2018 HORIZON, Number 1, Winter

Winter 2018 www.nrvc.net | Volume 43, Number 1

Talking with young people 3

Conversing with young adult volunteers

By Sister Donna Del Santo, S.S.J.

15 Talking to groups:

four secrets to great presentations

By Steve Hegele

8

Talking about and inviting to brotherhood

By Brother Herman Johnson, O.P.

19 Talking with video

By Carol Schuck Scheiber

20 Healthy transitions

By Father Rocco Puopolo, S.X.

11 How we talk about brotherhood

By HORIZON readers 12

Talking to college students: two ways to build relationships

By Sister Paula Jameson, I.H.M. and Sister Regina Marie Fronmuller, O.S.U.

26

27

Spotting the original author Book notes Portrait of iGen delivers challenges

By Anna Ferguson Winter 2018 | HORIZON | 1

INSTITUTE of RELIGIOUS FORMATION Empowering formation leaders for a global Church The Institute of Religious Formation (IRF) at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago provides a unique, holistic formation program for diocesan and religious formation directors.

With 35 years of experience and more than 1,700 graduates, IRF is a trusted source in formation preparation.

Br. Paul Michalenko, ST 773.371.5403 or pmichalenko@ctu.edu ctu.edu/special-programs

Come relax, renew, and refresh your ministry with fellow pastoral ministers from around the world at CTU, located in the beatutiful Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago.

HESBURGH SABBATICAL PROGRAM A curriculum-based, community-centered sabbatical program For more details, visit: ctu.edu/special-programs Br. Paul Michalenko, ST 773.371.4043 or hesburgh@ctu.edu

Editor’s Note NRVC Executive Director Sister Sharon Dillon, S.S.J.-T.O.S.F. HORIZON Editor Carol Schuck Scheiber Proofreaders Sister Mary Ann Hamer, O.S.F.; Virginia Piecuch Editorial Advisory Board Margaret Cartwright; Father Thomas McCarthy, O.S.A.; Father Charles Johnson, O.P.; Sister Elaine Penrice, F.S.P.; Sister Elyse Ramirez, O.P.; Sister Mary Rowell, C.S.J.; Jennifer Tomshack Page Designer Patrice J. Tuohy © 2018, National Religious Vocation Conference.

HORIZON is published quarterly by TrueQuest Communications on behalf of the National Religious Vocation Conference, 5401 South Cornell Avenue, Suite 207, Chicago, IL 60615-5664.

773-363-5454 | nrvc@nrvc.net | nrvc.net Facebook: Horizon vocation journal Twitter: @HORIZONvocation SUBSCRIPTIONS Additional subscriptions are $50 each for NRVC members; $125 each for non-members. Single copies are $25 each. Subscribe online at www.nrvc.net/ signup_horizon. Please direct subscription inquiries to Marge Argyelan at the NRVC office at 773-363-5454 or margyelan@nrvc.net.

POSTMASTER Send address changes to HORIZON, 5401 S. Cornell Ave., Suite 207, Chicago, IL 60615-5664. Periodicals postage paid at Chicago, IL and Toledo, OH. ISSN 1042-8461, Pub. # 744-850.

REPRINTS, ARCHIVES, ELECTRONIC EDITIONS Permission is granted to distribute no more than 50 copies of HORIZON articles for noncommercial use. Please use the following credit line: Reprinted with permission from HORIZON, nrvc.net. For other types of reprints, please contact the editor at cscheiber@nrvc.net. HORIZON archives, including files for mobile readers, can be accessed by subscribers at nrvc.net.

EDITORIAL INQUIRIES & ADVERTISING All editorial inquiries should be directed to the editor: Carol Schuck Scheiber, cscheiber@nrvc.net. For advertising rates and deadlines, see nrvc.net or contact the editor.

Cover: Discipleship Week 2016. Courtesy of the Archdiocese of Boston

Let’s talk

H

AS ANYONE EVER recounted a conversation to you in which your words made a huge impression on them, but you don’t even remember the encounter? That has happened to me and plenty of people I know. We never know when the Holy Spirit might use our words for good.

But even when nothing memorable happens in an exchange, something important is still happening. We are building relationships. And relationships are at the core of vocation ministry. In this edition our writers look at many types and forms of conversations to probe what we’re saying, what our listeners need from us, how we can best communicate.

Sister Donna Del Santo, S.S.J., who has worked for many years with young adult volunteers, reminds us that helping people discover “what makes them come alive” is the core of vocation ministry. Brother Herman Johnson, O.P. urges us to explain what being a brother is and then ask young men to consider it. Two sisters who have founded programs that bring together religious and college students for meals celebrate the rich exchanges they’ve had. Other writers illuminate how we talk in presentations and video.

May this edition of HORIZON help you consider the conversations you’re having and guide you so that the Holy Spirit can use your words for good.

—Carol Schuck Scheiber, editor

HORIZON is an award-winning journal for vocation ministers and those who support a robust future for religious life. It is published quarterly by TrueQuest Communications on behalf of the National Religious Vocation Conference.

NATIONAL RELIGIOUS VOCATION CONFERENCE BOARD Father Toby Collins, C.R. Sister Gayle Lwanga Crumbley, R.G.S. Sister Sharon Dillon, S.S.J.-T.O.S.F., Executive director Sister Anna Marie Espinosa, I.W.B.S. Sister Virginia Herbers, A.S.C.J. Brother Ronald Hingle, S.C., Board chair

Father Charles Johnson, O.P. Sister Lisa Laguna, D.C. Father Adam MacDonald, S.V.D. Sister Kristin Matthes, S.N.D.deN. Sister Belinda Monahan, O.S.B. Sister Priscilla Moreno, R.S.M. Sister Anita Quigley, S.H.C.J.

Winter 2018 | HORIZON | 1

Updates Photo by Father Toby Collins, C.R.

from Pope Francis and included input from both vocational leaders and young religious. The conference highlighted many vocation ministry themes familiar to HORIZON readers, such as: encountering youth with an openness to where they are, cultivating and showing joy in one’s vocation, offering youth a personal experience of Christ, and encouraging a culture of vocations so that all people in the church are involved in vocation ministry.

Eleven communities receive debt relief

Religious from around the world took part in a Rome conference on vocations and consecrated life in December.

International conference on vocation and consecrated life gathers 800+ More than 800 religious from around the world took part in a gathering in Rome December 1-3 to prepare for the 2018 synod on “Young people, faith, and vocation discernment.” The gathering, “Vocation Ministry and Consecrated Life: Horizons and Hopes,” aimed to confront the challenges of vocation ministry and consider new possibilities, starting with current best practices.

The event was sponsored by the Congregation for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life (CICLSAL).

“A kindness and sincerity permeated the entire experience,” said the National Religious Vocation Conference executive director Sister Sharon Dillon, S.SJ.-T.O.S.F. “The deep joyfulness of each person present was held up as a key component in inviting youth and showing what religious life is and why it is so needed today.”

Dillon attended the conference for NRVC along with Father Toby Collins, C.R., NRVC board member, and Patrice Tuohy of NRVC’s communications firm, TrueQuest Communications.

The event opened with a greeting and reflection 2 | HORIZON | Winter 2018

The National Fund for Catholic Religious Vocations provided grants to 11 communities in 2017 and has opened up its 2018 application process until March 13.

Only members of the National Religious Vocation Conference may apply for grants to cover college loan costs for candidates. Guidelines are at nfcrv.org.

The religious institutes that received aid in 2017 were: Apostles of the Sacred Heart; Congregation of the Holy Spirit; Dominican Sisters of Houston; Franciscan Friars, Conventual; Poor Clare Nuns, Boston; Redemptorists, Denver Province; Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Immaculata, Pennsylvania; Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth, Kansas; Sisters of Christian Charity; Sisters of Providence, Saint Mary-of-the-Woods; and Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia.

Vocations Ireland releases research Recently released research commissioned by Vocations Ireland points to both challenges and possibilities for spreading a vocation culture in Ireland. The study reviewed the current church climate in Ireland and surveyed in writing and in interviews vocation directors for religious orders and young religious.

The study report noted steep declines in active Catholics and in respect toward the church because of sex abuse scandals and clericalism. At the same time, religious orders have opportunities to meet the spiritual needs of the secularized country, and the surveyed vocation directors remain hopeful. The full study is at vocationsireland.com/category/news. n Updates

Chris Kieffer, a volunteer with the Sisters of Saint Joseph Volunteer Corps, works with a student at Hope Hall.

Conversing with young adult volunteers

W

HEN THINKING ABOUT YOUNG VOLUNTEERS today, who they are and what impact faith has on their lives, a quote from theologian Howard Thurman comes to mind: “Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it.

Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”

I have found in these last 20-plus years that when I could help young people discover what they were made for, what made them come alive, they also discovered a deeper relationship with the world, God, and sometimes the church. My life has been graced to accompany both volunteers and women in discernment for religious life.

Soon after I made my first vows, I and another sister had the idea of creating the Sisters of Saint Joseph Volunteer Corps. We realized that many young people wanted to serve others while being a part of a supportive Del Santo | Young Adult Volunteers

Young people who give a year of service tend to be open to religious life. Who are these volunteers and where are they spiritually?

By Sister Donna Del Santo, S.S.J. Sister Donna Del Santo, S.S.J. has been a member of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Rochester, New York since 1992 and has served as her congregation’s director of vocations since 2003. In 1996 she began and continues to coordinate the Sisters of St. Joseph Volunteer Corps. Since its beginning the program has had more than 1,000 youth join the sisters from a weekend to a year. Contact Sister Donna at ddelsanto@ssjrochester.org.

Winter 2018 | HORIZON | 3

spiritual community. They wanted to make a real difference in the lives of others and, in the end, to make a real difference in their own lives, by discovering what made them come alive.

