Is it just me, or is there rarely young adults in church?

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Hi,

Yes it is the same at my parish, all 40+ or young with their parents or grandparents. I am in the process of looking at other local parishes because I believe our parish has lost touch with the Catholic faith. When I was young before mass there was always the praying of the Holy Rosary as a group, not any more. When I was young the Church was a quite place before mass and one could pray and think, now the place is like a bingo hall, a lot of talk not much prayer, you have to get their 30 –45 min before the mass schedule if you want to pray in silence. When I was young we collected money for the poor, now we collect money for material things like, new carpets or other things we really could do without but never do we collect to help the poor. Our priest lives in a big house with 4 air conditioners and at night every light is on in the house, not much sacrifice there. When I was young we would pause after Holy Communion and give time to pray and reflect, not anymore, 5 min sermon and get them out the door, we should start a drive through mass. Words in our sermons are carefully chosen not to alienate anyone who may not believe in all the Church’s teachings, we cater to the cafeteria Catholics, the ones who support political canadates that support abortion and same sex marriages. I hope I can find a local parish that still practices the true Catholic faith and not more of the ones that cater to the social whims of the congregation. It is no wonder we don’t have any young people at our masses, they can’t tell what the laws are by what they see.
 
ronl said:
My second and LAST point :rolleyes: - Would you believe that even being raised in a Catholic family, going to parochial school, and being Confirmed I missed this!!! - John 6. My previous denominations stressed a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. It doesn’t get more intimate or personal than the Eucharist. How did I miss this??
Ron
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I was raised the same as you and I missed that too 🤷 . Until about 2 years ago, I didn’t get it (I’m 28 now). I remember being taught about the true presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, but I don’t think, at the time, I could comprehend it. Now that I realize more fully what the Eucharist REALLY is, I see it in a whole different light and I actually want to go to Mass. Maybe it’s that most kids and young adults can’t comprehend it like I couldn’t? Just a thought!
 
James_Tetreault said:
Hi,

Yes it is the same at my parish, all 40+ or young with their parents or grandparents. I am in the process of looking at other local parishes because I believe our parish has lost touch with the Catholic faith. When I was young before mass there was always the praying of the Holy Rosary as a group, not any more. When I was young the Church was a quite place before mass and one could pray and think, now the place is like a bingo hall, a lot of talk not much prayer, you have to get their 30 –45 min before the mass schedule if you want to pray in silence. When I was young we collected money for the poor, now we collect money for material things like, new carpets or other things we really could do without but never do we collect to help the poor. Our priest lives in a big house with 4 air conditioners and at night every light is on in the house, not much sacrifice there. When I was young we would pause after Holy Communion and give time to pray and reflect, not anymore, 5 min sermon and get them out the door, we should start a drive through mass. Words in our sermons are carefully chosen not to alienate anyone who may not believe in all the Church’s teachings, we cater to the cafeteria Catholics, the ones who support political canadates that support abortion and same sex marriages. I hope I can find a local parish that still practices the true Catholic faith and not more of the ones that cater to the social whims of the congregation. It is no wonder we don’t have any young people at our masses, they can’t tell what the laws are by what they see.
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Hello James and welcome to CAF. I see this is your first post.

My heart bleeds for the situation you describe in the Church. I think you are 100% right. I see exactly the same stuff in our parish in Spain where I live. Lots of talk about being nice to each other, very little about the fundamental truths that unite us, almost nothing about our duties as catholics, and not a single mention of the evil of abortion and contraceptives. 😦

However, please don´t believe there is nothing alive in our Church! The very fact that you are suffering over this is proof that the Holy Spirit is quietly but unstoppably raising up an army of faithful catholics who will take the CC into the 21century. That´s His style; He doesn´t make a lot of noise or get onto CNN, so you can be forgiven for thinking He´s not doing anything, but I believe the CC will be healthier than ever in a generation or two.

Trust the Lord, pray and wait. You´ll see!! 👍
 
Part is true, because often times young men in that timeframe drift away from the Church, but also location: are you in a suburban/rural area, or a city? People 18+ might often be going to college leaving the suburban/rural areas, or might be after their first job in an area apart from where you’re at.
 
where are the young adults? the culture of death (the “mtv generation” and the media) are destroying them. once our youth go to college, oh man, the devil reigns supreme and freely wreaks havoc on their souls. most of em end up lost in the abyss.

personally i have had the most success bringing them home via young adult retreat weekends, led and conducted by vibrant young adult Catholics who attend solid Bible studies and are active in their communities.
 
