Latrobe

Will our Children have

Faith?

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The Notre Dame theologian, Scott Appleby, said that “No previous generation of American Catholics, it could be argued, inherited so little of the content and sensibility of the faith from their parents as has today’s youth. At no point during the previous 150 years of Catholic life in America has a need for widespread catechesis and re-evangelization of broad segments of the Catholic community coincided with so dire a shortage in the number of priests, religious and seminarians.” (September 2001).

Wear Two Hats Tonight


As a PARENT


As a PARENT

As CHURCH


As a PARENT


Faith?


As CHURCH

Will our Faith have Children ?


As a PARENT

National Study onYouth and Religion

This study focused on 13-17 year olds to:

1. Research the shape and influence of religion and spirituality in the lives of U.S. adolescents.

2. Identify effective practices in the religious, moral, and social formation of young people

3. Describe the extent to which young people participate in and benefit from the programs and opportunities that religious denominations are offering to their youth.

Purpose of Study:

Religion has a significant presence in the lives of many

U.S. teens today.

Finding #1:

Contrary to many popular assumptions and stereotypes, the character of teenage

religiosity in the U.S. is extraordinarily conventional.

Finding #2:

Religious education is failing –

if by that we mean helping people

understand what they believe.

Finding #3:

“Many teenagers know abundant details about the lives of favorite musicians and television stars or about what it takes to get into a good college, but most are not

very clear on who Moses and Jesus were.”

-Dr. Christian Smith

17 year old, white Catholic boy from Wisconsin:

“My religious beliefs, what’s good and bad, like you know, if you kill or rape someone, I think you’re screwed, give up on life ‘cause it’s over.”

Then he added, “I’ll never stop being Catholic, even if I stop believing in God, I’ll still be Catholic.”

15 year old conservative Protestant Hispanic boy from Texas:

“I’m sure God exists and like, helps people and answers their prayers, that’s pretty much it.” [Do you believe in Jesus?] “Ah, yes…I think (little laugh). I don’t know, I don’t know.”

Most U.S. teens have a difficult to impossible time explaining what they believe, what it means, and what the implications of their beliefs are for their lives.

Finding #4:

17 year old mainline Lutheran boy from Colorado:

“Uh, well, I don’t know, um, well, I don’treally know. Being a Lutheran,confirmation was a big thing but I didn’treally know what it was and I still don’t. I really don’t know what beinga Lutheran means.”

“Indeed, it was our distinct sense that for many of the teens we interviewed, our interview was the first time that any adult had ever asked them what they believed and how it mattered in their life.”


Regardless of the denomination, most U.S. teens are “Moralistic Therapeutic Deists”

Finding #5:

15 year old Hispanic conservative Protestant girl from Florida:

“God is like someone who is always there for you, I don’t know, it’s like God is God. He’s just like somebody that’ll always help you go through whatever you’re going through. When I became a Christian I was just praying and it always made me feel better.”

14 year old Jewish girl from Washington:

“I guess for me Judaism is more about how you live your life. Part of the guidelines are like how to live and I guess be happy with who you are, ‘cause if you’re out there helping someone, you’re gonna feel good about yourself, you know?”

14 year old white Catholic boy from Pennsylvania:

“ ‘Cause God made us and if you ask him for something, I believe he gives it to you. Yeah, he hasn’t let me down yet. God is a spirit that grants you anything you want, but not anything bad.”

16 year old white mainline Protestant boy from Texas:

“Well, God is almighty, I guess [yawns]. But I think he’s on vacation right now because of all the crap that’s happening in the world, ‘cause it wasn’t like this back when he was famous.”

- A God exists who created and orders the world.- God wants us to be good and fair.- Central goal of life is to be happy

and feel good about oneself.- God does not need to be

particularly involved in one’s life,except when needed to resolve a problem.

- Good people go to heaven when they die.

The Creed ofMoralistic Therapeutic Deism

Highly religious teens appear to be doing much better in life than less religious teens.

Finding #6:

“At the very least, what appears to be clearly not true is the idea that the religious

teenagers are essentially no different from non-religious teenagers.”



Faith?

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“Catholic teenagers, who represent nearly one-quarter of all U.S. teens, stand out among the U.S. Christian teenagers as

consistently scoring lower on most measures of religiosity.”


U.S. CP MP BP RC J LDS NR

Made a personal commitment to live for God.

55 79 60 74 41 21 69 13

Shared own religious faith with someone not of faith

43 56 51 41 37 58 72 --

Youth Group participation rate (involved in YG/YG available)

52 64 64 44 32*

41 75 --

Only one religion is true 29 46 26 31 19 9 67 5

Okay to practice religions besides own

51 36 59 40 58 78 36 70

Evangelization: “people should leave everyone else alone”

43 27 39 42 55 75 15 66

Okay to pick and choose beliefs without accepting whole faith

46 36 53 34 54 71 31 62

Believers need to be involved in a religious congregation

32 35 27 45 32 20 60 14

* This question was only asked of teens who attend Mass more than twice a year.

Will our Faith have Children ?

Youth Ministry 3.0: A Catholic Vision

http://www.nywc.com/

www.ysmarko.com

http://www.nywc.com/

Youth Ministry 1.0

• Identity• Correction• Driver: Proclamation

Youth Ministry 2.0

• Autonomy• Discipleship• Driver: Programs

What’s Changed?

• Other Adults are Significant

What’s Changed?


• Involvement is Significant

What’s Changed?



• Bishops have set a “Framework”

What’s Changed?



• Bishops have set a “Framework”

• No More Business as Usual

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Youth Ministry 3.0

• Affinity• Cultural Anthropology• Communion and

Mission

Catholic Youth Ministry 3.0

• Communion• Mission

CATHOLIC

The Eucharist is "the source and summit of the Christian life.“ "The other sacraments, and indeed all ecclesiastical ministries and works of the apostolate, are bound up with the Eucharist and are oriented toward it. For in the blessed Eucharist is contained the whole spiritual good of the Church, namely Christ himself"The Eucharist is the efficacious sign and sublime cause of that communion in the divine life and that unity of the People of God by which the Church is kept in being. Finally, by the Eucharistic celebration we already unite ourselves with the heavenly liturgy and anticipate eternal life, when God will be all in allCCC 1324- 1326

In the Archdiocese of Baltimore, we > invite young people towards discipleship and engage them within parish life> value and serve parents in their primary responsibility for faith formation of their children> engage the fill parish community in her ministry with young people> emphasize the role of a core team and the significance of enlisting many adults into the ministry and lives of young people> acknowledge the need of integrity by the Catholic Youth Ministry leader within a parish community

Latrobe

Spiritual

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