try and decode this stuff? He was incensed enough to write something to that effect. That was late evening 16 March. He'd write something the next day. When we got home from morning Mass on 17 March, some young lassie had beaten him to it. So he added a bit of prose in the comments to support her.

The first comment she received was someone asking how old she was. Firstly that was a bit rude, and secondly it was condescending. My son added his prose next. The gist of the next comment was that he had had an opportunity to contribute in the diocesan pre-Synod survey. Too bad if these questions weren't to his taste. Angst and agony ensued from both of us.

These questions on the pre-Synod Facebook group felt like they were written by lawyers or by people from other professions that use lots of jargon (eg teachers, psychologists). They weren't written in a way that engaged the interest of any young adult who hadn't completed a bachelor's degree.

I had so hoped to provide the full transcript of that comment thread (minus names), but after spending hours searching I am forced to conclude that they have been deleted. They don't even appear on my son's Facebook activity list anymore. Are you angry? Are you feeling the agony?

In the meantime Pope Francis had dropped a few zingers on 19 March 2018:

POPE FRANCIS 
“I invite you all this week to express yourselves frankly, with complete freedom. I have said it before, and I'll repeat it – with a tough face. You all are the stakeholders, and it's important you speak openly. 'But I'm embarrassed, the cardinal is going to hear me.' Whatever he might hear, he's prepared. I assure you whatever you say will be taken seriously.”

POPE FRANCIS 
“A man, a woman who doesn't take risks, doesn't mature. An institution that makes decisions without taking risks, will remain a little girl, it won't grow. Take risks while guided by prudence and advice, but go forward. Without taking a risk, do you know what happens to a young person? He or she gets old. He or she retires in 20 years. A young person gets old, and the Church gets old.”
​
Both of those missives stung my son into action, especially the 'getting old fast if you don't take risks' bit. He worked out that he had until 7pm Wednesday our time to post his thoughts on the Pre-Synod Facebook page. So he sat down on the Tuesday and poured his heart out on the digital pages. We then spent a few hours editing and polishing it up, until he was satisfied that this was what he wanted to say. When we printed out a copy for dad to read, it covered 2 A4 pages. We posted it on Tuesday night, and then waited, and waited, and waited, and waited for the moderators to approve it. It is still pending. (Cue more agony).
Here it is if you want to read it in PDF version:

(Otherwise, wait and it will be given in full under the ………. line)

He then followed the pre-Snod events online, and eagerly awaited the pre-Synod document.

While we were waiting for both the white paper and the Facebook post-approval, Pope Francis rubbed a bit more salt into the wounds with these words at his homily on Palm Sunday:

"The temptation to silence young people has always existed.  The Pharisees themselves rebuke Jesus and ask Him to silence them.
There are many ways to silence young people and make them invisible.  Many ways to anaesthetize them, to make them keep quiet, ask nothing, question nothing.  “Keep quiet, you!” There are many ways to sedate them, to keep them from getting involved, to make their dreams flat and dreary, petty and plaintive.
On this Palm Sunday, as we celebrate World Youth Day, we do well to hear Jesus’ answer to all those Pharisees past and present, even the ones of today: “If these were silent, the very stones would cry out” (Lk 19:40).
Dear young people, you have it in you to shout.  It is up to you to opt for Sunday’s “Hosanna!”, so as not to fall into Friday’s “Crucify him!”...  It is up to you not to keep quiet.  Even if others keep quiet, if we older people and leaders – so often corrupt – keep quiet, if the whole world keeps quiet and loses its joy, I ask you: Will you cry out?"

Ouch!

Here's the Final Document of the Pre Synodal Meeting of Young People, if you want to read it:
https://www.facebook.com/notes/synod2018/final-document-of-the-pre-synodal-meeting-of-young-people/1718340804914174/

My son read it, and he could easily see that it didn't reflect the Facebook Pre-Synod discussions he had been reading. So could I. Like many other young people he wants to see truly reverent liturgy and the full truth both preached and lived. While he's not one of the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) brigade, he could see that their input did not make it into the final document at all.

So I had to read the white paper (agony) and many of the articles he found (more agony) and even watch a video clip (arrgh). Here they are if you don't want to miss out (with his introductions):

Not too certain about the title of the web-page, but at least uses snapshots.
https://www.churchmilitant.com/news/article/youth-pre-synod-calls-for-listening-ignores-young-traditionalists

This one seems a bit more sincere and less possibly on-the-attack.
https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2018/03/what-young-catholics-want

Interesting EWTN Perspective on Pre Synodal Meeting for Youth.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDGUs_JnoMM&feature=youtu.be

The EWTN perspective corresponds with mine. It was spooky hearing my own thoughts come out of someone else's mouth.

