How Do You Build a Community of Disciples Who Observe Catholic Liturgical Culture Together?

Last updated on: January 13, 2015 at 10:16 pm By Jennifer Fitz

Earlier, I answered Melanie Bettinelli’s post on the challenge of communal feast day observances with a calendar: Here’s what we do to observe the liturgical year at our house. If you read through my litany, you’ll see that we enjoy a combination of private celebrations, parish-centered celebrations, and many observances involving a small community of Catholic (and other) friends. We are, in all, quite blessed. I didn’t answer her deeper question, which is, “How do we get there?” She writes:... Read more

Liturgical Living: What Does It Look Like At Your House? – Updated

Last updated on: January 13, 2015 at 4:59 pm By Jennifer Fitz

UPDATED with the bit about Fridays and Solemnities. Melanie Bettinelli writes about the awkwardness of trying to observe the Catholic holidays throughout the year when you have no community and no traditions for doing so. Interestingly, I knew right away what the story was with the tangerines, though I was scandalized to learn there are people who don’t love them. More for us, I suppose. Prompted by Melanie’s post, I thought I’d run through what our typical year of feasting... Read more

You Know Catholic Education Has Serious Problems When . . .

Last updated on: January 12, 2015 at 8:31 pm By Jennifer Fitz

. . . Father Barron can drop a quote like this: To see how quickly this transformation can happen, take a good look at the philosophy department at many of the leading Catholic universities: what were, in the 1950’s overwhelmingly theistic professoriats are today largely atheist. And it’s just some passing fact. The kind of thing everyone knows. A tidbit we mention in order to demonstrate some larger point. When the philosophy department is run by atheists, it’s not Catholic... Read more

Single-Solution Christian Formation is Guaranteed to Fail

Last updated on: January 12, 2015 at 7:17 pm By Jennifer Fitz

In the on-going conversation on what works, and what doesn’t, in youth ministry, here are two threads, seemingly disparate, that share what I propose is the #1 fallacy we Catholics cling to when it comes to Christian formation: Richard Becker argues here for changing the age at which we administer the sacrament of Confirmation. It’s the kind of article I’m inclined to like, for all sorts of good reasons. Meanwhile, Fr. Peter Daly in the Archdiocese of Washington was able... Read more

A Youth Group Story You Need to Hear

Last updated on: January 11, 2015 at 12:29 am By Jennifer Fitz

My recent post on my own youth group experience (when I was the “youth”) has generated a pile of enthusiasm and a modest amount of panic. So I’m going to tell you a story, brand new, that you need to hear. I’m chatting with a fellow mom this weekend, whom I’m just meeting for the first time ever, and it’s not in a professional-Catholic context so she doesn’t know what it is I do here, or really anything else about... Read more

Pastoral Care on the Radio, Love of God & Neighbor in Print – Updated

Last updated on: January 9, 2015 at 6:56 am By Jennifer Fitz

UPDATED to fix the link. My apologies! *** I was amused at some of the reactions to my post about my formative youth group experience. For those who are concerned that I haven’t got a pastoral side to me, tune in to the Mike Allen Radio show this Friday morning (or catch it on podcast later), where we’ll be talking about how the Church can navigate the challenges of employees who publicly reject Catholic teaching. Hint: You can get an idea of... Read more

How My Parish Youth Group Helped Me Leave the Catholic Faith

Last updated on: January 8, 2015 at 1:09 pm By Jennifer Fitz

Every week at Mass, I see this really nice couple. I think we first met in about 1990 or so, because their daughter was part of the crowd I ran with in high school. She and I were in our Catholic parish’s youth group together, and we had mutual friends at school. I went to their house once for a post-dance party. I met the parents again a few years ago — we’d both long since moved from our old... Read more

Scantily Clad Teenage Dancer Friends on Facebook

Last updated on: January 7, 2015 at 4:58 pm By Jennifer Fitz

From the inbox, a question re: Discussing Modesty from a friend who said he’d be willing to see it answered on the blog. Here’s the original question: Hi Jen,Being of a similar mindset on Faith and parenting (and having the common Family Honor reference point between us), I have a question for you (and your husband)? I have a Catholic friend who is a marginally-involved Catholic who has a daughter who is VERY into dance. She’s 13, tours the country... Read more

The Real Presence and My Reversion to the Catholic Faith

Last updated on: January 7, 2015 at 2:00 pm By Jennifer Fitz

My reversion to the Catholic faith was in some ways launched in full force when I was on a trip to San Antonio, touring about, and failed to feel the presence of God upon entering a Catholic Church. I tell the whole story here, and here’s the bit about Texas: But I wasn’t really happy. I spent several years trying this and that in the spiritual cafeteria. We attended the local Unitarian Universalist congregation, but it never really took. On... Read more

Gay Marriage & Employment in the Archdiocese of Miami

Last updated on: January 7, 2015 at 10:41 am By Jennifer Fitz

Kathy Schiffer reports that the Archbishop of Miami has laid out his response to the recent legalization of gay marriage in Florida: Archbishop Thomas Wenski, archbishop of Miami, has warned archdiocesan employees that any action in support of Florida’s now-legal same-sex marriage could cost them their jobs. “Because of the Church’s particular function in society,” the archbishop wrote, “certain conduct, inconsistent with the teachings of the Catholic Church, could lead to disciplinary action, including termination, even if it occurs outside the normal working... Read more