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EPISODE #310
EMPOWERED BY THE SPIRIT: TEENS AND YOUNG ADULTS

On this podcast, Deacon Steve Greco welcomes first-time guest, Chris Morris to the program. Chris is fully engaged in helping to lead the RCIA program at Holy Family Church in the City of Orange. He’s also teaming up with Steubenville University (OH) to help facilitate their Franciscan Parish Mission program to local parishes.

Listen as Chris shares the unique and subtle ways he has ministered alongside youth and young adults over the years. You will no doubt be inspired by these powerful testimonies of faith!

 

 

 

Originally broadcast on 6/26/22

TEENS DESERVE BETTER THAN PLANNED PARENTHOOD IN LA SCHOOLS, CRITICS SAY

Los Angeles, Calif., Dec 18, 2019 / 12:47 am (CNA) – As Planned Parenthood prepares to open as many as 50 centers in Los Angeles public high schools, critics are warning that the organization will not help teens receive the formation they need for practicing virtue and building successful relationships.

Kathleen Domingo, senior director at the Archdiocese of Los Angeles’ Office of Life, Justice and Peace, is not confident the health centers will encourage students who are seeking alternatives to sexual activity, contraception, and abortion.

If young women say they are not prepared for current dating and hookup culture and want to step back, Domingo told CNA Dec. 12, “those choices are not generally supported by Planned Parenthood in their materials and resources.”

She had her own advice for high school students: “Seek out those people in your life who are living out the kind of life you want to live, and find out how they are living a life of virtue.”

If a student feels that the school environment is pushing them in a particular direction, he or she should “follow your conscience, and follow what you know God is asking you to do.”

“We will be there to provide you support for those good choices,” Domingo said, encouraging youth to seek out positive resources in the parish, youth ministry, and archdiocese.

The new LA plan provides for “wellbeing centers” in local public high schools. The centers will each be run by two public health officials trained by Planned Parenthood and will offer education and counseling five days a week. Their work will include in-classroom activities.

One day a week, Planned Parenthood clinicians will provide services including birth control, testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections, and pregnancy testing. The clinics will not offer abortions, but will have “pregnancy options counseling.” Students may make appointments at the in-school centers and may leave class for them. They may also walk-in for services.

The three-year funding plan for the project includes $10 million from Los Angeles county and $6 million from Planned Parenthood to cover 75,000 students at 50 schools, the Washington Post reports. Los Angeles’ regular Planned Parenthood clinics had more than 250,000 patient visits in 2018.

The schools are selected because they are low-income and lack similar centers nearby. Five wellbeing centers have already opened in the district high schools.

Planned Parenthood also intends to train hundreds of teen “peer advocates” to provide information about safe sex and relationships to high school students.

Backers of the project say it is necessary to address an alarming rise in sexually transmitted diseases among young people aged 15 to 24.

Alexis McGill Johnson, interim president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said young people deserve to have “the education, resources, and skills they need to make informed decisions about their health, their relationships, and their futures.”

Sue Dunlap, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Los Angeles, said the program will help address mental and behavioral health issues, substance use, and “lack of knowledge around sexual health” that can “create barriers to academic success.”

However, Sister Paula Vandegaer, S.S.S., a licensed clinical social worker who has counseled women for about 40 years, disagreed that the sex education offered by Planned Parenthood is forming teens for success.

Vandegaer is the founder of Volunteers for Life, a Los Angeles-based organization that describes itself as a “pro-life volunteer corps.” Its work includes counseling and support for women in crisis pregnancies and work with unwed mothers.

She suggested that teens need help to pursue important questions about their lives. Education must be about more than “do what you want” or “follow your feelings,” she said.

“What are my ideals? Who do I want to be? Who do I want to be like? What are my values? What do I stand for? These are the questions that young people should be able to shape and form,” she told CNA. “This is what I don’t think Planned Parenthood forms.”

Citing her experience in marital counseling, Vandegaer warned that helping teens learn self-discipline in sexual matters and relationships is vital for future relationships and marriage.

Vandegaer is not confident the Planned Parenthood centers will support pregnant teens. Planned Parenthood is the largest performers of abortions in the United States. In 2016, the organization performed about one out of every three abortions.

“They will be offered abortions,” she said. “I don’t think they will receive adequate pregnancy counseling like we do in the pro-life pregnancy centers.”

