Why young Catholics are leaving the Church

[2cats]

I’m a recently converted Catholic, raised Southern Baptist, and I looked at a couple of nondenominational Evangelical churches before committing to Catholicism. I have to agree with whoever theorized that many young people leave because “Mass is boring.” Combined with people not being well-informed about the faith, I think the “boredom” is a huge reason. I personally don’t find Mass boring, but I did before I understood what it was all about. Some of the nondenominational worship services - especially the megachurches - have great music, a rock concert-type atmosphere, and “hip” sermons. I get the sense that they really try to “market” their product and that young adults are the target demographic. I’m not young (41), and I still had to remind myself not to make my decision based on the entertainment value of the worship service.

 

[Justin1982]

1. Allow women to assume the priesthood

I would say this is one major reason why so many are leaving the Anglican Church. I don’t think it is not possible for a woman to successfully administer the duties of a priest but I do think it is quite arrogant of humanity to change a fundamental teaching of the Church that God Himself established. We call a priest “Father”, what would we call the priestess “Mother”? Last I checked the Mother of the Church was Mary. There is a tremendous flaw in the thinking of women priests when you get down to it. To put another woman above Mary seems quite sacrilegious in a Catholic perspective.

 

[Marc_Anthony]

Okay, just pointing out, that while I’m against female priesthood because that is not what Christ established, your arguement about Mother being ridiculous as a term since Mary is Mother of the Church strikes me as a bad arguement. Isn’t God the Father of all, including the Church? And since this is true, does that mean we shouldn’t call Priests Fathers? Of course not. In the same way, Mary being the Mother of the Church doesn’t stop Priestesses from being called Mothers, right?

Not that I disagree with your overall premise (women should not be Priests since Christ didn’t establish that), it’s just that this arguement struck me as a weak one.

 

[Crystal_H]

As a catechist preparing our High School aged young adults for confirmation, this is my 2 bits as to why young Catholics are leaving.

1. Poor catechesis.
   This as my first time preparing our youth for confirmation. I, too, spent a huge chunk of my life in other denominations and was really surprise what little they knew. Many did not know that the Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God…That they are only 1 God. ( this is even a tough one for Adults)
2. Parents are not actively expressing or talking about their faith with their children . This is because of point number 1. They themselves do not even know the faith.

Let’s bring back the basics. Let’s start teaching them why we read the scriptures and how the scriptures relate to them and their salvation. I love the Baltimore Catechism.

Let’s teach them that God loves them so much and back it up with scripture, the Mass, and the examples of our lives.

They will come home if they have some grounding and foundation for their faith, but most do not.

Pray for them. They are not the future church. They are the church of now and we need them to help us be the hands, feet, heart of our Lord.

 

[Adeodatus]

I’m going to be brutally honest here as a fifteen year old Catholic.

You really, truly want to know why young Catholics leave the Church?

Because Catholicism is NOT easy. It’s strict. It’s demanding.

And, I think even more importantly, because Mass is boring.
I’m just being honest here. I know its importance and I make it a real point to try and go every day of obligation, but it IS boring. I think so, many of my Catholic friends think so. None of the tips and tricks to make Mass more interesting worked for me. Now, that doesn’t mean I don’t understand the tremendous importance and significance of the Mass.

But it is boring. Sorry.

In fact, the boredom of the Mass actually (very briefly) tempted me toward the prebyterian denomination before I came to my sense, thank God. I wasn’t very well versed in my faith at the time. So I can see how young Catholics who don’t fully understand the faith can be tempted to leave the Church.

BTW-I don’t know a single Catholic who puts Mary and the Saints on the same level as God. Not one. Seriously.

Good post.

Yeah, Catholicism is hard. I found that out the hard way too because where I converted it was very Liberal. They didn’t tell us practically anything we needed to know. It was all touchy-feely. So when I actually got around to reading up on the rules, there were some surprises in store.

The hardness of Catholicism is just one of those things… in society today, we’re basically over-democratized. So there’s nothing to stop young folks jumping ship if they want to. It’s unfortunate that they don’t realize that sometimes things in life are hard because they are actually worth having.

The other thing is that modern life is basically disintegrated, whereas Christianity as an ancient religion supposes an integrated life. How you act, who you associate with, what you say, what you buy, etc. are all things which are supposed to be part of a unified whole. That’s how Christians look at the world. But modernity says that everything is just a persona that you can take off or put on at will… your personality or way of life is just one more product to consume. That part of modern culture is so powerful, most people aren’t even aware that it’s their viewpoint. It just seems natural to them to be disintegrated.

