HS Summer Job

Dear parents and young people, A part-time job is part of the overall experience of many high-schoolers, especially during the summer. It gives them a healthy alternative to endlessly staring at their phones. It is often an introduction to the “adult world,” where people work and make a living. Young people are able to socialize and interact with new people at work, and thus sharpen their skills of relating to others. No less important is earning a little money, budgeting it and enjoying being able to buy things on one’s own. But there is a danger. Unless a young person resolves to state from the very beginning that they will need at least two hours to fulfill their religious obligations each weekend, they will almost certainly be scheduled to work during Mass times. And that will be it. The end of the practice of the Faith. Dump a lifetime of religion, just like that. All to walk up and down the aisles of a big box store for hours on end, prepare low-nutrition, high-calorie fast food or something similar. Parents, imagine all the time and effort spent nurturing the Catholic-Christian faith in your children, bringing them from Baptism to First Holy Communion, instructing them about Jesus as our savior and nurturing them in the many Godly values which make people truly beautiful…only to lose those efforts to a summer job. As was said on the page explaining weekly Mass attendance, with regard to the place of work and extracurricular activities, you have a right to reasonable religious accommodation. With complete confidence you may ask your employer or coach to allow you two hours to fulfill your Sunday religious obligations. Let these adults witness the example of your life ordered around Christ. The world needs your testimony. It is what Christians do: prioritize Sunday, the “Day of the Lord,” for the Lord. As sure as the summer days in the southwest are long, accepting a job which cancels out regular Sunday Mass attendance during the summer will disallow the return of the student to year two of our Confirmation program in the fall. Skillfully navigating this critical moment will become decisive for future family responses, namely after a young person gets that sacrament of Confirmation, and then reaches the age of eighteen. Cave in, or keep the faith, that is the question.