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I'm just a guy trying to trust in God and be the best I can be for God and others, then myself.

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Need Prayers and Guidance from the Holy Spirit

My middle school youth group was going pretty well. I shared the story of the most recent eucharistic miracle and a decent discussion followed. For a group of middle schoolers this group I have wears me out every week. I wasn't prepared for what happened at the end of our discussion though.
A hand shoots up, with only 5 minutes left until I had to start greeting high schoolers as they were supposed to be coming in. For the next 8 minutes I felt like I was taking body shots and blows to the head.

"Why does the church hate gay people?" was the question I got. It wasn't asked in a nice way... there was a good deal of attitude and general middle school snarkyness in the question.

I didn't have a good feeling about what was about to happen but I tried to do my best. What followed was a glimpse into the understanding of our modern day middle school kids. It was clear right away that the current societal view of "do whatever makes you happy and feels good" dominates their understanding. Politics came up, gay marriage and dating... it wouldn't end. The questions eventually stopped and blatant statements beginning with "I don't think the Church..." started flowing and all I could do was... I don't know.

It came down to "well, this is something we can talk about next week" and we left it at that.

So what do I do now? I have a week to come up with a way to try to help my youth understand one of the most misunderstood teachings of the Catholic Church.

I need a lot of prayers.


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  1. EMRFebruary 17, 2014 at 9:25 AM

    CCC 2357 - 2359 pretty well covers the whole "Church doesn't hate gay people" thing. You might find the beginning chapters of Theology of the Body helpful in terms of explaining the origin and purpose of marriage/dating.

    As to the opposition of secular gay marriage/civil unions, I tend to get a little tongue-tied around that one, too. You could discuss the duty to avoid scandal and to avoid encouraging others to sin.

    I think it was St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas who discussed the extent to which one has a duty to "legislate" morality, and how it is necessary if it harms the public. You might want to look into some of their writings -- I have always been meaning to do so, myself. Of course, I think your middle schoolers will make it difficult for you if you delve too deeply into the idea that gay marriage hurts society. I feel that saying a child needs both a mother and a father is walking into trap, considering how many single-parent households there are.

    You probably already thought of all of this. In that case, all I can say is good luck.

    Elizabeth

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