As far as Mass being boring… I wonder how you (hereafter: the generic “you”, not so much the specific you) would like the Tridentine Latin Mass (aka the Extraordinary Form)? I like it because it brings the Hebrew roots of our faith right to the forefront. The priest is facing God and not the congregation (as if we were the audience or something) and many of the prayers are said secretly… the point is that the priest is praying on behalf of the congregation and not running it by the committee first.

The TLM / EF also avoids all those painful attempts to be hip and relevant, like lousy modern music and gimmicky innovations that probably aren’t even allowed in the first place.

I guess it partly depends on why you find the Mass boring, or what parts. I find Liberals to be tedious, so if they’re running the show it makes it hard for me to take. But if you’re bored at the Consecration… why? If you really believe that Jesus Christ, Who is God, becomes truly present Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in Eucharist… how can that be boring? It’s a miracle.

If somebody’s bored by a miracle… Tough room I guess.

Really, though, partly this problem is because the culture (which is, after all, a human artifact which people must deliberately create) has failed our youth. The culture is no longer willing to tell them about right and wrong, to tell them to obey their parents, to tell them that there is something beyond mere pleasure which is worth working and striving for, and basically to tell them not to be selfish dumba**es.

Fortunately, the farther in time that we get from the 60s and 70s, the more remote will be those causes which have utterly ruinated our culture. So there’s hope for the future.

 

[Catherine_S]

I’m going to be brutally honest here as a fifteen year old Catholic.

You really, truly want to know why young Catholics leave the Church?

Because* Catholicism is NOT easy. It’s strict. It’s demanding.*

And, I think even more importantly, because Mass is boring.
I’m just being honest here. I know its importance and I make it a real point to try and go every day of obligation, but it IS boring. I think so, many of my Catholic friends think so.** None of the tips** and tricks to make Mass more interesting worked for me. Now, that doesn’t mean I don’t understand the tremendous importance and significance of the Mass.

But it is boring. Sorry.

In fact, the boredom of the Mass actually (very briefly) tempted me toward the prebyterian denomination before I came to my sense, thank God. I wasn’t very well versed in my faith at the time. So I can see how young Catholics who don’t fully understand the faith can be tempted to leave the Church.

BTW-I don’t know a single Catholic who puts Mary and the Saints on the same level as God. Not one. Seriously.

 

[Catherine_S]

Good post.

Yeah, Catholicism is hard. I found that out the hard way too because where I converted it was very Liberal. They didn’t tell us practically anything we needed to know.** It was all touchy-feely.** So when I actually got around to reading up on the rules, there were some surprises in store.

The hardness of Catholicism is just one of those things… in society today,** we’re basically over-democratized.** So there’s nothing to stop young folks jumping ship if they want to. It’s unfortunate that** they don’t realize that sometimes things in life are hard because they are actually worth having.**

The other thing is that modern life is basically disintegrated,** whereas Christianity as an ancient religion supposes an integrated life**. How you act, who you associate with, what you say, what you buy, etc. are all things which are supposed to be part of a unified whole. That’s how Christians look at the world.** But modernity says that everything is just a persona that you can take off or put on at will… your personality or way of life is just one more product to consume**. That part of modern culture is so powerful,** most people aren’t even aware that it’s their viewpoint**. It just seems natural to them to be disintegrated.

As far as Mass being boring… I wonder how you (hereafter: the generic “you”, not so much the specific you) would like the Tridentine Latin Mass (aka the Extraordinary Form)? I like it because it brings the Hebrew roots of our faith right to the forefront. The priest is facing God and not the congregation (as if we were the audience or something) and many of the prayers are said secretly… the point is that the priest is praying on behalf of the congregation and not running it by the committee first.

The TLM / EF also** avoids all those painful attempts to be hip **and relevant, like lousy modern music and gimmicky innovations that probably aren’t even allowed in the first place.

I guess it partly depends on why you find the Mass boring, or what parts. I find Liberals to be tedious, so if they’re running the show it makes it hard for me to take. But if you’re bored at the Consecration… why?** If you really believe that Jesus Christ, Who is God, becomes truly present Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in Eucharist… how can that be boring? It’s a miracle.**

If somebody’s bored by a miracle… Tough room I guess.

