For some reason, I knew you would reply to me on this issue!
Just because it might not be the "norm" doesn't make it irrelevant or useless. It has meaning and beauty and is a part of our Catholic heritage and tradition. Some things that are accepted as the "norm" today are unacceptable to Christians - like abortion, euthanasia, etc.
First off, understand the situation. These are kids (ages probably 11 - 14) who hopefully will join this group and keep membership through HS. There is no Catholic HS or middle school that they can attend. The parish has done nothing but run CCD classes that all the kids hate attending because they are boring and noisy. The CCD books used are silly and could be used by any Christian group, they are the "hand-holding", Jesus loves you, love your neighbor type books. The overwhelming sentiment from parents and kids is that they will attend CCD until Confirmation and then stop coming. Recently, 47 kids from our parish who graduated this week were invited to a Baccalauriate Mass and Luncheon in the parish hall. Fully 6 of them attended. The Parish having meaning in their lives has been made irrelevant. That is the fault of us parents and the parish.
Our vision of this group is to do fun stuff geared toward being part of a "Catholic Community," these kids will be there because they want to be there, not like the CCD classes. We will be doing some community service (old age homes, unwed mothers program in a nearby city), some church service (tending the gardens, etc), some fun things (amusement parks, cookouts), and incorporating the "Catholic life" in these things, progressively, not immediately. You can't take the kids to a Latin Mass right away, it has to be part of an ongoing program, IMO, and there has to be some interest. I was just surprised that the nun jumped on that aspect in a negative way, right away, I almost expected her to hold up a crucifix to ward me off.
One of the saddest things I hear "on the street" and sometimes here on FR, is the former Catholics who say "no one ever told me that" or "I never learned that" or "we weren't encouraged to read the Bible" - that is just needless. I'm quite sure a lot of Catholic kids do not realize that the Bible is read extensively at Mass and that they hear it in its entirety in 3 years. Do many kids know what the rosary is or how to say it? Do they realize that Mass is exactly the same at every Catholic Church in the world? How about Fatima and Lourdes? How about an alternative to having sex while they are teenagers? Have many of them been in an "old fashioned" Catholic Church with altar kneelers and the Tabernacle on the center altar? WOULD they be interested in how the Mass was said for centuries until about 40 years ago? Do they know why Mass was said in Latin?
Catholicism didn't just spring up, we are part of a 2,000 year old Catholic Christian family, and that is something that kids should know. Otherwise, this sort of group could be run out of the local public schools.
One thing they did this last year was put pink and blue trianglar flags on the front lawn of the church with a big sign stating that these flags represented the number of babies aborted in Oregon last year. It was awesome.....................so awesome that someone wrote an article into the Editor complaining about the display. Made someone a little uncomfortable, I guess.
Our youth group has grown so much that we ran out of room (too many of them) in the Parish Hall and we just were able to purchase a modular from a neighboring school. It only cost $1.00 becuase it came from a nearby heavily Catholic populated community about 15 miles away. We however have to pay for moving it and getting it set up.
The best to you in planning activities for your group. I bet you will have them out evangelizing in no time at all.