Depends on how you define “young adult”, and I think the tendency these days is to define it as “someone between age 18 and age 39”. At age 31 (going on 13 due to being autistic), I fall into this category.

I’m kind of in the same niche, but it’s in reverse. The Latin Mass parish I go to has a LOT of young families, but not many other single women or single men I can get to know, and the few single men I do meet want to have kids, whereas I know I shouldn’t have kids since I don’t have the wiring for it. I have problems processing loud sounds to the point that they are physically painful and small children yelling has been know to cause me to have a meltdown.
 
I’m a college student and I’ve been attending Traditional Latin Mass with a group of other students. We carpool all the way out of town to attend TLM because we find it spiritually nourishing. The priest has been offering a catechism on the Council of Trent. We are so thirsty for spiritual knowledge! There are many young families who attend this Mass as well. As for the parish in our college town, I hear there are a good number who go to the 10 PM Sunday Mass and to the 5PM Mass before the student dinner. But if we consider the number of Catholics students at the university here, the number of practicing Catholic students is very low.

Pax
 
Matrix_Refugee said:
Depends on how you define “young adult”, and I think the tendency these days is to define it as “someone between age 18 and age 39”. At age 31 (going on 13 due to being autistic), I fall into this category.

I’m kind of in the same niche, but it’s in reverse. The Latin Mass parish I go to has a LOT of young families, but not many other single women or single men I can get to know, and the few single men I do meet want to have kids, whereas I know I shouldn’t have kids since I don’t have the wiring for it. I have problems processing loud sounds to the point that they are physically painful and small children yelling has been know to cause me to have a meltdown.
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Yeah, but I stated what age range I was talking about. Not that 30’s is old, but just saying. I agree with what a lot of people have said. I just 1 day realized that God does want me the spend the 1 hour a week at mass & that it’s really not too much to ask. God bless…
 
SANxJONERO said:
When I go to church I rarely see young adults & I’m talking about around 20’s. You’ll see maybe some young adults like teenagers with their families, but I rarely see adults a lil older then that. Some of the young 1’s that are there are only there, because their family makes them go. I really noticed this when I started getting back into being religious & going to church every Sunday. Is it like this in your churches? I don’t think I’ve ever felt as lonely as when I started looking for a devout Catholic lady to have a relationship with.

What’s wrong with so many young ladies today? I remember when I was younger I knew a girl that kind of didn’t like me, because I was a bad person. Now I’m the more religious 1 who rarely sees her at church & she seems even more arrogant then ever! This is just 1 of the many examples of the so called Catholics we have in our world. Now that I am more religious I get rejected by so many people & some times I just want to be friendly, but some people take my new self as something bad. I’m not a bible thumper, but I am a changed man & I thought I would be liked more for that.
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Teens like me are rebellious-- what can I say? We hate being forced to church and then, I guessing, when we become of age, we stay the heck away from the church. We only go when we feel like it… which is almost never, unfortunately. :rolleyes:

It’s stupid, I know, but it’s just us.

Ironically Yours, Blade and Blood
 
Blade_and_Blood said:
Teens like me are rebellious-- what can I say? We hate being forced to church and then, I guessing, when we become of age, we stay the heck away from the church. We only go when we feel like it… which is almost never, unfortunately. :rolleyes:

It’s stupid, I know, but it’s just us.

Ironically Yours, Blade and Blood
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I understand how you feel. I went thru the same thing. I remember when I was a kid & my parents made me go. 1 of the reasons I remember hating to go some times was because of some very uncomfortable pants my Mama would make me wear.
 
SANxJONERO said:
I understand how you feel. I went thru the same thing. I remember when I was a kid & my parents made me go. 1 of the reasons I remember hating to go some times was because of some very uncomfortable pants my Mama would make me wear.
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There were just some sermons I didn’t like. :rolleyes: I see them as a one-sided debate. The atmosphere itself gives off a dead vibe… not to worry, though. I’m still Catholic, of course. 😃

As for attire, try being somewhat of a Goth, dude. My parents wouldn’t let me wear black… that was more *mentally *uncomfortable than physically, of course. 😦
 
Blade_and_Blood said:
There were just some sermons I didn’t like. :rolleyes: I see them as a one-sided debate. The atmosphere itself gives off a dead vibe… not to worry, though. I’m still Catholic, of course. 😃

As for attire, try being somewhat of a Goth, dude. My parents wouldn’t let me wear black… that was more *mentally *uncomfortable than physically, of course. 😦
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Ha I never was Goth, but some times I wore a lot of black & my parents also didn’t like that. Church was always where I had to worry the most about wearing clothes I didn’t like. I remember some1 around my age saw me at church & acted surprised I wasn’t wearing my other clothes, but I usually always wore dress clothes to church.
 