Really, though, partly this problem is because the culture (which is, after all, a human artifact which people must deliberately create)** has failed our youth**. The culture** is no longer willing to tell them about right and wrong, to tell them to obey their parents, to tell them that there is something beyond mere pleasure which is worth working and striving for,** and basically to tell them not to be selfish dumbaes.**

Fortunately, the farther in time that we get from the 60s and 70s, the more remote will be those causes which have utterly ruinated our culture. So** there’s hope for the future.**

 

[Timothy17]

If young people are leaving the Church because Mass is boring then (and only then) can educators be blamed.

Young people are not dumb; in fact, quite the opposite. They should know that leaving the Church because “Mass is boring” is not actually a reason to leave the Church. Now something tells me educators (be they parents or teachers) are not teaching young people that if the Mass is boring then you can leave the Church.

The Mass is not entertainment. It’s a Sacrifice:
Catechism:

Article 4

“JESUS CHRIST SUFFERED UNDER PONTIUS PILATE, WAS CRUCIFIED, DIED AND WAS BURIED”

571 The Paschal mystery of Christ’s cross and Resurrection stands at the centre of the Good News that the apostles, and the Church following them, are to proclaim to the world. God’s saving plan was accomplished "once for all"313 by the redemptive death of his Son Jesus Christ.

Anyone can offer entertainment; only the Catholic Church offers the one true sacrifice that is pleasing to God, a God who suffered and died for us even though we hated Him, even though we abandoned Him, etc. So long as young Catholics know that, then you can be sure that even if they leave, they know what they are leaving behind. Undoubtedly a time will come in their life when they will want that back.

 

[kildare]

Why? Boring , Hard and without any visibly immediate benefits.
Also young people want the chance to things “their way” , at least for a while.

How long must they realise that there are only two ways, Gods and the Devils?
Of course people learn better when they make their own mistakes, but while they are being brought up by catholics, they have to have the catholic message communicated much better.

For example the church is against Women Priests, but why? For most catholics this is probably just an abritary sexist stand. Nobody knows. Its time those charged with keeping the started speaking to the laity and not “down” to them as if they were illiterate peasants from the middle ages. Certainly things like Fr. Robert Barrons’ Word on Fire clips on youtube are the way to go!
The message is good but its not being communicated. The messeger is not doing his work!

 

[runner93]

Perhaps I can add my voice in this conversation?

As far as I know, I am the only “young Catholic” who has posted on this thread. I go to Mass every Sunday, but I will confess that there was a period of time a few months ago where I did not go to Mass for two months. I belief that a big and important reason why young Catholics such as myself leave the church is because of how society portrays Catholicism and we how we perceive it. Frankly, I believe that we need to modernize the Church to make young Catholics stay interested and want to come back. We also need to punish those who are clergy that use their positions to abuse children and to take advantage of others. We cannot afford to be “politically correct” in this society. We need to stand up and confront problems head on, not pacify them.

These are my two cents, and if anyone wishes to discuss them further, please do. I welcome this discussion.

 

[Church_Militant]

I have seen this a lot, but I sure see a lot of young people in my parish, so I wonder where all these departed young uns are…

As for how to retain them, I believe that modernization is too general a term and probably has little concrete meaning.

I think that the only real answer is to modernize the way we get good catechesis to these young people and CAF is one example of an effective method.

The scandal…is just another example of human failings within the context of Christianity and has been grossly exaggerated by various media, while the same has not been done to the equal numbers of current abuses within modern n-C communities and among American educators (No one apparently wants to take on the issue of holding government accountable for the people who they pay who are equally guilty and far more covered up for! )

Young Catholics (and all of us) need to (as they say) “man up” and not let people’s misperceptions of the Church and our most holy faith conflict them. The original, New Testament, “full gospel”, Christian religion of the early church is alive and well in the Catholic Church and we need to be shameless about propagating it with every means possible. The modern n-Cs offer something different with some flash, glitter, and emotionalism that appeals to the young and naive, (I know, I was one of them for over 30 years. My Testimony) and I wrote this article for my blog about it. Who REALLY Preaches “A Different Gospel”?

Knowing the faith is indispensable and there are LOT of sources that work for that. John Martignoni’s Bible Christian Society has terrific (and FREE) MP3s on many aspects of the faith that can be down loaded and spread by CD or other means which I highly recommend. I also recommend San Juan Catholic Seminars materials for study. Also the Catholic Home Study Service has excellent Catholic courses.

Great stuff with minimum expense.

