Bucking a trend, these churches figured out how to bring millennials back to worship

  • Thread starter Thread starter Duesenberg
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
What if the family is atheist? Then the rebellion is a good thing.
Many of the early Saints were teenagers rebelling against their pagan parents: St. Marina, St. Barbara, just to name two whose lives impressed me. And what exactly does make Modern saints closer to us than early day Saints who have been performing miracles for 1500+ if Father, Son and Holy Spirit are eternal and hypostasic?
 
misstherese said:
But even when I was not very religious, a lukewarm Catholic, being forced to go to Catholic youth rallies was pure torture.
Click to expand...
Same. This was in my high school years. My parents thought such things would help me grow in my faith. Instead, they turned me off. I didn’t want church to be like a Christian rock concert. Something reliant completely on the emotions of the moment without lasting effect. It was when I was in grad school that I discovered the Traditional Latin Mass. That was what hooked me for good. And I know other millennials who are the same. But no one seems to listen to our voices; we who are the group that is being targeted. The baby boomers on the parish councils insist on “more guitars! more ‘relatability’!” and the bishops who are of the same mind eaglery agree , all while the young adults shout back “more incense! more chant!”. We want the Catholic Faith of our ancestors, not the Catholic Faith of 1970.
 
Last edited:
This is a complex subject. Honor thy father and mother have a limit, but they are also not undone by the mere fact a parent is an atheist. More importantly, reasoned disagreement is not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about the creation of social groups with the purpose of isolating them from the family as a whole.
 
There is no one “Protestant” anything.

Some Protestant denominations, for example United Methodist Church or the Presbyterian Church of the USA require seminary, training, etc.

Others do not require more than “Bible College” which can be done online.

And one can simply decide they are “called to be a preacher” and open a storefront church with an internet “ordination”.
 
I think the problem is after confirmation. These teens are told that they are now considered adults in the church but there may not be a lot for them to get involved with.
 
Different people have different needs.
For Protestants, the mass is about them. It’s about teaching and what not.
So it makes sense to cater to what they need.

But for Catholics, the Mass isn’t about us. It’s about Christ. So, what we need to do is either choose one or the other. People don’t want wishy washy stuff, their lives are already full of it.

I think what we find for Catholics is that the young people like more faithful and traditional masses. What’s imperative is faith most of all. Knowing that the Lord is there every Mass–who wouldn’t wanna go at least once a week?
 
People bring people back to Mass, not styles of worship. That’s not to discount a particular style of worship appealing to a particular person.

Christ has a Body. We are incorporated into that Body. People help Christ save people. Personal witness, personal invitation. The action of the community works in a personal way to spread the Gospel. The Gospel has the power, hopefully we do not stand in the way of it.

The young people in our parish who remain faithful are those who’s parents live their faith at home as if it were normal and joyous. (it should be). Those kids will survive job changes and peer pressure because they are well grounded in Christian personalism.
(ref St JP2, who made it a point to spend face time with families and young people in everyday settings, bringing God to them in personal ways, and oh yeah, he could also facilely nuke any errant philosophical ideas floating around, of which there are plenty.)
 
Last edited:
And as adults, they should know that mass is about receiving the body and blood of Our Lord and not about feeling welcomed or eating donuts with other millenials. Perhaps people need to stop focusing so much on themselves and what they need and focus on what they can give.
 
Duesenberg said:
40.png
misstherese:
I get the article
Click to expand...
To a large degree the article really isn’t applicable to the Catholic Church in many cases – there aren’t about to be 21 year old married pastors in the Catholic Church for instance.
Click to expand...
True, among many many other things as well.
40.png
Duesenberg:
It really is wonderful every now and then to consider just how much some Catholic parishes could improve if terribly deleterious constraints could be removed – and no, I’m not taking about "modernization" or anything along those lines.
Click to expand...
Could you give some examples that you are thinking of?
I saw these Bucking a trend, these churches figured out how to bring millennials back to worship - #12 by Duesenberg are there any others?
 
Last edited:
Kei said:
Different people have different needs.
For Protestants, the mass is about them. It’s about teaching and what not.
So it makes sense to cater to what they need.

But for Catholics, the Mass isn’t about us. It’s about Christ. So, what we need to do is either choose one or the other. People don’t want wishy washy stuff, their lives are already full of it.

I think what we find for Catholics is that the young people like more faithful and traditional masses. What’s imperative is faith most of all. Knowing that the Lord is there every Mass–who wouldn’t wanna go at least once a week?
Click to expand...
I’m always confused by this attitude that we have to choose one or the other. Our faith is not simply an experience of “God and Me” . The Mass is communal worship. Yes, it is about God, but it is the worship of the community. Community is not just a nice extra. it is essential. we are made for community, made in the image and likeness of God, who is himself a community. We need to be able to find reverent worship, solid catechesis, and a meaningful experience of community in our parishes. How that works for each individual is going to be different. I’m an introvert and the idea of being greeted at the door before I even have a chance to get my bearings doesn’t appeal to me, but some people need that and we shouldn’t knock them for it.

As far as the worship styles preferred by young people goes, it is as varied as the individual. Many young people are very attracted to tradition. Other young people, as the article points out, are put off by the same tradition. This is evident in my own family. I have two teenagers. One of them absolutely loves the Byzantine Divine Liturgy. The other one has been asking me lately if she can go to the youth Mass at a different Parish.
 
It’s definitely important to have that appreciation of why mass is important, its what’s kept me in church but it’s hard to keep going sometimes when you don’t feel you belong.

I wonder if we need to accept the situation for what it is and teach millennials how to practice the faith alone without support as this is what so many face after life transitions.
 
Last edited:
These sorts of comments confuse me.

I’ve attend Mass at huge cathedrals, big events, tiny parishes, in homes and in arenas, there has never been “judgement” before, during or after the mass.

People mistakenly call the pricking of their conscience “judgement”.
 
If the only reason you go to church is to sing and dance and be entertained, I’d question your sincerity.
 
whyeyeman said:
If the only reason you go to church is to sing and dance and be entertained, I’d question your sincerity.
Click to expand...
It’s a starting point. Many a young man has gone to church because of a pretty girl. It gets him in the right place, even if for the wrong reason. God can work with that.
 
Last edited:
I agree with that. A person who is attending mass for the community or music or whatever could well learn and grow in faith to the point where they would attend mass for the Eucharist alone.
 
I would say a large amount (anywhere from 25 to 35 percent) of the Catholic 25 and under crowd that attends Mass faithfully and is involved in a faith activity outside of the Mass would say they would like to see a resurgense in polyphony, traditional lityrgy, and the like.
 
Irishmom2 said:
Why? I do not understand your insistence on this on multiple threads. Clearly, it is your “thing.” But it is your preference. Where is your respect for people that do not feel the same way as you do?
Click to expand...
It’s also just not realistic in a 2,000 person parish where people go to different Masses at different times, depending on schedule.

I personally find that I am talking to more people that I know since we started going to our local Latin Mass. (This has been driven both by convenience and our oldest child’s preference.) It’s just easier to get to know people better when dealing with a smaller, relatively stable pool of people (150-200) versus a larger group that is always different.
 
I’d wager a ham sandwich that if I set up a booth at Mass this weekend, stopped every Catholic who is 25 and under, perhaps two of them would even know what “polyphony” IS let alone want to see it used.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top