Why the shortage of young people at Mass?

[buzzcut]

One thing I notice … there are hardly any 20-somethings in most of the parishes I’ve been to Mass at.

If there are no young people at Mass in the first place, it’s not surprising there are so few vocations.

Why don’t they come?

 

[mlchance]

Why not enough young people? Too many lousy parents.

– Mark L. Chance.

 

[lak611]

It is also possible that many of the young adults in their 20’s are away at college. Hopefully, they are attending Mass at Newman centers or parishes nearby their university.

 

[MusicMan]

It’s not just in the Catholic Church, mainline Protestant denominations are struggling with a shortage of young people at worship too.

 

[marvi43]

I work with a lot of young people at my job. Most people I ask just think religion is not important. Most call themselves Christian or Catholic but then they feel that going to church is not needed or not for them. Some people feel the church is full of hypocrites and that people go to church on Sunday, act all holy, then the rest of the week they act like their normal selves. I do not think it is lack of faith that is not bringing people in, I just think they do not have any interest in spending time at church.

 

[buzzcut]

I work with a lot of young people at my job. Most people I ask just think religion is not important. Most call themselves Christian or Catholic but then they feel that going to church is not needed or not for them. Some people feel the church is full of hypocrites and that people go to church on Sunday, act all holy, then the rest of the week they act like their normal selves. I do not think it is lack of faith that is not bringing people in, I just think they do not have any interest in spending time at church.

That’s very interesting. So their point of view is …

(1) What’s important is what sort of person you are

(2) “Religion” isn’t helpful in this regard

 

[Elizastaci]

It is also possible that many of the young adults in their 20’s are away at college. Hopefully, they are attending Mass at Newman centers or parishes nearby their university.

I’m a college sophomore, and I see quite a few kids I go to school with at the parish across the street from our university. Likewise, my chuch at home is right next to two universities, and we get lots of college kids during the school months. My roommates and I all attend church every week, too. There are more of us out there than you’d think!

 

[Fuerza]

I’m 24, and I notice a lot of other 20 somethings at the TLM that I occasionally attend. The NO parish that I attend is filled mostly with older people, although that may be because the Mass that I attend there is at 7:30 am. Now this is far from a scientific analysis, but from others with whom I have spoken and what I have seen at Mass, I think that there may be a move towards traditionalism starting among my generation. If you have an indult parish near you, check out a Latin Mass and see if you notice more younger people. I’d be interested to know.

 

[Titus]

With the release of the 2007 Statistical Yearbook of the Church, we see that numbers of priests increased 0.13% across the globe. So we’re not doing so badly. And as for the developed world, my diocese had a class of 8 enter this year (biggest for 20 years I think). And look at Lincoln NE. Cause for *gaudium et spes. *

There are most certainly young people at mass. The JPII generation liveth!!!

The Church is alive, the Church is young.

 

[OutinChgoburbs]

It could be our pastor, but we have a lot of 20s, and they bring their kids.

 

[pumpkinbeast]

One thing I notice … there are hardly any 20-somethings in most of the parishes I’ve been to Mass at.

If there are no young people at Mass in the first place, it’s not surprising there are so few vocations.

Why don’t they come?

I don’t know if this has been mentioned already, but it’s demographics. I see you’re Canadian as well. Right now, the majority of our population is adults, not youth or kids. So, chances are, you’ll see more older adults than kids, even if everyone in your neighborhood went to church.

 

[chicago]

I think a lot of it has to do with the dynamics of particular parishes. Some parishes attract a lot of young people, some cater more to families, others are enclaves for ethnic groups. Mass times make a difference. Many young people prefer Sunday evening Masses whereas an older crowd may want to pray at 8 AM (and could still be practicing a midnight fast, for that matter). I find that the Church tends to be quite segmented in this way.

 

[Catholic29]

In big college towns you tend to see more 20-somethings at Mass. But when you get into the smaller towns and rural areas, the more gray hair you see in the pews, it is very true. I just hope more young people return and not remain in the large metropolitan areas. But in today’s economic climate and higher tuition costs, its becoming more and more the case.

 

[jamannor]

One thing I notice … there are hardly any 20-somethings in most of the parishes I’ve been to Mass at.

If there are no young people at Mass in the first place, it’s not surprising there are so few vocations.

Why don’t they come?

I recently (well two years ago) went through RCIA in a college parish. There were lots of students who went to all the masses. In fact with a town population of three thousand (actually two towns) there were three different parishes, and the demographics were made up of all different people. There was a beautiful traditional church who had lots of older folks but had quite a few young people who went to it since they had mass Saturday nights, and also a very liberal feeling church who attracted the families. I liked that church but I usually went to the University parish and lived with the constant homilies of abortion, sex, and drugs.

 

[LDNCatholic]

Relativism, if you ask me. My sister, sinner (like the rest of us)that she is, believes that nomatter what you do, God loves you so you automatically go to heaven. It’s this kind of belief that has damaged young people’s faith in London anyway. I think this is less belief and more hope, she, like others, hopes that what theyre doing is alright and are afraid to find out its wrong in case they have to stop.

