Speak up!
Though I think as Catholics we all take the red pill. We unplug ourselves from the secular matrix of modern society and we too see that there is just more going on than just day-to-day living or making a buck. We see a reality bigger not smaller than when we were plugged in were unaware of supernatural realities. We also must fight against and overcome the forces of this world. We too must learn that we can overcome that what appears to be the physical limits in this life can be overcome by training in a supernatural prayer life.
Though in reality Mr. Smith is a fallen angel and not a piece of fallen code and the Book of Revelations is much better and more hopeful than the third Matrix.
Coincidentally while I was typing in this comment on your site I received a comment from you on my site.
Last year the PR department came up with a post card series that had a brilliant one of the monks. If you go to this link and scroll down you can see it (sorry, I couldn't figure out how to post the picture here)
http://www.anselm.edu/news+and+e...campus/
case.htm
These were sent to prospective students. The inside of the card had the monks' names and what they did on campus (some are professors and some hold adminstrative postions)
If I were a prospective student, my thoughts would be, "Wow, monks are real people with a sense of humor who live every day lives just like the rest of us."
A priest who is reverent AND human gives me hope that I can be the same.
Don't get me wrong, I like Godspell and Jesus Christ Superstar and know all the words by heart, but it really wasn't necessary in order for the Church to be cool or relevant to the kids out there. The Church is cool without pandering to the latest thing out there. What's next, hip-hop hymns in order to appeal to some of the homies out there?
Come on, the coolest guy out there the last 25 years was some old Polish man who, on his best day, could speak only tortured English and toward the end, could hardly speak at all, much less stand up or even relax his face. And you want to use Keanu Reeves instead??
No thanks, I'll take instead the Rock from Wadowice instead, with the black robes and other missionaries, martyrs, and saints who bravely brought the Good News to the world and were slaughtered for their troubles, and other true and authentic brave Catholic warriors and (yes) Crusaders who defended the Faith. Let's make some posters about these guys.
When her friends come over or stay with us, they're also very relaxed with me and talk to me casually. I think for me, it's about being approachable. I don't want to be 'hip', I don't want to know their secrets or be their best buddy or anything, I'm just down to earth with them and they seem to respond to that. (even when I have to raise my voice to them or put a damper on their over excited behaviour)
God Bless.
You misunderstand what I am saying. I am not saying that the Church has to be "cool" and I fully understand and agree with your comments about guitar mass, the "with it" priests (who weren't cool but were just trying to be cool ... part of my point), etc. In fact, I do not like any Catholic music I've encountered from the 1900's on , like our church altar rail, kneel to take communion, etc ... so you can't say that I am eager for "change" and "modernization" in the Church.
What I am saying is that a "recruitment poster" has to show the possibilities ... open people's minds to what could be ... tie in what is being offered to where the person is right now. Think of military recruitment. We heard a radio program recently profiling a woman who is serving in the Navy. Her job is to restock vending machines aboard an aircraft carrier. This is her job 8 hours a day, 7 days a week. She likes it. She is happy that she joined the Navy.
What got her attention? One of those Navy recruitment ads with the soaring fighter jets landing on the aircraft carrier and blasting rock music. She watched the ad because the song used was one of her favorites. And it suddenly made her think that the Navy might be a way out of a job she hated.
Is stocking a vending machine the same as what was shown in that ad? No. But that ad opened her mind for a second to the possibilities. Does she resent the Navy for trying to be "cool" when it is a basic job to her right now? No. She lives in the real world. But it made her think for a second of a new reality for herself ... and that is all that recruitment poster is doing.
I also like your idea for a recruitment poster using Pope John Paul II. I think it would also be effective, but to a different group of kids. The methods do not have to be "either, or" instead of doing both.
You are not giving kids enough credit. This is nothing more than a recruitment poster. It is what it is and overanalyzing is also a problem of this day and age.
Anyways, I find it really funny that the second people realize that I am really Catholic (ie when they read my blog or hear me talking to my kids or to other Catholics) they immediatly think that I have lost my sense of humor. What is it about being religious or Catholic, that makes people think I'm a stick in the mud? I don't listen to Christian music radio stations, often (okay...rarely do I listen to them), my favorite bands are Modest Mouse, The Killers, and Scissor Sisters, some of my favorite movies would make people question my sanity, and I have a great sense of humor, if I do say so myself, which I do! AND I'm Catholic! *audience gasps* I do not deviate from my faith, but I also don't keep myself from enjoying the things which make life fun (music, movies, books, and art). So...to get to my point (I do seem to have a problem with getting to any kind of point ...ever), the add was just what it was, fun, whimsical marketing for the most wonderful career choice and calling in the world.
Besides...at least it wasn't the "Buddy Jesus" from Dogma...now that would have had me worried!
I love this post, Julie! :D
As for the poster, I think it's great. In fact, I have requested some for my church here in England.
Emily x
Couldn't have anything to do with NASCAR sunday always at our house and I am always the first one with the new Three Doors Down cd!!LOL
Actually, most kids don't see priests. They see middle-aged women going through their version of a mid-life crisis owning the sanctuary. The priest is that guy sitting off to the side while Sally-Anne Hudson does that thing with her hand, indicating us peons are to sing the responsorial psalm.
Radical thought for the day: For every Eucharaistic Minister, a vocation to the priesthood is killed.
Our choir is in the choir loft above and behind us while any cantor stands up there and sings. No one is doing anything with their hands except the priest. The Eucharistic Ministers are hidden from sight except when they actually are doing anything and then they also are off to each side while the priest and deacon are front and center with the Eucharist ... so we're luckier than I realized.
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