This was the best article by Issac Withers, explaining how the disconnect from the pre-Synod group and the online Facebook Pre-Synod group happened
https://onepeterfive.com/controversy-over-pre-synod-document-highlights-appeal-of-tradition-for-young-catholics/

Do you want my personal take on the white paper? Probably not, but here it is anyway. It came across to me as a modern example of Matthew 11:17, 'We played the pipes for you and you wouldn't dance, we sang a dirges and you wouldn't mourn'. 'Hey Church, show us your dance moves, and if you measure up we might, just might, give you a second glance'. I read a lot about 'give us this' and 'give us that', and I didn't read anything (or don't recall reading anything) about a desire to serve. Yes, I could discern the fingerprints of people far older than the 16-30 age group, and lots of whiskered lobby groups. That was sad. That was additional agony.

Otherwise as these documents go, it is a starting point and par for this type of course/synod.

But the synod process is still ongoing. As Archbishop Coleridge taught us through his regular blog during the second sitting of the Synod on Marriage, things have to go through the messy process. We have to pray and trust that the Holy Spirit will work through the mess and the personalities and the agendas and get us to what He wants to be said.

So please, commit to praying each day from now until the end of the Synod process that the Holy Spirit gets His way.

Thank you.

You have been so patient. Here's what our son wrote (below). We realise now that because it was over 200 words and not linked to any specific one of the 15 questions that it was probably never going to be approved.
​But his roar deserves to be heard.
……………………………………………………………………. 
​
​I’m taking a risk writing this because I have no idea if it will be heard, or shot down in a maelstrom of opposing comments. So here goes:
 
I feel as though I am part of a hidden group within my own generation who by default and circumstance take a (somewhat) conservative view of the world around them.
 
I am writing this at risk of ridicule, and of being told to yet again sit down and keep quiet, because 'you're not one of the majority'.
 
I feel as though I am part of a generational group who do not exist; in the eyes of the parish, diocese, country, media and government. I don't have the confident articulate ability and athletic physique that makes people sit up and take notice. Yet I am at Mass every day, pray, read the Catholic press and papal documents, serve as a Senior Server at Mass at least twice a week, and am familiar with the inside of a confessional.
 
I am concerned that the government of my country is only interested in getting my vote and has no will to actually tackle issues like youth unemployment. There are others like me who are frightened out of their wits about whether or not they will be employed anywhere! When all employers in the job listings are ONLY looking for 3+ years of previous experience and who would not even consider someone with less, let alone actually help someone new to learn and earn that experience. The government employment agencies put young people through so many hoops before they even begin to offer any real help.
 
It is no wonder youth are taking a conservative stance when they have NO idea about the future of their own lives let alone anyone else’s. It feels like only the extroverts and the successful-looking have any hope of being employed, it’s hard cheese for the rest of us.
 
I live in a parish that has been in care-taker mode for nearly ALL my life, and the vast majority of the people I see at church are in their 70s, 80s and 90s -which makes it an uphill struggle to attract interest in doing something new for the young and for the needy.
 
Our local youth group is just— well… just. Just limping along enough to look like something is happening so that the bishop can show a good report card. The youth group is concerned (yet again from my perspective) with keeping pre-teens and adolescents in the church and away from the evangelical churches. I'm not in the target market.
 
So often I feel like a fraud when listening to the 'all or nothing' evangelistic preaching happening in youth gatherings. Certainly it needs to be preached, but at the same time no one is taking time to explain that most of these things happen at God’s time, not ours. We CAN’T force faith, we can't force an experience of God, we can't force a response to God.
 
I have NO desire to leave the church or join an evangelical church (thank you EWTN, Mother Angelica and Marcus Grodi).
 
There are many times at local youth group and deanery youth gatherings that I feel like the proverbial spectre at the feast. Only I don’t know if the feast is actually wholesome and lasting or not. Feasts are the current vogue for the deanery 'over 18' gatherings that consist of about 30-40+ people that are so huge that previously built relationships are the only things being strengthened. Heaven help anyone wanting to build new relationships. Diocesan 'Praisefests' seem to be an excuse to put a rock band inside a church, and jump around and scream your head off in some kind of preparation for the next World Youth Day. Loud music and crowds are not my thing, so I come away feeling alienated rather than connected and not uplifted at all.
 
