Speaking Of Teens and Church...

In the midst of the debate flying around blogdom about LifeTeen, Liturgy and Teens, I had an extraordinary experience last evening.

I'm not sure if this is happening across the country, or in my own little corner of the world. We live in Dutch Protestant country, where there is a "Reformed" or "Weslyan" church on every other street. The teens I have been working with are very very interested to "know more". Maybe it's because their friends are all asking them questions, or maybe this parish has done a find job of raising them. I think it's a little of both.

We confirm in 10th grade, then invite them back for a 11th and 12th grade Bible Study. There they touch on subjects, but many of them really want deeper answers, so we are creating a counterpart to the Bible Study for next year.

To iron things out, I invited this years' seniors to the "Faith Study", our first one being last evening.

What a joy it was! We began with the Eucharist and went through points of where Jesus spoke figueratively and compared that with places he chose to speak literally. They were so excited to finally have answers for their Protestant friends-right in Scripture! It was a joy to me to see them so excited to find answers to their questions!

I am excited that we are having to create "programming" if you will, for those kids who want much more. To God be the Glory!

PS We are using Jim Burnham and Steve Woods' book: Beginning Apologetics from San Juan Catholic Seminars.