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Keeping Religion Young

Evangelizing Youth in a Secularized World

By Father John Flynn, LC
ROME, MARCH 30, 2008 (Zenit.org).- With the July date for World Youth Day approaching, the event brings to the fore again the question of how best the Church can convey the Gospel message to young men and women.

Speaking to the bishops of Japan last Dec. 17 during their five-yearly visit to Rome, Benedict XVI warned how young people risk being deceived by modern secular culture.

"If their youthful energy and enthusiasm can be directed toward the things of God, which alone are sufficient to satisfy their deepest longings, more young people will be inspired to commit their lives to Christ," the Pope commented.

Achieving this, of course, is far from easy. A useful analysis of the prevailing culture and mentality among young people came in the recently published book, "After the Baby Boomers: How Twenty- and Thirty-Somethings are Shaping the Future of American Religion" (Princeton University Press).

Authored by Robert Wuthnow, professor of sociology and director of the Center for the Study of Religion at Princeton University, the book starts by noting that younger adults number more than 100 million in the United States.

Wuthnow contended that the lives of this group are characterized by diversity, searching and tinkering. In terms of religion a substantial number of young adults belong to traditional religious groups, but many others improvise their faith lives, taking bits and pieces from a variety of sources. "Ours is not a society that encourages continuity," the author commented further on in the book.

Trends

To help religious leaders better understand the situation of young adults, Wuthnow dedicates a chapter to describing a number of key trends. Compared to their parents their family lives are marked by delayed marriage, and fewer children at a later age.

In terms of work the trend to dual-income families continues to increase. Young adults are generally better educated in terms of university qualifications, but the job situation is more likely to be characterized by greater instability, with people changing jobs frequently, and having higher levels of debt.

Their social lives show a decreasing level of involvement in civic and community-based organizations, and a more fluid and unstructured lifestyle. Globalization has also influenced the younger generation, Wuthnow explains, with more travel and exposure to other cultures and religions. The Internet and modern media have also brought with them exposure to much more information and ideas.

Further on in the book a whole chapter is dedicated to the role of the Internet and other communications technology in relation to religion. According to the surveys cited, the main religious use of the Internet is to look for information about one's own faith. A significant number of people also look for information about other faiths.

Leaders of religious congregations face a challenge in dealing with the demographics of young adults, the book maintained. According to Wuthnow, younger adults are currently less involved than their equivalent group a generation earlier.

When it comes to their religious practices, Wuthnow referred to studies showing that younger adults attend religious services less frequently compared to the past. Churchgoers in the age group of 21-45 are also more likely to be female. Out of those who go regularly, two out of three are women.

Two groups

The attendance patterns, he commented, are related to delayed marriage and childbearing. The typical churchgoer is married with children, while those who do not go to church tend to be single or without children. There are, therefore, two groups of young adults, with two sets of interests and needs, something churches need to take into account, according to Wuthnow. If religion as an institution is not present in the lives of a large number of young adults, then they will look elsewhere for guidance, he added.

The challenge for churches, he observed, is how to figure out what will attract this group and then to be able to reach them by going outside the circle of those who already practice their faith.

By the same token, however, Wuthnow pointed out that young adults still form an important part of churches. In fact, adults between 21 and 45 make up at least 40% of the adherents of every major faith tradition in the United States. Nevertheless, this is down compared to a generation ago.

Wuthnow opined that in spite of this decline religious denominations will still be the backbone of religion and will not be replaced by the Internet or an unstructured spirituality. Church leaders, however, need to pay more attention to young adults, he recommended.

Looking at individual churches Wuthnow reported that the decline varied from 2 percentage points less among evangelical Protestants to a 6-point decline among Jews. Interestingly, the data cited by Wuthnow showed a higher proportion of young adults in the Catholic Church than in any of the Protestant denominations.

The book also revealed other interesting bits of information about Catholics. The main source of converts to evangelical Protestantism is among former Catholics. Overall, about 2 million young evangelicals are former Catholics, compared to 600,000 a generation ago. Nevertheless, Wuthnow also commented that compared to before there are now fewer converts to Catholicism, but also fewer who are leaving.

Path to Christ

Benedict XVI gave some handy pointers on how to evangelize young people during the question-and-answer session held with Rome's clergy Feb. 7. One of the queries was from Father Graziano Bonfitto, a recently ordained priest active in youth work. He asked the Pope for advice on how to bring them closer to Christ and the Church.

"The cultural and media context offers very different paths than the one that leads to Christ," the Pontiff noted. In spite of this, he added that it seems more people are becoming aware of the inadequacy of what contemporary culture is offering.

The Pope recommended sincerity, so that young people will see that priests are living the words and the truths that they preach: "Only if we have set out in this direction, if we ourselves seek to interiorize this life and to make our lives resemble that of the Lord can our words be credible and have a visible and convincing logic."

Then, Benedict XVI continued, we must make clear the fundamental choice that has to be made -- between life and death. Christianity offers life, and we need to help young people understand the importance of this choice, he added.

Finding God

"It is essential to understand that those who travel on the road without God find themselves ultimately in darkness, even if there can be moments where they seem to have found life," the Pontiff explained.

Taking the path that leads to God, the Pope continued, means coming to know the person of Jesus Christ who speaks to us in the Gospel. Therefore, in pastoral work with young people we should draw attention to choosing God, who is life, and to teaching friendship with Christ, urged Benedict XVI.

The leads us to a third step, he added, and that is related to the nature of your friendship with Christ, who is not a figure of the past, but who is present in the Church. This step involves living according to the word of God and having a solid sacramental life.

"There is a thirst for God," the Holy Father asserted, although sometimes it is a hidden thirst. Discovering how to satisfy this thirst is one of the great challenges for the Church today.