I personally cannot see value in this current trend of youth events ALL trying to be an attractive alternative to what is on offer at the evangelical churches and in the process forgetting about all the rich traditions and sacramental experiences of the Catholic Church.
 
At Confirmation time our previous bishop gave the SAME homily to the mostly 8 year olds and their families, WORD FOR WORD. We have rarely seen those children since. It feels like families become Catholic in name only as a means to access Catholic Education and are willing to put up with a few archaic hoops to jump through to attain that goal, and then join the people with no religious affiliation whatsoever. From time to time there is a 'School Mass' at the regular Saturday vigil Mass, and really they are just a 'school extravaganza' with a cameo by the priest for the Eucharistic prayer. I lose count of the number of times I wince at such 'school extravaganzas' due to inappropriate music and disregard for the rubrics of the Mass.
 
While it is true that 'The Youth are the Future of the Church' and many of you would have a whole thesis ready to explain why this is so, but for me these are amongst some of the most frightening words you can hear as a young person. Who wants to be reminded of such a heavy responsibility when things are so bleak? The next most frightening words are a catechist or parish member saying that they will 'only talk for a little while' before the final blessing and then after a lengthy time (garbed as a senior server) you have to poke Father awake to say the final blessing while in the meantime everyone else has scurried away.
 
Can the youth be the future of the church if they themselves know nothing about the church, about its history, about the bible, about Jesus?
 
Where do the Youth gather? Either they are at reasonably-sized SMALL retreats that have a true sense of community and selfless love or at a giant over-blown Rock Concerts centred around Cathedrals with shake your arms, jump all around, and somehow pray (how?) amongst all the young Catholic school girls screaming their heads off. I get claustrophobic easily and would rather not have to get hearing aids before I HAVE to.
 
I’m amazed at what Fr Mallon has been doing in Canada with the Alpha program and the outspokenness of Dr Jordan Peterson receiving so many views (channel 4). I'd so like to see something positive happening locally.
 
I had so hoped that what Emma Sullivan from New Zealand wrote on the Facebook group (c.17 March 2018) would have been listened to: about how all the questions and answers on the Pre-Synodal Facebook group were going over the heads of the young people who are supposed to be taking part. The questions are framed in legalistic language, and most of the answers are in the same incomprehensible jargon. It was so sad to see that in the replies that we weren't being listened to or taken seriously.
 
I have great fear that this synod’s outcomes won’t actually reflect the TRUE common problems facing ALL the Youth from 17-18 to 29-30+, only those problems that the highly favoured and popular youth are able to identify.
 
 
Vincent Cavanagh, 20,
Broken Bay Diocese, NSW Australia    21 March 2018

The original question was: If you had an unlimited budget, and a talented team, what would you love to do to extend God's kingdom? It was only later on that it was discovered this question is easier to answer if you have actual budgets to think about (eg $100,000, $1 million or $10 million).

The following are some answers that other people gave. Maybe reading them might spark new dreams or rekindle old dreams in you. Perhaps you could be the Solomon that gets to put David's good ideas into action.

After talking with a Christian friend this morning, I am reminded that most of us are happy to take a somewhat passive approach with God, i.e. 'If God wants me to do something, He'll let me know about it.' Sure, there is truth in that. But this is the same God who often said, 'What do you want Me to do for you?' desirous of a concrete answer and not an underwhelming 'Whatever You want to do for me Lord' answer. This is the same God who asked Ahaz to ask Him for a sign, a sign coming from the depths of Sheol or from the heights above (Isaiah 7:11) and Ahaz refused to ask. If he had asked and received the sign, he would have had to take God more seriously in his life.

What if at this time in history God wants to do big things?

Unless there are people willing to dream big, to think big and to pray big, and to risk big, how are they going to happen?

Undoubtedly God can do these big things all by Himself, but He has shown time and time again that He prefers to work collaboratively with men, women and children who love Him.

The friend I spoke to today would spend the money on bibles and bible study materials, presumable to give them to those who cannot afford them and to encourage people to discover for themselves the Author who loves them.

Another friend would build a multi-storey building in a quadrangle shape (three sides, the fourth side open) to house all homeless people in.

My son would bring together a team to write and create decent and well-written television shows and movies for children and teens.

