What can be done to bring more young people into the church?

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Tis_Bearself said:
Late Masses on Sunday also seem to draw younger people; most young people I know don’t really like rolling out of bed at 9 in the morning on the weekend to get to Mass, nor do they want to give up Saturday afternoons.
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Yup! I attend 4pm Sunday Mass at the Diocesan Cathedral. There are some other young folks there.
 
Why did you put ecclesial community in bold?

Seems like you’re trying to stick a knife in and twist it when you don’t need to…
 
Just trying to make the point that these are ecclesial communities - whilst the Catholic Church is a Church rather than such a community.

I understand it may have been unnecessary - if I offended you, then please forgive me.
 
We live in a society obsessed with scientific progress as we are addicted to the very things that also improve our lives. It’s very difficult for young people to see any value in religion and even philosophy in general which is a great irony when think about it. The difficulty is showing how God is not just relevant but essential to our very existence. Bishop Barron attempts to lay out a few ways to do this and evangelize the culture where previously those of the older generation were clueless on. He uses the aspects of Truth, Goodness and Beauty. These three elements are universally essential for one to attain Joy and yet they all lead to God, this evangelization has started and is now making ground in the media. If we preach these truths and live up to them as best we can as examples for people to see then expect more to flock to the Church within reason.

Also from what i’ve seen Latin Masses have a larger percentage of young people. I really do feel the style especially the music of many Novus Ordo masses don’t really appeal to the younger generation and appears to be something those who are 50+ seem to enjoy. The music was always something i felt young people mocked and still do. Gone were the rich, beautiful and sacred music and in with the quite modern (60s,70s,80s) styled music where songs about how Jesus is my friend are sung. In Ireland however thankfully the larger choirs have managed to re-captivate this beautiful style of music in modern form. In New Zealand where i live now you’ll only really find it in the Latin Mass which i suspect is one of the reasons such a large percentage of young people prefer it

There is also one more thing, the spirit that guides our western culture today is PRIDE, that is why we have moral relativism which exists today and our society relishes in it giving itself more power to determine all manner of questions one viewed as sacred such as with Abortion, Euthanasia, same sex marriage etc . Such behaviour has been common throughout history and unfortunately it was only through catastrophes (the fall of the roman empire) etc that man regains his humility. I hope that isn’t the case with us but i just can’t see the ego being broken anytime soon
 
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Magnanimity said:
Belief in Hell itself (which according to Pew continues in a steep decline, among the educated young, most especially) has fear as a fundamental motivator. And it very clearly seems to be the case among young folks, beginning with Millennials and on down to Gen Z, fear as a motivator to believing much of anything, is not going to fly.
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on_the_hill said:
But I think the reason so many Catholics were attending Mass regularly wasn’t because of the aforesaid, but because THEY HAD TO. It was peer pressure, it was social pressure, it was the way of life, it was fear of eternal damnation.
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Actually, we should emphasize the “final things” more (in a non-manipulative way). Eternal life is the basic “selling point” that will set us apart from other religions (or lack thereof) and is the base for our faith and hope. If people don’t believe in eternal life, then our efforts will be in vain - remember how St. Paul said that if there is no resurrection, then we have believed in vain.
 
Norseman82 said:
Eternal life is the basic “selling point” that will set us apart from other religions (or lack thereof) and is the base for our faith and hope.
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Eh, not really in USA. People can get all the same “eternal life” stuff at the local nondenominational megachurch, with more entertainment and fewer rules. Variations of it are also found in Buddhism and New Age, again often with fewer rules and less bureaucracy.
 
Norseman82 said:
Actually, we should emphasize the “final things” more (in a non-manipulative way). Eternal life is the basic “selling point” that will set us apart from other religions (or lack thereof) and is the base for our faith and hope. If people don’t believe in eternal life, then our efforts will be in vain - remember how St. Paul said that if there is no resurrection, then we have believed in vain.
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I get what you’re saying, and I don’t want to seem unduly critical of your views. But really, who trusts a salesman? If that’s what we’re doing—selling religion—then we’re going nowhere fast. And FOMO (fear of missing out) is a tactic used in marketing and advertising in America that is fundamentally twisted. It artificially creates desire in the consumer that wasn’t previously there…

I wonder what it says about the current status of religion when one is able to draw easy analogies between it and capitalism. I imagine it’s a bad omen.
 
Here’s an interesting article on this. The stats show that practicing fathers lead to practicing children–male and female–when they become adults (mothers have exponentially less impact, according to the stats). The overall point, despite the common wisdom today that we need to focus more on women and their place in the Church, is it is men being engaged in the Church that leads to everyone, young and old, being more engaged.