Since our beginnings in 1996, our community of four Sisters of St. Joseph, with the support of our congregation, has had over 1,000 teen, college, and post college volunteers live and serve with us. Some come for a weekend, some for a week, and since 2009, some come for a year or two! Their volunteering is done in the context of community, prayer, and theological reflection—all of this nested in a culture of vocation. We sisters hope to aid these young volunteers on their life’s journey and God quest. The stories of just a few of our volunteers give a glimpse of who our volunteers are, what our conversations with them are like, and the vocational impact that these service experiences have.

Kevin: experience with a ripple effect One of our first groups to come for an Alternate Spring Break (for 13 years) was from Carroll College in Helena, Montana. Many of those students stand out in my mind’s eye and in my heart. One student in particular is Kevin Jam. He came twice and served at Hope Hall both times at his request. Hope Hall is a school that serves children who learn differently, who do not thrive in a traditional school. Kevin discovered that he came alive while working with these students. He found that he could relate to them, support them, and empower them to be their best selves; all the while, the same thing was happening for Kevin.

After graduation he felt a call to priesthood and

Kevin Jam holds the Raymond G. Hunthausen Service Award he received from Carroll College in Helena, Montana.

he entered his local seminary. The seminary was not a good fit for him, however, and eventually he left. Yet, Kevin’s commitment to the church and her mission remained strong, which led him to secure a degree in theology from Creighton University and to become a campus minster and religion teacher in a Catholic high

school in the northwest.

One day I received a call from Kevin, who told me, “Sister Donna I have been searching for an experience for my students similar to the one I had with all of you. I just can’t locate anything that offers what I had, a diversity of ministries with prayer and reflection that included Catholic social teachings—and the opportunity to live in community with sisters. Can we come to you?”

“Of course!” I exclaimed. How could they not come?

He and his teens have now come for the last two years, an experience that has made my sisters and me feel a bit like grandmothers! As these young people come searching and desiring to experience a deeper relationship with God, this ministry invites each of us to discover what makes us come alive for the sake of the people of God.

Dannis: still building community MY VISION OF VOCATION MINISTRY When someone asks me what I do, I say I am helping to create a culture of vocation with a preferential option for the young. Or as one friend likes to say, I loiter with intent. This was the call to action from the Continental Congress on Vocations held in Montreal in 2002. This challenge continues to be vital in vocation ministry as my congregation and I help young people explore their lives through the lens of a call, and of a vocation—whether it be to marriage, the single life, or religious life. When we help form a young person in the skills of discernment, as a way of life, all of us benefit.

4 | HORIZON | Winter 2018

We met our first full time volunteer as a college senior.

Dannis Matteson, an anthropology and German major, came to our exam week pizza party, which we hold in our motherhouse every semester for students from Nazareth College. She approached me that evening asking if she could be a full time volunteer at our sponsored ministry, St. Joseph’s Neighborhood Center, which serves the uninsured with nearly 200 professional volunteers.

Dannis had a great desire to serve those without access to health care and felt the mission of the center would be a good fit for her passion. Thus we embarked on a new chapter of the SSJ Volunteer Corps.

Dannis’ inquiry prompted our community to decide that if someone wanted to be a live-in member of the Del Santo | Young Adult Volunteers

unteer Corps. We couldn’t be more grateful to have had SSJ Volunteer Corps, he or she must commit to living her be a part of our lives or more proud of the gift her our life, which is based on simple living, mutual respect, life is to the world! and shared responsibility for the ongoing life of the community. These shared responsibilities include cooking, chores, prayer, and reflection on how we find God in our Alyssa: giving through music daily experiences—no matter what faith tradition one is from.

Sometimes the path of our volunteers isn’t so clear, and Dannis came from a faith-filled Protestant housecan be at times confusing, as was the case for Alyssa Rohold; in fact her dad is a Baptist pastor. In the middle of driguez. Every month I go to Cornell and Ithaca College her first year with us, Dannis decided that she wanted to meet with students and talk about call and service. It to become a Catholic and entered the RCIA program was on one of these trips, that I met Alyssa through the with her good friend and campus ministry at Ithaca College. She was interco-volunteer, Alissa, as her ested in giving a year of service at Nativity Prepasponsor. As sisters, we were ratory Academy, a middle school connected to the a little nervous about how SSJ Volunteer Corps. Alyssa is an accomplished Dannis’ family would reviolinist and fiddler and thought that she would ceive this news. We were desomeday become a music teacher; serving at Nativlighted when they celebrated ity would be a good opportunity to test this desire. her choice, recognizing that Alyssa enjoyed being part of our community what made her “come alive” of four sisters and four other volunteers. She liked was to be a woman of God, the idea of sharing life, cooking and prayer, even and her heart took her on though it was new for her. When it was her turn this path. to lead prayer, she’d play a piece of music on her While they lived with laptop, and we would listen and reflect on how the us we encouraged and sponmusic spoke to us about the presence of God. This sored Dannis and Alissa to style of prayer seemed to speak to the other volunparticipate in the Catholics teers, but it was a new experience for a couple of on Call program at Catholic our sisters, especially our oldest, who is 87. In time, Following her time with the SSJ VolunTheological Union (CTU) and with her hearing aids in, she became fully on teer Corps Dannis Matteson continues in Chicago. Dannis said this board with this experience of prayer! to serve the church and build community was a turning point, giving It wasn’t long before Alyssa, her principal, and as a married woman. her a vision for her future. we sisters realized that teaching middle school was This experience, as well as her life in community with not Alyssa’s calling. In fact she was miserable. It seemed sisters and volunteers, the service she provided to those that everything she tried was, in her words, a “failure,” without access to health care, and the community she despite constant support and mentoring on all our parts. found at the center all inspired Dannis to take some big One late evening I sat down with Alyssa to discuss how steps in her life. her day had gone; actually I listened while she had a Today she is a Ph.D. student at Loyola University good cry. She had come to realize that she should not apChicago and is part of the Integrative Studies in Ethics ply to graduate school for education. “That’s good news. and Theology with an emphasis on political and ecoYou have learned something very important about yourfeminist theology. She received her master’s in theolself—you are not called to teach in a classroom. Some ogy from Catholic Theological Union as a Bernardin people would ignore that insight and would have conScholar, continuing the legacy of Cardinal Bernardin at tinued on their original path, because of fear or family the Catholic Common Ground Initiative. Dannis and pressure…. The big question is what are you passionate her husband, Thomas Cook, (associate director of spiriabout, what gives you life?” tual formation for lay students at CTU) helped to create I already knew the answer to my question because an intentional community, the Hope House, at the Port she had burned every meal she ever made and was late Ministries in Chicago. for most community gatherings because she was playing The path Dannis’ life has taken seems like an extenher violin rather than stirring the pot or showing up for sion of the life we sisters shared with her in the SSJ Volprayer!

Del Santo | Young Adult Volunteers

Winter 2018 | HORIZON | 5

I looked at her tear-streaked face and asked God to give me the words she needed. “This year we are not going to work on you becoming a teacher, instead we will work on you becoming a person and discover who God desires you to be. Had you ever thought about spiritual direction?”

“No,” she said through her tears. “What’s that?”

I explained how everyone is on a journey, and every person’s journey is spiritual whether they recognize it or not. A spiritual director can help you to discover the holy moments and places in your life, which you might otherwise miss, and help you make good decisions for your life. “One of our sisters is a spiritual director and would be happy to meet with you if you like.”

“Yes!” she exclaimed, “can I call her now?”

“How about you wait until morning?”

Alyssa worked with one of our sister directors weekly instead of monthly, because, as our sister put it, “Alyssa has not been formed for the spiritual life, in fact, for life in general. She only knows her music, and she needs to discover how good she is in order to do good with her passion and gifts.”

Today Alyssa is an accomplished fiddler who teaches others to fiddle one-on-one and in small groups. She plays with a variety of music groups in the Rochester, New York area and works at our local public radio station hosting a music show. Alyssa has discovered what makes her come alive and is offering her life to bring joy to the world.

Alyssa Rodriguez plays the fiddle. Alyssa realized through her volunteer experience that she was called to music but not to classroom teaching.

Tim: nurturing a nascent faith Volunteers come seeking, desiring to give, wanting to make the world a better place, and usually, if they are 6 | HORIZON | Winter 2018

open to God’s grace, discover they themselves become better persons. The trick as a volunteer, vocation director, or community member is to stay nimble, remain humble, and be open to allow God to work in us.

Sometimes a young person comes to us with no faith expression, like Tim Blier, who is the nephew of a friend of mine from another SSJ community. She called me one day to say her nephew, Tim, had taken the long route to complete his undergraduate studies in engineering. At age 27 Tim was asking, “What is my next step in life?”

My friend thought that if Tim lived and served in a faithfilled and supportive community like ours, he might find his footing and flourish.

We interviewed Tim on Skype because he lived at a distance. He was confident he could be a good math tutor at Nativity Prep. And, yes, he could handle community living; after all, he had lived with various groups of friends throughout college and beyond. “Well,” we said, “this is a bit different, you will be responsible to clean a portion of this 18 bedroom house, you will have to take your turn in cooking for the community, and you will need to take your turn in leading prayer every week.”

Silence, then: “Cooking I can do, I made a living by being a short order cook, but leading prayer? I don’t know how to do that!”

We said, “Not to worry, you don’t have to lead the first few weeks until you get the hang of it, and one of us will partner with you until you are comfortable.”

So we invited Tim to come join us. He arrived a few days before I returned from retreat. I received a voice message from him that sounded a bit desperate. “Please call me when you can, I don’t know about living in community.…” Uh oh, I thought, what happened?