Another friend would like to build a village haven for the lost and the lonely. A place with village greens and swimming pools, where various lifestyles can be accommodated, and where everyone is respected and has a useful role to play in the community.

Another friend would send most of the funds off to charities and missions, and use the rest to reduce the debts of the local parish and local charities.

Another friend would devote resources to getting religious education in state high schools on a sure and sustainable footing.

Another friend would like to see a campaign to help people make more ethical decisions in their purchasing habits and to promote Fair Trade products. For example if I purchase a $3 T-shirt rather than a $40 T-shirt, it is very likely that the people making and producing the $3 T-shirt are getting ripped off. Some will say, it is because I have a low income that I need to purchase these cheap T-shirts. What gives us the right to say that our needs are greater than theirs?

A friend with lots of experience in giving real aid to those who are living on the margins would like to see programs for young people who fall through the cracks in the system, programs that will help them earn a living, show them that they are worthwhile and that they have a lot to contribute to society and to themselves; programs that would make employment achievable for all school leavers.

Another friend would like to see support systems created for vulnerable children.

But the big thing that came up as we were talking was mental health, spoken about by three people.

The first person mentioned it as a big need she could see, the mental health needs of children and teens that are woefully under resourced in our school systems eg How much good can a child psychologist achieve with funding for one morning a week for a whole school of 400 students or more?

The second person talked about how hard it is to obtain any long term treatment, even for adults. Help is often limited to a few days here and a few days there of hospital / institutional accommodation and treatment when a crisis occurs – which never gets to even scratch the surface of the underlying trauma/s contributing to the mental instability.

The third person talked about how most drug and alcohol rehabilitation programs were developed with the needs of middle-aged people in mind. The prevailing paradigm doesn't suit the needs of young people at all. Expecting young people to have the patience to sit still in a circle and listen and do group therapy is ludicrous. However, smaller group chats while gardening, tending to farm animals, wood working or playing sport would get much further with the youngsters. The critical ingredient for success is trust, and the trust needed to help effectively takes a long time to build. Consider this situation:

There is a young man in his late 20s. When he was a boy he suffered abuse at the hands of his mum's boyfriend, and from leaders at a sporting club. He is able to say he was abused, but is unable to talk about it and process it. To have a ghost of a chance of beginning the healing process he has to get to a point of trust where he feels comfortable about starting to open up about such things. For someone who has been betrayed so badly, so often, this is not going to be easy at all. Getting to that point may take years.

Series 2 of the television show 'Unforgotten' brought home to me the long term effects that abused young people suffer. The three people whose stories we follow through the 6 episodes are all driven to help other people in challenging circumstances (legal cases, teen cancer ward, teens at high school in disadvantaged neighbourhoods). For all three, the long term relationships in their lives are not thriving because they have been unable to open up to the people who love them about the traumas they have suffered. Their spouses and partners know that they are holding back, and while they have been extraordinarily patient waiting for their loved ones to open up and trust them, the frustration is eating away at their relationships like slow release acid. Each of them carries inside them a huge reservoir of anger, a by-product of the abuse, and they are able to recognize other people who have been through abuse trauma by this anger. It takes an outside catalyst, and lots of detective work to bring evidence of the abuse to the spouses and partners, to tell what happened to their loved ones. For some it began this important  conversation, for others it was too late.

If these dreams for long-term effective help for young people with mental health issues speak to you, start talking about them with friends, and with religious, political, civil, and cultural leaders. Help them catch the vision, and the passion to do something about it.

So what's your dream?

Write it down.
Share it with those you trust.
Talk about it.
Dare to dream that it might be God's dream too, that He wants to help you bring into reality.

Over the past weeks I have come across several articles that are worthy of sharing. So here they are:

Putting them here also means that I should be able to find them easier.

