Poll: Why is the Church losing its young people?

[fide]

I think a lot of it is due to lack of belief in the Real Presence, Communion of Saints, and the authority of the Church.

Catechesis alone cannot produce belief.

Even many with excellent catechesis do not believe and stop practicing the faith.

This is a very succinct answer, schaeffer, and an accurate one. All catechesis must be integrated with primary evangelization, I believe, in this very hostile culture that is so corrosive to faith. And that, presented by witnesses to the life and truth they proclaim!

Paul VI wrote in his “On Evangelization in the Modern World” -
#41… “Modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if he does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses.”[67] St. Peter expressed this well when he held up the example of a reverent and chaste life that wins over even without a word those who refuse to obey the word.[68] It is therefore primarily by her conduct and by her life that the Church will evangelize the world, in other words, by her living witness of fidelity to the Lord Jesus–the witness of poverty and detachment, of freedom in the face of the powers of this world, in short, the witness of sanctity.

 

[Sparkythedog]

I don’t believe those books do, however, these books do.

&

Eucharistic Miracle of Lanciano 700 AD - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracle_of_Lanciano

Eucharistic Miracle of Sokolka, Poland 2008 - jloughnan.tripod.com/sokolka.htm
Eucharistic Miracle of Buenos Aires, Argentina 1996 - catholicpilgrim.org/2013/11/27/pope-francis-a-eucharistic-miracle-in-argentina/

The Holy Eucharist, A Matter of Faith, A Matter of Fact! thedivinemercy.org/shrine/story.php?NID=5114

The Sacred Heart Image (St Margaret-Mary Alacoque)

http://s7.postimg.org/4jx43bm1n/Christ_7.jpg

Jesus to St Margaret-Mary Alacoque (1647 - 1690)
"Behold this heart which has so loved men that it has spared nothing, even to the point of spending itself and being consumed to prove its love to them. And in return, I receive from most men only ingratitude because of their irreverence and sacrileges and the coldness and scorn they have for me in this Sacrament of love. But what offends me most is that hearts consecrated to me act in this way. Do thou at least console me by supplying for their ingratitude, as far as thou art able." (The Eucharist)

God Bless

Thank you for reading
Josh

Thank you for the recommendations. I’ll see if I can get my hands on a copy of those books.

 

[LatinByzCath]

As a young person, my friends and I have discussed this.

We love Church. We love traditional liturgy (NO done correctly, Latin mass is the bee’s knees.)

We love priests who are not afraid of offending people by speaking the hard truth - that we are sinners who need to repent. We love the stressed importance of the sacrament of reconciliation, especially as a weekly precursor to Holy Communion.

The “Spirit of Vatican II” is meaningless for us. We like beautiful, classic Catholicism. Wishy-washey pastors and modernized Churches aren’t our thing. They make us think “why did we even bother to get up this morning?”

My friends and I feel like our generation is going to fix things and bring the tradition back to the Church, which will bring back young people.

EDIT: I would also add lack of GOOD catechesis. Catechism classes, bible schools, etc. are largely a joke. Pastors, teachers and parents seem afraid to get intellectual with the kids/young people. I was merely handed a list of bullet-point facts about Catholicism.

What’s more, I was never told what I had to do to be a good Catholic. I want to be told that I need to go to confession at least monthly, that I shouldn’t receive Holy Communion with mortal sin on my soul. I want to be told how to change my lifestyle so I can become closer to the God who made me.

Catechism is for Catechesis, not for telling feel good stories. If all we have is fluff, we (young people) begin to ask why we even bother to go to Church, because we can get the same fluff from the television on Sunday morning.

Something like this book, the Baltimore Catechism, is an excellent curriculum that I think young people and new converts would benefit from. Knowing our faith is essential if we’re going to keep it. How can we keep a faith that was never really ours?

 

[LatinByzCath]

I think this is too broad of a generalization. Statistically, even if 25% of the US is Catholic, that doesn’t mean that roughly 25% of any sample is Catholic. You could have some regions with a very small population and some with a much higher population.

Personally, I see it flourishing in my generation. If you need proof, look at my college. We’re renovating the Newman Center, and have daily Masses in the FOCUS chapel down the street. Except we have so many people come on Sundays (and HDOs, and Ash Wednesday, and Holy Thursday…) that we need to move those Masses into the union ballroom.

EDIT: And it’s a secular college

I’ve had the same experience. Our Catholic club, as well as the three other Christian clubs, are EXPLODING.

I’m the secretary of our organization. In addition to our campus mass on sundays, we’ve just received permission to have a Holy Communion service on Thursday mornings during the year. We’re so excited.

 

[CrossofChrist]

Oh, there are so many reasons.