The common situtation here in Germany is that only old and very young folks go to church.
Teenagers and young adults are a VERY rare sight in churches.

I think this is due to lack of proper religious education and “good” priests and also due to the rise of moral relativism and materialism that brand the Church as being ultra-conservative and “uncool”.
 
SANxJONERO said:
When I go to church I rarely see young adults & I’m talking about around 20’s. You’ll see maybe some young adults like teenagers with their families, but I rarely see adults a lil older then that. Some of the young 1’s that are there are only there, because their family makes them go. I really noticed this when I started getting back into being religious & going to church every Sunday. Is it like this in your churches? I don’t think I’ve ever felt as lonely as when I started looking for a devout Catholic lady to have a relationship with.

What’s wrong with so many young ladies today? I remember when I was younger I knew a girl that kind of didn’t like me, because I was a bad person. Now I’m the more religious 1 who rarely sees her at church & she seems even more arrogant then ever! This is just 1 of the many examples of the so called Catholics we have in our world. Now that I am more religious I get rejected by so many people & some times I just want to be friendly, but some people take my new self as something bad. I’m not a bible thumper, but I am a changed man & I thought I would be liked more for that.
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I am in my early 20s and I do go to church… I know what you mean I hate arrogant people. I am called to religious life and I feel for you SANxJONERO 😊 I mean why do these girls dress immodestly it is discusting. I for one am a modest girl for my age and all these girls nowadays want to drink have sex and what not… sad to see. I am not for this bad media we have to take action and fight back and even with the clothing industry it is driving me nuts. I see half naked women now in the summer and such even on Television it is so eww. lol I may be old fashioned but I rather be for Christ then the world! 👍

:slapfight:
 
It sure would be nice to not be alone at 4 o’clock Mass as a late-20-something. There’s me and the Deacon’s daughter and her husband and very cute son. I can deal with pleasant background babbling.
I get lots of compliments from the old people when I am the Lector. I’ve even had people tell me that they don’t need to read along in the missalette!
I would like to have a “Catholics Coming Home” kinda deal to get some of the young people I know are still lurking around the neighbourhood back into the pews, but the ‘aha’ moment hasn’t come yet. :newidea:
 
mellowcheddar said:
It sure would be nice to not be alone at 4 o’clock Mass as a late-20-something. There’s me and the Deacon’s daughter and her husband and very cute son. I can deal with pleasant background babbling.
I get lots of compliments from the old people when I am the Lector. I’ve even had people tell me that they don’t need to read along in the missalette!
I would like to have a “Catholics Coming Home” kinda deal to get some of the young people I know are still lurking around the neighbourhood back into the pews, but the ‘aha’ moment hasn’t come yet. :newidea:
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Right back atcha I am a spanish girl in my early 20s I love hearing the mass. I would like the catholics coming home bring back our young genere it is so soothing to see and nice. We need to also make a possitive influence on our selves too to get them into the faith. And we need to convert other faiths too… think about it how lovily it would be to see this wonderous miracle…👍 :cool:
 
When I saw the thread I was like WOW!!

Both the SSPX chapel and the FSSP parish I attend are full of people younger than 30. In fact there is more of them then older folk.
 
This website has info and links to catholic young adult groups in a few states. Hit the links to bring up the other states (CT is shown). Hit community to see all the events in CT.

catholicundergroundct.com/
 
Maybe I was exaggerating, but it really seems this way some times. I’ll see if I can come up with some more topics.
 
Hmmm… I’m 19, part of my College’s active Newman Club. There’s plenty of teens at TLM I attend every Sunday, so I haven’t noticed it. Then again you can’t notice what you can’t see, i.e if there’s alot of Catholics at home on Sunday I can’t know that because I don’t see them at home.

Then again I’m in NY, we probably have one of the largest numbers of Catholics by state (about 38% of the state is Catholic) so there could be even more sitting at home every Sunday.
 
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