Middle Class Values, Whose Virtues:
What are we doing to our Youth?
By Rev. John J. Raphael, SSJ
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 The youth are not primarily the ones to be blamed
for their current predicament. WE ARE! Collectively, we adults are responsible.
This reflection is not a charge against our youth, rather it is a call to arms
to those who have been entrusted with the sacred duty of "Training them up in
the way that they should go…" It is amazing that so many of them continue to do
the great things that they are capable of, given the kind of leadership and
guidance we have given them in recent years. They remain as talented as they
ever were. They are capable of doing far greater things than previous
generations. They have the breadth and width of today's opportunities available
to them. But have we thoroughly prepared them for it? Or, have we allowed a
change in our values to deprive them of the ability to cultivate the virtues
they need for success, not only in the world, but also in the Kingdom of God?
Middle Class values are not enough. Sometimes they are deadly, killing our youth
with the misguided kindness of overindulgence. Gospel values, rooted in the
suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus, lead to Christian virtue and
Christian virtue leads to eternal life! We must reclaim those values, to reclaim
our youth.
Works Cited
- Cosby, Bill. Come on People.
Excerpts on ABC News Internet Ventures. 16 October 2007.
- Websters Online Dictionary
- Williams, Juan. Enough: The Phony Leaders, Dead End
Movements, and Culture of Failure that are undermining Black America-and What we
can do about it. New York: Crown Publishers, 2006
Fr. Raphael is the principal of St. Augustine High
School (Josephites) in New Orleans, LA
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