Being a Catholic is ultimately about encountering Christ, and through Christ the Triune God. This is shown primarily through the love we show. But all too often religion is seen as one aspect of life that can be put into a box, that ultimately isn’t important for my life. So the Church becomes irrelevant for life–potentially beneficial as a private devotion (if the person still has any interest at all), but ultimately unessential and nonimportant. Then come the scandals. Then people learn more about other religions (which is a good thing!–but keep in mind the lack of catechesis present). So people think: there’s nothing divine about this religion. And they leave. They fail to be drawn in by the greatest proof of Catholicism: love (from the saints and from Christ encountered in the Church). Then they figure that there’s no sure path, so its best to take a skeptical view of everything, at least for public life. Catholicism seems like another antiquated religion, bound to the past.

At least that’s how I see the problem.

 

[GarretKadeDupre]

I think that there’s a combination of reasons, but which do you think is the most prominent reason that young people do not actively practice their faith?

Evolution.

The Creator has been pushed back so many billions of years that he feels to remote to be relevant.

 

[Lost_Wanderer]

Evolution.

The Creator has been pushed back so many billions of years that he feels to remote to be relevant.

Please tell me this is tongue-in-cheek.

 

[randomusername]

Secularism. Abortion. A lot of the current media(such as the BBC) is downright hostile against Christianity.

Also, this seems to be an age of arrogance. My friends(I’m a teenager) think that they know everything in the world and they prefer to believe anything branded “science”(no matter how proven or unproven it is). They refuse to believe anything that can’t be explained with science, and one of them called our Lord Jesus a “magicman” while he was saying why he didn’t belive in Him. These people would sooner believe that aliens made mankind by breeding with cows than God, which is truly tragic, because one is branded as “science”(even though it has no proof) and the other is branded as religion.

 

[iamcatholic100]

I think its mainly due to poor catechesis. Most young people receive religious instruction that is either incomplete, heterodoxical, heretical or even nonsensical. Also, I think many young people lose their faith because their parents haven’t been properly catechized as well. If they aren’t properly formed, then how in the world are they going to evangelize the faith to others and fight the culture?

 

[randomusername]

I think its mainly due to poor catechesis. Most young people receive religious instruction that is either incomplete, heterodoxical, heretical or even nonsensical. Also, I think many young people lose their faith because their parents haven’t been properly catechized as well. If they aren’t properly formed, then how in the world are they going to evangelize the faith to others and fight the culture?

This too. I remember me and a few of my friends having to explain to a guy that Jesus and God were the same person but he’d have none of it. He went to a state primary school(which over here means Catholic since you do Communion and Confirmation and confessions with the school and learn religion, etc.). He was a special case since he’s a bit of an idiot but some of the less much less basic stuff wouldn’t be known by a lot of “Catholics”(basically everyone is “Catholic” in Ireland because it’s part of our identity, but that doesn’t make everyone Catholic).

 

[johnnyc176]

I chose abortion/homosexuality/contraception because I think the majority that leave the Catholic Church leave because they do not accept one or more of those doctrines. I might have chosen poor catechesis because it may be that those who do leave do not understand that these teachings of the Church are the teachings of Jesus. But I think more likely they do and, like protestants, they look to separate Jesus from His Church in order to justify their beliefs. They place their liberal political ideology over the teachings of Jesus.

 

[jakepw]

One significant reason I’ve seen, in Christianity in general, is that they are forced to go to church/Mass. They view it as: “the boring place my parents forced me to go and from which I’ll be freed once I’m 18 - Woo hoo!”, rather than the great event that it is. They view it as an extension of their parent’s seemingly authoritative actions. Whether or not their actions were authoritative, it easily ends up as a terrible evangeization experiment.

 

[iamcatholic100]

Whoops!! I forgot. I also think its because these young people don’t feel a lot of zeal or vitality at their particular parishes. If they don’t sense any strong love or zeal for the faith at their parishes or schools, then they will say to themselves, “Well, the heck with this!! I gonna go elsewhere.” Its kind of like what the late Venerable Archbishop Fulton J Sheen said in regards to communism. He said, “Communism is all zeal, but no truth; Catholics have all truth, but no zeal.”

 

[TCEL]

An interesting flip poll would be to ask young people why they are Catholic.

The reasons are as diverse as humanity itself.

Without wanting to give too much away, I’m in the minority of my siblings when it comes to Catholicism. (Meaning I’m currently flying solo on it ) We were raised well, catechized pretty well, and have parents who have deep faith without being over-bearing.

From some discussions I’ve had, at first I thought my siblings and friends had been reasoned out of it. However, as much as I hate saying this, I’m not sure I believe that anymore. Very frankly I think a lot of it comes down to sex or having been hurt by someone they trusted. Sometimes we over-complicate why people leave. Faith, like any relationship, is built on trust, and it’s much harder to trust God when we’ve been betrayed or cheated. I also don’t buy that sex really isn’t that important. Not anymore.