Papal Visit to the USA, September 2015
I am very grateful to all those who posted photographs, tweets and articles about Pope Francis when he was in the United States, because they helped me participate in it from the other side of the world. But nothing beats getting his words unfiltered. So here is the best resource for those words. (I wish something similar had been done with the visit to Cuba). http://aleteia.org/2015/09/28/read-the-full-texts-of-all-of-pope-francis-addresses-during-his-visit-to-the-u-s/

Synod on the Family, October 2015
After Part 1 of the Synod in 2014, I decided that there would be far too many voices trying to put their own spin on the 2015 part of the Synod. To keep sanity amongst the wordy jungle and endless controversy and speculation, I decided to read only the information coming from the Synod itself, i.e. any interventions published by the speaker, any of the reports from the working groups, and snippets from the official press conferences. Very early on, I discovered that Archbishop Coleridge of Brisbane was providing a regular blog of his Synod experiences. Mercifully he has been far more interested in the participants and the daily working of the Synod than anything else – and it has been a joy to follow him through the joys of catching up with acquaintances, the struggles of finding unity of thought in the working groups, and his awareness of God might be working through it all. These blog posts are all under the title of 'On The Road Together' and start on 1 Oct 2015, and will probably continue a few days past 25 Oct 2015. http://brisbanecatholic.org.au/archbishop/articles-releases/

Related to all these discussions on the Family, are the following three articles:
Firstly, why helping families to thrive matters so much. An article with data about the outcomes of regions with the most intact marriages compared to the same data for regions with the least intact marriages. http://family-studies.org/how-strong-families-help-create-prosperous-states/
Secondly, how patterns of sin can erode marriages and why we need to hear preaching about how to recognise sinful habits and how to turn away from them and seek to live differently with God's help. http://www.patheos.com/blogs/simchafisher/2015/10/08/married-to-an-angry-man-an-open-letter-to-the-synod-fathers-guest-post/
Thirdly, how hard it is to break free of dysfunctional behaviour learnt in the family, and how important it is to have someone who cares about your well being enough to patiently teach you healthier behaviours. http://chnetwork.org/2015/10/lisa-campbell-former-assembly-of-god-the-journey-home/

Homelessness
The St Vincent de Paul society recently released a report on homelessness called 'Sick With Worry'. It convincingly shows that the major causes of homelessness are structural and rarely have anything to do with personal bad decisions. Only a tiny proportion of rental properties are affordable to someone on a pension. To have to go on a pension, all it takes is a health issue or a physical accident – things that could happen to anyone. The report contains many detailed case studies. Please read it. https://www.vinnies.org.au/page/Publications/National/Articles_Reports__Speeches/Sick_with_worry_2015_national_report/
Then read this eye-opening article with facts and figures on how providing low cost housing actually does lead to an 'everybody wins' scenario. http://www.vox.com/2014/5/30/5764096/its-three-times-cheaper-to-give-housing-to-the-homeless-than-to-keep

Gospel vs modern world view
While I don't agree with all of the conclusions in this article, the analysis of the prevailing ideas that young people have about God, faith and religion is brilliant. I am sure you have come across them:
•A God exists who created and ordered the world and watches over human life on earth.
•God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible and by most world religions.
•The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself.
•God does not need to be particularly involved in one's life except when God is needed to resolve a problem.
•Good people go to heaven when they die. (Good as in earthly measures of good, not heavenly measures of good).
http://www.lawrencewilson.com/the-heresy-all-christian-teens-believe-and-how-to-fix-it/#more-9800

At some point or other you have heard a young person (or not so young person) ask why they should bother going to church. Answering that question stumps most of us. This article gives two viable reasons in language that millennials understand; we go to church to worship God and we go to be formed in virtue and schooled in faith. Consider sharing this one with your social networks and praying that young people click and read it. http://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2015/10/go-to-church-justin-bieber

If you are looking for an antidote to Moralistic Therapeutic Deism, then this next article is for you. It contains reminders from St John of the Cross about several uncomfortable truths, i.e. that life is short, and that the path to salvation is difficult. http://blog.adw.org/2015/10/some-hard-spiritual-truths-that-will-set-you-free-a-meditation-on-a-teaching-by-st-john-of-the-cross/

Another refreshing antidote to the relationship chaos that so many young people find themselves in these days is this wonderful article on how great it is to develop a relationship with God while waiting for Him to let you know His long term plan for your happiness. Any person who is sick to death at being asked about when they are going to stop being single will want to share it with their tormentors. http://arleenspenceley.com/single/

That's more than enough to chew over for now.

​May Blessed Paul IV intercede that the Synod on the Family achieves Gods purposes.
May St Rita of Cascia pray for all married couples who are struggling.
May St Benedict Joseph Labre pray for all people suffering homelessness.
May St John Bosco pray for all of our young people, that they may find the true happiness God desires for them.
Amen.

This most definitely isn't the blog-post I had hoped to be writing today (on the Liturgy of the Hours). It will have to wait some more.

