Posted on 11/26/2011 6:39:04 AM PST by NYer
LOL. Nothing disgusts the youth more than clueless adults attempting to be cool. However, "youth mass" antics are highly appealing to those adults who cannot handle "straight" Catholicism because they themselves have never grown up.
“Today, those segments of the Church which reject the errors of Vatican II enjoy the fastest growth and greatest retention of youth.”
I agree, but I don’t think those youth are the ones in typical parish youth groups; they are more removed from the mainstream. Bear in mind that for all the hype of JP II attracting so much of the youth, those youth have now grown up to be the same Europeans who won’t bear children. Attracting them is one thing; having them keep their faith is another.
In my previous church they had started out 3 years ago with piano music and hymnals and rock solid Bible teaching.
They quickly realized that they were already dying with the median age of the congregation being that of people that prefer that particular kind of worship music.
Out of the 100 people on any given Sunday (place was less than half full) only 20 were 30 or younger. The rest were 60 and up.
Pastor met with a group of those elder members and they all agreed that a change was needed. Now the music is led by a band performing a mix of hymns and contemporary worship. The message has never changed. The church is the fastest growing in the county with now (3 years later) over 400 worshipping and listening to the Word of God every week.
The band? Half teens and half 40 somethings.
The youth group? Over 200 between the ages of 12 and 24.
The message need not change. The Word of God is as perfect today as it has always been. It’s the other things that make a church into a place kids don’t dread going to.
Maybe America is hardening its collective heart towards God.
The job of the church is to proclaim Jesus Christ. Getting bigger is not required.
I think we are seeing America falling away from God, and it is not God’s fault...
World media reported that JP2 attracted the youth, but I saw no substantive evidence of that in my neck of the woods.
In my parish the staff and clergy are all “Anglo”, while the young people in the congregation are Hispanic or Filipino (which works out well, because soon the clergy will be as well). Contempory music seems to interest them less than keeping the sacraments because they fear Hell; they don’t look to the parish as an extension of their private lives.
I’m glad that’s working at your prior church; the difficult part is when they are no longer so young, and deal with many of the “grown-up” issues that seem to drive people away from Roman Catholicism (abortion, divorce, politics, etc.).
“World media reported that JP2 attracted the youth, but I saw no substantive evidence of that in my neck of the woods.”
I think they mistook “World Youth Day” attendance as faith or fervor; in any case, I don’t think he did much to attract or retain young Catholics.
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