Life Teen

[let_go_let_God]

Actually no. The priest from India was just visiting, and the priest from Ireland moved to Minnesota.

[stagefairy]

[quote]What happens when you have to go to normal Masses like the rest of us? Where the music can be insipid, the homily can totally irrelevant, and the whole thing sort of blah and you don't "get" anytrhing out of it?

I really worry about all the people who have outgrown the lifeteen program. Are they going to stay Catholic or are they so addicted to the "feel" of lifeteen Masses they leave the Church for the new generic christian feel-good services?

Many Generic christians go to church because it feels good, its not a Sunday obligation to them. Catholics go to Mass because if you don't you have committed a mortal sin. So on any given Sunday, you will find some Catholics at Mass not because they are happy to be there, but because it is an obligation and an act of will. They are obedient even when they don't feel good about it.

Everyone goes thru spiritual dryness, sometimes for years. Mother Teresa went thru it for 20 -3- YEARS when she got NO spiritual consolations at all.

Are kids who have gone thru the Lifeteen feel goodies going to be able to exercise their Catholic will when its not fun anymore?[/quote]


I was on the core team for a year at my parish which has lifeteeen (before I had my baby). In general I feel like the lifeteen program is an excellent one, aside from the abuses in the mass. Our group gathered the teens around the altar (I never agreed with it, but I understand their reasoning was that somehow it was allowed ti bring children around the altar... not sure what that is based on!) and had the 'mass never ends', but the creed was the normal one.
But to answer your question, I sometimes wondered about that myself. How some of these teens who have no prior experience with Catholicism or Christianity come in through the program and then get involved and excited, but never experience the day to day of Catholic living and 'normal' masses. I think it depends on the individual teen. I know their is a small handful of teens from our parish that come to daily mass when they are out of school and sometimes I see them at adoration too. So, it's hard to say. Would they be there at all without the lifeteen program? I know it definitely creates a sense of community and the teachings are focused around the Eucharist.
I think a lot of the program depends on the youth minister and core team too. We have an incredibly active and large core team. Our parish is somewhat unusual because we had N.E.T. (National Evangilization Teams) live here for a year to start and implement the program into our parish and that meant six young people working full time for a year to get the program going strong. Now it is thriving and one of the most active in Canada (so I hear). I think with the end to the abuses in mass and with lots of prayer support it has the potential to reach a lot of young hearts for Christ.

[tennisleto87]

My parish had a life teen and it did not go over too well and we are currently trying to rebuild our youth groups altogether. I do remember once when i was in third or fourth grade being invited by one of our priest to go sit on the steps behind him as he did the concecration. It was just a cool experience bein soo close and surrounded by other kids who were experienceing the same things i did. It brings the sense of community and the fact that we are all gathered to partake in this meal together, that we are one body in Christ !!!!
Pax et amoris Christi
Kristen

[tennisleto87]

[quote name='*teen4Christ*' date='Jul 31 2004, 09:45 PM'] our priest is like from japan or something he is really hard to understand so everytime he does a homily I dont know what he is talking about! [/quote]
We have a priest from Africa and he is very hard to understand especially when he gets on a roll and starts talkin fast but he is the nicest guy I've ever met. It takes alot to come to America in a culture and civilization strange to him and learn one of the hardest language to learn in the world. And then on top of that he has also learned spanish so he now speaks three or four different languages !!!!!! Wow talk about inspiring !!!!
Pax et amoris Christi
Kristen

[GodsThespianChic]

[quote name='dUSt' date='Jul 2 2004, 08:18 PM'] Lifeteen, if taken as a whole, is a good program. I say this because of the focus on Christ's Real Presence in the Eucharist. Most of the kids that I see come out of the Lifeteen program have a true devotion to the Eucharist, which is awesome.

It does have problems though, and some of them are major. In all the Lifeteen masses I've been to or heard about, they [b]do[/b] change the mass (the Lifeteen website encourages the teens to gather around the altar), and I haven't seen anything from Rome that approves this. You'd think that if the approval existed, it'd be available for view on the Lifeteen website. They change the words of the dismissal prayer from "the mass has ended" to "the mass never ends"--again, without approval from Rome. This should not be taken lightly. The mass is universal, so when different groups start changing little things here and there, they are in essence destroying that universal unity.

If you do become involved in Lifeteen, I hope that you'll be able to encourage your parish to put an end to any liturgical abuse aspects of it, because like I said, the rest of the program is completely awesome.

Like all programs in the Church, I pray that Lifeteen will conform 100% to orthodoxy, because with orthodoxy, it has the potential to be more powerful than it is now. [/quote]
I haven't read the rest of the 3 pages of posts, so i don't know if someone already talked about this...

Starting in October, we are no longer allowed to stand around the altar, and cannot say that the mass never ends. We are to go to the way normal mass does it to be recognized by the Vatican.

[GodsThespianChic]

[quote name='cmotherofpirl' date='Jul 26 2004, 07:52 AM'] For all you lovers of Lifeteen I have a question.

What happens when you have to go to normal Masses like the rest of us? Where the music can be insipid, the homily can totally irrelevant, and the whole thing sort of blah and you don't "get" anytrhing out of it?

I really worry about all the people who have outgrown the lifeteen program. Are they going to stay Catholic or are they so addicted to the "feel" of lifeteen Masses they leave the Church for the new generic christian feel-good services?

Many Generic christians go to church because it feels good, its not a Sunday obligation to them. Catholics go to Mass because if you don't you have committed a mortal sin. So on any given Sunday, you will find some Catholics at Mass not because they are happy to be there, but because it is an obligation and an act of will. They are obedient even when they don't feel good about it.

Everyone goes thru spiritual dryness, sometimes for years. Mother Teresa went thru it for 20 -3- YEARS when she got NO spiritual consolations at all.

Are kids who have gone thru the Lifeteen feel goodies going to be able to exercise their Catholic will when its not fun anymore? [/quote]
I've been through that cmom, and it was a horrible feeling. For a while, and sometimes still, I don't feel anything, but I'm still always at mass BECAUSE God wants me there, whether I want to be there or not.

[stagefairy]

[quote]It'll be 2 years August 17th.  Its funny, it feels like we've been married forever but at the same time it doesn't feel like its been as long as 2 years. lo[/quote]

Hmm. I always wondered if that would happen. Good for you for going anyway! Christ is there!