This blog-post is an effort to get all the input that has been coming to me in one place, so that others can use it and maybe even pick it up and run with it. Please be patient, the more you read the more it will make sense why I have posted it here.

Tonight I am taking my son off to the inaugural StartUp Weekend on the Central Coast. Here's the link http://www.up.co/communities/australia/central-coast/startup-weekend/6777 although I don't know how long that link will stay active. #StartupAusCC may be another way to find out more.

Initially the motivation for going was helping my son meet local business people and graphic designers and for him to hopefully get inspired by seeing how his skills can be used in real world situations.

The first part of the weekend is the pitch, where anyone can get up and pitch a business idea for 60 seconds.

Well and good. But what would motivate me enough to devote a whole weekend to being a team member for a business idea? Hmmm.

Sure I have ideas on the backburner, a website consultancy for creatives (reviewing existing websites for artists and writers, suggesting improvements, getting initial websites started), setting up a small publishing house for local children's book authors. But they don't really need interdisciplinary effort.

However there is a situation that lots of local people face, which needs to be addressed, about tertiary education.

Over the past two years I have seen the fees for TAFE courses quadruple. Cobbling together $400 is one thing, but now needing around $2000 for a Certificate III course is a much bigger ask. How many young people are going to miss out on vocational training because they don't have a comparatively wealthy relative to help them out? Yes, there are 'going into debt' options. But the risk of getting it wrong is so much higher than it ever was before.

Even a year's Diploma study, lowest rung university study or private college study is running at a minimum of $8000 per year. That's a lot of money to pay, or get into HECS debt over, with no guarantee of employment at the end of it. And we are expecting our 17 and 18 year olds to make those decisions based on a few subjects at school and very little life experience. Granted, a few grow up with a passion for a defined career path (teacher, nurse, paramedic, hairdresser, plumber) but many still have no idea at the end of Year 12. Some still have no idea several years after leaving school.

History tells us that unskilled young people without the dignity of regular employment are going to sooner or later find themselves in trouble – poverty, gangs, lawbreaking, depression etc.

Helping young people discover their talents and their vocational career path is not just important for them and their families, but also for the safety and welfare of the communities they live in.

Doing something about that would be worthwhile, and need an interdisciplinary approach.

Perhaps these two blog-posts may help understand where I am coming from http://www.societyofsaints.net/blog/listening-to-the-call and http://www.ministrymatters.com/all/entry/5906/death-and-resurrection-of-an-urban-church

What I do know is that most career counselling seems to be little more than listening and reflecting back. Just as I learned so much about God's ways of bringing couples together to marry by asking how they first met; recording the ways people found their first job, how they found a long term career, and what they regret they didn't do career-wise would be exceedingly helpful. Human nature doesn't change much, just the date, as family historians are fond of saying. Gathering actual case studies would be valuable so that a youngster can say: 'Hey, that person sounds like me, maybe what they did is worth investigating'.

The something would have to be organized on a non-profit basis, so that it could be accessed by the most vulnerable. Fundraising would be necessary, and also a good thing because fundraising can bring the members of a community closer together.

Grants to help pay for education will be necessary. Referrals would be best from places like the St Vincent de Paul Society and the Salvation Army because they tend to help whole families and can notice youngsters with aptitude. Maybe even a process like the Australia Day awards would work, where anyone in the community can nominate someone they think is deserving.

But such grants would be the start of a relationship, not just a handout or a hand-up. At tertiary places of study students hand in work, essays, projects, etc on a regular basis. That work should be showcased and seen by the whole community. Something like an end of term exhibition, 4 times a year, at local libraries or church halls or surf clubs, where everybody gets to feel pride in their achievements and local business gets a chance to look at local talent. Throw in a BBQ or sausage sizzle and get people taking and meeting each other.

We also need to give people a chance to 'have a go' before they commit to study. Firstly as a vehicle for discerning whether you are interested in that type of work and secondly as a reality check for what that kind of work is actually like. So often our young people go to tertiary study and come out with some preparation for what is needed at the higher echelons of a profession but no idea what the entry level work is going to be like.

Schools used to organize Work Experience weeks. Whether they still do, I don't know, but 2 days here and 3 days there at several enterprises would be very helpful – with some kind of low level payment for labour. Employers would need to commit to freeing up their time to mentor people through the experience. Feedback forms from both sides would be essential, a la Caroline Chisholm.