When I called Tim back, I discovered that the two 80-something sisters I live with started his first experience of prayer with the “State of the Heart.” This is a prayer practice handed down to us by our first sisters in 1650. It gives us an opportunity to search for the action of grace among us and to notice whether or not we are responding to that grace, in order that we might be able to follow God’s desires for us. Tim freaked out. “I don’t use God language. Even though my aunt is a sister, I wasn’t raised in the church; I can’t do this!”

“Can you think about a time in your week that you experienced goodness, kindness or compassion or something that gave you hope?” Yes. “Then talk about that, and you will be sharing the “State of Your Heart.”

Tim needed help to translate the experience into language familiar to him; once he could do that, he could fully enter into the experience, and eventually he would Del Santo | Young Adult Volunteers

come to lead this process. The SSJ Volunteer Corps has a vast library on prayer by different writers from distinct traditions. One book that caught Tim’s attention was Daily Prayer with Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He regularly used this book for leading prayer. Bonhoeffer’s message is very relevant today, which spoke to our entire community, giving us a rich resource for prayer and reflection.

As time went on we offered Tim the possibility of spiritual direction with a priest friend of ours. He decided to take advantage of this opportunity, even though he had never spoken to a priest before. What became clear through Tim’s life in community and through the support of spiritual direction is that he had a deep hunger to grow and to be generous with his life. Today Tim is in graduate school in a local college for engineering and continues to tutor the children he had taught at Nativity.

Only God knows where Tim will go, yet after his time with us I know he will have a better foundation on which to stand and make good decisions for his life.

Spiritual hunger Tim’s experience of being raised without a faith tradition has become common. Harvard Divinity School students Casper ter Kuile and Angie Thurston wrote for Occasional Papers (Summer 2017, Leadership Conference of Women Religious) on “The Hunger for Depth and Meaning Among Millennials.” They reported, “According to the Pew Research Center, more than a third of Americans between 18 and 35 are now unaffiliated, meaning, when asked on a survey what religious identity they hold, they answer ‘none of the above.’ What’s really interesting is that the overwhelming majority of these ‘nones’ aren’t necessarily atheists. Two-thirds believe in God or a universal spirit, and one in five even prays every day.”

This summer ter Kuile and Thurston gathered a group of “nones” to spend two days with nuns in order to listen to each other’s stories, learn from each other, and consider ways to collaborate on a common call to serve the unmet needs of the world. The authors made two recommendations: 1. Create one-on-one “eldering” relationships with Millennial community leaders and 2.

Create intergenerational spiritual communities Both are practices we have embraced for 21 years in our SSJ community. For instance we have a “Mass and a Meal” with students from Nazareth College, in which 15 to 20 students participate. They get off campus to come to our convent to worship and eat. For some it is an avenue to check out the church again. By opening our home in this way students see our lives as normal and Del Santo | Young Adult Volunteers

Tim Blier with the author (center left) and other Sisters of St. Joseph.

feel more free to stop by when they are in the area.

Offering volunteer opportunities and times to just “loiter with intent” with young people affirms what vocation directors have learned about the ripeness of this group to the Catholic concept of vocation. Following the 2014 study of the vocational impact of volunteering, the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate wrote: “While the vast majority of volunteers (89 percent of the men and 98 percent of the women) have not pursued priesthood or religious life, nevertheless this is a group of young adult Catholics to whom bishops and the leadership of religious institutes should pay careful attention.

The support, encouragement, and engagement with current and former volunteers can have nothing but positive consequences for dioceses and religious institutes through both the nurturing of religious vocations and the future cadre of local church leaders.”

Since beginning the SSJ Volunteer Corps we have been blessed to receive five women into our congregation as a result of their time of living and serving with us. Two of these women have left us to forge happy marriages, and the most recent woman entered our congregation in September 2017. All of them told us that knowing us up close and personal, both in ministry and community, helped them to imagine their own lives in this way. These experiences allowed them to take steps to explore our life more deeply and to discover how God was calling them.

Recalling their experiences leads me full circle to the words of Howard Thurman because he captures well what is happening spiritually for volunteers: “Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” n Winter 2018 | HORIZON | 7

Photo by Irving Johnson III, Courtesy of Xavier University of Louisiana

Here’s what young people need to know about brotherhood and how we can tell them.

The author talks to his students at Xavier University about the vocation of brothers.

By Brother Herman Johnson, O.P. Brother Herman Johnson, O.P. is a Dominican brother who lives at St. Anthony of Padua Priory in New Orleans. He teaches Spanish nearby at Xavier University.

He holds master’s degrees in Spanish, counseling, and theology, noting “all professional credentials pale in comparison to my vocation as a Dominican friar.”

8 | HORIZON | Winter 2018

Talking about and inviting to brotherhood

I

N TEACHING FOR CLOSE TO THREE DECADES at Xavier University of Louisiana I have observed my students gradually losing awareness of consecrated life. Many come from high schools founded by religious sisters and brothers. Yet due to diminished numbers or even a complete absence of religious most young people today have never met a sister or brother. Every semester I am asked, “What is a brother?” along with questions about a brother’s lifestyle and purpose.

Not long ago I decided to end my four classes early and ask the students what questions they had about being a brother. Although they initially seemed unaffected by the question, enthusiasm and curiosity clearly emerged, reinforcing the fact that I was the first Catholic religious brother they had ever met. I was the only reference point they had of a brother; Johnson | Brotherhood

therefore they never really thought about our lives. One male student had attended a school founded by brothers, although absent of them, and he recalled a talk about their charism. Another young man said he could recognize a sister when he saw those who wear habits, and he perceived that their way of life is for God and service.

Other than that, he had no idea about brothers.

A basic question about our origins turned the conversation toward the spiritual impetus of our vocation.

This gave me an opening to convey that our vocation is a response to God, not a mere human decision or an opting out of other life choices and their responsibilities.

Brotherhood without barriers My students are predominantly African American, with a significant Vietnamese presence. The university is 45 percent Catholic, with many of the students coming from Catholic high schools. Despite today’s greater diversity in the priesthood and religious life, for many of these students, a Catholic religious is a Caucasian person or, as one student noted, a person from a foreign country, such as India or Africa. Although their lack of awareness about religious life—and brothers in particular— parallels the wider population’s lack of understanding, I sense that U.S. cultural groups that have not traditionally been in religious life find the vocation something that is not meant for them. My being African American and a religious brother is perhaps the bigger curiosity. They definitely wanted me to personalize the discussion of brothers, to know why I chose this vocation and what sustains me, as I am viewed as a “moderately sane and very happy person.”

The students could connect to my story when I would tell them that my father read me the story of St. Martin de Porres, O.P. when I was 10. The biggest campus dormitory here is named for Martin de Porres. As such they’ve heard of him and see his statue in the dormitory foyer. I tell my students that I related to Martin de Porres initially because he is black. Later I came to love the things he loved: people and animals. I also consider my learned fluency in Spanish as a mystery attributable to the language he spoke. All these qualities are the stuff of the Spirit, shaping the course of my life and my vocational choice. That’s why I am a Dominican. I strive to be my authentic self as a Dominican brother in the spirit of Martin de Porres.

With St. Martin guiding me over the years of college teaching, I have often wondered what, if any, difference it has made on students’ lives that I am a religious Johnson | Brotherhood

brother. I could humbly say that I have helped support their search for purpose in life. For certain they come to college for a career, and they hope for a good economic future. But I also hope that their encounter with me is positive and helps them embrace who they are as a gift from God. Having led a number of post college men into the Southern Dominican province—four are solemnly professed—says that the mere witness of a single brother can inspire youth to consider their own vocation. Although we brothers are few in number, we can still ignite more brother vocations.

In any discussion of vocations, I can never forget that the gospel admonishment to pray to the Lord of the harvest is paramount. All vocational strategies are subordinate to prayer. Vocations are always God’s call, yet we must be bold and invite young men to look at our life. Prayer and hospitality must be two sides of the same coin. We are presenting a vowed life of poverty, chastity, and obedience, aspects not readily understood or accepted. Therefore our happiness must be evident. People can relate to a happy and friendly brother.

The response of young people to hearing about religious life and brothers in particular is very positive. It’s new to them. This generation has no memories of the good sisters and brothers. They have no cherished stories, good as well as not so good, to pass on. As such my sharing provokes good curiosity. However, it’s too new to provoke guys to follow me to my office to sign up.

At a different level, brothers themselves and others who believe our vocation is important, can do more to highlight it. When we pray for vocations to the priesthood and religious life, it often seems like we’re talking exclusively of priests, nuns, and religious sisters. It might be better to start saying something like, “sisters, brothers, and priests.” It’s good to see the word “brother” mentioned more in vocation literature, but much more needs to be done.

What I say about who we are So how does one share the heart and essence of a Catholic religious brother to people who never saw or heard a brother? When I talk to young people about Dominican brotherhood, I tell them we study a lot—not so much to be professionals but because gospel living requires lifelong learning. God is not a static, stoic reality but one who is in the stuff of life and our humanity. We also pray a lot, I tell them, not so much as an expected asceticism, but as a way of staying connected to Jesus who is our life, as a way of really dealing with the challenges of being Winter 2018 | HORIZON | 9

human. The young fully know about the challenges of life. As such, prayer is sensible for them and an understandable thing to do often.

In conversations about who brothers are of course I have to explain a little about the vocation in contrast to priesthood Asking a young man since they inevitably to consider being a think of a priest in his brother can be bold, and more identifiable public responses will range ministry roles. However I do not like to say what from, “No way!” to, “I’m a brother is in light of very honored.” Either what he is not, but what way, I pray often about he really is. It’s like sayboth types of responses. ing “non-Catholic” rather than identifying the religious faith a person holds. A priest’s lifestyle is framed by sacramental duties, whereas the brother, like other Christians, seeks to serve God’s people within a range of talents uniquely his. My students see me in the role of their Spanish professor, yet clearly come to know and relate to me as a religious brother.

