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WASHINGTON LETTER Aug-19-2005 (830 words) Backgrounder. With photo. xxxn
It's not their parents' faith: Young adult Catholics find new paths
By Carol Zimmermann
Catholic News Service
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Young adult Catholics might not be running parish bingo games or hosting sodality gatherings, but that does not mean they are not active in the church. Instead, they are doing things that older adult Catholics and the school-age set might not see: discussing theology at bars, volunteering at homeless shelters and food kitchens, getting together for eucharistic adoration or to discuss Catholic classics, attending retreats or simply hanging out together.
A survey conducted by the U.S. bishops' Subcommittee on Youth and Young Adults from May to June of this year found that the church's outreach to young adults spans a variety of activities and that the most popular programs included retreats, Theology on Tap programs, leadership training and social activities.
"Young adults have a lot of energy and will accept their responsibility for spreading the faith if we provide opportunities for them," said Bishop Dennis M. Schnurr of Duluth, Minn., chairman of the subcommittee.
He said he was pleased with the survey results, released in August, and hopes dioceses and parishes will build on them. "We need to capitalize on the interest in the church shown by young people who by nature are idealistic and on a spiritual search," he said. He also noted that Catholic young adults have shown their zeal for the church by gathering in large numbers to pay their respects after the death of Pope John Paul II and in their participation at World Youth Day events.
Sixty percent -- 117 of the nation's 195 dioceses -- responded to the bishops' survey that examined services dioceses offer to young adults, generally defined as the 22-35 age group.
Of the dioceses that responded, 91.5 percent reported that they have a person designated for young adult ministry. Of these ministers, 65.8 percent were employed full time for this work and the rest were either part-time employees or volunteers.
According to the survey results, top young adult programs include: retreats (79 dioceses); Theology on Tap (73 dioceses); leadership training (65 dioceses); and social activities (65 dioceses).
Retreats and Theology on Tap programs, which topped the list of young adult programs, are not exactly like the programs young adult Catholics from previous generations attended.
Retreats may be nothing new, but in some dioceses they take on a new twist for their younger participants. In Chicago, for example, Charis Ministries, a Jesuit outreach to Catholic young adults, sponsors peace and justice weekends as a means to integrate social justice and faith issues with professional and work lives.
Jesuit Father Michael Sparough, who started Charis five years ago and serves as its director, said young adult Catholics were failed by religious education in the post-Vatican II years.
"This generation was not acculturated into the Catholic Church," he told the bishops' youth and young adult subcommittee.
He noted that today's young adults are "disillusioned about every institution, including the church."
"You get a generation that finds it very difficult to make a commitment, and puts a high premium on their own experience," he added.
That's one reason Charis events stress the importance of young adults sharing their faith experiences with their peers. The retreats catch people at an important moment in their lives, according to Eric and Amy Totten, who provided music for a recent Charis retreat.
Theology on Tap, a speaker series founded 25 years ago by the young adult ministry of the Chicago Archdiocese, also aims to reach young adults where they are.
Father John Cusick, director of young adult ministry in the Chicago Archdiocese, has a simple explanation for the success of Theology on Tap. "What else is there?" he asks.
Decades ago, he said, young adults were the backbone of Catholic parish life. But as Americans began to live longer, they stayed involved in ministries even as seniors -- so the young adults who once took over for them were not pulled into parish activities. Instead, as Catholics entered their 20s and 30s, they began to drift away from the church, he told the bishops' subcommittee.
Theology on Tap is attempting to bring these young adults back to the church. The program is a speaker series dealing with issues of faith and targeting 20- to 30-year-olds. It takes place in a variety of settings from restaurants and bars to parish halls.
The program has grown in popularity over the years and has inspired others to initiate similar speaker series. Dioceses in approximately 44 U.S. states and a half-dozen other countries now offer Theology on Tap.
Over the past 25 years, Father Cusick estimated that tens of thousands of young adults have attended Theology on Tap. Many of them tend to be "Catholic but not parochial," he said, and have a poor understanding of church traditions.
"We hear a lot about spiritual hunger," he said. "People are having a restless experience in everyday life. You put on a Theology on Tap program, and they're there."
END
Copyright (c) 2005 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed.
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