Article: What causes young people to convert?

[Elizabeth3]

“After seeing the “shocking results, the researchers concluded that “new methods invested in by the Church, such as youth groups, are less effective than prayer or visiting a church building in attracting children to the Church.” The group’s research adds evidence to rising trend of Catholic youth desiring traditional devotions and seeking to experience rich Church history: relics, the saints, liturgies, and beautiful churches.”

https://ucatholic.com/news/what-causes-young-people-to-convert-beautiful-churches-and-cathedrals/

 

[goout]

I’m shocked that kids aren’t attracted to the kind of culture their parents (actually grandparents) think is “new”.
Not…

 

[Augustinian]

I don’t know about this.

A lot of lower brow churches seem to have done pretty well with young people over the years. And a lot of large, ornate churches seem not to have.

Is their any corroboration for this?

 

[OsculeturMeOsculo]

Youth groups are one of the worst things I have to deal with.

 

[misstherese]

It seems the larger, less traditional churches have either a larger amount of people in general because they are in cities, or they evangelize much more.

Many if not most young people aren’t taught much about Catholic art and traditions, what they mean, how the saints practiced them and how they impacted them, etc. so most are left in the dark.

 

[otjm]

The article attempts to extract what the writer of the article wants to say. However, the statistics and the source to not say what the article posits. How one gets from the Church of England survey to statements about the EF attracting young people is not through the survey, but rather through the opinion of the writer seeking a straw to grasp.

Left out entirely is any understanding of what the term “convert” is supposed to mean. Convert from what? and to what? and if we are talking about converts (presumably to the Church of England) and 45% for the respondents to the survey note “being raised in a Christian family”, is this really about conversion? Or is it rather a survey of those youth, whose families were C of E already, and what the C of E is actually asking is “Why, youth, are you (still) attending church (when so many of your peers do not)?” In other words, not conversion, but staying the course. 45% listed family, apparently head and shoulders above anything else (and even that is a guess, as there obviously were at least some who chose multiple factors).

So, as is too often the case, this will provide confirmation to those who already believe without providing sufficient facts upon which to make any decision - other than “see, I told you so!”.

 

[otjm]

One of the people leaving comments noted that he had studied for his Ph.D. in England, and youth groups don’t exist in the numbers there as they do in the US. Some youth groups seem to be very dynamic, and there are occasional reports floating around of members going on to vocations. Your experience may not be good, but there are a multitude of factors which can influence a group one way or another.

 

[Saxum]

The Traditional Latin Mass.

 

[Elizabeth3]

The article attempts to extract what the writer of the article wants to say. However, the statistics and the source to not say what the article posits. How one gets from the Church of England survey to statements about the EF attracting young people is not through the survey, but rather through the opinion of the writer seeking a straw to grasp.

I actually agree with you on this but putting the survey aside do we sometimes fail to pass on the traditional devotions, art, and beauty of our churches which can move the soul to draw closer to God in trying to be more hip and relevant in order to attract youth?

Personally, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with using new methods that youth are more familiar with to evangelize them but I do think we have to be careful that they don’t replace traditional things like adoration, the rosary and the timeless grandeur of the past that pulls us out of this world and towards eternity.

While I don’t want to offend any Evangelical Protestants here but once you step away from some of the mainline churches, there is a lot left to be desired in terms of worship and the atmosphere in modern services. IMO, there is no sense of mystery or being drawn higher. It is very much an experience that seems solely grounded in community and fellowship. While those things are important, it just seems something much bigger and beyond that is missing. (The Real Presence?) I fear with the youth in our own churches it begins to resemble this “fellowship” atmosphere, which in some Catholic Churches we could do better in that dept., but in order to keep them I do think they need to be guided towards the mystery and beauty that resides in our traditions.

 

[otjm]

Thank you for your questions.