I tell students there are multiple ways God’s love is manifested. The brother manifests one way, a way that is unique and special. A brother models the love of Jesus in the manner he has of reaching out to people. A brother gives witness to Jesus who walked the earth as a brother.

Distinguishing our role as brothers clarifies the beauty and dignity of our vocation. The ministries of most brothers place them among those who have not and might never enter a house of worship. I stress to young people that we are placed in settings like college classrooms among mostly non-church-going young people.

Our very presence is ministry. I always start class with 30 seconds of silence acknowledging God’s presence. These 30 seconds are highly appreciated by students. For certain there is a God quest among young people, although for some their faith life is unguided by regular church membership and attendance.

So what do I think the young most need to know about brothers? First and foremost they need to know we exist and we are as significant for this time in history as in days of old. A brother is a man who by his consecrated celibacy has a special availability that yields to service of all people. He is a man who hopefully has a presence that speaks of what I might call the “character of God.” Brothers are happy, not because of professional accomplishments and acquisitions, but because we are living out our 10 | HORIZON | Winter 2018

vocation in joy, happy to stay with “yo boy”—as one of my students refers to Jesus.

How I invite I have observed that many young men want to be acknowledged, and they always appreciate time given to them just to chat. How can we invite them to consider being a brother? Simply mention it to them. This simple mention provokes consideration and opens up thought about life’s purpose in perhaps a new way. Asking a young man to consider being a brother can be bold, and responses will range from, “No way!” to, “I’m very honored.” Either way I pray often about both types of responses. My foundation is the belief that God still calls men to religious life, and that principle can yield results when it is taken to prayer that is followed up by an invitation.

It is important for religious and the whole Catholic community to assist the young in the deep questions of life. For certain the college student is on a career trajectory. Lifestyle questions have not fully emerged for some.

This could be a time of education about consecrated life.

As these conversations happen, I’ve picked up on things about us that are attractive to the young, namely that we live in community and we pray often together.

This taps into their own need for communion and belonging. Fraternity is a big attraction for college men.

Perhaps belonging to one forever is an initial attention getter. They need to know that the concerns of God are what calls us to be brothers and sustains us. We are men of the Word. I do not perceive that the young are turned off by the spiritual underpinnings of our vocation. In fact, they are fully engaged by it precisely because many hunger and hope for something other than what is socially and culturally expected.

In the end vocations are God’s call. We must challenge the young to at least one time in their life pray and ask God what is their vocation. Young people need to know that brothers are ordinary guys who simply love God and try to be love in the world. This is what is most important, and when we brothers live our vocations well, it says a lot more about who a brother is than the best attempts to explain it. n

Related reading “Let’s build a future for religious brothers,” by Brother Paul Bednarczyk, C.S.C. HORIZON 1999 No. 1.

Johnson | Brotherhood

How we talk about brotherhood Photo by Brother Allen Marquez, B.H.

When brothers gathered for a first-ever U.S. symposium on brotherhood in March 2017, a theme that emerged was how to articulate the vocation to young people. HORIZON posed that question to its brother readers, and here are some of their answers.

WHAT DO YOU TELL YOUNG ADULTS ABOUT WHO YOU ARE? HOW DO YOU COMMUNICATE THIS? Most of my exchanges with young adults happen during my ministry as a high school educator. My vocation as a brother is not about a title or a profession; instead it is a life of service in the name of the church, and it is sharing the presence of Christ with everyone I encounter throughout the day.

This ministry of service and presence is characterized by communal life and enriched by prayer that is seen through a boldness of faith, a courageous witness, authentic living of our vows, and commitment to Christ and the Gospels. Young people ask directly why I became a brother and why I stay. I respond with this, based on the words of Father Pedro Arrupe, S.J.: “I have fallen in love with Christ, Francis, and the church, and it is my hope and prayer that each [person who asks about my vocation] also will fall in love with the person of Jesus Christ.”

—Brother Richard Contino, O.S.F. I am a brother with Glenmary, which means that I am not ordained like a priest. Glenmary priests and brothers live together and make the same promises of poverty, chastity, obedience, and prayer. Brothers are ministers with a distinct call. We are called to share the gifts that we have in the missions. In Glenmary we have brothers who are nurses, social workers, carpenters, and teachers. As a brother I served as an outreach minister to the immigrant communities in Kentucky and Arkansas missions.

Glenmary brothers are evangelizing, building relationships with people who never had contact with the Catholic Church, teaching RCIA, doing prison ministry, building churches, constructing homes for the poor, and more. We do it because “the love of Christ impels us.”

—Brother David Henley We Brothers of St. John of God are a mix of ages, nationalities, personalities, and interests. Some are very active in ministry, some are retired. We have a quite traditional spirituality: daily Mass, morning, evening and night prayer, eucharistic adoration.

We have at least one meal per day together. There is time each day for personal reading, interests, etc. Brothers have to make an effort to give time to each other and accept our differences.

Maturity and flexibility are required.

—Brother Charles Searson, O.H. Brothers are men who live a vowed religious life and have been entrusted with a specific mission. In our case, we are entrusted

HORIZON Readers | Brotherhood

Relationships are essential to being a brother and to communicating what a brother is. Above is Brother Parker Jordan, B.H. with Stephanie Castellanos, a student taking part in a retreat sponsored by the Catholic Center at Rutgers University where Jordan used to minister.

by the church to provide a human and Christian education to the young, especially the poor. Community is very important to us, and so we carry out this mission as members of a community and in a spirit of community. Young people are at the heart of what we do, and so we spend much of our time with and among them. Fraternal relationships are important to us, and so we seek to live this out in all we do, especially with those we serve and with whom we share ministry. Of course, this is all rooted in a spirit of faith where we seek to evangelize through the ministry of education rooted in relationships.

—Brother Chris Patiño, F.S.C. What does a married person tell his children about who he is? I find it best to just let people get to know me, form a relationship, and then they will know. When I taught, I was generally only asked what a brother was in the first few days of school. After that the kids knew. A longer answer trying to explain would only involve the relationships I’ve formed with others over the years as a brother.

—Brother Jim Boynton, S.J. In Trappist orders there are both priests and brothers. However we let men interested in our way of life know that our first vocation is to be monks. God may call some of us to the priesthood, to minister to the community and to our retreatants, but the primary call of all of us is to be monks, brothers in a fraternal community.

—Brother Christopher Cheney, O.C.S.O.

Winter 2018 | HORIZON | 11

IHM sisters and postulants (on the right) visit with students at Immaculata University during a Macs and Cheese Pizza gathering.

By Sister Paula Jameson, I.H.M. and Sister Regina Marie Fronmuller, O.S.U. Sister Paula Jameson, I.H.M. is an assistant professor of nursing at Immaculata University in Immaculata, Pennsylvania and one of the initiators of the “Macs and Cheese Pizza” program.

Sister Regina Marie Fronmuller, O.S.U. is coordinator of Ursuline Links USA and founder of the popular “Brats and Burgers” initiative to nurture relationships with New Orleans college students.

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Talking to college students: two ways to build relationships People cannot choose what they do not know. If young adults are to consider religious life, they need to know sisters, priests, and brothers. They need to meet them in positive settings, and from there everything else can flow. Here are two ways religious communities have successfully nurtured relationships with young people.

“Macs and Cheese Pizza,” a campus event of the I.H.M. Sisters

By Sister Paula Jameson, I.H.M.

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WO IHM SISTERS who live among students in residence halls at Immaculata University in Pennsylvania had a notion to give the female students an opportunity to interact informally with the sisters in a social setting. The idea was to allow students to meet the IHMs outside the classroom environment.

Jameson, Fronmuller | College Students

They decided to host a series of events called Macs and Cheese Pizza. They couldn’t resist the play on words since the sisters had long been known as “Macs” (derived from Immaculata), and a fun name set the right tone for the event. The sisters at Immaculata invited the IHM vocation directors to participate. Two university sisters and two vocation sisters were always involved. Postulants, novices, and directresses attended at times. The university sisters who lived in the residence halls where Macs and Cheese events were held attended as their schedules permitted.

It was a good collaboration, with each group providing something essential. The university sisters had access to the residence halls, and the vocation directors had the budget for the event. It was designed to be an active educational event to let students mingle with sisters and a passive vocational event in that we sisters were spending time with young university women. Ten residence halls meant 10 events, each with its own spirit. With each one cordial acquaintances were established between the sisters and the students. Students gained new knowledge of sisters from this contact, some building on a previous acquaintance with our sisters in grade school or high school, others meeting us for the first time.

The basics were simple. The sisters served cheese pizza and raffled off a door prize, usually a gift card.

We held the Macs and Cheese Pizza parties on different nights of the week, usually from 8:30 to 10 p.m.

The response of the young women was wonderful.

Each student received a personalized invitation under her door. We also posted flyers in the hall. Students responded by stopping what they were doing and coming to the lounge. They would then text other students to join in. We shared any leftover pizza with the male residence halls.

The sisters held the event in each female residence hall, comprised of about 30 - 40 women. It took about one and one-half years to get around to all 10 women’s dormitories. Once we held the Macs and Cheese event in every hall, we started all over again. We changed the name to Macs and Cheese Pizza II. The new name reflected that a small service component was added to the event. At each Macs and Cheese Pizza II we asked students to sign greeting cards to individual IHM sisters who reside in Camilla Hall, an IHM health care home.

In addition the Student Development and Engagement Division has begun to fund the event.

Building on the popularity of Macs and Cheese Pizza, a new event was launched: S’mores with the Sisters.

We invited all the university students to the backyard of Jameson, Fronmuller | College Students

Students sign cards for infirm sisters during a Macs and Cheese Pizza II event as Sister Cathy McNally, I.H.M. looks on.

the sisters’ residence. About 150 men and women students attended, along with IHM Sisters from neighboring convents. We hope to make S’mores with the Sisters an annual event.

