5 reasons to stay with your Catholic youth group

Since the school year is now in full swing I know that I am not the only youth minister in the valley starting up their programs and vying for the attention of every middle and high school that regularly attends my church, and even a few that don’t. There are lots of youth group programs out there and I will be honest, many of them are more fun than mine. However, here are 5 things you won’t find anywhere else and they are all reasons you should ditch out on any non-Catholic programs that you may be contemplating making a commitment to. So, without any more jibber jabber on my part, here we go.

1.       The Bible. When we break out the Bible at youth group, we break out the WHOLE Bible, not an edited down version from 1500’s. An often overlooked fact is that without the Catholic Church there wouldn’t even be a Bible. Not only did we write all the books in the New Testament, it was Catholic councils that prayed about and decided (with the guidance of the Holy Spirit) which books the New Testament should include.  These were the same councils that decided that the Bible should include the entire Septuagint (the Greek translation of the ancient Hebrew Scriptures). It wasn’t until the 1500’s that anyone figured that the Bible needed to be changed and started to thin out the ranks of Old Testament Cannon (and tried to thin the New Testament as well). If you are not using a Catholic edition of the Bible, chances are you are missing 7 sacred books inspired by the Holy Spirit and designed for your sanctification.

2.         Apostolic Authority. When Jesus changed Simon’s name to Peter (which means rock) and told him that he was going to build His Church on him, we take Him at His word. He gave Peter the keys to the kingdom and the power to bind and loose sin. If someone asks you where the Catholic Church gets the authority to put together the Bible, this is it. It didn’t end with the Bible either.  The teaching authority of the Church is called the magesterium and it still exists today. As Catholics we are not solely dependent on the Bible to know the mind and will of God. When the Catholic Church speaks in matters of faith and morals, she speaks on behalf of the Almighty. This authority does not extend to the age old question of whether bacon or sausage goes better with your eggs in the morning. If it did it would be bacon.

3.       One word, Eucharist! No matter where I go or what I do this one takes the cake in many ways. While many of our Protestant brothers and sister have some type of last supper  memorial service, none of them have the real deal of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. Think about it, you get to EAT JESUS! You get to take the flesh of God into your body as food. Your stomach then breaks it down and transfers it to every living cell in your body. How much more intimate can you be with the savior of the universe?

4.       Original Christians. If you have ever tried to keep track of what denomination believes what in Christianity, just give it up. Everybody is a break off from Catholicism from one point in history or another.  While many churches have excellent preachers, I don’t think that Jesus waited until the 1970’s to unfold the “real Christianity” to mankind.  Not only that, but the Catholic Church has never changed a single Doctrine of the faith. 0. None. If you want to believe what the early Christians believed and learn about it in youth group, this is the place.

5.       Liturgy.  Worship of God is way more than just singing David Crowder Band or Chris Tomlin songs for an hour (or even Matt Maher). The Sunday Mass especially is, without a doubt, the most amazing event you are going to attend in a given week. Even if it doesn’t feel like it. It is a brief recap of salvation history and it ends with us being transported back in time to participate at the original last supper with Jesus and the twelve.  We are there at the table, and we are there at the Cross. We don’t just remember it, we quite literally live it. I get goose bumps just thinking about it. More than a few Protestants have converted to Catholicism because they wanted to worship in the same way the first and second century Christians did. The Mass is not a new thing and now we are getting a new translation so our spoken language will be truer to the ancient Latin. texts How cool is that?

Now I could have gone more in depth into these 5 reasons, but this is a brief over view for you.  If you walk away from the Catholic Church to find go sing Chris Tomlin songs for an hour and think that is all there is to worship, you are mistaken. In spite of all the flaws we experience as Catholics, we must remember that those flaws are human in origin, and no human is perfect. Only the Catholic Church is perfect because she is a divine institution, not a man made one. All the Jonny-come-lately versions of Christianity are going to let you down in the long run because at some point they sacrificed a part of what Christ gave us, and they don’t even know it. So hold on to your Catholic youth group, and hold on to Christ, because He is already holding on to you.

Updating our views on sexuality

Before one can update one’s beliefs on human sexuality, one must first understand where we are from. This is not about homosexuality, it is about contraception specifically the pill. Many people who consider themselves good Catholics have no idea about what the Church’s official stance is on the Pill, and are therefore are unable to ask for an update. The stance is this, quoting the Catechism of the Catholic Church 2370

“every action which, whether in anticipation of the conjugal act, or in its accomplishment, or in the development of its natural consequences, proposes, whether as an end or as a means, to render procreation impossible  is intrinsically evil” 

So there we go. The Church says that contraception in general is a sin, and a big one at that. However, if we are going to update our views on the Pill, we need to move beyond just the Catechism. We need to actually look at the Pill in real life.  The Pill came about during the sexual revolution to set women free from the blessings of motherhood, and it has preformed just as admirably as promised. As we update our views on sexuality it is good for us to remember that before artificial contraception came on the scene the divorce rate was well below 15% and up until the 1930’s all Christian denominations agreed that it was sinful. The divorce rate has since skyrocketed to above 50% (with many couples just forgoing marriage altogether) and the Catholics are one of the only holdouts left. Incidentally, the divorce rate for couples who use NFP (Natural Family Planning) is around 5%, give or take.  Why? What is it that makes all the difference? I can only speak from my own experience here and give the 2 reasons that my wife and I have chosen NFP. The first is that I find the Pill insulting to men. Sure, it objectifies women, but what about men? I see the Pill as an excuse to treat men like nothing more than animals. I could not bear to keep my wife drugged up just so I could have sex with her whenever I wanted without ever having to stop and think about the repercussions it might have on my family. In fact the whole idea of keeping someone on drugs so you can have sex sounds like the plot from a bad horror movie. NFP is extremely accurate (when done correctly) on predicting fertility in women, and so if we are not ready for the next mini Chase, we simply stop at the snuggle line. I am not a dog. I do not like society telling me that I am a dog and completely unable to control my sex drive.  The Pill is an insult to an authentic manhood.  The second reason we don’t let the Pill into our house is the fact that it causes cancer. That’s right CANCER!!!  As in it will do its best to kill you. Ladies, did you know that you are 4 times more likely to get breast cancer if you are on the Pill than those who aren’t?  Since 1 in 8 women in this country get breast cancer, I want to do my best to protect my wife from these rather gloomy odds. As a loving husband I don’t see how there is any way I can reasonably allow my wife to take a drug that makes her 4 times as likely to get a life threatening disease, just because we want to have more sex.   Many people who disagree with the Church’s condemnation of birth control are unaware of these facts. They make it sound like the Catholic Church hates sex or marriage. These statistics seem to show quite the opposite. God loves marriage and He loves us. He loves us so much that He doesn’t want to see us experience the heartache of divorce or the pain of cancer. He loves us enough to challenge men to be men and not beasts. In the end, God loves us enough to ask us to update our beliefs on sex and marriage to be more like His. Do we love Him enough in return to listen?