 

[Future_Prodigy]

It is deeper than these surface analogies given here. Times have changed, this we all accept. My parents generation (I am 22) had the expectation of going to church, it was socially required. Whereas now the ones in the church are the ones who want to be there. I find that the amount of nominal or luke warm christians my age have dropped drastically. For an example my schools population of 15,000 only draws 10-15 ppl to our sunday night student mass, yet these are really devoted pious Catholics. You do the correlations. Numbers are dropping no doubt. We are not being accessible to the youth out there i find. Most of the time we are fitting into the sterotypes given by the secular world. WE are being vocal to our anti-fornication, anti-intoxication, anti-contraception (etc) beliefs and these are foundational but the way they are beign presented would of turned me away prior to my conversion a couple years ago. We have to find a way to reach out to these youth without coming across as the boring sterotypical craddle catholic church goers. I myself want to be a living testimoney and eventually aim at witnessing to the hip hop suburban sub culture. I was raised in it and lived it for years, yet i also know what it is like to be in that sub culture and looking in on the outsiders (the christians). There is a lot of sterotypes amde but a lot of sterotypes have a glimpse of truth to them, otherwise they wouldnt remina popular sterotypes!!!

This whole im holier than thou nonsense has got to stop. We have to really reach out in love, compassion and mercy and show a different way of life that is appealign not repulsive, how we do this i don’t yet know.

 

[lak611]

It is deeper than these surface analogies given here. Times have changed, this we all accept. My parents generation (I am 22) had the expectation of going to church, it was socially required. Whereas now the ones in the church are the ones who want to be there. I find that the amount of nominal or luke warm christians my age have dropped drastically. For an example my schools population of 15,000 only draws 10-15 ppl to our sunday night student mass, yet these are really devoted pious Catholics. You do the correlations. Numbers are dropping no doubt. We are not being accessible to the youth out there i find. Most of the time we are fitting into the sterotypes given by the secular world. WE are being vocal to our anti-fornication, anti-intoxication, anti-contraception (etc) beliefs and these are foundational but the way they are beign presented would of turned me away prior to my conversion a couple years ago. We have to find a way to reach out to these youth without coming across as the boring sterotypical craddle catholic church goers. I myself want to be a living testimoney and eventually aim at witnessing to the hip hop suburban sub culture. I was raised in it and lived it for years, yet i also know what it is like to be in that sub culture and looking in on the outsiders (the christians). There is a lot of sterotypes amde but a lot of sterotypes have a glimpse of truth to them, otherwise they wouldnt remina popular sterotypes!!!

This whole im holier than thou nonsense has got to stop. We have to really reach out in love, compassion and mercy and show a different way of life that is appealign not repulsive, how we do this i don’t yet know.

God bless you. I understand how you feel. When I was your age, I was a weak conformist, who left the Church for 5 years, because punk and grunge was cooler. I came back after I was left feeling empty like I had nothing (really it was true–without Jesus, I really had nothing or no-one). My prayers are with you, because you really DO get it. It took me 5 years to understand what you already know. Popularity does not save us! Knowing Him is what really matters.

 

[Godfollower]

One thing I notice … there are hardly any 20-somethings in most of the parishes I’ve been to Mass at.

If there are no young people at Mass in the first place, it’s not surprising there are so few vocations.

Why don’t they come?

Frankly, the Church doesn’t provide a whole lot of support to young adults. If you’re a kid, a teen, a college student, married, or a parent, there are lots of things going on to help you / support you / etc. in the Church. There are CCD, RCIA, Newman communities, marriage encounter, etc., etc., etc., etc. But 20- and 30-somethings find very little going on at Church for them. There simply aren’t any programs aimed at meeting their needs. So they go elsewhere.

There are lots of groups that have no specific age focus (lots of the service groups, for example). But, when you join them, they’re frequently made up of people who have very little in common with young adults (Cursillo may be a great movement, but if your weekly meetings consist of a dozen 50-somethings talking about how God is present in their lives, eventually it starts to feel irrelevant to you: you don’t have a spouse, or kids, or retirement concerns, and no one else remembers the stress of dating, finding your first job, settling on your career, etc.). At least in my area, until very recently you really had to work hard to find Church activities with people in the same age range. Even now, the local parishes have very little aimed at young adults; you’re mostly stuck with diocesan activities. If you can travel there.

There is the Mass, of course; there will always be the Mass. But, if you’re spending your entire social life with others of your age, you start drifting away. The weekend trip doesn’t get back in time for Sunday night Mass. The dance lasts late, and you miss devotions. The group going to dinner conflicts with Eucharistic Adoration. You decide to go to work on Sunday instead of church, and no one calls you on it; your friends are all non-Catholics, and the priest doesn’t know your name. If you aren’t careful to make a lot of Catholic friends, it’s very, very easy to drift away. Not that you ever stop being Catholic; you just don’t show up.