We consider all of these events successful because they have allowed us to either begin or strengthen friendships with our students. Our sisters enjoy the contact with young people, and we know by sheer turnout that the students like this contact too.

Attending student Mass, inviting to a meal with Ursulines and Christian Brothers

By Sister Regina Marie Fronmuller, O.S.U.

T

HIS IS A STORY of first building relationships and then creating an event that flowed naturally from them. I’ll start at the beginning. Every Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday at 9 p.m., a liturgy at Bobet Hall on the campus of Loyola University in New Orleans draws a small group of 4-7 students and adults.

Sometimes as many as 18 are present for this life-giving prayer. Occasionally students from Tulane may also attend. We sit informally in a circle for the liturgy of the Word, reflection, and petitions. We stand around the altar for the liturgy of the Eucharist. After the Eucharist Winter 2018 | HORIZON | 13

And so the questions crisscross the table, giving me an opportunity to say to them, “Maybe the Lord is calling you to share your gifts and talents in the church, to be a sister, a brother, or a priest.”

Being free and open they will tell you, “I have thought about it” or “I am thinking about it.”

Then more questions surface: how do you know that you’re being called? My sisters and I speak to them about prayer, about listening to your heart, Sometimes simply hanging out builds relationships. With Loyola University of New Orleans students are about finding a quiet space in Brother James McDonald, C.F.C., third from left, and Sister Regina Marie Fronmuller, O.S.U. far right. your life, each day, to listen to the whisperings of the Spirit within. Many of these students are leaders on retreat an atmosphere of dimmed lighting and occasional music teams and in campus ministry. These are students who lends itself to peaceful, quiet reflection. come to Mass daily, who do service within the commuAfter Mass we mingle a few minutes for some infornity. mal conversation. The topics are varied and may include On one occasion while sitting around the table talkthe events of the day or simply asking students, “How is ing about school majors and life plans, a student said your paper coming along?” or, “Will I see you tomorrow he planned to join the Jesuits; in fact he said that in a night?” It is during these conversations that I observe few months he was hoping to have word on whether he the students’ genuineness and openness. And I detect a would be entering formation. Another student said he hunger for something more, something deeper. was interested in the Dominicans. He was eating dinner Because my sisters and I got to know these students every week with Dominican priests, with hopes of enterover a few years, it was natural to begin inviting them for ing after completing his master’s degree. Both joined dinner before Mass once a month. Thus we began Brats their respective religious orders and the Dominican and Burgers. As many as five or six students will come brother now comes to visit us during summer breaks. to our nearby convent around 5 p.m. Snacks and drinks After five or six years of Brats and Burgers the Irish are available upon arrival, and we hang loose in the livChristian Brothers, who live two blocks up the street, ing room. Nothing is planned; no topics, questions, or joined forces with us. After Mass we have more involvepapers are prepared. ment because more of us religious are interacting with The two other sisters in the house may or may not students. Since the brothers joined in, we begin Brats stay for the entire period after the meal, but they are and Burgers at the sisters’ house, and then we go down present for food and conversation. Interestingly enough, the street for dessert with the brothers.

I find that our conversations usually focus on social jusTo return to my original “strategy,” I simply walk tice, words of Pope Francis, and the sisters’ involvement with the students. I am present to them, and I listen to in ministries such as GED, hurricane reconstruction, them. An important factor is to “hang out,” to be pressoup kitchens, human trafficking issues, etc. Around 6:30 ent, be interested, and be available at times and places we begin an informal dinner, which begins with one of important to them. the young adults leading us in blessing our food.

At the outset, when I first started attending Mass, in no way, shape or form did I mention the word vocation.

Nun questions emerge I am interested in helping them find themselves and develop their gifts. Let’s go forth together, then, as vocation As we eat the “nun questions” begin: how long have you ministers to bring hope to the young people we meet in been here; where did you teach; how many years have their daily lives. n you been a nun; why did you join the Ursuline Sisters?

14 | HORIZON | Winter 2018

Jameson, Fronmuller | College Students

Your message is important. Make it count by being the strongest presenter possible.

Sister Josita Colbert, S.N.D.deN. speaks after receiving a recognition award at a convocation of the National Religious Vocation Conference. Colbert is a vocation minister and a former NRVC board member.

Talking to groups: four secrets to great presentations

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HEN PEOPLE ARE ASKED to state their biggest fear in life, one answer has long been a favorite: fear of public speaking. The fear of public speaking at one time ranked as a more significant fear than that of our own death (approximately number six on the list) and even more scary than the fear of the death of a loved one (number four). Based on these numbers Jerry Seinfeld has said that at a funeral “with odds like that, you’re better off in the box than you are doing the eulogy.”

The skills to share information, influence thoughts and actions, and address concerns and questions have always been keys to success to any enterprise, whether running a business or promoting vocations. Today, sharing, influencing, and responding is not good enough. Communication needs to be energizing, relevant, and engaging. Energizing to the extent that audience members don’t just hear your message, but they feel the impact of your thoughts, ideas, and suggestions. Relevant to the extent Hegele | Great Presentations

By Steve Hegele Steve Hegele— speaker, coach, entrepreneur, husband, and father of four— enjoys helping individuals and groups of all walks of life find their vocation and passion. Founder and CEO of Hegele Academy, he is online at hegele.com. This article appeared originally in HORIZON 2008. Log in to nrvc. net for more valuable articles.

Winter 2018 | HORIZON | 15

Vocation minister and NRVC board member Father Adam MacDonald, S.V.D. speaks during a preparation meeting for NRVC’s Vocation Ambassadors program.

that audience members feel compelled to listen because they feel as if you are speaking about them or about circumstances identical to their own. And engaging to the extent that the presentation is not flat and boring.

Four secrets will help you connect with your audience while making a vocation presentation. They are: clarity, conciseness, dynamism and candidness. Although these may seem like obvious objectives to many people, plenty of evidence suggests that we are not delivering on these key communication competencies. A survey of 200 large company vice presidents reveals that 84 percent of the presentations they hear they would categorize as “boring” or “sleepy.” This group of executives found only 3 percent of the presentations they heard to be “stimulating.” If we also consider the fact that most of the people doing the presenting have college degrees, which include classes in communication, as well as the benefit of corporate training programs on communications, selling, and “high impact presentations,” we can see that the art and science of communication has plenty of room for improvement!

In my experience the problem is not that people do not know how to construct a thorough message and presentation. The problem occurs when the speaker stands before the listeners and proceeds to teach or lecture rather than engage, inform, inspire, and sometimes entertain.

What needs to be in place in order for today’s pre16 | HORIZON | Winter 2018

sentations to be enthusiastically received and be energizing, relevant and engaging?

First and foremost: know your audience. You need to know: why did they show up to listen to you? There are at least three types of people that show up at any given presentation. The first group is known as the “learners.”

This group represents the members of your audience who are there to soak up all of the ideas and insights, perspectives and information that you can provide them.

The second group of audience members is known as the “vacationers.” These people should be someplace other than sitting in your audience. They have other obligations, tasks or activities that they should be doing, but your presentation has provided them a little vacation from all of those priorities. In other words they are there to hear you because they do not want to be someplace else. The third group of your audience can only be referred to as “hostages.” They do not want to be anywhere near you or your presentation. Someone has required or strongly encouraged them to attend. The great thing about hostages is that they provide an energy in the room that, when leveraged properly, can keep everyone—especially you—engaged in the presentation. Hostages are also capable of spontaneous conversions and insights.

How do you get to know your audience? How do you learn their priorities and interests and what brings them to your presentation? Ask them! Once you do your opening and provide an outline of what you will be speaking about, ask them what brought them to your presentation and what they hope to gain and what objectives they would like to see fulfilled by the end of your time together. If there is not an immediate answer from the audience to your inquiry, ask them again and phrase the question in a slightly different way. Use any silence that may occur to capture their attention and let them know that this presentation is a dialogue. In other words, you are there to speak with them, not at them. By engaging your listeners immediately you will increase their attention in what you have to say, while at the same time it will take some of the pressure and anxiety off you.

Secret #1 Attend to how you speak: be clear It doesn’t matter what you say, it matters what they hear.

When it comes to communicating, we could ask anyone, and most would say, it is essential to be clear. Yet clarity continues to be a challenge. It is my personal and professional opinion that as the speaker or presenter, we need Hegele | Great Presentations

to take 100 percent responsibility when to comes to being clear and understood and making sure our audience understands the message we are attempting to share.

What does it take to be clear? First and foremost there needs to be a common language, including terms that are understandable to both speaker and listener.

Clarity is that wonderful moment where everyone in the same air space feels secure in the fact that they are understanding and being understood at the same time.

Many people in vocations and religious life have an exceptionally high level of understanding clarity because their lives have been, and continue to be, directed by the clarity of a calling by a source that is not of this world.

However, there is a lingo to religious life that the outside world doesn’t understand. You’ll probably want to either choose common everyday words or define terms such as calling, charism, vocation, congregation, province, motherhouse, formation.

It continues to amaze and frustrate me as a business owner, professional speaker, communications expert, spouse and father, at how difficult it is to even agree on what common terms mean to all parties involved in the process of communication. If we cannot agree on the meaning of simple terms, we are most certainly going to have a major misfire when it comes to understanding the overall message.

Secret #2 Brevity is blessed: be concise If you can say it in a sentence, don’t use a paragraph. If you can say it in a bullet point, don’t use a sentence. If you can say it in a single word…. Consider the average text message from young person to young person: many words have no vowels. They use only a string of letters to represent common phrases. Consider the TV and radio news that many adults get from day to day. It is not so much made up of news stories as “sound bites.” This is not to say that stories are not important; they are more critical than ever.

