The Protester

This morning, TIME Magazine announced their Person of the Year, The Protester.

(Can’t say that we didn’t suggest that this was something worth noting… ) In Time’s analysis, they suggested…

“It’s remarkable how much the protest vanguards share. Everywhere they are disproportionately young, middle class and educated. Almost all the protests this year began as independent affairs, without much encouragement from or endorsement by existing political parties or opposition bigwigs. All over the world, the protesters of 2011 share a belief that their countries’ political systems and economies have grown dysfunctional and corrupt — sham democracies rigged to favor the rich and powerful and prevent significant change. They are fervent small-d democrats. Two decades after the final failure and abandonment of communism, they believe they’re experiencing the failure of hell-bent megascaled crony hypercapitalism and pine for some third way, a new social contract.

During the bubble years, perhaps, there was enough money trickling down to keep them happyish, but now the unending financial crisis and economic stagnation make them feel like suckers. This year, instead of plugging in the headphones, entering an Internet-induced fugue state and quietly giving in to hopelessness, they used the Internet to find one another and take to the streets to insist on fairness and (in the Arab world) freedom. “

We’ve got to be asking…. What does this mean for youth and young adult ministry for Church??

D. Scott Miller

D. Scott Miller is the dean of Catholic Youth Ministry bloggers which is a polite way of either saying that he is just plain old or has been blogging for a long time (since 2004.)

Scott recently married the lovely Anne and together they have five adult young people and also grandparent three delightful kids (so, maybe he is just plain old!) Scott presently serves at Saint John the Evangelist in Columbia, MD as the director of youth and young adult ministry.

He has previously served on the parish, regional, diocesan, and national levels as well as having taught within a catholic high school. He is one of the founders of RebuildMyChurch and has returned to posting regularly (keeping regular is important to old guys) at ProjectYM.

4 Comments

Pat Villa on December 14, 2011 at 10:38 pm

Is it possible that Christian young people are fighting for their freedom by exerting their freedom to leave the Church and not look back? And is it possible that they aren’t looking back because we, the Church, haven’t acknowledged that they’re gone?

D. Scott Miller on December 15, 2011 at 5:31 am

OR Is it possible that young people are ready “take to the streets to insist on fairness?” … and have yet to determine that the CHurch as a place, a venue, an environment that has “some third way, a new social contract.” such as found in the Gospels; new in that we have yet to engage them fully as a social contract, therefore, seeking the Reign of God.

Greg Thompson on December 15, 2011 at 10:05 am

I’m thinking these days about the influence of culture on the faith, and the struggle for the faith to influence the culture. The Social Contract that elude to D. Scott, is a challenging concept when, as the “protester” would claim, the society has let them down. The blur between culture and religion renders them the same… So both are seen as just another “Big Brother” trying to control things, and the “protesters” want the control back. “The 99” are the problem, and the “1” seems to have the solution. The “Good News” is that it is the ONE who ultimately makes the commitment to discipleship, and the combination of other “Ones” who join forces to make disciples of all nations… Therefore, I wonder if all is well, and the movements that make the news are truly the movements of the Holy Spirit calling on our youth and young adults to truly internalize and personalize their faith, put it into action, and re-group to truly have that faith influence the culture in all the right ways. Great discussion… Thx!