 

[FightingFat]

Many Catholics do have a religion that is polytheistic in that Mary and the saints are worshiped as gods, and many Catholics pray to the saints as they would gods, despite all protestation to the contrary by orthodox Catholics.

Popular piety often fails to reflect orthodox theology. Doesn’t make what they’re doing Catholic. It makes them confused.

As an aside, polls of Catholics strongly support Catholic priests marrying, and the ordination of women–in the 50-60+ range, percentages that any politician would be happy to have. Not that it will ever happen, of course.

No, because the people who support such things fail to understand the issues involved. In Britain we don’t have capital punishment, any poll of the populace would advocate we bring back hanging, that doesn’t mean it’s the right thing to do!

 

[miguel]

As a young Catholic, I may have some insights.

1. You need to learn at a young age that even though you can’t prove scientifically that Jesus is a supreme being any more than Buddha or Krishna, lack of scientific evidence does not take faith into the equation. Young people need to learn that faith is the belief in things which cannot be empirically assessed. No one is trying to “prove” that God exists. You can’t.

We can know that God exists by unaided human reason…unaided meaning it isn’t necessary that God reveal his existence to us. St Thomas Aquinas formulated 5 proofs for the existence of God. As an example, one of my confirmation students put the “proof from design” very succinctly: “It is an absurdity to hold that inanimate matter can form itself into a living organism.” What does inanimate matter know about anything, let alone reproduction, nutrition, digestion, mobility? Now if we’re talking about the Trinity, that is something we could not deduce by human reason. God has revealed that to us. And it is correct to say that belief in the Trinity is part of faith. But belief in God’s existence is not part of faith.

 

[FightingFat]

This is not the position of the Catholic Church. St Thomas Aquinas formulated 5 proofs for the existence of God. We can know that God exists by unaided human reason…unaided meaning it isn’t necessary that God reveal his existence to us. As an example, one of my confirmation students put the “proof from design” very succinctly: “It is an absurdity to hold that inanimate matter can form itself into a living organism.” What does inanimate matter know about anything, let alone reproduction, nutrition, digestion, mobility? Now if we’re talking about the Trinity, that is something we could not deduce by human reason. God has revealed that to us. And it is correct to say that belief in the Trinity is part of faith. But belief in God’s existence is not part of faith.

Yeah, but…We are warned not to try and fit God into a glass jar as well. In his work Jesus of Nazareth, the Holy Father tell us that the highest truths cannot be forced into the type of empirical evidence that only applies to material reality. (p. 216)

This is explained in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. The rich man begs for a sign—for more evidence of revelation. If a further miracle were provided, would it do any more than lead to a hardening of hearts? (cf. Jn 11:45-52 where this is indeed the case).

I think that a better way forward is to use these arguments wisely, yes, indeed—but to focus more firmly on the real efficacy of our faith. The reality of Christian belief is that it changes you, it equips you to deal with life in a different way, changes you. Learning our faith and studying the Sacred Scriptures deepens our understanding of our human condition. It allows us some insight into what we are and why we are here and are they the questions that trouble each one of us?

As seen by Old Testament believers the Law,itself is the concrete form of grace. For to know God’s will is grace. And to know God’s will is to know oneself, to understand the world, to know what our destination is. It means that we are liberated from the darkness of our endless questioning, that the light has come, that light without which we can neither see nor move. “You have not shown your will to any other nation”: for Israel, at least for its best representatives, the Law is the visibility of the truth, the visibility of God’s countenance, and so it gives us the possibility of right living. Are not these our questions: Who am I? Where am I going? What shall I do to put my life in order? The hymn to God’s word that we find—in ever-new variations—in Psalm 119 expresses this joy of being delivered, the joy of knowing God’s will. For his will is our truth and therefore our way; it is what all men are looking for.

These are the truths we need to re-engage with and teach to our young people so that they can truly grasp the importance of God’s sign for men—The Son of Man.

 

[Bluegrass2003]

I don’t post much but I will throw in my two cents here. I’m 25 years old now and spent a total of about 3 years not practicing.

St. Paul’s warns about the world and its wicked trickery. Things like drugs, alcohol, and Sex are literally plastered everywhere and if you don’t think so your perception is so desensitized you’ve lost your discernment. The Sexual comments and innuendos I hear at work are uncountable.

So we all get that there are temptations that will draw our eyes away from God. Keeping our children’s eyes fixated on Christ and the Sacraments he gave us are the secret to keeping our children Catholic.