However, we need to capture the attention of others with a sound bite or “startling statement” so our listeners become interested in learning more about the situation or our opinions and insights. Consider many of the most well known biblical stories. The richness of the stories can only be appreciated when one has a genuine interest in hearing the entire story. We all develop an interest in hearing the story by hearing the key points or getting a preview of the more provocative story lines. You will know you have been successfully brief when someone responds by asking you to “tell me more about….”

Hegele | Great Presentations

As a side note, when I am working with corporate professionals at all levels in business and they ask my assistance on “the big presentation” for which they are using a PowerPoint program as part of their delivery, I ask them to do one thing before I sit down with them face-to-face or look at their slides for the first time. I ask them to eliminate at least six out of every 10 slides, and, if possible, I ask them to make it seven out of 10. To a person everyone has immediately responded with something along the lines of, “That is impossible,” or “I won’t have any presentation left,” or, “I need the slides to share data or present some detailed facts.” With all due respect, they are wrong. People want to hear from you! People have very little interest in watching another PowerPoint program that looks almost identical to every other presentation they have seen on a variety of other topics and subjects.

Secret #3 Let the audience feel your message: be dynamic Being dynamic is in the delivery. Consider research done by Dr. Albert Mehrabian from the University of California, Los Angeles, who conducted a 10-year study on nonverbal communication. The results are profound.

When communicating formally or informally, the person receiving our message gets only 7 percent of our message from the words we use. Only 7 percent! The receiver gets another 38 percent of the message from the tone or quality of our voice. The bulk of the message, 55 percent, is received not by what they hear. It is received by what they see.

What does this mean to you as a vocation speaker?

Are you visually engaging? Do you use hand gestures, eye contact, and body movements to bring your message to life? Picture this, a very stoic priest with no smile on his face, no song in his voice, staring at the floor, who says to the group, “Religious life has been a fulfilling, lifegiving choice for me.”

Contrast that with: a young woman six months into her professed religious life, who stands before a group of young people, with a twinkle in her eye and an enthusiastic tone in her voice saying, “This is the best decision I have ever made.” The first situation is an example of what I call “incongruence,” a term that reflects that those listening to us are understanding something completely different from what we say with our words.

We all have those moments where a person we are talking to just seems to “check out” on us. Or sometimes we have a sixth sense that the other person is not buying Winter 2018 | HORIZON | 17

into what we are saying. The problem may be a misunderstanding about what we are saying, and that can be easily corrected by asking them if we are making sense or if they have any questions. What I find most often in working with individuals and groups is that it has less to do with what is being said, and more to do with how it is said.

Secret #4 If you care, be candid

PREPARE TO BE HEARD We understand you’re under pressure to evangelize.

We’re here to help.

PREPARETHEWORD.COM 18 | HORIZON | Winter 2018

It takes courage to be candid. In reading the Bible over and over and over, I continue to be wonderfully amazed and awed at how effective Jesus was at being candid. He spoke candidly and lovingly as well as sternly. Jesus many times said the things that others were thinking and wanted to say but did not have the courage or clout to say. At the heart of candor is truth. Sometimes the truth is a fact that is irrefutable. Sometimes truth is more “squishy,” like someone’s feelings or personal opinions. Many times people are called by God to be candid. We will receive the gift of perspective, the words to speak and even the moment itself to deliver the truth about a difficult situation or a delicate subject. However do not deliver a message based on the fear of how others will feel about you or your message. Especially in the field of vocations, a person needs to be passionately, lovingly, and firmly candid with self and others.

Are there going to be moments when we believe we are called to be candid and to say what we believe needs to be said, and we are wrong? You bet! Our candor in these situations allows God to be candid with us.

The truth has been and always will be the truth. It has been my experience that in the current political, social, spiritual, and economic environment, it has become increasingly difficult to speak the real truth and to be candid without someone taking unintended offense or targeting us as the messenger. As Mark Twain said, “Always speak the truth; that way you don’t have to remember what you said.”

As you prepare your next presentation, remember these final tips. Be articulate and ask for understanding from those with whom you are speaking to be sure that there is agreement on the content of your message.

Prepare ahead of time, so that you will speak with succinct and precise language and words. Identify and develop your own signature style of communication so that people feel the impact of your dynamic ideas and suggestions. Finally, care more than others think is wise, and speak the truth by being courageous enough to be candid. n Hegele | Great Presentations

Talking with video

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IDEO HAS QUICKLY BECOME a major way to communicate, especially with young adults. Social media platforms are encouraging video use more and more. Experts report that Facebook, still the leading social media platform, is more likely to make your posts visible in your audience’s news feed if it contains video. In addition many groups now use short films on websites, in e-newsletters, etc. So, even if you never fancied yourself a videographer, it is worth experimenting in this platform in order to remain engaged in a lively, contemporary way with young adults.

To encourage and guide religious communities to use smartphones to produce their own videos, A Nun’s Life Ministry hosted a video workshop in October 2017. Here are some gleanings from it to guide you.

Decide what your goal is. What do you want your audience to get from the video? Do you want to introduce your friars so people feel a personal connection? Do you want to depict a variety of vocation stories? Do you want to showcase a ministry? Have sisters reflect on a favorite Scripture?

Choose who you film carefully. Whose story, knowledge, experiences, and spirit will convey your message? Just as important as expertise is the person’s positive energy. You want subjects with an attractive demeanor and body language who will convey an authentic happiness in being a priest, sister, or brother.

Conduct a pre-interview. In its video workshop booklet, A Nun’s Life advises: “Call each person [you’re considering], explain what you’re doing, why you’d like them to be a part of your film, and how their involvement will be helpful for your project. Ask them questions about the topics that you want to address.” This will give you a sense of whether they’re right for your film and, if so, allow you to later tailor your questions to be more personal, which evokes more emotion and makes better video.

Select a quiet location with good light. An ideal setup is to seat your subject next to a large window, lights off, and to film from the side, as shown in the photo above. The camera should be at eye level with your interviewee, and you, too, should be at the same level. Hold the camera horizontally, in landscape, not portrait, orientation.

Natural light is best, and it’s also best to have only one light source. Avoid bright light or objects behind your subject, and particularly avoid locations with only overhead lighting, as it accentuates dark circles below eyes. Outdoor locations can be nice, but beware that wind and sound can interfere.

Ask your subject ahead of time to avoid clothing with busy patterns, and before you begin, arrange the location to be free of clutter and other visual distractions.

Use a microphone. People will forgive many less-than-ideal circumstances in videos, but if the sound is bad, they will stop watching.

Schuck Scheiber | Talking With Video

Sister Teresita Richards, S.N.D., right, is interviewed on video during an October video workshop sponsored by A Nun’s Life Ministry.

Sound is essential, and a simple pin-on lavalier microphone can capture your subject’s words much more reliably than a phone. These can be purchased for about $25-30. Women’s voices in particular do not always record well on a phone.

Help your subjects to open up and talk. Ease them into conversation by asking them things you’ll need for your records. “Ask them to pronounce and spell their first and last name. Ask if you have their permission to videotape them and use the tape for your project,” advises A Nun’s Life in its video workshop booklet. You may also want to have their job title, year they entered the community, and so on.

Know your questions ahead of time so you can maintain eye contact while speaking to your subject. Listen actively (but silently) with body language, eye contact, and nodding. “Keep a fairly neutral but supportive look on your face,” A Nun’s life recommends.

Get as much mileage as possible from your video. Because they are large and much-used social media sites, it’s worth uploading your video directly to Facebook and directly to YouTube. You can then use the video embeds or links from those sites to put your video on your website, into an e-newsletter, in emails, on Instagram, and other social sites.

Short videos can be a great way to promote your religious order, and smart phones make it easy to do it yourself. If you’re uncertain, consider finding a partner who enjoys video and get started together. Lastly remember that authenticity matters much more than perfect production. People always have been and always will be attracted to men and women religious who radiate the true values of consecrated life.

—Carol Schuck Scheiber, HORIZON editor

Winter Winter 2018 2018 || HORIZON HORIZON || 19 19

Photo by Nikki

Vocation ministry often involves personal and communal change and adaptation.

Knowing the dynamics of transition and how best to deal with them can ease your way.

Transitions, whether or not they involve a physical move, can take a toll on individuals and their communities. But with some understanding, perspective, and patience, vocation ministers and their communities can move through them gracefully.

Healthy transitions

By Father Rocco Puopolo, S.X. Father Rocco Puopolo, S.X. has been a Xaverian priest since 1977. He spent 12 years ministering in Sierra Leone. In the U.S. he has been involved in Xaverian student training programs, retreat ministry, and justice and peace advocacy.

Since 2011 he has lived in New England and worked in vocation ministry for the church and his community.

20 | HORIZON | Winter 2018

I

F I HAVE LEARNED ONE THING after 40-plus years in religious life, it is that transition is our way of life. We are always in transition.

This is certainly true in my worldwide missionary community as our members frequently find themselves entering a community, leaving for the missions, returning from the missions, or adapting to sociological, political, or ecclesiastical change in their ministries.

As a vocation minister I’ve also learned that this ministry involves a great deal of transition, including individuals coming in or leaving vocation ministry, new members entering communities at various stages in their lives, and communities that welcome these newcomers sharing in the trials of transition. In the tumult of change, it’s critical to understand the dynamics at work and how to care for oneself, others, and the mission.

The nature of transition and healthy ways to cope So what is transition, and what dynamics do we need to be aware of to move from Point A to Point B in a healthy, serene way? Transition is a physical or mental move from one place to another: entrance to community living, a move to another level of formation, a transfer from one community Puopolo | Healthy Transitions

to another, a change from one ministry to another, a move from one part of our world to another. As individuals move from one place to another, the communities they leave or join also undergo a process of transition.

Relationships within the community change, roles and expectations change. The community as a whole finds itself in transition, which touches on every member.

