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

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Hang on, I think there is a reference to this in a book I have.

If you have “Forming Intentional Disciples”, the author analyzes this

www.pewforum.org

U.S. Religious Landscape Survey: Religious Beliefs and Practices

A major survey confirms the close link between Americans’ religious affiliation, beliefs and practices, on the one hand, and their social and political attitudes, on the other. The social and political fault lines in American society run through, as well as alongside, religious traditions.
www.pewforum.org www.pewforum.org
 
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The Church needs to defend authentic Catholic teaching. All employees of all Catholic schools have to abide by Catholic norms. This age is not particularly different.
 
RealisticCatholic said:
For starters, stop doing this kind of thing:
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Actually they need to defend the teachings of the church and the faith by doing this MORE. People who can’t live by the faith, shouldn’t expect the Church to accommodate them. The Church should not be changing to become accepted by Society. Jesus is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. These are teachers at Catholic schools, who are signing contracts agreeing to terms and conditions therein. Anyone else who breaks a contract could expect to get fired, so…
 
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Annie said:
I looked for a survey of returning Catholics, to see how many there are and why they returned, why they had left, etc., but couldn’t find one.
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But even that is problematic as it is self selecting. I suspect those who haven’t returned (or converted) have different motivations.

Short of a multi-million dollar continent wide effort to take “roll call” for several weeks followed up by an independent company surveying a sample of the baptised but not present, I’m not sure how one gathers that info.
 
Except no one can actually live by the faith. We all are sinners.
 
Prayer is the first thing.
Secondly, make it clear that those who leave the Catholic Church are welcome to return.
Eventually, I believe any young people, who are leaving, will eventually come back to the Catholic Church.
 
Lifeisbeautiful3 said:
Except no one can actually live by the faith. We all are sinners.
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Working for a catholic school and openly living in a same sex relationship causes scandal toward the students. As does a divorced (but not annulled) and remarried person. Other sins may not be as visible, but yes, should also be unacceptable. How can we expect the children to live up to the church’s expectations if we don’t hold their teachers and other people in ministerial positions to the church’s standards (the same standards likely spelled out in the contract that they signed)?
 
Some people become saints; so yes, some actually can live by the faith with the help of grace. We need more of them, and they will attract more people to the church, young and old and middle-aged. The main message since Vatican II is that everyone should strive to become a saint (the universal call to holiness).
 
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Sadly though, their collective behavior often invites such treatment.
 
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With all due respect, I’m heading this sort of thing all the time and it doesn’t hold up.

The Protestant churches, which have in modern times been far more permissive in matters of sexuality, are losing people even faster.

Meanwhile, the Muslims, who have no sympathy whatsoever for that stuff, are drinking our milkshake. Worldwide.

“Those who keep up with the times end up where all times go.”

ICXC NIKA.
 
JanetF said:
Working for a catholic school and openly living in a same sex relationship causes scandal toward the students. As does a divorced (but not annulled) and remarried person. Other sins may not be as visible, but yes, should also be unacceptable. How can we expect the children to live up to the church’s expectations if we don’t hold their teachers and other people in ministerial positions to the church’s standards (the same standards likely spelled out in the contract that they signed)?
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On reading the article I still agree but have to point out that the standard needs to be applied consistintly.

It seems that there is a divorced and remarried teacher without an anullment still employed.
 
GEddie said:
With all due respect, I’m heading this sort of thing all the time and it doesn’t hold up.

The Protestant churches, which have in modern times been far more permissive in matters of sexuality, are losing people even faster.

Meanwhile, the Muslims, who have no sympathy whatsoever for that stuff, are drinking our milkshake. Worldwide.
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What makes me utterly crazy is the refusal to follow up on initiatives (err, gimmicks?) to attract and retain young people. It seems as though we, the Church, never, ever, EVER actually evaluate whether these initiatives are effective, useless, or even counter-productive. So now, as just one example, 50+ years after rock entered the liturgy, people are still suggesting “hey, let’s have rock Masses!” Can we maybe first look at the 50 years of data on the experiences of these new-yet-old ideas?
 
GEddie said:
Meanwhile, the Muslims, who have no sympathy whatsoever for that stuff, are drinking our milkshake. Worldwide.
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Can’t comment on Europe, but here in the US there is no massive visible increase in the US. Though that’s probably a matter of immigration than faith switching.
 
I appreciate your concern, but there are four major problems with the action (and similar ones) above:

(1) These things are always an issue of * subjective * pastoral application. Sure, we can know objective church teaching. But when do we decide which actions are worth singling out — and, not only that, what do we decide as the appropriate action to take (and how?) One bishop could say that Trump’s policies are so un-Christian that any Trump supporter should not be allowed to be employed by the diocese. Absurd? Sure. But as long as you can pick out an objective church teaching, you can also subjectively choose how to enforce it in specific applications.

(2) Inconsistency. Why stop at LGBT folk? What about all the other Catholic employees who live in consistent states contrary to Catholic faith? I’m willing to bet the vast majority of Catholic school teachers cohabitate, use contraception, or are divorced and remarried. And that’s just sexual sins: What about the more important ones, like acts of hatred and pride and anger?

Seems to be singling out gay people to me! Of course: focus on 2-5% of the population. Make them the scapegoats. Forget about cleaning up your own house first!

(3) I’m not even sure if the diocese WAS consistent, that it would be the right thing to do, in the first place! It most definitely does not fit with the Holy Father’s pastoral vision for the church. Christ and his Church must accompany, not exclude. Catholicism has always upheld the best – what is good – in people, instead of highlighting their failures.

(4) a BIG assumption on the part of the diocese that what the gay individuals were doing was, in fact, sinful. Point of fact is, unless the diocese had cameras in the couples’ bedrooms, they simply DO NOT know if their relationship is sinful. Contrary to what some Catholics believe, simply entering a same-sex union is not an objective sin. It * could * simply mean “We care for each other enough to spend our lives together” — Oh the horror!!!
 
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Elf01 said:
It seems that there is a divorced and remarried teacher without an anullment still employed.
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I can never figure out how they could allow such an inconsistency.
 
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