I’ve seen many people complain about the effects Second Vatican Council and about how it is somehow destroying the Church. To some exent, I agree with this. We shouldn’t have “hippie” priests and nuns that try to make the Church “cool”. But as a young person, I don’t know anything different. I don’t think we should go back to every Mass being in Latin. Bear with me for this statement, but I feel like the young people wouldn’t be as interested in the Church if every Mass was in Latin. Maybe it could be done on special occasions, but not all the time. In this day and age, the Church is lucky to have any young people interested at all, let alone the number it has. I know I may have contradicted myself, but can anybody prove me wrong?
Bro, I’m 18, Living on the coast in Australia, very secular area.
Been going to church for a while now, but only began to understand everything for real around 2/3 years ago.
I have to agree with Bob:
It is the young people who are lucky to have the Church available to them. God first, your entertainment second. Your line of reasoning will eventually result in the marginalization of the Church; it will not die, God assures us of that, but it could be driven underground as in the past
Young people are a rarity at mass.
But I’ve done my homework.
I’ve noticed the huge crowds of young people which attend many protestant/evangelical celebrations and the great times they have with the music bands and all that other garbage; I used to think this was the answer to attracting young people to the Catholic Church as well.
So I began to get involved with this other form of worship with younger people, celebrating Christ through music and dancing and all that jazz…but then you realize that all it really is, is just that; a celebration… a party.
There is no substance to it. And the Catholic Church at the moment has made the fateful mistake (through Vatican II) of mixing the stupidity of “happy clappers” with the one true traditional values of the Catholic Church.
As Bob said:
It is the young people who are lucky to have the Church available to them. God first, your entertainment second.
If you want entertainment, go to a party. Not Church. In fact become an evangelical. It’s great fun while you’re there, but when you leave, you’re empty, which then leads to the questioning of your initial beliefs in the first place, inevitably followed by maturing out of this “party for Jesus” BS and becoming someone of little or no faith at all.
This is why there are no young people at church. They would rather have a good time and leave with nothing. They couldn’t care less about God. They have to rush home onto Facebook or go out clubbing, tape the last episode of family guy or get high with the home boys.
Why? Because they’re parents did not raise them properly, as they were too concerned about being the “cool” dad/mum, taking them to Saturday soccer at 6am in the morning while sleeping in on a Sunday and missing mass; lacking discipline and ultimately losing control of their children.
All of this is then proliferated by the mass media and modernized society through television and internet pushing secular agenda such as contraception and promiscuity.
Meanwhile you’ve got the Catholic Church down the road attempting to attract the young people with balloons and candy while old ladies clap their hands to some corny hymn.
As I mentioned before, it’s pointless for the church to even attempt attracting the youth in this manor, because just a few blocks down the road you’ve got reverend hippy high herbs with a rock band and laser show rockin’ out to Jesus Jams with a crowd of 5000.
It is pointless for the church to continue this pathetic garbage with this “youth mass” drivel. We should DEFINITELY go back to the old ways. Go BACK to a traditional Catholic Mass with real sentiment. We should experience mass as a union between ourselves and God on a personal level without having a yarn to the person beside us. It should be a house of peace and worship.
Can i get an Amen brother.
Catholic youth have next to no morals (trust me, I go to a Catholic school. If it wasn’t for the uniforms and the crucifixes everywhere we might as well be a public school). Am I saying Catholic youth were goody two-shoes before VII and snapped after? Of course not. But there is little interest in the Church now among most youth. The ones that are interested join youth groups, which I think very often offer shaky theology.