There are many moving parts when a transition occurs for any one of us. But the most fundamental reality of transition is that it is not a simple straight move from where you had been (Point A) to where you are now or where the community is now (Point B). The move may actually look like a series of curlicues, where we can track days of great joy, energy, and excitement at the new beginning, as well as days of fear, second guessing, and doubt about the wisdom of the move, or worse, actual regression in our personal, spiritual, or professional wellbeing! Transition may easily look like the image below.

And there may be as many paths and curlicues as there are members of the local or regional community!

Point B Point A As someone who has experienced many transitions, I’ve learned a few things that have helped my community and me move through these experiences in a healthy way.

1. Be sure to say goodbye to where you were before you leave a place, family, or ministry. If you do not say goodbye, you cannot say hello to the new place, ministry, or community where you are called to be.

2. Know that it will take time to make the adjustment to a new place, ministry, or community, even if it is a place where you once had been. We give ourselves permission to take time to learn a new language or become accustomed to a new part of the country or a foreign land when we first go to a new assignment. But we need to do the same no matter when and where we go, even if it is a place we once called home. It has changed. We Puopolo | Healthy Transitions

have changed. And it will take time to become accustomed to that change.

3. You may find yourself extremely tired during the first months in transition. The emotional, physical, psychic, and social energy that we use in transition may be more than we are If we find a way to used to. Everything may be new: food, climate, reappropriately share the lationships, work, expecburden of our transition tations, home, and more. with others, we can If your body is asking you discover not only our to rest, then listen to it: humanness, but the take naps, turn in early at grace to move beyond night. This outpouring of our vulnerabilities to a energy can sap your very new place of strength health. I have known a and empathy. number of people who had never been under the weather before but become seriously sick within the first six months in a new place. We must listen to our bodies. If not, the body has ways of making us listen!

4. Beware of judging. As we face the new, even in once-familiar situations, we can easily verbalize our discomfort by judging what is “wrong” with this situation when really what is wrong is that it is not the situation we expected or remembered. What we remember, and what we once did there is all history. New people are now involved in the ministry, new methods have emerged, new socio-economic realities exist. Often by judging, we are negating the present before us and blocking any opportunity to create new and healthy relationships with those we are to live and work with in the here and now.

5. Learn to see the moments of regression, doubt, and fear as moments of growth and grace. The circle in the diagram represents growth and grace. We may feel very vulnerable and even feel shamed by that vulnerability. People will say, “I thought I took care of this weakness years ago. Why is this bothering me now? It feels like I am going backwards!” If we try to face these dynamics alone, we could easily be stuck, frozen, trapped. If we find a way to appropriately share the burden with others, we can discover not only our humanness, but the grace to move beyond those memories, doubts, or vulnerabilities to a new place of strength and empathy.

Winter 2018 | HORIZON | 21

God has not abandoned us; nor is God punishing us, even though we feel abandoned and lost. In faith, we will rediscover the call and the One who offers us this call, and we will learn once more that it is God’s grace that sustains us in the mission. The mission is God’s, given to the community, making us the stewards of that mission.

Many scripture stories, in both Hebrew scripture and the New Testament, remind us of this movement to new services, new horizons, new places. Often we go kicking and screaming. In these moments of doubt, fear Not only were and vulnerability we have students in transition, the graced opportunity of but the community discovering the depth of our mission spirituality. It makes as a whole would be the dying and rising of the in transition. Even if Lord all too real. only one confrere left

or joined, the whole unit reworked its relationships.

6. Know that you are not alone in awkward feelings as you experience transition. If you look around, you will discover that many in your community are also adjusting their space to welcome you and others into this community, ministry, and mission that we share. By sharing that vulnerability at community meetings or retreats, or in personal conversations with members, new bonds of trust and kinship will be made that will help everyone through the transition.

7. Celebrate your current community sending you forth to a new mission, even when the new mission means returning “home.” When we Xaverian missionaries are sent to our mission assignments, we have elaborate and intentional mission sending ceremonies.

We may invite a bishop or provincial to come and give us the Mission Cross, signifying the one church sending us to another. There is a ritual to our being sent.

That ritual does not happen when we “return” because we think of it as a return rather than a mission in itself. But mission is a mutual sending and receiving. It would aid in our transitions and give fuller meaning to our going if we were “sent” by the church or community where we have been serving for some years.

8. And lastly, transitions are not terminal.

They are frequently tough but not terminal. They only feel terminal when people keep the challenge and pain

22 | HORIZON | Winter 2018

of being in transition to themselves. It can be a terrible place of fear and darkness, with feelings of total incompetence as people see their world falling apart. That is tough. But again, it is not terminal. It is a process of growth to new horizons and new possibilities, like pruning the tree in order to have even better fruit. We need to trust the process.

My own experiences with transition How did I come to understand how to survive and, yes, even thrive through transitions? I first became familiar with the dynamics of transition while I was a graduate student doing a hospital chaplaincy training one summer. It was a 12-week program, and by the seventh week our supervisors told us to begin saying goodbye to one another. That surprised us. We were just getting to be a wonderful community of chaplains, friends, and co-ministers. Why should we be starting to say goodbye now?

We learned that significant relationships with colleagues or those we serve do take time to bring to an end. It served us well to begin telling one another how much our friendship meant or what we had learned from each other. This leave taking went beyond the positive aspects of our relationships. Maybe things did not go well because of someone’s fear or neglect, and we could address those issues too: “I just want to tell you that I did not appreciate your coldness towards me. Where was that coming from? Was I a threat to you?”

Taking time to say goodbye frees us to say hello to the next chapter in our lives. We cannot say hello unless we say goodbye. What we experience with those we have been with for one year, many years, or even 12 weeks, will never be repeated. We carry into our present and future many wonderful memories, but the actual experience has ended, and our emotional and physical presence needs to move on.

I took this learning to heart over many years of coming and going as a Xaverian Missionary. I have been in Sierra Leone on three different assignments, as a young graduate student for a year, for six years as a newly ordained priest, and for five years during the 1990s when Sierra Leone was experiencing a terrible war. Each experience was different. Each posed challenges of letting go and moving on.

When I was there as a student I had deeply desired to remain a second year. I waited for a positive answer until the very last days, hoping that my superiors in the States and those in Sierra Leone would see the wisdom of a second year. Permission never came, and I had to Puopolo | Healthy Transitions

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return to continue my studies. That first year back to the U.S. was very tough. I could not easily study. I was aching for direct ministry, where I found life and purpose, but my director insisted that I “reflect on the overseas experience before getting engaged in ministry here.” I was dying of thirst for service. I was blocked. I found it hard to move on. It took me more than a year to settle into my studies and ministry in Chicago. It was a rough year in retrospect. If I had said goodbye to Africa, I could have better said hello to Chicago.

After my second series of years in Sierra Leone, from 1978 to 1984, I did make the effort to close that experience well by taking two months to intentionally take leave of friends and colleagues before I returned, giving time for the goodbyes and the words of appreciation mutually shared. And even at that, it took me one full year in my new assignment in Milwaukee to feel at home, engaged, and competent. Transitions take time, even when we do them well.

When I left Sierra Leone the third time in 1999, I was driven out by the war that moved our community to temporarily suspend our activities there. I had become a victim of war violence myself, carrying memories of death, destruction, flight, and loss. All this caused me to experience post traumatic stress disorder. Again it was tough but not terminal. A full year of professional help and spiritual direction helped restore me to health and happiness once I was in the U.S. I’ve spoken to others who have experienced violence in their ministries, and it’s important not to just block out the memory but to move through it and deal with it in an intentional, guided, and real manner.

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Learning to fit each other in I learned much from my transitions in and out of Sierra Leone, and this learning continued as rector of our student communities in Milwaukee and Chicago. In that role I would give a series of formation evenings about transitions. I would start the series six weeks into the new school year because by then the newness of school year had worn off, and the reality that “this is how it is going to be” would set in.

I found that not only were students in transition, but the community as a whole would be in transition.

Even if only one confrere left or joined, the whole unit reworked its relationships. Some of those relationships were related to tasks in the community. We assume that new members just know how things work in a community, but we assume too much at times. Or worse, when Puopolo | Healthy Transitions

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Winter 2018 | HORIZON | 23

a new community director joined the community, it was just assumed he knew what to do from the start, even if he had never been to that community, diocese, or even country.

We need time, patience, and honesty to “fit one another in.” By the sixth week into a new student community, all of us all had found our escape routes or hiding places where our personal sanity would be cared for If we live our transitions and protected. I had a telling well, we will thrive. We experience while rector in know of community Chicago on just this point. members, family I had just given my presenmembers or friends tation on the dynamics of who even in their senior transition at our weekly comyears, exhibit a joy and munity formation evening. I spoke of those hiding places a purpose that keeps that each of us have. I used them young, curious, the life cycle of the lobster and alive. to explain the need for such places. A lobster is a shell fish that has no internal support structure, no skeleton, only an outer shell. To grow, the lobster must find a cave or safe place on the bottom of the sea to hide while it cracks and discards its outer shell, waiting fearfully in that place due to its extreme vulnerability. It could easily be eaten by any fish that happens to find it. Only when the new and larger shell is hard enough to protect it, will a lobster venture into the waters of life secure in its shell. I warned the brothers that if by chance they invade that hiding place of someone in a tough transition, they may get attacked!

That presentation with the lobster analogy was the formal part of our meeting. The second half of the meeting was our day-to-day announcements and a practical suggestion from the recent General Chapter of our community that I had attended that summer. At that chapter a strong suggestion was made that each community, no matter where and no matter what its ministry, must have a physical space in its building for welcoming those nearby to learn about our ministry and story. We in Chicago were in the very neighborhood where thousands of students from the University of Chicago lived. My humble proposal was that the TV/recreation room near the front entrance was the most promising place for this public welcoming space. I was not asking for a decision that evening, just starting a conversation that would lead to a decision.

