Attracting Youth to Catholic Parishes

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In another thread we were discussing why Protestant churches are flourishing so much and one idea that was floating around was that the Church does not seem geared towards youth and how a lot of the attendees are older.

I have a love in my heart for youth and I believe we need them to replenish our parishes.

I don’t want this to be a discussion of Protestantism versus Catholicism.

If you wanted to attract youth to your parish, what programs would you put into place?

Any ideas welcome, but please keep in mind I am traditional, so guitar masses probably wouldn’t work for me!

Thanks.
 
I’ve seen the opposite. The churches that have the “youth masses” normally end up cancelling them; most of the youth get bored and leave. TLM parishes have the lowest average age of any parish (in my experience, at least).

I think the general idea is that when the Mass is tied to something ephemeral (‘modern appeal’, as it were) it goes the way of ephemeral things. Like C.S. Lewis said, “for to move with the times is, of course, to go where all times go.”

-Byrnwiga
 
Byrnwiga said:
I’ve seen the opposite. The churches that have the “youth masses” normally end up cancelling them; most of the youth get bored and leave. TLM parishes have the lowest average age of any parish (in my experience, at least).

I think the general idea is that when the Mass is tied to something ephemeral (‘modern appeal’, as it were) it goes the way of ephemeral things. Like C.S. Lewis said, “for to move with the times is, of course, to go where all times go.”

-Byrnwiga
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That’s what I read all over the internet, and that may be true for TLM only chapels like the FSSP.

I don’t find that to be the case with TLM communities at diocesan parishes. I don’t see a lot of youth. At least not in NYC.

So how can we attract folks in the 18-30 age range. Any ideas? What has been working for you folks.
 
I can say a few things as a 22 y/o recent convert. One, youth are looking for a cause, for a sense of identity — thus the draw to traditional expressions of the Faith. We want to be a part of something bigger and counter-cultural. Heck, you could say some of us are rebelling against modernity! That being said, trying to be relevant with youth masses and stuff is insulting to us. We can get much better quality rock music at home, thank you very much. We feel like we’re being talked down to — we’re people who in high school are dealing with sex, drugs, suicides and in college all the above and politics, controversies, advanced studies and so on and at church we get treated like preteens. We just want the real stuff. The sincere, serious, hardcore stuff. We don’t want parishes that try to buddy up with the secular world because we’re sick of it. We hate sentimentality. We don’t want everything to be about clean living and respectability, we want transformation.
 
Youth grouop. Seriously. I don’t know why everyone seems to be all RAWR we don’t need that we have catechism!

Yes. which is wonderful. But why can’t you have a youth group TOO? My friends youth groups are so fun. a few snacks, some music, a gospel lesson, planning charity drives, getting involved in group community projects…young people want to feel like they BELONG, and in parishes where they don’t offer any events like this? it’s hard to feel that way.
 
AB_Juney said:
Youth grouop. Seriously. I don’t know why everyone seems to be all RAWR we don’t need that we have catechism!

Yes. which is wonderful. But why can’t you have a youth group TOO? My friends youth groups are so fun. a few snacks, some music, a gospel lesson, planning charity drives, getting involved in group community projects…young people want to feel like they BELONG, and in parishes where they don’t offer any events like this? it’s hard to feel that way.
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I agree with you.

Do you think the community projects are a biggie in terms of helping people feel like they belong? Would youth be interested in helping out at soup kitchens every now and then or organizing food/clothes drives?

How about movie nights?
 
I know I would have been. Anything that fosters a sense of belonging, and community. Many of us grow up wanting a richer Catholic identity,and not knowing where to get it.

I thnk movie nights could be fun! they had one once a month at my boyfriends church. It was usually a moral tale, though not necessarily religious
 
My wife was the director of youth and young adult ministry at our parish (moving on now to get her PhD in theology). We have found that youth are looking for authentic Catholicism. Diving deep into our spirituality. We’ve had agreat response. Some parents just wanted dances, ski trips and fund raisers, which are good things, but we wanted offer more than what they could get at any other youth club. Fortunately we have an awesome pastor who supported us (as we supported his pastoral vision).
 
