How old must you be to attend MoE?
This was a question recently asked of us and I thought it would be appropriate to open this up for discussion.
How old should you be to meet with a group of men that pray and discuss the Gospel? How about when we really open up and bare our souls, talking in strictest confidence about issues and struggles that we face?
There is a certain amount of trust and confiendiality that we must guarantee if we hope to continue our successful mission. Without that, I believe, we begin to chip away at the foundation of the group.
I believe that is more of a question of maturity than age. Certainly maturity comes with age, but it is not the same for all.
We meet at 7:30am on Saturday mornings. It takes a certain amount of discipline, motivation and maturity to get up and make these meetings. So, in my opinion, if a high school aged guy wants to come and listen/learn/share with us, he should be able to. Just my opinion, and I am anxious to hear what the rest of you think. Lets discuss.
posted by Ty Roach @ 3/14/2006 08:36:00 AM
15 comments
15 Comments:
HS graduate
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Married or College Graduate
During lent - 8th grade and above.
Regularly - 21 and above
Ty,
Thanks for asking. In my opnion it is the parents who have to decide if their son needs to attend such meetings.
I agree with the IrishScorpion
The name of the group appears to me to be self selective of membership. I recall Fr. Leary's farewell speech in which he talked about founding a "men's group", perhaps we should ask his guidance. I think we should restrict it at least to men who have reached the age of majority -21.
The name of the group appears to me to be self selective of membership. I recall Fr. Leary's farewell speech in which he talked about founding a "men's group", perhaps we should ask his guidance. I think we should restrict it at least to men who have reached the age of majority -21.
I agree with Dave Mason
This is a tough one because all of us, regardless of age, can relate the gospel to our lives. However, St. M's has a youth group and a young adult group that may be more age appropriate for younger catholics. Possibly Monsignor Brennan or Father Javier can guide us.
RV
Excellent points all. Those of you that mentioned the fact that there is a "youth group" that serves the youth have an excellent point.
We are called the "Men" of Emmaus, not a more general "Guys" of Emmaus.
That is an excellent question. At first glance, it seems a simple thing to say that we have a youth group for our high school students and a young adult group for college students and young singles. We have the Men of Emmaus and Women of Prayer groups for the adults.
Some of the sharing we do is not appropriate for the teens although some of it would let them know that we struggle with some of the same issues.
I think that Ken Brock’s message was a good one for the young men to hear.
Dominik said "married." That excludes men "our age" (as broad as that definition is) who never married or are divorced (I know, there are other groups for separated and divorced people as well).
I think that at the end of my contemplation of the matter, I agree with Luis - 21 and above except by invitation (such as during Lent).
First I would like to say, I think many of you have very good points. I just want to share with you a few thoughts. I think we might be looking at this from the wrong angle, for one thing we seem to be judging maturity as a born on date, in my experience I know many men my age that I question their maturity. I have come to know many Youth in working with the youth group, and I realized in being around them you should not measure maturity from a social, born on date or marital status, but only by their maturity in Christ. I have seen many young men stand up before hundreds of people and bear their souls; I have not yet seen this with some of the men I know. At 18 years of age you can decide to defend your country, and all that is good. I also feel if you decide to get up on a Saturday morning to meet at 7:30 this also already shows a level of maturity, and will weed out the spectators.
It has also been my experience that I myself have been inspired by many of theses young men. In knowing all of you fine men of God I believe you may inspire some of these young men. I do not feel that we should wait for a man to be broken before we allow him to share with us. I truly believe we should place this issue in Gods hands and trust in him that he is leading the men that want to come, and need to come for reason only God can know. I think we all need to pray about this, but most of all trust in God that he leads them as he has led all of us to the men of Emmaus.
God Bless,
Paul
I would hope that we would not become an exclusive club, however, I do agree with some that have stated concerns about age appropriate subject matter.
I look at it this way, if a man is getting up at 7:30 on a Saturday morning to pray, reflect, and have fellowship with other men seeking to do the same, that man is probably mature enough to handle the subject matter. I do think, that we need to protect ourselves as a group. That said, I would think 18 is an appropriate age. We could look into some joint programs with the youth group males to bridge the gap a bit and I think it would go a long way to building/preparing the male youths in our parish for joining us in the future.
A young man, regardless of his current status in life (married, single, divorced, college, etc) certainly can find value in the meetings. A single man could gain valuable insight into how other Catholic approach marriage. When I was single, I wish I would have had a group of men of faith, besides my dad to talk to. While a great deal of the issues we face as men do concern marriage and families, there are many that are common to all men.
I think if they are old enough to ask, they are on the right track and should be allowed to come.
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