24 | HORIZON | Winter 2018

One of our students became very angry, denounced this suggestion as wrongheaded and said, “This space has always been the TV room, it should never change!”

I took it in stride, informing him once he calmed down that my proposal was just that, a proposal. I simply asked everyone to think about it, and we would come back to it at a future community meeting. It was not a question of whether to have a welcoming space, but where.

After the meeting I was in my office when two Indonesian confreres who had recently arrived asked if they could chat. In their very best but limited English, they attempted to apologize on behalf of all the students for the rudeness of their confrere. I accepted their apology and asked if they remembered the input that I had given during the first part of the meeting, how I spoke of hiding places, the lobster, and how if we willingly or unwillingly enter the hiding place of another there was the possibility of injury.

I asked if they knew where this confrere’s hiding place could possibly be. They realized that this brother escaped to the TV room every night at 1 a.m. to view reruns of shows that he enjoyed from his past. This was his hiding place, and he attacked me because I proposed moving the TV elsewhere.

I took no offense at the outburst. My only regret was that I did not use it there and then as a teaching moment. I also knew and appreciated that for our Indonesian brothers, as for many who have come from or worked in East Asia, harmony needs to be restored and maintained when there is apparent conflict. Thus a lot of dynamics were at work in this incident. There are many moving parts in a community experiencing transition.

But once we become aware of what is pushing us around, we are able to move through it with a greater appreciation of each other, our histories, our needs, and our new relationships.

Part of being human Whether we’re coping with a student formation house or adjusting to new people in a welcoming community, transitions have been with us from before we were even born. There we were, thriving in a sea of mother-love, being fed, kept warm, and encouraged to grow in the womb. We were comforted by hearing the beat of our mother’s heart. We listened to those outside the womb whispering sweet words of love to us, patting our mothers’ belly and wishing us the best.

Then came our first major transition. We were pushed out of that first comfort zone, forced to breathe Puopolo | Healthy Transitions

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on our own, eat on our own, walk on our own, and more. Yes, there are advantages to this new way of being, but life was so much easier in the womb. And thus began the many transitions that have brought us to where we are today. Some are transitions we look forward to, others happen with or without our permission. Many are challenging, many are tough, but none are terminal. If transitions were terminal, you would not be reading this article!

If we live our transitions well, we will thrive. Many of us know community members, family members, or friends who even in their senior years exhibit a joy and a purpose that keeps them young, curious, and alive. We know others who live in their past, frozen with regrets, stuck in their pain. They are blocked, old before their years. They are difficult to live with, difficult to move, difficult to assign young members to—brothers and sisters who need assistance with their transitions.

How many members have left our communities due Puopolo | Healthy Transitions

to the inability to deal with the dynamics of transition?

How many ran away to find support, love, and affirmation elsewhere, only to find that they were running away from themselves, failing to address the real issue? We also have members who have remained for years in the same ministry. I believe many are unable or afraid to risk the change and transition to go to other places and ministries, to trust new beginnings that can keep us young, curious, agile, and free.

Knowing and engaging the dynamics of transition will keep not only the individual member but the whole community agile, joy-filled, and at home with the many changes asked of us. We are all in this together. n

Related reading “Healthy transitions for new members, ministers and the community,” by Sister Mercedes McCann, R.S.M. HORIZON 2010, No. 5.

Winter 2018 | HORIZON | 25

Spotting the original author For from the greatness and the beauty of created things their original author, by analogy, is seen. —Wisdom 13:5

Photo by Randen Pederson

Book notes

Portrait of iGen delivers challenges

J

EAN M. TWENGE’S most recent book, iGen: Why Today’s Super-Connected kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy—and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood (Atria Books, 2017), aptly captures the essence of the generation emerging just after Millennials with the simple “i” in the title. Twenge, a scholar who has written two other books about young people, claims to be the first to call the generation of youth born between 1995 and 2012 “iGen.” She explains throughout her book exactly why that title is so relevant to this cohort that has never known a world without the Internet. Not only does the “i” stand for Internet (which was also born in 1995), it represents nine other generational trends that Twenge unpacks in the chapters of her book: “In No Hurry (to grow up),” “In person no more,” “Insecure,” “Irreligious,” “Insulated but not intrinsic,” “Income insecurity,” “Indefinite (putting off adult milestones indefinitely),” “Inclusive,” and “Independent (politically).”

Using data from her own studies and others, interviews, analysis, and anecdotes, Twenge offers an in-depth look at the generation that now makes up the majority of college students and, soon, young professionals in the workforce. She creates a generational picture that is, quite frankly, scary. Perhaps it is because four of my five sisters belong to iGen or because I myself (born in 1992) am close in age to older iGen’ers, that I find Twenge’s research so disconcerting. What the data show is that iGen, despite its smartphone connectivity, is the most depressed, anxious, insecure, and socially isolated generation in recent history. iGen has also had a much slower transition from childhood into adulthood, with the average age rising for getting a driver’s license, starting a first job, beginning to Ferguson | Book Notes

By Anna Ferguson Anna Ferguson graduated from Creighton University in 2015 with her bachelor’s in journalism and theology. She spent the following two years doing retreat ministry for 5th grade students through young adults at The Pines Catholic Camp in Texas. She is currently a graduate assistant in the Schlegel Center for Service and Justice at Creighton University while pursuing a master’s degree in ministry.

Winter 2018 | HORIZON | 27

date, and getting married. On the positive side, Twenge notes that this generation has emphasized inclusivity (equality and justice for people of all races, sexual orientations, genders, and abilities) and safety, and tends to be more practical and hardworking and less narcissistic than Millennials. However the overall description Twenge gives is of a generation that knows how to keep its Snapchat streaks going but does not know how to have an in-person conversation anymore.

Twenge repeatedly urges readers to consider trends as neither positive nor negative, but as simply trends.

However, given that more than one in nine teens and one in 11 young adults in iGen suffer from major depressive disorder, and given that one out of three iGen’ers is neither spiritual nor religious, I cannot help but feel disheartened by these trends. The irreligious trend is particularly distressing for me, a graduate student hoping to work in campus ministry someday. I know my own Millennial cohort will forever be known as the “nones,” those who are spiritual but do not identify with a specific religion. This presents its own set of challenges, but at least we are spiritual. Twenge raises the alarming question: What happened that pushed a third of iGen’ers­­— some just three years younger than me—to completely let go of any kind of faith?

Twenge’s data reveal that more iGen’ers are being raised in nonreligious households, and more are personally choosing not to belong to a religion. Fewer believe in an afterlife, fewer pray, fewer attend religious services, and fewer believe in God. Given these trends, not only is iGen less publicly religious, it is now also less privately religious. Twenge points to several factors that could be contributing to this lack of faith, with the strongest being individualism, a prized characteristic of Americans, especially young Americans. iGen’ers view religious faith as restrictive, outdated, and irrelevant in their lives. To me these reasons may very well coincide with rejecting religion as a structure, but couldn’t iGen’ers adopt the Millennial model of being personally spiritual? Have they forgone all faith simply because they do not like its institutions? iGen’s laser-like focus on authenticity, yet another generational buzzword, says no.

If iGen’ers cannot accept the public and institutional aspects of religious faith, then trends suggest that they also are less likely to appropriate any kind of religion into a personal spirituality. Those who do tend to practice what sociologist Christian Smith calls Moralistic Therapeutic Deism, the idea that “God does not need to be particularly involved in one’s life except when God is needed to resolve a problem.” An iGen spirituality, 28 | HORIZON | Winter 2018

then, is concerned with happiness, with feeling good, and being a good person. It cares nothing for a personal relationship with God except to ask God for things. Furthermore iGen tends to view religious faith as rigid and intolerant, inconsistent with its ethos of love and equality for all. To the extent that iGen’ers feel religious faith threatens their sense of individualism, authenticity, and inclusivity, they are less likely to be publicly and privately religious, less likely to remain religious if they were raised in a faith tradition, and even less likely to return to that childhood faith if they leave it.

As disheartening as this trend away from religion is, I also feel energized as a person of faith and a future campus minister to figure out how to engage young people and create experiences of love, inclusion, and community that will leave them open to a relationship with a loving God and hungry for more. Twenge provides some suggestions. She claims that those ministering to iGen need to focus on making their efforts more actively engaging, and that they need to have more discussions that address the big questions about life, love, God, and meaning. Finally she suggests that even if iGen’ers are slow to believe in God and to adopt a personal spirituality, perhaps if they come to believe on their own, they might be more likely to keep those beliefs when their faith is tested.

For those of us engaged in youth and young adult ministry, including vocation ministry, I think it will be crucial, given Twenge’s research, to not only show iGen’ers just how loving, accepting, inclusive and justiceoriented the Catholic Church is, but also to appeal to the place within them that is hungering for community, for in-person interaction, and for authentic love that makes them feel safe. I think the authentic joy and radical commitment to community that religious orders model can be a powerful witness to iGen. Now more than ever it is critical that young people see that another way of life is possible, one that models agapic love, simplicity, joy, community, faith, service, and justice.

My own experience in youth ministry also gives me hope. Members of iGen are still hungry for community and authentic love, even if they do not know it. They still care about being good people and making a difference, and they are still trying to make meaning of their lives.

We must tap into that, create experiences where they come face-to-face with the joy, love and community they have been missing—through encounters with the personal love of God. To the extent we do this and challenge iGen’ers to rise up to be men and women for others, then they have the potential to be a truly great generation. n Ferguson | Book Notes

Conference of the National Association of Vocation/Formation Directors (NAVFD) Hamilton Ontario Canada| April 22-25, 2018 preparation for a life of evangelization developing & fostering a culture of vocation Pope Francis’ pastoral letter engaging & praying with young people dialogue on visibility enculturation panel best practices re international candidates celibate loving social media toolkit sound bases for initial & ongoing formation why I came. why I stay

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