The BIG Unveiling - Check Out YOUCATholic.com

INTRODUCING

As many of you know, I experienced the bulk of my conversion as a middle school and high school student, so when I caught wind that author and blogger TJ Burdick was building a new website to act as a faith clearinghouse for youth, I offered to help in whatever way I could.  TJ generously allowed me to join his team of catechists and bloggers, and I am incredibly pumped up about sharing this site with you. Check out the description:

YOUCATholic.com is a community of like-minded, traditional Catholics that have been called to teach and learn the Gospel together using New Media. It consists of an open forum, a leveled series’ of nine-week courses that certified catechists have designed to feed you the meat of your Catholic faith and various other resources that can enhance your spiritual life. It is a formation program that allows you to get to know your faith independently using the YOUCAT, YouTube/Vimeo and blogging/vlogging to help guide you toward the profound truths that are found in the Catholic Church.

Is there a young person in your life who wants to understand their Faith better? Have you been looking for a resource that you and your kids can explore together? Or maybe you are a religion teacher looking for a way to spice up your lessons?  Visit YOUCATholic.com

I bet you are saying to yourself "YOUCAT, YOUCAT ... where have I heard that before?"    That's the title of the Youth Catechism of the Catholic Church. Written in a lively, more-youth-engaging style, YOUCAT uses creative, youth-oriented photos, graphics, and text to presents the Faith. Plus,YOUCAT is keyed to the Catechism, so it is easy for youth to go even deeper in their study of the faith.  Released last year, it could not have received a more stellar endorsement than the one given by Pope Benedict in its Foreword:

"I beg you: Study this Catechism with passion and perseverance.  Make a sacrifice of your time for it!  Study it in the quiet of your room; read it with a friend; form study groups and networks; share with each other on the Internet." 

(Maybe you have heard concern voiced regarding the YOUCAT; let me refer you to this post to try and put your mind at ease.)  The Church clearly has a lot of faith in this resource - she passed them out at World Youth Day in Madrid and plans to pass out over one million more at this year's event in Rio!

At YOUCATholic.com you can find exactly the kind of online community for growing in the Faith envisioned by Pope Benedict. Here's the list of topics in Course 101:  

1. Why did God create you? 
2. Does God Exist?
3. Was Jesus really God? 
4. Why are Mary and the Saints so important?
5. Are non-Catholics saved?
6. Why do Christians get baptized?
7. Why Confirmation?
8. Why is the Eucharist so important?
9. Final reflections

Click on any of those and you will find a story from real life, reflection questions, video, references to paragraphs in the YOUCAT with comprehension checks, and a final question for journaling.  (And I am honored to say that your's truly wrote Course 202.)  But don't be content with my measly explanation of the site - check it out for yourself!  YOUCATholic.com

Concerned About the YOUCAT?

"Hold on Shane, I've heard strong concerns expressed regarding the YOUCAT - that it waters down the Church's teaching on sexuality."  Yes, I heard those too; but I do not believe that to be the fact.  Look at this excerpt:

403 How is sexuality related to love?
Sexuality is inseparable from love; they go together. The sexual encounter requires the framework of a true, dependable love. (CCC 2337)
When sexuality is separated from love and is sought only for the sake of satisfaction, one destroys the meaning of the sexual union of man and woman. Sexual union is the most beautiful bodily, sensual expression of love. People who look for sex without love are lying, because the closeness of their bodies does not correspond to the closeness of their hearts. Someone who does not take his own body language at its word does lasting damage to body and soul. Sex then becomes inhuman; it is degraded to a means of obtaining pleasure and degenerates into a commodity. Only committed, enduring love creates a space for sexuality that is experienced in a human way and brings lasting happiness.
{SIDEBARS} “One cannot live a trial life or die a trial death. One cannot love on a trial basis or accept a person on trial and for a limited time.” —Pope John Paul II (1920–2005), November 15, 1980
“Everything that makes a sexual encounter easy hastens at the same time its plunge into irrelevance.” —Paul Ricoeur (1913–2005, French philosopher)

The YOUCAT then goes on to talk about chastity, the Sacrament of Marriage, homosexual acts, contraception, etc.  When looking at the YOUCAT it is important to keep a couple of points in mind:

• It is a 300 page presentation of the Faith, in contrast to the 800 page Catechism of the Catholic Church
• Written for youth, it does not claim to present the Faith with the same fullness of the CCC

YOUCAT is meant to be a reliable introduction to the Faith that will familiarize youth and equip them to make use of the CCC.
The only passage I have come across thus far that I personally had a concern with had to do with Scripture. Mind you, the passage does not actually say anything that is incorrect.  I am simply concerned that, given the current climate in which it is common to limit our belief in Scripture's freedom from error, the passage could be misconstrued:

15  How can Sacred Scripture be "truth" if not everything in it is right?
The Bible is not meant to convey precise historical information on scientific findings to us.  Moreover, the authors were children of their time.  They shared the cultural ideas of the world around them and often were also dominated by its errors.  Nevertheless, everything that man must know about God and the way of his salvation is found with infallible certainty in Sacred Scripture. [106-107, 137]

The passage does not say anything technically false, but it would definitely benefit from further explanation.  But again, this is an introductory work ... granted approval by Pope Benedict and the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith - and they're no theological slouches! (For the curious, I have written a lengthy post on the question of whether or not there are mistakes in the Bible.)

Ignatius Press, the publisher of the English translation of the YOUCAT has written a thorough response to concerns here.  What I have focused on thus far is Section Four of the YOUCAT - Prayer.  And let me tell you; it is beautiful!  Good, youth-oriented, practical catechesis - and you can even learn the Our Father and Hail Mary in Latin (something you don't find in the CCC).