Catholic Teens

Hey All,

Well William is now a "saint"---having been Baptized this past Saturday. He's as pure before God as he will ever be. The stain of original sin has been removed. He's got a straight shot to heaven at the moment :-)

He actually did really well during the ceremony, hardly uttering even a peep! In fact, the whole day went well, until about 8pm when he decided to seriously "exercise his lungs". Wow. Maybe he'll sing in the choir someday?

A special thanks to the Generation JPII youth group for their generous gift card. We used that to buy the material for William's Baptism gown. His godmother made it from scratch. And we'll be able to use that gown for all of our kids (God-willing!) -And hope you enjoyed the cookies Sunday night!

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Question O' The Week:

A follow-up question to last week's:

Is "making out" a sin? (kind of a crazy question sorry) I just have to know'cause I've heard that it is from people, but I just didn't know what tobelieve.

Nope, it's not a crazy question...it's a normal one. It depends on how you define "making out", but generally speaking....yes it is. When two people are "making out" it means they're just doing stuff physically for the pleasure of it...and it usually leads to more and more such things. Those things are reserved for marriage. And to use my earlier example...would you like to think of your future husband "making out" with some other girl? Most people wouldn't.
On the other hand, can married people "make out"? Absolutely.

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Prayer requests:
If you have anything or anyone you'd like to pray for, email them to me and I'll add them to the list here. (You can remain anonymous if you like).

-For one of our College DTS students who had a second emergency surgery Saturday, and is now recovering.
-For all Catholic teenagers.
--For all these we pray to the Lord,
Lord hear our prayer.

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Announcements: Next Youth Group is this Sunday, May 7th! 6-8PM @ St. Peter's.


God bless you!
Phil Lawson

Hey All,

William's Baptism is this Saturday at 1pm at St. Peter's. There'll be an open house at our home afterwards. You're all invited! :-)
He's been doing his "Superman" routine lately...he starts grunting and thrusts his right arm into the air and keeps it their. Who know's what he's dreaming! It is pretty cute though!
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Question O' The Week:
-"How far is too far?" (in a relationship)
---A very pertinent question that most teens ask at one point or another.
Recognize that the other person is made in the image and likeness of God. And deep physical affection is meant for marriage. One analogy that I have used, would you want your future husband/wife to be doing this action with somebody else? If the answer is no, then you probably shouldn't be doing it.

Matthew Pinto in "Did Adam and Eve have belly buttons" puts it this way:
"Actions like holding hands, modest kisses, and embraces are perfectly fine as long as you have a firm presence of mind that these acts will not lead to serious sins against chastity."

It is far too easy to fall into the trap of the physical aspect of a relationship dominating. That is unhealthy and if the relationship ends, makes it that much more painful.

Indeed, while modest kissing in a relationship is not sinful, more and more couples are choosing to wait until their wedding day for their first kiss. My wife and I made that decision. Our first kiss was on the day we were married. How awesome was that!? It made it that much more special.

Our sexuality is a beautiful and profound gift, don't reduce it or waste it on someone who you're not going to be with forever.

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Prayer requests:
If you have anything or anyone you'd like to pray for, email them to me and I'll add them to the list here. (You can remain anonymous if you like).

-For those who were received into the Church or received sacraments this past Easter Vigil.
-For one of our College DTS students who had emergency surgery last week and is now recovering.
-For all Catholic teenagers.
--For all these we pray to the Lord,
Lord hear our prayer.

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Announcements: Next Youth Group is this Sunday, April 23rd! 6-8PM @ St. Peter's.
Movie Night. I think The Chronicles of Narnia is on tap. (Plus hopefully little William will make an appearance!)
God bless you!

Phil Lawson

Catholic Teens

Hey All,

Spring is in the air...new life abounds...and as we walk with Jesus through this Holy Week, we meditate on the Sacrifice of the Cross, while looking forward to the Joy of the Resurrection.
We are blessed this year to have 10 people receiving sacraments at the Easter Vigil, including 6 who have converted from other brances of Christianity. May we be inspired by their faith!