Real classes. Education. Heck, college prep, language, apologetics.
 
I am 18. When I would go to Catechism it was just watered down “you are loved/you will go to hell if you_____” stuff I would just stare at the clock to wait to go home. As a youth, we get looked down on a lot. Especially us kids into "heavy"music. It’s just hard to feel welcomed. At the nearby parishes all Youth groups stop at highschool kids? What about us graduates? We want to interact with others our age too. Do projects, good deeds, talk about problems, goals, music in a positive environment. I guess it’s just the fear of people saying “well in my time I had it harder because______” and the fear of being judged.

The retreats are expensive for us. I would LOVE to go to a retreat, but we have bills to pay. And not enough income.All those retreats I feel like they are for the kids with parents who can afford it, and we can’t go because we can’t pay.

I would love to have a group where we can be told we are warriors of God in this battle we are in. Do good deeds every now and then and have fun. I only see bible studies/prayer groups where they are all adults, and it feels kind of weird lol.
 
Community work and group events are nice but I would like a discussion group where I could learn more and share thoughts about our Faith. Kinda like how it is with CAF. Figure out how I can be a better Catholic and truly live it.

I wish I could find some way to sit down and talk to my priest or deacon. Ask a bazillion questions face -to-face. But the only time I manage to get to talk to one is during Confession and well, that’s not a lot of time.

Ditto with the poster above me. I am a graduate and it feels a little weird when I’m neither a high schooler or an adult with a stable financial situation. Prayer and bible groups are good but I usually feel I’m not educated enough being a convert and all. A local retreat where I wouldn’t have to spend too much money or gas wouldn’t be bad though. I’ve enjoyed those.

It’d be kinda cool if there were small ecclesiastical Latin lessons since I enjoy listening to music but nevermind me, that’s a fantasy of mine.
 
TrueLight said:
In another thread we were discussing why Protestant churches are flourishing so much and one idea that was floating around was that the Church does not seem geared towards youth and how a lot of the attendees are older.

I have a love in my heart for youth and I believe we need them to replenish our parishes.

I don’t want this to be a discussion of Protestantism versus Catholicism.

If you wanted to attract youth to your parish, what programs would you put into place?

Any ideas welcome, but please keep in mind I am traditional, so guitar masses probably wouldn’t work for me!

Thanks.
Click to expand...
I’ll try and tackle it from the perspective of young people from the age groups 18-35. I think the challenge is greater in that age group because right up and until college the youth have good programs like life teen , edge and also since most youth would be living at home and in all probability be regular churchgoers.

The time when I’ve seen the most falling away is at the college level and then of course when they move out and far away from home working in distant cities.

A few things though that i think that would help-
  1. A program (such as life teen) that really spans across churches and the diocese that is geared towards young adults. I think the most important thing is to build a sense of community, very strong community of committed Catholics. The support really should come from the level of bishops so that it does not fall individually on every individual parish to create one from scratch.
Since young adults move around a lot it would help them just ‘pick up’ from where they were originally. Most of us are in a transient state of life at this point and a strong community helps fill a void.

2)Depth of teaching- I’m often amazed and the richness of theology available in the Catholic church and the very ‘watered down’ sermons or ‘bible studies’. Really -I know God loves me but that does not mean anything unless i truly understand what love is and who the person-hood of God really is.

The bigger questions such as Does God really exist? How do i know that? am i truly experiencing Jesus in my life? How do i defend my faith?Why is there so much of suffering in this world? What can i do about it? …are never really answered.

I know we all have a catechism as kids, but as we grow older, we look at everything we’ve been taught through a very different set of lens. I’ve been a pretty devout cradle catholic…but i’ve struggled with all of the above and much more.

For me it’s much easier to believe in the Trans-substantiation than it is to believe in God at times. Because if i believe in the latter…the former seems like a no-brainier.