Faith is a relationship built on reasoning and trust. It requires a different perspective, and that can be a pretty painful one to learn. Yesterday’s homily is quite germane to this topic. Sometimes we are afraid to step out in search of that great pearl because we know deep down it will cost something from us, so we search for substitutes. Speaking for myself, coming to a more mature belief was more painful than pleasurable. Now, the beauty continues to unfold.

 

[ProVobis]

An interesting flip poll would be to ask young people why they are Catholic.

Maybe that’s the problem. Cradle Catholics really had no choice, so maybe it’s a pointless question to ask why the Church is losing young people when they really didn’t know what being Catholic was in the first place. That they simply followed their parents to church or to Catholic school didn’t do that much to convince them to remain a regular Catholic churchgoer, it appears.

 

[iamcatholic100]

An interesting flip poll would be to ask young people why they are Catholic.

The reasons are as diverse as humanity itself.

Without wanting to give too much away, I’m in the minority of my siblings when it comes to Catholicism. (Meaning I’m currently flying solo on it ) We were raised well, catechized pretty well, and have parents who have deep faith without being over-bearing.

From some discussions I’ve had, at first I thought my siblings and friends had been reasoned out of it. However, as much as I hate saying this, I’m not sure I believe that anymore. Very frankly I think a lot of it comes down to sex or having been hurt by someone they trusted. Sometimes we over-complicate why people leave. Faith, like any relationship, is built on trust, and it’s much harder to trust God when we’ve been betrayed or cheated. I also don’t buy that sex really isn’t that important. Not anymore.

Faith is a relationship built on reasoning and trust. It requires a different perspective, and that can be a pretty painful one to learn. Yesterday’s homily is quite germane to this topic. Sometimes we are afraid to step out in search of that great pearl because we know deep down it will cost something from us, so we search for substitutes. Speaking for myself, coming to a more mature belief was more painful than pleasurable. Now, the beauty continues to unfold.

I agree with you 100%. Being Catholic is more than just following the rules. Its about a relationship with Jesus and being able to trust Him. That’s going to require some painful sacrifice.

 

[alexandratm]

I have a lot of opinions and ended up selecting a lot of options in the poll.

I’m 29 and just went through RCIA last year - got the grand slam of sacraments at Easter.

Some of it is catechesis, I think. I would ask my boyfriend questions when I was thinking about RCIA, and he would often not know the answer, or say things like, “my dad says no one really believes that” (about Mary’s perpetual virginity, no less!). There’s no understanding of why - it all seems like a collection of rules, dos and don’ts, with no real purpose or meaning.

Another large issue goes hand and hand with those rules. It seems like every time I turn on the local Catholic radio station, all they are talking about is abortion. One local parish has a homily about it at least once a month. It seems like the pro-life issue is hammered away at over and over and over. There is more to being Catholic beliefs than this. When we discussed Catholic social justice teachings in RCIA, it was a revelation for me. I found that I agreed far more with the church than I thought I did. Principles of a just war, the treatment of the poor - where is the focus on Dorothy Day? Sometimes it seems like all the church wants to focus on is abortion - and restricting it, at that, rather than focusing on ways to prevent it by helping the poor. I think if there was more zeal for other aspects of Catholic social justice teachings, young people would feel more engaged.

The church has an image problem. It doesn’t do a good job of educating why it holds the tenants that it does, and it has too narrow a focus on certain issues. It ends up giving the impression of being the church of no - young people feel as if there are a bunch of meaningless rules. Education and engagement in more of its principles would really help. I know that some of my feelings on certain issues have undergone a change since being told why the church teaches certain things. But it hasn’t stemmed my frustration that so much focus seems to be on abortions and the law, rather than on the broader social justice teachings of the church. If you’re pro life, where is the push against the death penalty? The activism against unjust wars? Advocacy for the poor and homeless? The dignity of workers? Care for God’s creations, such as the environment?

The Church has the ability to reach a lot of us young liberals, if it focused more on its social justice teachings.

 

[TCEL]

I have a lot of opinions and ended up selecting a lot of options in the poll.

I’m 29 and just went through RCIA last year - got the grand slam of sacraments at Easter.

Some of it is catechesis, I think. I would ask my boyfriend questions when I was thinking about RCIA, and he would often not know the answer, or say things like, “my dad says no one really believes that” (about Mary’s perpetual virginity, no less!). There’s no understanding of why - it all seems like a collection of rules, dos and don’ts, with no real purpose or meaning.

