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

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Hmmm. A few thoughts:

I’ve always thought that Protestant churches have a good idea by setting aside Wednesday night as a “church night” (At least, I think many do). Choir practice, child care, youth group, Awanas, etc can all happen at the same time, so the whole family may be doing something there, instead of Mom shuttling kids around at different times.

However, Catholic parishes often have a school, and that uses up a lot of parish $$ and energy, so that I think there is often not enough left over for extra activities.

Also, I think that part of the issue is our 24/7 work schedule that many people have. I work for an organization that tries to do programming that might attract millennials, and often they just don’t show up. They are busy, they work, they go to school, etc. It is often the older people that have the time and the interest to attend parish events.
 
You’ve hit the nail on the head, thanks! @JetteZ

We’ve veered slightly off topic discussing EF Masses, and what appeals to young adults in general. We are trying to focus on what appeals to young adults in your local parish, and how and if their needs can be addressed.
 
R_H_Benson said:
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Duesenberg:
That has not happened, not even close – despite a great deal of material support from the bishops for the EF Mass.
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That’s where you lose me. I haven’t seen a “great deal of material support” for the Traditional Mass from the bishops. More often I encounter or read stories of reluctance and skepticism on the part of the bishops. I’ve never seen or heard of any sort of promotional material promulgated by a diocesan office that offers, for example, catechetical or historical seminars on the TLM. The TLM just kind of exists because SP says it has to, and the bishops have to oblige. So, it is there to be sought out by those who are looking for it or to be stumbled upon by those who aren’t, but to say that it enjoys a “great deal of material support” from the bishops is contrary to everything I have found (perhaps with the exception of a diocese like Lincoln, NE).
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Yes, we do have a personal parish that is EF, but honestly it is in just about the worst part of town. When there is a shooting in our city, it is usually within a few blocks of the EF parish. So, thanks, Bishop, I’m not sure my husband would let me go there for midnight Christmas Eve Mass.
 
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Loud-living-dogma said:
I work for an organization that tries to do programming that might attract millennials, and often they just don’t show up. They are busy, they work, they go to school, etc. It is often the older people that have the time and the interest to attend parish events.
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Has anyone asked why they don’t attend? We can all assume what other people like, but have they been asked? Is the time really convenient to them?

I’ve been at events that should interest young adults due to the subject matter, but it’s grey hairs all around. A two-and-a-half hour lecture isn’t appealing to me but I have tried to make it appealing by going and trying.

The time doesn’t suit me as a full-time professional, I go to bed at 9:30pm but some of the events end just then—if they are on time.

@Loud-living-dogma I love the idea of “church night”, but there would have to be consensus.
 

Sorry - - I cannot make the bold go away!
Jette Z wrote:
I would love to volunteer but I couldn’t tell you the ministries that my
Church participates in because the meeting times aren’t included on the
calendar and the website has the very helpful advice to “call Janice”
to inquire about opportunities/schedules. I understand I could call;
but, really? This isn’t 1965. The church has a website, Facebook, a
calendar… if “Janice” needs help keeping those updated POST TO FACEBOOK AND ASK FOR HELP. I’m sure someone would be willing but they won’t ask.​

With all due respect, have you called? Maybe you could offer your help to Janice when you call? You have time to type stuff on here, but you don’t have the energy to call?
 
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Loud-living-dogma said:
With all due respect, have you called? Maybe you could offer your help to Janice when you call? You have time to type stuff on here, but you don’t have the energy to call?
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Yes, I too wish the information was more readily available. Calling someone is putting an extra step. If they meet up every Wednesday at 1pm, then they should just put that in the newsletter and not Janice’s phone number.
 
It’s possible also, that there are some controlling people there (imagine that), and they know that people usually won’t call Janice. That way they won’t have to deal with other people actually joining, and they won’t have to give up control.
 
Exactly, it’s an extra step and a surplus one—qualifying people.

Sad really!
 
They funny thing is, Little Flower, I DETEST facebook. So, joining FB is also a disqualifier, wouldn’t you say? But yes, it would be too easy to just put it in the bulletin, I suppose. : )
 
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In the bulletin is easier.

You can read Facebook pages without an account. They could also put the information on their website. 😊
 
"You can read Facebook pages without an account. "

You often can’t read all the details of things on FB without being logged in. I agree that there are plenty of other ways they could let people know about things, though.