3)Outreach- Getting young adults plugged into volunteer events. We’re at the age when we know we can make a difference. But those opportunities seem limited. A good young adult programs can fill this void and help direct young adults to volunteer programs throughout the community.
  1. Mentors hip- Lot’s of young adults either are discerning marriage or the religious life… Good guidance from elders can go a long way…
    There are many more things that can be done…but these i feel are the most important.
I do see a lot more young adult programs in Catholic parishes…than a few years back. The Holy Spirit is moving but it will take time and i do hope and pray for this to continue.
 
As a 16 year old youth who loves his Catholic Faith dearly, and a Hopeful future priest one day, I agree with one of the OP who said that we have had enough of the modern stuff. I second that motion. The beauty and transcendce of Gregorian Chant and the Latin MASS is what draws us, precisley because we find lasting meaning and happiness in the Traditional side of the Faith. Something that we dont find at our high schools in the drugs, sex, and nonsense happenings that happen in our daily high school lives. Please quit modernizing the Liturgy!
 
TrueLight said:
That’s what I read all over the internet, and that may be true for TLM only chapels like the FSSP.

I don’t find that to be the case with TLM communities at diocesan parishes. I don’t see a lot of youth. At least not in NYC.

So how can we attract folks in the 18-30 age range. Any ideas? What has been working for you folks.
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A friend of mine tells me his young adults group watched the Catholicism Project (wordonfire.org/The-Cathol…t/Trailer.aspx) and discussed it in small groups (apparently there’s a booklet that has questions). They ordered pizza. That was the first ten meetings/sessions. It sounds like it was successful. Things that are intellectually stimulating work well (such as the above).

-Byrnwiga
 
TrueLight said:
Thanks for your post.

Can you go a little more into the above?
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Well, for me it just feels like it’s like they try to push us to be good little boys and girls instead of vigorous saints. There’s all this focus on individual moral acts, niceties, social shibboleths, and it gets to feeling like you’re just supposed to behave instead of be saved. Everything has turned sparkly and lame. If you were to ask a Protestant youth (which is what I used to be) these would be the things they hate. People like me want a spirituality focused on inner transformation. They don’t want to just act (key word) like good Catholics, they want to weed out the capital sins from their hearts, make over their minds, be deified and engage a fallen world. I want to be a C.S. Lewis, a Chesterton, an Aquinas, an Augustine, not just a nice person.

LOL I just described a sort of Catholic Evangelicalism.
 
Me being the 15 year old that I am, what drew me to the Church was spirituality. What made my friends stay in Protestantism is either 1. The belief you dont have to do anything but believe and youll be saved (allowing them to have sex, do drugs, drink, etc.) or 2. They have an active group at the Church outside of the service. I know some people that only go to services just to hang out with their friends in a youth group afterwards. I feel my parish doesnt do much outside of mass. Like the youth group is small and the groups involved with the church get no attention so you never hear about them. And yeah I dont think the liturgy should be modernized, there shouldnt be any instruments (besides organ) being played. Its a turn-off for worship. Making worship all upbeat and childish kinda ruins it.
 
Love all the responses everyone!

Would helping out in the parish also help the youth to stay engaged?

Let’s say for example the youth would volunteer once a month to help out with the mass.

Things like:
  • collections
  • help pass out missals or put them where they are accessible
    – help out with the coffee hour
I’m also thinking of helping out with fundraisers, for example, doing a little skit at a benefits breakfast.
 
Growing up I left the church because of
The liberalism and returned after I found out my
Childhood parish was an odd ball parish

Stay orthodox

To be catholic is to be. Deep in scripture and deep
In historical facts
 
Heling out with collections and such is also a good idea. Our parish every other week has the youth choir sing at mass, and do the readings.

Also, this is a big one; help us to love not only being Christian, but being CATHOLIC! I think more of an emphasis needs to be made on the beauty of Catholicism. Thinking back to my CCD classes, I don’t remember anything that felt distinctly Catholic. I was 17 before I heard that the church is apostolic, and that we trace our line back to Jesus himself.

Also, saints! I never thought saints were interesting until I was older. They were just a bunch of dead nuns and priests who sounded boring…then I read about st Dymphna, the strong princess, or st Therese, whos inspiring me to embrace childlike love, or St Lucy. We need to be PROUD to be Catholic since 33AD
 
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