I have no doubt that there are those of my age who do not do much of anything - or may even do negative things - in regards to traditional devotions, art and beauty. My own experience of them is that they are in a very small minority, if one were to take a survey of who is actually sitting in the pews on Sunday. In other words, I suspect most of them have fallen out of any regular connection with the Church. And I also strongly suspect their falling away has less to do with rejecting devotions, art and beauty than it does with adopting the standards of the secular world, which surrounds all of us. It is not at all unusual for someone to make a decision, and then disparage matters attched to the rejected position.

FWIW, I am a strong supporter of Bishop Robert Barron; and to anyone who is interested in his thoughts and formation, I would suggest reading his biography written with John Allen Jr., “To Light a Fire On The Earth”.

My own parish has had Perpetual adoration for something like 25 years, and if I recall correctly, in that time 2 priests, 3 deacons, 2 women professed, and one current seminarian if 1st Theology. Our church is also in the half-round. We have had high school youth going to Stubenville (west) summer meetings for a number of summers, so I am not particularly anti-youth group.

I happen to be 72; so I have had far more exposure to the EF than most people whose remembered experience really started after the OF was promulgated. I support people’s desire to attend the EF, but I get so tired of anecdotal information tied to it, and the “reaching” that is often done by its strong proponents. This article reached for a statistic which arose out of a survey by the Church of England and morphed a 13% response into “youth are attracted to the EF”.

I would far rather see CARA do a study of young adults attending Mass, and sort out what is occurring. And any study by them needs to be understood as to what it actually shows.

The last I saw of CARA (and it does not show up any longer in their FAQ area) was that better than 50% of 50 and older Catholics attend Mass weekly; the statistic dropped off by earlier age groups until it reached the 18+ year old group, which if I recall was 18%. It would be instructive to learn why the other 88% do not.

Mass attendance started dropping off in the late 1950’s, and has been in a gradual decline until leveling out with @ 22% to 25% of all Catholics attending weekly. That is sad.

 

[Elizabeth3]

And I also strongly suspect their falling away has less to do with rejecting devotions, art and beauty than it does with adopting the standards of the secular world, which surrounds all of us.

This is true. It’s not easy to go against current cultural standards.

My own parish has had Perpetual adoration for something like 25 years…Our church is also in the half-round. We have had high school youth going to Stubenville (west) summer meetings for a number of summers, so I am not particularly anti-youth group.

I consider it very fortunate that your parish has perpetual adoration. My first exposure to it was in my early twenties when our local parish had it for 24 hours every Thursday. I found it had a profound impact on my returning to the Church in which I had no enthusiasm for once I graduated from Catholic High School. I’m 48 now, so this was the 80’s.

I was in youth group but I can’t say that there was a strong connection drawn to the faith in any meaningful way. We had a float in the local Christmas parade, were given small projects to help with around the parish and went Christmas caroling at the local nursing home. They were nice things to do but didn’t really foster any inner devotion to Christ. Our local parish now doesn’t have a youth group. They tried to have a young adults group for kids in their senior year who were confirmed in 11th grade in order to keep them connected to the parish but there just wasn’t enough interest from the kids.

I happen to be 72; so I have had far more exposure to the EF than most people whose remembered experience really started after the OF was promulgated. … This article reached for a statistic which arose out of a survey by the Church of England and morphed a 13% response into “youth are attracted to the EF”.

I’ve never been to the EF and there are definitely some who treat it as “better than” the OF. My dad is 70 and said he much prefers the OF because you can participate better when it’s in the vernacular. The thing that drew me to the article aside from it’s “reach” to have it conclude something that it didn’t really conclude, was that I felt something was missing from my 70’s catechesis that spent a lot of time in the mundane and not enough time in the mystery and beauty of the faith. I think that lost part of my formation was what caused my disenchantment with the faith when I was young. It was the discovery of the beauty of adoration (which I never experienced even going to Catholic schools) and other devotions and spiritual writings that helped me embrace the faith more fully.

I would far rather see CARA do a study of young adults attending Mass, and sort out what is occurring.

I’d like to see that too. I wonder why it hasn’t been done yet.

…until leveling out with @ 22% to 25% of all Catholics attending weekly. That is sad.

Agreed.