Highlights of this Issue

Holidays, Materialism, and Social Justice This issue of the NACYML News looks at some of the issues surrounding the holidays and how they relate to our Christian faith and every day living. The holiday season can be extremely busy and hectic, but we hope that you are able to find a few quiet moments to settle back with a cup of tea or hot chocolate and enjoy the contributions to this month's issue. The entire NACYML Leadership Team and Communications Coordinating Committee wish you a blessed Advent and Christmas season, and may the Lord continue to bless each of you and your ministry. Thank you for being a part of NACYML!

Facing the Holidays Holidays are about people. How can we face the people we love, and some we are called to love but have a hard time liking on a regular basis? Consider seeing them as the image of God that they are created to be. Whether or not Uncle Bill, who pokes fun at your pretend job, is your favorite person to encounter, he is a child of God and should be loved and appreciated as such. Read more of Katie's article... Helping Youth Respect and Defend Human Dignity The identity question is one that practically all young people deal with. Our consumerist society is ready with an answer: that identity is the newest fashion of clothing, the most high-tech cell phone, or the number of friends one has on Facebook. Are we ready with an alternative answer? One important element of the Church’s answer is this: people are more than what they have, what they produce, and what they do. Their identity is rooted in an inherent dignity based in the fact that all people are created in God’s image. As the church’s ministers to young people, we must teach young Catholics to value every human person for what he or she is—a beloved child of God—not what he or she has. Read more of Jill's article here... Food Fast from Catholic Relief Services According to Business.com, there will be approximately 33.5 million teenagers in the United States by the year 2010. This group of teenagers averages $158 billion per year in disposable income. And the marketing industry is well aware of these facts. This kind of disposable income can lead to excessive consumerism. How can we as Catholic youth ministry leaders help teenagers understand how to live responsibly in a materialistic society? Read Kyle's recommendations here... More and Bigger We live in a culture and at a time when the road to happiness often means, buy more and buy bigger. More stuff, more alcohol, more food, bigger trucks, bigger hard drives, bigger houses, etc. It is not the first time that a culture has been distracted by the belief that more stuff equates to more happiness... In our education outreach with schools and detained youth, we teach the following financial goal: how do I live a simple life where I am not worried more about my possessions and my debt than I am about my relationships and living a meaningful life? Read more of Jerry's writing...		From the Chair Our family went to see the movie Wall-E recently. The movie opens with a scene of a deserted landscape. In this futuristic world, piles of discarded goods tower over buildings. It is the job of Wall-E, the title robot in the movie, to compact this trash into neat cubes. In the process, we learn that certain items capture Wall-E’s attention and he collects these treasures to keep for himself. It becomes apparent later in the movie that it was the excessive consumerism of humans that resulted in the need to leave earth, literally, to find more space for their stuff. Seven hundred years after the last human has left earth, Wall-E has not made a dent in the compacting of the trash left behind. Read more of Mary's article… Some of the Benefits of NACYML Membership During the low points in my career as a youth minister, I have felt the discouragement and sense of defeat that comes with having a vision for the young people of my parish that is not shared by those around me. NACYML has provided me with a link to a national network of youth ministers who share a common vision of what youth ministry can and should be in my parish and my neighboring parishes. My active involvement in NACYML has opened the door to participation in youth ministry at the national level... Continue reading Dean's article... Recognizing and Challenging Extreme Materialism How do we help young people realize how privileged and unjust the lifestyle of our nation is, especially when that is what they see all around them? How do we help them become more person-oriented and less thing-oriented, less tied to consumerism and more committed to service of others? Continue reading Jim's article ... The Musings of Michael Warren Mike Warren has been in the kitchen for a long time, always inviting youth ministers to join him at the table for a nourishing feast of insights and life-centering conversation about what it means—for adults as well as teenagers—to be faithful followers of Jesus in our day and time. Three decades ago, when the entire field of youth ministry was taking a ‘developmental journey’ with teenagers, the voice of one crying in the wilderness proclaimed, ‘Pay attention to the social contexts of youth, to the cultural scripts we give them, to the ways they are manipulated by the media, the marketers, the military!’ Read more of Mike's musings...

A Picture Is Worth... Articles in this newsletter correspond to the Core Competencies detailed in the National Certification Standards for Lay Ecclesial Ministers. Look for the symbol in the article that indicates which core competency the article addresses. To learn more about the standards, see the resource page which is always accessible from the newsletter navigation bar. It provides a summary of the core competencies and the specialized competencies for youth ministry leaders.

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