When I was a teenager I was heavily involved In CYO (Catholic Youth Organization). It kept my sights on target. I helped at soup kitchens, went on countless retreats with other Catholic Youth. But the one thing that was really lacking was Catechesis and Catholic Answers.

People can say Mass is boring all they want but once you wrap your mind about how serious the blessed sacrament is you no longer sound like the scribes and Pharisees in John 6 screaming " Entertain Us! Show us that you really are the Christ! Entertain us!” Wrap your thought around the Passion and pray it. No singing or witty moving sermons could ever amount to what god has given us.

 

[miguel]

Yeah, but…We are warned not to try and fit God into a glass jar as well. In his work Jesus of Nazareth, the Holy Father tell us that the highest truths cannot be forced into the type of empirical evidence that only applies to material reality. (p. 216)

This is explained in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. The rich man begs for a sign—for more evidence of revelation. If a further miracle were provided, would it do any more than lead to a hardening of hearts? (cf. Jn 11:45-52 where this is indeed the case).

I think that a better way forward is to use these arguments wisely, yes, indeed—but to focus more firmly on the real efficacy of our faith. The reality of Christian belief is that it changes you, it equips you to deal with life in a different way, changes you. Learning our faith and studying the Sacred Scriptures deepens our understanding of our human condition. It allows us some insight into what we are and why we are here and are they the questions that trouble each one of us?

As seen by Old Testament believers the Law,itself is the concrete form of grace. For to know God’s will is grace. And to know God’s will is to know oneself, to understand the world, to know what our destination is. It means that we are liberated from the darkness of our endless questioning, that the light has come, that light without which we can neither see nor move. “You have not shown your will to any other nation”: for Israel, at least for its best representatives, the Law is the visibility of the truth, the visibility of God’s countenance, and so it gives us the possibility of right living. Are not these our questions: Who am I? Where am I going? What shall I do to put my life in order? The hymn to God’s word that we find—in ever-new variations—in Psalm 119 expresses this joy of being delivered, the joy of knowing God’s will. For his will is our truth and therefore our way; it is what all men are looking for.

These are the truths we need to re-engage with and teach to our young people so that they can truly grasp the importance of God’s sign for men—The Son of Man.

I re-wrote my post a bit in the hope that it would be less harsh. I think Catholic kids need to be shown that they can have intellectual confidence that God exists. I’ve seen it put their minds at ease. It prepares them for the atheistic onslaught. But once they do have this confidence, I have found that they are also open to other questions like who is God, what does God want from me, etc. So the order these truths are presented is also important.

 

[FightingFat]

I re-wrote my post a bit in the hope that it would be less harsh. I think Catholic kids need to be shown that they can have intellectual confidence that God exists. I’ve seen it put their minds at ease. It prepares them for the atheistic onslaught. But once they do have this confidence, I have found that they are also open to other questions like who is God, what does God want from me, etc. So the order these truths are presented is also important.

Couldn’t agree more! Well said!!

 

[FightingFat]

I don’t post much but I will throw in my two cents here. I’m 25 years old now and spent a total of about 3 years not practicing.

St. Paul’s warns about the world and its wicked trickery. Things like drugs, alcohol, and Sex are literally plastered everywhere and if you don’t think so your perception is so desensitized you’ve lost your discernment. The Sexual comments and innuendos I hear at work are uncountable.

So we all get that there are temptations that will draw our eyes away from God. Keeping our children’s eyes fixated on Christ and the Sacraments he gave us are the secret to keeping our children Catholic.

When I was a teenager I was heavily involved In CYO (Catholic Youth Organization). It kept my sights on target. I helped at soup kitchens, went on countless retreats with other Catholic Youth. But the one thing that was really lacking was Catechesis and Catholic Answers.

People can say Mass is boring all they want but once you wrap your mind about how serious the blessed sacrament is you no longer sound like the scribes and Pharisees in John 6 screaming " Entertain Us! Show us that you really are the Christ! Entertain us!” Wrap your thought around the Passion and pray it. No singing or witty moving sermons could ever amount to what god has given us.

Great post Bluegrass!

 

[miguel]

…Also young people want the chance to things “their way” , at least for a while…Of course people learn better when they make their own mistakes…

No question that’s very true of some people. But I think we parents would rather see our kids learn from other people’s mistakes.

 

[miguel]

Couldn’t agree more! Well said!!

Thank you. You too.