 
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Tis_Bearself said:
Eh, not really in USA. People can get all the same “eternal life” stuff at the local nondenominational megachurch, with more entertainment and fewer rules. Variations of it are also found in Buddhism and New Age, again often with fewer rules and less bureaucracy.
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Two things to bear in mind (get it? “Bear” in mind?):
  1. I have read that the fastest growing religious group in America is the “nones”, who have no religious affiliation / belief whatsoever, and the growth there is among the millenials. It is to this group that I was most referring to and may be ripe to the message “hey, do you want to live forever” (as opposed to the “YOLO” mantra).
  2. I have also read that the largest religious group behind the Catholic Church are “former” Catholics.
And of course, there may be an intersection between the “nones” and the “formers”.

Also, doesn’t Buddhism teach that one reincarnates over and over and the eventual goal of being “holy” is “nothingness”?
 
Magnanimity said:
I get what you’re saying, and I don’t want to seem unduly critical of your views. But really, who trusts a salesman? If that’s what we’re doing—selling religion—then we’re going nowhere fast. And FOMO (fear of missing out) is a tactic used in marketing and advertising in America that is fundamentally twisted. It artificially creates desire in the consumer that wasn’t previously there…

I wonder what it says about the current status of religion when one is able to draw easy analogies between it and capitalism. I imagine it’s a bad omen.
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I vehemently disagree 100 million percent. We need to realize that we are in a “competition” with forces that are trying to lead us away from God and His Church, and when someone asks “Why should I belong to a religion that imposes so many inconvenient and bigoted rules, is riddled with abuse and scandal, is hypocritical, when I could just ‘be a good person’ on my own” and/or belong to a religion that lets me do what I want" - how are you going to respond?
 
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Norseman82 said:
how are you going to respond?
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If you have to respond, you have already failed. The fact that the question was even asked means that you failed.

If you had been living your life in full accordance with the Gospel, the reason would have been instantly apparent and no one would have to ask why they should do likewise. The question would be superfluous.

Sadly, most Catholics, and most Christians, fail miserably at living out the Gospels and being a light to the world. Myself included, of course.
 
GordonP said:
If you have to respond, you have already failed. The fact that the question was even asked means that you failed.

If you had been living your life in full accordance with the Gospel, the reason would have been instantly apparent and no one would have to ask why they should do likewise. The question would be superfluous.

Sadly, most Catholics, and most Christians, fail miserably at living out the Gospels and being a light to the world. Myself included, of course.
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Don’t be fooled by the 15-second soundbite theology.

First, that person we have to respond to may have been someone we just met one second ago that we may not have had a chance to fail.

More importantly, the reality is that the forces of evil are trying to steal souls away, no matter how good of Catholics we are.

So again, what does the Catholic religion have that others don’t?
 
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Tis_Bearself said:
Go to the Newman Centers. They’re all there. I think the Mass I was at today had like 70 percent of attendees under age 25. There was a handful of us old people there only because we live in the neighborhood and the Newman Center has the only afternoon Mass for about 15 miles.

I’ve also noticed quite a few young people at the Lifeteen Mass with the electric band at another church. By “young people” I don’t mean Lifeteen age, I mean there’s quite a few people around age 22-30 at it, in addition to all the kids who are there for the Lifeteen stuff. I’m not sure if they’re there for the music or if they’re there because it’s the latest available Mass on a Sunday. Late Masses on Sunday also seem to draw younger people; most young people I know don’t really like rolling out of bed at 9 in the morning on the weekend to get to Mass, nor do they want to give up Saturday afternoons.
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Yes, it seems to be the same in my area. The local Newman Center has the only Sunday night Mass in the area, and I hardly see young people at the other Masses, including Saturday Vigil Masses. If I were a little younger, I would probably go to the Newman Center, too. I am a shift worker and Saturdays can get pretty hectic.

Also, having a variety of weekend Mass times is something the Catholic Church does much, much better than most Protestant churches, at least in my area. I am very thankful that I am not limited to Sunday mornings. There were many years in my career when I had to work every Sunday. The same is probably true for many young people. I think this is a huge advantage for the Church.
 
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Willing_Spirit said:
I don’t think that is true. I think the main reason people leave the Church is because they buy into the claim that religion is just a human construct to help them cope with suffering and death and encourage people to get along. We need proper catechization to understand that our faith is reasonable and not just some arbitrary religion of several that we fell into by birth
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This. Several times.

Evangelization should always include strong Catechesis.
 
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