Florida Catholic | Curious Teens Spend Time At Conference

Curious teens spend time at conference

ANA RODRIGUEZ-SOTO | FLORIDA CATHOLIC STAFF

Published: 06.18.08

MIAMI | They are not theologians, perhaps not even future theologians. But six teenagers from Chaminade-Madonna College Prep in Hollywood spent their first day of summer vacation listening to theological discussions at the annual meeting of the Catholic Theological Society of America.

“I said, ‘You don’t understand. If you think I’m boring, you just wait,’” said Theodore Whapham, the honors theology professor whose junior students insisted on going to the meeting after hearing him talk about his experiences at another theological gathering late last year.

As the months passed, he was hoping they would forget. But “they wouldn’t let it go,” Whapham said.

That in itself says a lot about the younger generation, which sociologically is less attached to the church than their parents or grandparents, and more likely to view religious practice as a choice rather than an obligation.

“I think what they are intrigued at is listening to people talk about theology at a higher level. They don’t like to be talked down to. They want to challenge themselves,” said Whapham.

His students chose to attend two sessions the morning of June 6, both of them dealing with teaching theology and morality to the millennial generation.

The students chose not to split up, but to attend the sessions as a group and together with Whapham, so that he could help them fill in whatever gaps they had in understanding the speakers’ presentations.

“They felt (those topics) would be something that they could contribute to the conversation,” Whapham said.

He added that what he has learned from teaching the church’s youngest generation is that “they like the challenge. They like the big questions. And they’re not afraid to tackle them. They do like to learn.”

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Curious teens spend time at conference

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