Michael Warren, coauthor of Awakening Youth Discipleship: Christian Resistance in a Consumer Culture (Cascade Books, 2008), is described in the book’s foreword as a “troublemaker.” Troublemaking in that he stands in solidarity with young people and calls attention to systemic injustice, oppression, and inequality.

Grandfather of Catholic Youth Ministry

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!’ Mike is indeed a modern-day John the Baptist, urging us to repent from viewing adolescents as an exotic life stage, regarding young people as consumers rather than as persons. Mike calls us to name and resist all life-draining cultural captivities in light of gospel grace and freedom.

Michael Warren is described, at least among some ‘old-timers,’ as the grandfather of Catholic youth ministry. He is widely published in religious education and theological journals and has written or edited a plethora of books on ministry.

I recently participated in an online symposium hosted by Ministry Training Source. There were forty-six youth ministry folks from various locations throughout the United States who took part in this two-week online conversation. We utilized two Michael Warren articles as a focus for our discussion. Warren’s perceptive and piercing voice still cries out for a radical examination of our work with youth. And I can attest that Warren’s words served as a catalyst for stretching our imaginations in our lively online chat. Participants were engaged in taking a good and hard look at the underpinnings of our work with young people.

Michael’s Musings

In an effort to keep the conversation going, here are three excerpts, or musings, from Michael Warren’s writings which touch upon the topic of consumerism and young people. These three quotations can serve as a springboard for continued reflection, discussion, and action. We invite youth ministers to grapple with these quotations and invite others who are concerned with youth to do the same. Perhaps this will spark a resurgence in Mike’s seminal and prophetic writings.

The first quotation comes from the article Youth Ministry in an Inconvenient Church.

The key gesture of capitalist consumerism is the closed fist, the fist that grabs, as in ‘grab all the gusto you can get.’ A related gesture is the closed fist that does not grab but that grasps, as a fundamental gesture about life: ‘Everything I have is mine; I earned it, and I intend to keep it. I’m not giving up my hard-earned money to support the lazy on welfare.’

The second quotation is taken from the chapter “The Imaginations of Youth” in his latest book Awakening Youth Discipleship: Christian Resistance in a Consumer Culture.

We like to think that our religious convictions fully direct our lives. We may consider ourselves practicing Christians, may know the gist of the gospel story, but be unaware how little the story actually guides our lives. Our first allegiance may in fact be economic security, an issue constantly preoccupying our attention and determining which social issues seem important to us, how we vote, how we read the newspaper, even which newspaper we read. In fact, the very question about the true priorities among our allegiances might unnerve and anger us.

The third quotation comes from a paper Michael delivered as a keynote presentation on Long Island in 1993. The paper is titled “Youth, Evangelization, and Fun.”

Imagine the possibility of the following want-ad for a youth minister: ‘Wanted: a youth minister of educated skepticism, able to understand the lies taught by the consumerist society and able to challenge young people to consider embracing Jesus' dangerous message. Must, out of love for youth's possibilities, be able to tell the truth to young people in loving ways. In addition to a capacity for fun, must have capacity to grieve with the young over the social ills of our time. Key quality needed: not enthusiasm but the ability to help young people imagine a future of discipleship lived in the world.’