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Question O' The Week:
Last week the pope met with young people in Rome, ahead of their local World Youth Day celebration....and there was a Q&A (How cool would that be?!) Here's one of the questions...and the pope's response:

Vittorio, 20, asked the Pope to tell his listeners how he decided to become a priest and to give advice to those youths thinking about the possibility of consecrating their lives to God. "I grew up in a very different world than today's, though things are similar," Benedict XVI said. "On one hand, it was something normal to go to Church. … [Yet,] the Nazi regime was there, which prophesied a world without priests. In face of this anti-human culture, I understood that the Gospel and the faith point out the correct path to us." Benedict XVI said that he was helped by two elements when he was young. First, "I discovered the beauty of the liturgy, loving it because it presents us the beauty of God and opens heaven to us." Second, "I discovered the beauty of God by engaging in dialogue with him through theology," he added. "Evidently, difficulties were not lacking and I wondered if I would be able to live my whole life in celibacy, aware that theology was not enough to be a good priest. "Theology is beautiful but it was necessary to be simple with the simple. The Lord helped me with the company of good priest friends." To youths thinking about responding to God's call to the consecrated life, the Pope recommended that they enter into "friendship with God, and not stay with the books, but live a personal relationship to understand what it is that he says specifically to me." To achieve this, one needs "courage and humility, confidence and openness to ask oneself what the Lord wants," the Holy Father said. "It is a great venture, but life can only be lived with the confidence that the Lord does not leave us alone."

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Prayer requests:
If you have anything or anyone you'd like to pray for, email them to me and I'll add them to the list here. (You can remain anonymous if you like).

-For a childhood friend of mine who recently attempted suicide..and for his family.
-For those who are trying to live without Christ, for all Protestants, for Catholics who do not live Catholic lives, and for those who do not believe in God
-For an end to abortion, contraception, and euthanasia, and a renewed respect for the sanctity, dignity, and holiness of all life
-For an end to Homosexuality and every kind of impurity, and for those who commit them
- i would like you add my friend, she is going
through some tough times in her life and doesn't always make good choices.
so i pray the God will give her guidence to help
her to make the choices, that i am sure in the back of her head, she knowsis right.
--For all these we pray to the Lord,
Lord hear our prayer.

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Announcements: Next Youth Group is Sunday, April 23rd! 6-8PM @ St. Peter's.
Movie Night!
God bless you!

Phil Lawson

Catholic Teens

Hey All,

Well William has decided he's nocturnal...and is happy to share his new enthusiasm for being active at night with his parents. :-) He slept through the Final Four games this weekend and was awake at night...hmmm reverse of what I would expect of my son. We'll have to correct that before Packers football begins in 4 months :-)
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Question O' The Week:

"How do mentally or physically disabled people go to heaven if they can't confess their sins and complete the sacraments?"

-Very interesting question. I've had the privilege of working with such situations....including one young man a number of years ago. He was about 16 with a mental disability, hence he had a very, very short attention span, and the mental abilities of perhaps a 4th grader. I worked with him prior to his confirmation. We'd meet for a short period of time each week, and he was confirmed with everyone else. Did he understand all the theological suppositions behind the sacrament? No. Did he understand that God was present and offering him a gift and grace? Yes. And that was sufficient.

Recall, God will judge you according to what you know and how you act according to that. Reception of the sacraments requires a willing heart and mind, and a basic understanding of it. The young man I worked with, possessed both--along with a joy and innocence that I rarely see in other 16 year olds.

God knows your heart, mind, and soul. He knows what your capable of and what you're not. And He will judge us accordingly.

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Prayer requests:
I'd like to start a new section for prayer requests. If you have anything or anyone you'd like to pray for, email them to me and I'll add them to the list here. (You can remain anonymous if you like).

-For a childhood friend of mine who recently attempted suicide..and for his family.
-For those who are trying to live without Christ, for all Protestants, for Catholics who do not live Catholic lives, and for those who do not believe in God
-For an end to abortion, contraception, and euthanasia, and a renewed respect for the sanctity, dignity, and holiness of all life
-For an end to Homosexuality and every kind of impurity, and for those who commit them - i would like you add my friend, she is going
through some tough times in her life and doesn't always make good choices.
so i pray the God will give her guidence to help
her to make the choices, that i am sure in the back of her head, she knowsis right.
--For all these we pray to the Lord,
Lord here our prayer.

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Announcements: Next Youth Group is Sunday, April 23rd! 6-8PM @ St. Peter's.
Movie Night!
God bless you!

Phil Lawson