Also, it would be relatively easy to put out some kind of survey for EVERYONE asking about times, coffee hours, activities etc that would bring people in. I think that the richer suburban hip parishes are good about using social media/ other means, and the older / poorer parishes rely too much on “call Janice”.
 
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Loud-living-dogma said:
With all due respect, have you called? Maybe you could offer your help to Janice when you call? You have time to type stuff on here, but you don’t have the energy to call?
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This is a thread discussing how to get younger people to participate so I gave some examples of what has been a road block to my own participation. If you’d rather criticize me or offer suggestions for me instead of considering the wider impact to the Church… well, that’s certainly an option available to you but I think there are certainly more productive uses of your time.

People are accustomed to technology allowing simple information, like calendars, meeting times, and schedules to be readily available. They are also used to emails, tweets and FB posts as reasonable ways of disseminating information like the need for volunteers, physical goods, fundraising or upcoming events. If that isn’t happening the assumption gets made that those activities aren’t going on or that the Church doesn’t want “outsiders” involved. That may not be the case; but, that’s the impression that gets passed on to those of us that are accustomed to technology and social media.
 
"People are accustomed to technology allowing simple information, like
calendars, meeting times, and schedules to be readily available. They
are also used to emails, tweets and FB posts as reasonable ways of
disseminating information like the need for volunteers, physical goods,
fundraising or upcoming events. If that isn’t happening the assumption
gets made that those activities aren’t going on or that the Church
doesn’t want “outsiders” involved. "

I think sometimes that is the problem, they may not want “outsiders” involved. Or it’s possible that Janice has no idea about webpages, FB, etc.
 
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Loud-living-dogma said:
Also, it would be relatively easy to put out some kind of survey for EVERYONE asking about times, coffee hours, activities etc that would bring people in. I think that the richer suburban hip parishes are good about using social media/ other means, and the older / poorer parishes rely too much on “call Janice”.
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Yes, a survey would be great.

But then you only survey those who are attending Mass and not those who we are missing or not catering for. It’s a place to start.

Many people feel usually uncomfortable criticising priests, and volunteers which could skew the results. But again, it’s better than nothing.

The results would then also need to be collated into a report, and also actioned on.

What if the results come back, and the chess club gets the boot to cater for a bible study group? These would be all uncomfortable experiences that a priest and the parish needs to guide everyone through.
 
Imagine the frustration on my end, I am the parish staffer who gets the complaint “we did not know XYZ” or “why don’t we do blah blah”.

I want to reply, well, we do do blah blah blah and XYZ was announced at every Mass for the last month, in the bulletin for 3 weeks, on a flyer that was handed out at Mass, on the Facebook page as and event and also as a pinned post, on our website AND we sent a phone call recording, email/text blast, and it is up on the marquee part of the sign out front. sorry that we kept it so secret.
 
Ironically, six days ago I attended a talk on this subject at our parish (I think only two or three of us were under 55).
Duesenberg said:
we all should be more focused on who we’re trying to reach instead of who we’re trying to retain.”
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I could not disagree more with the statement that Duesenberg quoted from the article (he even made reference to “while retaining existing souls” in one of his later posts). It has been said that the largest or second largest religious group in the U.S. is “former Catholics”. There is a thing called “preventive medicine” - the concept of “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”. Maybe we would not need to spend so much effort on a “Catholics Come Home” campaign if we spent a bit of effort on “Catholics Stay Home”.

Now, how do we do that with millenials? For one thing, they are tempted by bad influences in the world, especially in terms of sexual immorality. How are we “having their back” when they try to fight these influences? Or do we tell them “you’re on your own”? Or are they exposed to these bad influences right at home (if parents are divorced/remarried, cohabitating, or in civil marriages, or same-sex relationships), which will undo any good influence the Church has on them on Sunday and/or youth/school/young adult activities? Do we make an effort to be a “good companion” so they don’t have to be dependent on “bad companions” for friendship?

How do we answer them if they ask “Why should I care about being Catholic?” (There was a thread recently about how to convince someone to choose being Catholic instead of Buddhist). Does anyone bring up the “final things” and see if people care about eternal life? Personally, incorporating little comments about eternity might be the seed to plant to start a conversation.
 
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I think it might make sense to create a separate thread for the EF Mass and/or traditional expressions of faith coming back. 🌷
 
But, but, it’s about those most special and desired people, the millennials!
 
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