DIRECTING VOCATIONS and RAISING CHILDREN
The Role of Social Media
The discovery I most remember from my years as a Vocation Director was when I finally realized that there were two "formation programs" going on in many seminaries. (1) There was the above-ground "official" formation program offered by the seminary - the one each seminarian was evaluated against. (2) There was the "unofficial" under-ground internet "formation program" that was going on secretly between seminarians across the country who held ideological points of view that conflicted with the "official" formation program offered by their seminaries. It revealed itself in this way - what you knew about the seminarian from his "official" evaluation did not always match what you saw in the "new priest" pretty soon after ordination - sometime starting with their "First Mass." I have had other seminarians tell me that "we saw it all along while you "formation directors" were kept purposely in the dark."
With the rise and expansion of "social media," parents are experiencing a similar situation with their children. The values parents are trying to instill at home are being smothered by conflicting values being fed to their children through the internet while their parents are being kept purposely blind. It reveals itself in this way - one day parents who thought they knew their children wake up to the actions and behaviors of perfect strangers - leaving the parents scratching their heads and asking themselves, "Where did they get this?" Even suicide is being presented to young people more and more as a viable option through social media for the stresses and pressures the young feel. Even the stresses and pressures that used to be considered "normal," are now causes for ending one's life!
There is much good in many of our young adults and what I am saying is not universal, but being wise is not the same as being smart. Information makes people smart, but wisdom is earned through experience. Whether it is a young priest or a young professional, those responsible for their formation can only hope and pray they do not need to be pulled out of parishes because their personal ideologies are running people off or have to watch them ruin their futures by popular indiscreet and impulsive decisions regardless of the investment their teachers and parents have made in them.
Both Vocation Directors and parents need to know about icebergs. What you see above the surface may tell you one thing, but what is hidden below the surface may tell you something else!
No comments:
Post a Comment