“Pregnancy centers have time to talk with the girls through alternatives, help her to calm her fears, help her to know what her own values are, help her to promote good values, confidence in herself as a mother, help her to be a good mother,” she continued. “There’s ongoing counseling and ongoing help for the girl: financial and educational and emotional and physical.”

Such support is not going to happen in the school-based Planned Parenthood health centers, she suggested. There, a pregnant teen “won’t have adequate knowledge of what she can do if she has her baby and the help that’s available to her.”

Vandegaer told CNA that the California ban on “abstinence-only” education ends up promoting “abortion and contraceptives as the answer to teenage pregnancy.”

Los Angeles public schools are already offering abortion referrals. Domingo noted that while Planned Parenthood says its school centers won’t offer abortions, this likely does not acknowledge the properties of some drugs like Plan B that can cause abortions.

She also questioned whether separating students’ health and sexual education from the context of their families is in their best interests.

“We have traditionally felt that parents know their children best and advocate for their child’s health and safety,” she said.

California law allows minors to consent to receiving birth control or mental health counseling. Health care providers are not allowed to inform parents without the minors’ permission.

Domingo pointed to alternatives like the Culture Project, which has worked in the Los Angeles archdiocese for the last five years to send young adult missionaries to Catholic schools and parishes to work with students in religious education.

“It’s really a very different message,” Domingo said. “It’s the message of human dignity, understanding yourself, understanding the gift that you are, understanding the gift of your life and the gift of body, and understanding the integrity of that: what it all means, what it’s all for, and how to respect that in context.”

“That’s a much better message than one that parcels out a piece of you and says ‘we can fix this for you, we can solve this’ but doesn’t address the larger issue.”

Domingo believes the program is part of Planned Parenthood’s strategy to reach younger and younger populations.

“There’s a real sense within the organization that the support the organization used to have from teens and young adults is just not there anymore,” she said. “They’re being very aggressive in going after supporters.”

“Are they looking to provide services? Sure. But I think they’re also doing more than that. I think it’s a marketing strategy to look for lifetime support from a new generation of young people,” said Domingo.

In the past decade, Planned Parenthood has seen its number of patients decline. The number of cancer screenings, contraceptives distributed, and prenatal services provided by the organization decreased as well.

Its number of abortions, however, have increased by about 10% since 2006, despite seeing fewer patients.

Cuts in taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood and abortion restrictions in dozens of states across the country have put the organization on the defensive. The Trump administration has also instituted rules that meant the organization lost about $60 million in federal funds.

Planned Parenthood has also faced increased scrutiny following the release of a series of undercover videos in 2015 in which executives at the organization appear to be discussing the transfer of body parts from aborted babies for money, a practice that would violate federal law.

The Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s most recent president, Dr. Leanna Wen, M.D., resigned in July. She said she was forced out after only eight months in her role because she had wanted the organization to focus on health care, while others in leadership positions insisted that abortion advocacy in the political sphere was central to the organization’s purpose.

TEENS, YOU CAN BE SAINTS, TOO

Do you ever wonder what God wants out of your life? Why did he create you? 

Los Angeles Archbishop Jose H. Gomez recently wrote, “We are all born to be saints.” 

Yet, we might be reluctant to believe this because of misconceptions of what it means to be a saint. 

“Saints are not ‘extraordinary’ people — they are not like ‘extraterrestrials’ who come down to earth,” Archbishop Gomez said. “Too many people think like that — and it gets in the way of helping them to see what God wants with our lives.” 

I have been reading “Ablaze: Stories of Daring Teen Saints,” where author Colleen Swaim examines the lives of eight young men and women who were on fire with the Holy Spirit. The story of Blessed Chiara “Luce” Badano caught my attention. 

Chiara was born on Oct. 29, 1971, in a mountain town near Savona, Italy. Her parents, Ruggero and Maria Theresa, prayed for 11 years to have a child. 

Chiara liked to sing, dance and play tennis. But she knew from an early age that God was always present. 

Growing up, her parents showed her love and the Catholic faith. Following Jesus gave her life meaning. When she was 9 years old, she became involved with Focolare, a Gospel-based international movement recognized by the Catholic Church. At 12, she wrote to Focolare’s founder saying, “I must learn to trust Jesus more, to believe in his immense love.” 

Chiara was full of life and had a generous and lively personality. She experienced some hardships, like moving to a different city, teasing from classmates and even failing some classes at school. 