The profession I was trained in had a rather enlightened approach. I don't know whether it still does. But companies would offer working scholarships to those going through the uni course. There was a weekly payment, and work experience during holiday times. The profession committed itself to training up young people as a service not just to the company they worked for but also to the whole industry. They understood that everyone benefited. In contrast it seems that these days employers expect everyone to be fully skilled before they employ them and do an absolute minimum of in-house training.

I think we will see lots of young people deciding that tertiary education is no longer worth the time and expense to invest in it. The only way to cope with this is to bring back some kind of master-apprentice relationship. Often I have heard it said at funerals, 'I did well in this profession, because this person showed me the best way to do it'. Learning like this doesn't come from books, but from discussing real world situations and how best to deal with them. Facilitating relationships like this will become increasingly important I think, especially if we ever have to face a new Depression era. 

This passage from Laudato Si has stayed with me:

"In some places, cooperatives are being developed to exploit renewable sources of energy which ensure local self-sufficiency and even the sale of surplus energy. This simple example shows that, while the existing world order proves powerless to assume its responsibilities, local individuals and groups can make a real difference. They are able to instill a greater sense of responsibility, a strong sense of community, a readiness to protect others, a spirit of creativity and a deep love for the land. They are also concerned about what they will eventually leave to their children and grandchildren." Laudato Si 179a 

And this excerpt as well, from an Interview with Pope Francis on Portuguese Radio 8 Sep 2015 http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/full-text-of-pope-francis-interview-with-portuguese-radio-station-44460/

"Work with unemployed youth. I think here it's urgent to do so, above all in religious congregations that have education as a charism, but also laity, lay educators, to create small courses, emergency schools. So, a young person who is unemployed, studies cooking for six months, or studies to be gas or heating technician for six months - so long as rooves keep breaking - or to be a painter. So, with this skill they always have the possibility of finding work, even part-time, for the moment. It's doing what we call a "changa," I don't know how…(journalist asks about the meaning of "change") "Changa," yes. It’s occasional work, right? A good "change" And with that not everyone is unemployed. But today is the day. It's the time of emergency education, which is what Don Bosco did. Don Bosco, when he saw the amount of young people who were in the street, he said that education is needed, but sending the children to middle school, the humanities, no. Trades. So, he prepared carpenters, plumbers, who taught them to work and they had to earn a living. And Don Bosco had that. And now I want to tell an anecdote of Don Bosco. Here, in Rome, close to Trastevere, where it was a very poor area, but now it's the popular area for youth to "go out," right? Ok. Don Bosco passed by there. He was there in a carriage, in a car, I don’t know, and they threw a rock and broke the glass. He stopped and said: "This is the place where we have to establish ourselves." That is, in the face of an aggression, he didn't live it as an aggression. He lived it as a challenge to help people, boys, youth, who only knew how to attack. And today, there is a Salesian parish here which forms youth and children, with their schools, their things. Well, this - returning to the theme of youth, right? – what's important today is to give emergency education about some trade so that they can earn a living."

We need to help each other find that purpose for which God gave them unique talents, as Blessed John Henry Newman so eloquently puts it:

"God knows me and calls me by my name.…
God has created me to do Him some definite service;
He has committed some work to me
     which He has not committed to another.
I have my mission—I never may know it in this life,
     but I shall be told it in the next.
Somehow I am necessary for His purposes…
     I have a part in this great work;
I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection
     between persons.
He has not created me for naught. I shall do good,
     I shall do His work;
I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth
     in my own place, while not intending it,
     if I do but keep His commandments
     and serve Him in my calling."

OK. There's all the input I can recall.

Here's my 60 second pitch:

"TAFE fees have quadrupled in the last 2 years, and a single year of tertiary education now costs a minimum of $8000 with no guarantee of employment at the end of it. That's a huge gamble for any student and their family, and a lot of debt to carry. I think we should start a local non-profit with these aims: grants to students with expectations of exhibition of work, ongoing community involvement and celebration of their achievements; career advice through case studies of how actual people found their long term career; facilitation of short term work experience and facilitation of informal apprenticeships and mentorships. I'd like to see it begin on the Woy Woy Peninsula.
All I have is the need and the idea, help me make it happen."

 

Please pray that if God wants something like this to happen, that it all comes together over this weekend and beyond.

St Joseph, pray for us.

St John Bosco, pray for us.

Blessed John Henry Newman, pray for us.

St John the Baptist, pray for us.