Another large issue goes hand and hand with those rules. It seems like every time I turn on the local Catholic radio station, all they are talking about is abortion. One local parish has a homily about it at least once a month. It seems like the pro-life issue is hammered away at over and over and over. There is more to being Catholic beliefs than this. When we discussed Catholic social justice teachings in RCIA, it was a revelation for me. I found that I agreed far more with the church than I thought I did. Principles of a just war, the treatment of the poor - where is the focus on Dorothy Day? Sometimes it seems like all the church wants to focus on is abortion - and restricting it, at that, rather than focusing on ways to prevent it by helping the poor. I think if there was more zeal for other aspects of Catholic social justice teachings, young people would feel more engaged.

The church has an image problem. It doesn’t do a good job of educating why it holds the tenants that it does, and it has too narrow a focus on certain issues. It ends up giving the impression of being the church of no - young people feel as if there are a bunch of meaningless rules. Education and engagement in more of its principles would really help. I know that some of my feelings on certain issues have undergone a change since being told why the church teaches certain things. But it hasn’t stemmed my frustration that so much focus seems to be on abortions and the law, rather than on the broader social justice teachings of the church. If you’re pro life, where is the push against the death penalty? The activism against unjust wars? Advocacy for the poor and homeless? The dignity of workers? Care for God’s creations, such as the environment?

The Church has the ability to reach a lot of us young liberals, if it focused more on its social justice teachings.

Welcome to the fambly!

(I’m a 26 year gal.)

I know you just said you’re tired of hearing about abortion. You’ve probably heard it all before But considering we’re part of the Body together now, I’ll take some liberty and share some of my own thoughts with you, since you were kind to share yours with us.

Abortion is an issue near and dear to my heart, as are all the sexual-ethics bits, because I had a kind of conversion on them. I’m beginning to see just how fundamental they are. Along those lines, I see the issue of abortion as being one of the first principles of the broader social justice issues. (How are we going to get justice right in other areas if we can’t get a basic issue like human life right? Seems a bit out of whack.) And believe me, the struggle in just that one area is enough for a lifetime.

However, you’re absolutely correct that there is a continuity between all the social issues. Stemming abortion means helping to provide support systems, counseling, health, education, etc. (Which in my experience is far more helpful and life-changing if done in the context of bottom-up than top-down. And that takes a heck of a lot more work on the every-day level, doesn’t it?) See, that’s what I love about being a member of Christ’s body. No one person is meant to tackle all the issues. We’re called to work in a harmonious concert. I think, unfortunately, society has done a good job of pitting social justice against abortion, and vice versa. Which is nonsense. They’re all issues of social justice, but some people have special places in their hearts for certain causes. I see nothing wrong with that! As far as the cultural context goes, though, I believe a lot of the issues you mentioned are already seen as problems. At least, I see them that way. What I see in the law of the land, though, is that basic life is indeed not respected in the beginning. I don’t know about you, but I only have enough energy to tackle one injustice at a time! Unless you’re a super-hero like Mother Teresa. Surprisingly, even she said that abortion is the greatest destroyer of peace! (Christopher Hitchens thought that was ridiculous. Oh that Hitchens. I can’t help but like him with exasperation.)

As far as abortion and poverty go, someone told me once that Jesus sure as heck said we needed to focus first on the poverty already present. (We needed to have a plan for poverty before eliminating abortion.) I responded that I don’t think He wanted us to kill people who might be poor in order to prevent poverty.

So there’s a symbiotic relationship. I think of what Jesus said. “I came so that you might have life, and have it abundantly.” Classic Catholic both/and.

And again, welcome!

 

[johnnyc176]

If you’re pro life, where is the push against the death penalty? The activism against unjust wars? Advocacy for the poor and homeless? The dignity of workers? Care for God’s creations, such as the environment?

Welcome Home!

There are many ministries devoted to those issues. The reason there is a focus on abortion is because if you do not respect life at it’s inception you will not really respect it at any stage.

Disposable culture…This culture of waste tends to become the common mentality that infects everyone. Human life, the person is no longer perceived as a primary value to be respected and protected, especially if poor or disabled, if not yet useful- such as the unborn child- or no longer needed- such as the elderly. - Pope Francis

The Church’s mission is also the salvation of souls.

 

[ProVobis]

It ends up giving the impression of being the church of no - young people feel as if there are a bunch of meaningless rules.

I’m not too sure this drives them away. It seems a lot like rules. They don’t question why there are rules in baseball or football, for example. Once they accept the rules, the game becomes interesting.

It used to be Catholics were required to fast everyday during Lent and abstain from meat every Friday. It seemed such an easy thing to do for most Catholics. Then they relaxed these rules, but that didn’t seem to convert too many into the faith. If anything more Catholics stayed away from Church. Maybe they just lost their Catholic identity, I don’t know.