Yet she performed little acts of love. She tried to go to Mass and visit the elderly often. Later, she spent nights by the bedside of her grandparents to take care of them. 

In the summer of 1988, Chiara felt an acute pain in her arm. The doctor’s diagnosis was osteogenic sarcoma, a type of bone cancer. 

The surgeries and treatment were painful, but she offered them to God: “For you, Jesus, if you want it, I want it too!” 

Even when in pain, Chiara brought God’s message to others. She often took long walks with a patient who was suffering from depression, when Chiara should have been resting. 

“She constantly tried to keep the focus off herself by thinking of others, even in the midst of her suffering,” Swaim said. At one point, she donated her birthday money to a friend heading to Benin in West Africa to dig wells for clean water. 

Chiara’s happiness was contagious. At the hospital, she ministered to other patients, and encouraged and consoled her parents and friends. 

“What makes the difference is that saints really believe that they are children of God,” Archbishop Gomez said. “They really believe that God made them for a reason, for a relationship.” 

The cancer spread, but Chiara tried her best to live a normal and happy life. Even when she lost the use of her legs, she did not complain. She said: “I have nothing left, but I still have my heart, and with that I can always love.” 

On Oct. 7, 1990, Chiara died at home. She was 18. But her story continued. People became so inspired by the life and holiness of this ordinary teen that her bishop opened the cause for her sainthood. She was beatified in September 2010. 

As the Focolare movement said, the 25,000 young people from 57 countries who attended her beatification demonstrate that “Chiara Luce Badano has given witness to a model of holiness that can be lived by everyone.”  

LET JESUS BE ‘YOUR TEACHER, YOUR LIFE COACH,’ ARCHBISHOP URGES TEENS

LOS ANGELES (CNS) — Archbishop Jose H. Gomez of Los Angeles told 1,600 Catholic teens gathered for the “City of Saints” conference that their faith and love for Jesus was an inspiration. 

“Your desire to live your faith and share your faith — it is so beautiful to witness. And it is so inspiring,” he said in an Aug. 5 homily at the University of California at Los Angeles. 

The archbishop and the Office of Religious Education of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles hosted the third annual “City of Saints” conference for teens, offering them an encounter with Christ through fellowship, praise and worship. 

Teenagers attended from 80 parishes and schools throughout Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties, the three counties that make up the archdiocese. 

The Aug. 4-6 event featured speakers as well as music with contemporary Catholic-Christian band WAL. 

Attendees had an opportunity to participate in facilitated group time and the sacrament of reconciliation. Archbishop Gomez celebrated an afternoon Mass Aug. 4 to welcome the teens, then led them in an outdoor eucharistic procession to open a area designated as “Sacred Space,” where spiritual directors described different paths of prayer for the weekend.. 

“I want to say, as we heard St. Peter say in the Gospel passage tonight — ‘It is good that we are here, Lord!’ Thanks be to God!” the archbishop said in his homily at the Aug. 5 Mass closing the full day of the conference. 

“Our Gospel tonight, leads us up the high mountain — the mountain of God,” he continued. “It is almost like we are chosen witnesses to go up with Jesus. Just as he chose the three apostles to go with him in the Gospel — St. Peter, St. James and St. John.” 

“We have the privilege tonight in this Gospel to see what they saw, to hear what they heard — the ‘transfiguration’ of our Lord Jesus Christ,” Archbishop Gomez said. 

That scene was amazing, he said, with the face of Jesus “shining like the sun,” his clothes turning into “white light,” and the prophets Moses and Elijah appearing “out of nowhere.” 

Imagining what they saw “reminds us that our lives are part of a great mystery — a cosmic reality — the loving plan of the living God. My young friends, you and me, we are ‘part of the plan,'” the archbishop told the teens. 

“The purpose of our lives is to be transformed and transfigured. To become more like Jesus every day of our lives. Until one day we will shine like the sun — just we saw his face shine like the sun in the Gospel today,” Archbishop Gomez explained. “This is God’s plan for your lives — to be his sons and daughters. Just as Jesus was his beloved Son.” 

“Jesus is the answer” as to how to do this, he said. “Listen to him! This is the best advice you will ever receive, because it comes from God himself. Let Jesus be your teacher — your ‘life coach,’ your ‘personal trainer.’ Enter into his plan for your life. It is a plan of love, a plan that will lead you to happiness.” 

Archbishop Gomez told the teens about two practical things in his life that he said have helped him listen to Jesus — prayer and reading the Gospels. He urged them to make those two things a habit in their own lives. 

