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.
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