You're the Church. Young people are leaving in droves. What do you do?

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I think young people are not leaving in droves. How can they leave when they never arrived? That’s because their parents (and others of that generation) didn’t pass on the faith. What to do? Let your light shine, evangelize, catechize, fast and pray.
 
Folks turned away from IHS when HE taught about His body and blood.

He didn’t dilute His message. Nor did He try to stop them.

If the Church keeps up its message, and it’s followers keep up their prayer life, sacraments, and penance, it has nothing to fear. We can’t expect not to lose anybody when the LORD had it happen to Him.

ICXC NIKA
 
Oh, please get over the bit that the songs are the reason those 18 and older are leaving the Church. They are leaving because of poor catechesis; because their parents often have not been much more than cultural Catholics, because no solid foundation was built in those leaving; because they “shack up”; because they go to college and are immersed in secularism, hedonism and relativism in one fell swoop by their peers - who at that point make up the vast majority of their world.

And this is not something exactly new; it was going on before Vatican 2 and has been gradually increasing over the past decades since then.
 
The cheesy music doesn’t help with the sense of the numinous and the sacred. But yes, you’re right, there is a lot more than a loss of beauty in the liturgy that is causing young people to leave.
 
Nope. The vast majority of that was done in the 1970s and was unspoken for decades after. 18+ year olds have been leaving the Church since prior to Vatican 2; and while it has picked up in quantity, there are a multitude of issues that hit most of them - and sexual abuse is not anywhere near the top or even middle of the list.
 
Neithan said:
Think about all the changes the baby boomers made. Then, undo those. We can start with those 1970s CCM songs in our hymnals. And rebuild some of those awful modernist experiments in church architecture. Also, the watered down catechesis — stop that
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Yes. And RESTORE MARIAN DEVOTION. NOW. Stop hiding the Church’s second greatest treasure in order to make Protestants happy. The anti-Catholic/Marian Protestants are dinosaurs. The post-Gen X Protestants are seekers looking for truth. Let them fall in love with Our Lady.

Ministry and education of immigrants/migrants in non English languages.

No social justice ministry without theological formation and vice versa

Basic apologetics for everyone.

Boost the Anglican ordinariate and send rescue missions to Episcopal/Anglican/Methodist churches that are dying.

Combine all this with orthodox reforms.
  • Viri probati married priests. Bishops stay celibate in line with Eastern Orthodoxy
  • Ministry for youth and young people especially singles.
    ** Teach them that you can’t get married without Mary. Save them so much heartbreak!
    ** Early marriages + pro-life formation = more Catholic kids. + migrants and converts = reborn Church.
  • Liturgical focus
    ** All of the above liturgy options: informal Novus Ordo (for seekers and children especially), formal Novus Ordo, TLM, Anglican Use. Same tabernacle for everyone’s Hosts
    ** Multilingual Masses.
    ** Use at least some Latin in most Masses
  • Boost religious vocations
  • Women in leadership, such as parish coordinators, minor (nonsacramental) orders and the cardinalate.
Reject womens’ ordination to major orders and any other doctrinal changes.
 
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Also as long as the liberals continue to teach Jesus as just another social worker and not Christ the King then what’s so special about the Church He founded?
 
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I would say but I’m tired of getting flagged by people for answering a question someone asks an opinion on.

I’ll probably get flagged for this honestly…
 
Not sure if anyone read the article I shared. It was written by a Southern Baptist preacher on what evangelicals can learn from the Orthodox. He shows some research from the Pew Research Center. A couple of striking facts. First, and I can’t remember the exact age range, the Orthodox and LDS Churches have the most attendance of any Christian tradition for the ages 18-28 and second, that the Orthodox stand alone with the highest Church attendance for ages 29-50.

He says it has to do with these five things:
  1. Music - the Orthodox don’t have any contemporary music in their liturgies. If contemporary music is meant to reach these younger age groups and fill up Protestant churches it obviously is not working. So more traditional hymns that are rich in theology.
  2. Liturgy - the liturgical life of the Church is important in that there is a feeling of community as well as reception of communion and recited/sung prayers
  3. Church building - a place that actually looks, sounds and smells like a Church (incense).
  4. Images - Icons/statues are important
  5. A female figure - the Theotokos
As a Byzantine Catholic I agree with his thoughts.

ZP
 
When our Lord first introduced the future of the Eucharist to the masses that followed him, many turned away. Yet, Christ didn’t waver or chase them. The Church should follow His example.

I also think the focus should be on the quality of Catholics still in the pews, not the dwindling numbers. There is clearly a quality difference between those who attend the TLM mass versus the Novus Ordo (See: https://onepeterfive.com/new-survey...iefs-between-latin-mass-novus-ordo-catholics/ )

In short, ensure that both the (completely valid) NO masses maintain a reverent deliverance, and make TLM more available. Return the Church to her authentic unwavering form of the past and the numbers will take care of themselves.
 
Kids always eventually grow up. We just hope and pray they do before they die.
 
My parish Church has music which reminds me of kiddie karaoke. It frustrates me a little because music is a passion of mine.
 
I like music too, but the lack luster lyrics are what kills it for me.
 
Follow what the Church truly teaches as shown in the Catechism and Holy Scriptures. Set that good example. Also we need to get outside help to rid the Church of these homosexual predators preying on our innocent ones.
 
Take City of God by Dan Schutte for example. The composer makes the words rythme and that makes awkward phrases appear. The rythming also gives an unpleasant effect for me.
 
Chuck65 said:
People lost trust and left. Many didn’t lose their faith, but they felt they couldn’t stay. I don’t really see a true effort to remedy this. Words and committees drawing up another plan isn’t going to change anything. The time for decisive action is long past due.
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Nobody ever talks about the Baptist abuse scandal or the Episcopal abuse scandal or the Presbyterian one or… the truth is that every major youth facing organization has had an abuse scandal. But the media is so biased against the Catholic Church that we are the only ones targeted for it.
Lavenderson said:
I also think the focus should be on the quality of Catholics still in the pews, not the dwindling numbers. There is clearly a quality difference between those who attend the TLM mass versus the Novus Ordo (See: New Survey Shows Disparity of Beliefs Between Latin Mass, Novus Ordo Catholics - OnePeterFive )
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Lex orandi, lex credendi is true, but there have to be people in the pews first. If you build a TLM they may not necessarily come, “They” being the White European people of the USA, Canada, Australia and Western Europe for whom the abuse scandal is the main excuse for refusing to listen to the Church. The ship may have sailed for good for many of these people. They may not reconsider their rejection of the Church until near the time of their deaths.

We are looking at a generational change here and I don’t think most people grasp that.
 
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