He suggested they download a Bible app onto their smartphones, so “you will have the Gospels with you everywhere you go.” 

“When you get a minute, you can read a passage from the Gospel,” Archbishop Gomez said. “It is way better than checking your Instagram feed.” 

And “it is true that you can follow me on Instagram, so you should check that out, too!” he added. 

“The more we pray, the easier it becomes to open our hearts to God,” Archbishop Gomez said. “The more we reflect on the Gospels — the more we begin to see Jesus alive and working in our lives and in the world.” 

“The more we try to listen to Jesus, the easier it becomes to hear him,” he said. “The more we want to be with him — in the Eucharist, in the sacrament of reconciliation.” 

By following these practices, Archbishop Gomez said, “slowly, we have a ‘transfiguration’ in our lives. That is how it works.” 

 

U.S. TEENS SAY FAITH STRENGTHENED AT YOUTH CELEBRATION IN ROME

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Sharing and celebrating the joy of faith with thousands of Catholic teenagers from around the globe was a rare moment that not many people are able to experience, a U.S. teen said.

“It was a different atmosphere than what I’m used to, but it’s good because it shows that the beauty of the Catholic Church is there,” Emily Sullivan told Catholic News Service April 25.

Emily, her brother Ryan and parents Matt and Susan, came from North Carolina to participate in the Year of Mercy celebration for young teens April 23-24 in Rome.

Both siblings, who are preparing to receive the sacrament of confirmation, said that despite the language barrier, they were able to join in singing and praying during the April 23 youth rally at Rome’s Olympic Stadium.

“It was awesome; the energy was insane,” Emily said. “The people knew all the lyrics and they were jamming out. So we came up with a couple of words that we could sing along. It was really cool to be in that atmosphere.”

To see so many Catholic teens in one place was “definitely encouraging,” she added.

For Ryan, attending the April 24 Mass in St. Peter’s Square was the highlight of his pilgrimage. “It was great seeing the pope,” and “meeting other people and seeing the city” was “all good,” he told CNS.

“We will make our confirmation in two weeks so it was definitely great to see the history of the church and (meet) other people who are Catholic because where we live, there’s not as big of a following,” Emily said.

In his homily, Pope Francis told the more than 100,000 teens present that happiness “is not an ‘app’ that you can download on your phones” and that love leads to true freedom, which is a gift that comes from “being able to choose good.”

The pope’s message, Emily said, encouraged people “to go back to the church at the end of the day, not your phone.”

Their mother Susan told CNS she hopes that attending the jubilee event will give her children a “fuller and richer experience” as they prepare to receive confirmation in two weeks.

“It was really important for me and for them to have this experience,” she said. “To be that close (to Pope Francis) as he was celebrating Mass was truly, I hope, a life-changing experience for them that reaffirms their faith.”

 

THOUSANDS OF TEENS GATHER TO HEAR POPE IN ST. PETER’S SQUARE

Some 70,000 teenagers participated in a Mass in St. Peter’s Square, celebrating the Jubilee Year of Mercy.

In his homily, the Pope drew them to the way of happiness as he told them it consists of learning how to love.

Genuine love, he said, is a love that shines forth in their way of life.

“Don’t be content with mediocrity,” the pope said, urging the teens to strive for the real treasure that is a life with Christ.

POPE TO TEENS: DON’T FALL FOR HATE, FEARMONGERS; FIND NICE FRIENDS

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Don’t fall for hate and fearmongering from others; make new friends instead and always help and show concern for others, Pope Francis told the world’s teens.

“Be brave and go against the tide, be friends of Jesus, who is the prince of peace,” he said in a written message for the Jubilee of Mercy for Young People, scheduled to be celebrated in Rome and dioceses around the world April 23-25.

In his written message, released by the Vatican Jan. 14, the pope said the Year of Mercy is open to everyone so they may experience “a time of grace, peace, conversion and joy.”

 

CLICK HERE TO READ THE POPE’S JUBILEE MESSAGE TO TEENS

 

God invites everyone, he said, because “there are no walls or distances which can prevent the father’s mercy from reaching and embracing us.”

While three days in April have been set aside for those between 13 and 16 years of age, every day of the jubilee year marks “a chance for us to grow in holiness.”

It is also a time to realize “that life together as brothers and sisters is like a great party, perhaps the most beautiful party we can imagine, the endless party that Jesus has taught us to celebrate by his Spirit.”