Then, of course, once you’re engaged, the Church suddenly seems to care about you again. Because we have programs for that.

Unless, in the meantime, you started attending that nice Baptist church down the road, whose members make you feel so incredibly welcome when you show up…

 

[Chancellare]

Frankly, the Church doesn’t provide a whole lot of support to young adults. If you’re a kid, a teen, a college student, married, or a parent, there are lots of things going on to help you / support you / etc. in the Church. There are CCD, RCIA, Newman communities, marriage encounter, etc., etc., etc., etc. But 20- and 30-somethings find very little going on at Church for them. There simply aren’t any programs aimed at meeting their needs. So they go elsewhere.

There are lots of groups that have no specific age focus (lots of the service groups, for example). But, when you join them, they’re frequently made up of people who have very little in common with young adults (Cursillo may be a great movement, but if your weekly meetings consist of a dozen 50-somethings talking about how God is present in their lives, eventually it starts to feel irrelevant to you: you don’t have a spouse, or kids, or retirement concerns, and no one else remembers the stress of dating, finding your first job, settling on your career, etc.). At least in my area, until very recently you really had to work hard to find Church activities with people in the same age range. Even now, the local parishes have very little aimed at young adults; you’re mostly stuck with diocesan activities. If you can travel there.

There is the Mass, of course; there will always be the Mass. But, if you’re spending your entire social life with others of your age, you start drifting away. The weekend trip doesn’t get back in time for Sunday night Mass. The dance lasts late, and you miss devotions. The group going to dinner conflicts with Eucharistic Adoration. You decide to go to work on Sunday instead of church, and no one calls you on it; your friends are all non-Catholics, and the priest doesn’t know your name. If you aren’t careful to make a lot of Catholic friends, it’s very, very easy to drift away. Not that you ever stop being Catholic; you just don’t show up.

Then, of course, once you’re engaged, the Church suddenly seems to care about you again. Because we have programs for that.

Unless, in the meantime, you started attending that nice Baptist church down the road, whose members make you feel so incredibly welcome when you show up…

Without disagreeing about the Church’s lack of support to young people, let me post this story:
The German Ambassador in our country lives in one of the upscale suburbs where there is a Catholic Church. They are non-Catholics. But twice a week early morning, the youngest daughter goes with their cook to buy provisions from a nearby store. The cook, a lovable momma type of Catholic, also drops by the Church and goes to Mass before going home, the child in tow. This lasted for 3 years or so. Recently the German Ambassador had to attend the baptism of his sophomore daughter into the Catholic Church. He did not know that everytime the daughter was spotted by the Priest in the Church, he always offered a few cookies and chocos and gave her the Cathecism in small installments. So by the time she entered middle school, she took her first communion after being baptized.
What am I saying?
There are caring Catholics out there who can bring salvation to young people in the most unexpected places.

 

[pumpkinbeast]

Frankly, the Church doesn’t provide a whole lot of support to young adults. If you’re a kid, a teen, a college student, married, or a parent, there are lots of things going on to help you / support you / etc. in the Church. There are CCD, RCIA, Newman communities, marriage encounter, etc., etc., etc., etc. But 20- and 30-somethings find very little going on at Church for them. There simply aren’t any programs aimed at meeting their needs. So they go elsewhere.

There are lots of groups that have no specific age focus (lots of the service groups, for example). But, when you join them, they’re frequently made up of people who have very little in common with young adults (Cursillo may be a great movement, but if your weekly meetings consist of a dozen 50-somethings talking about how God is present in their lives, eventually it starts to feel irrelevant to you: you don’t have a spouse, or kids, or retirement concerns, and no one else remembers the stress of dating, finding your first job, settling on your career, etc.). At least in my area, until very recently you really had to work hard to find Church activities with people in the same age range. Even now, the local parishes have very little aimed at young adults; you’re mostly stuck with diocesan activities. If you can travel there.

There is the Mass, of course; there will always be the Mass. But, if you’re spending your entire social life with others of your age, you start drifting away. The weekend trip doesn’t get back in time for Sunday night Mass. The dance lasts late, and you miss devotions. The group going to dinner conflicts with Eucharistic Adoration. You decide to go to work on Sunday instead of church, and no one calls you on it; your friends are all non-Catholics, and the priest doesn’t know your name. If you aren’t careful to make a lot of Catholic friends, it’s very, very easy to drift away. Not that you ever stop being Catholic; you just don’t show up.

Then, of course, once you’re engaged, the Church suddenly seems to care about you again. Because we have programs for that.

Unless, in the meantime, you started attending that nice Baptist church down the road, whose members make you feel so incredibly welcome when you show up…

If you feel that there are no groups for 20-something Catholics, and that they don’t feel welcome, why don’t you start one, or go out of youor way to make them feel welcome? Something that might help the Church bring young people back is if every person who notices the issue tries to do something, on their own or with others, to help. Those who are putting on programs for those who are engaged, for example, might not have enough time to do the same for 20-somethings. Maybe you’re being called to lend a hand? Just my 2cents. ^^