However, the pope said, “I cannot forget those of you who are living in situations of war, extreme poverty, daily troubles and loneliness. Don’t ever lose hope! The Lord has a great dream which, with your help, he wants to come true.”

Other young people around the world have not forgotten about those who are less fortunate and they “are working for peace and justice for everyone everywhere,” he said.

“Don’t be taken in by the messages of hatred or terror all around us. Instead, make new friends. Give of your time and always show concern for those who ask your help,” he said.

Pope Francis reminded young people that preparing for a pilgrimage or jubilee celebration didn’t just mean getting backpacks and banners ready, “but your hearts and minds as well.”

He urged them to grow closer to Jesus and draw nourishment from the sacraments. Becoming more merciful during the Year of Mercy means not only growing “in a love which is courageous, generous and real,” it is means greater spiritual growth, too.

“You are preparing to be Christians capable of making courageous decisions in order to build daily, even through little things, a world of peace,” he said.

 

SURVEY: TEENS AVERAGE ALMOST 9 HOURS OF MEDIA A DAY, ‘TWEENS’ NEARLY 6

WASHINGTON (CNS) — A new study on media usage by children ages 8-18 shows that teenagers ages 13-18 use media an average of nearly nine hours a day. And “tweens,” children ages 8-12, use close to six hours a day on average.

The numbers are only averages. Some children use media less, while others use media more. Teens described as “light users” in the survey averaged 3 hours: 40 minutes while those called “heavy viewers” rang up an astounding 16:26 — more than two-thirds of a 24-hour day — on average with media. Among tweens, the light users averaged 2:16 while a group dubbed “social networkers” topped out at 9:59 on average, considerably more than the heavy viewers’ average of 7:15.

The study, issued Nov. 4 by Common Sense Media, a children’s advocacy organization with offices in Washington, New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco, is a follow-up of sorts to a 2013 study called “From Zero to Eight,” which reported on media usage by the nation’s youngest residents.

One difference between “From Zero to Eight” and “The Common Sense Census: Media Use by Tweens and Teens”: While parents answered questions in the former, it was the teen and tween users themselves who answered online survey questions for “The Common Sense Census.” In all, 2,658 children completed the online survey.

Vicky Rideout, who designed the survey and wrote the results for Common Sense, said at a Nov. 5 briefing at which the results were unveiled that the survey did not take into account how much time with media was spent at school, where school districts have been joining the tech revolution and where students may be asked to read.

Rideout added there was no way to tell whether the time of amount teens and tweens spent “creating” online — typically the skinniest sliver on the pie-chart graphs that accompanied the study — came in the form of homework assignments. The survey said that, regardless of income level, teens will spend at least some time each week using the computer for homework, from 83 percent for teens in higher-income families to 66 percent for teens in lower-income households.

Children from minority groups, the study found, have less access to computers and smartphones, but those who do have them use them more than their white counterparts — more than 11 hours a day for African-American teens, for instance, compared to the 8:56 spent by teens overall.

Listening to music is still the favorite activity of children across in all age groups, although teen boys rank playing video games tops. TV watching jostles with listening to music as the top activity children enjoy “a lot” or say they do every day, and at least half of all children still watch TV live as it’s being broadcast.

Parents were not asked what they thought about their kids’ media use, but according to their kids, “more parents are concerned about the type of media content their children use than how much time they spend using it,” the report said. “Just over half — 53 percent — say their parents have spoken with them about how much time they can spend using media.” Healthier majorities report parents talking with them about staying safe online, when they can use media, the types of media they can use, and being responsible and respectful online.

Nearly two-thirds of teens and 84 percent of tweens said their parents have spoken with them about the content of the media they use. However, “25 percent of teens who go online say their parents know only ‘a little’ or ‘nothing’ about what they do or say online, and 30 percent say the same about the social media they use,” the study said.

All this time spent with media does not seem to have a negative impact on kids’ levels of physical activity. Roughly a third of all children say they are physically active every day, with another 40 percent-plus saying they’re active a few times a week. The average amount of time among those who say they are active clocks in at close to 90 minutes for both tween and tweens. Among all teens, the average time spent in physical activity is at least an hour a day.

“This study is a game-changer,” said Ellen Wartella, director of the Center on Media and Human Development at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. “Technology and media is now like the air that kids breathe. It is part and parcel of what they do.”