CrossCurrents A Catholic Reflects on Faith in Our Times
# 155 Bernard
F. Swain, Ph.D. www.CrossCurrents.us
Are the Youth Our future?
A couple of weeks ago I listened patiently
while members of a parish council I work with waxed eloquent about the
challenge of reaching out to the youth of their parish. ÒThe youth are our
future,Ó they repeated one after another.
ÒWeÕve got to get them involved.Ó
Listening to these people, I was reminded
of the middle- age father who walked into my office with a problem. His
daughter had just turned eighteen, and after an entire childhood living with
parents active and local parish, she was suddenly refusing to attend Mass.
ÒWeÕve done everything we could,Ó he told
me. ÒWeÕve made sure she made all her sacraments, right through Confirmation.
WeÕve always brought her to Mass with us. SheÕs hardly ever missed a CCD class
since First Communion. Now she wonÕt get out of bed on Sundays. I feel like I
should kick her out of the house, but IÕm afraid that will do more harm than
good. IÕm coming to you because IÕm at a loss. What should I do? What can I do?Ó
I empathized with this manÕs anguish, and
I was as much concerned for him as for his daughter. I assured him that he was
not failing as a parent, that perhaps he had in fact done everything he could
do, that many kids go through a phase of alienation only to return to Church
participation as they mature and have families of their own, and that I thought
he should support her as she tried to live for own life. I urged him to combine
unconditional love for his daughter with the continued hope that she would
return to an active role in the Church.
As I remembered this man in my office, I
decided to do the math –and I realized with shock that his daughter is
now 52 years old!
You see, that distressed father walked
into my office in October of 1972. For all I know, that ÒgirlÓ now has the same
trouble with her own kids. In any case, I have been hearing from anguished
parents about their rebellious teens for more than 30 years.
Why do I tell this story?
Because I have also been hearing the
slogan ÒThe youth are the future of our parishÓ for more than 30 years. At first, I believed it
– after all I was only 23 and I was flattered that they were talking
about me as the future! I was one of the young people they were talking about.
It made sense that my generation, the ÒBaby Boomers,Ó were the key to a future
thriving church.
But now the Boomers are close to
retirement and yet the slogan continues. People said it about us, then about
the ÒMe GenerationÓ of the 1980s, then about the Yuppies and the Gen-Xers and
now they still say it about the new ÒMillenialsÓ generation.
All these youths were supposed to be the
Òfuture,Ó but the future has never arrived.
ItÕs like the store owner who screws a
plaque reading ÒFree Ice Cream TomorrowÓ to his wall and leaves it there
forever. Sooner or later, the customers figure out that free ice cream will
never come, because tomorrow is always a day away.
The Òyouth is our futureÓ slogan is like
that plaque. It is a myth, for the future never comes—it is always a few
years away. Like all myths, the slogan has a kernel of truth: sooner or later,
the post-war generation that came of age in the 1950s will have to pass the
torch of church leadership to a younger generation. The trouble is, weÕve never
figured out which younger generation we can count on.
Frankly, after 30 years, IÕm tired of
hearing Òthe youth is our future,Ó because the slogan has also obscured three
other truths:
1. The key transition age for Òpassing
the torchÓ is not high
school and college. Unless those
people continue their participation in parish life through their time as young parents,
we tend to lose them. The result is parishes where teens are involved but the
25-40 group is mostly missing. Underlying this is the twin failure to (a)
provide meaningful formation after
Confirmation and (b) the failure to serve young families (with parents or their
children) until the kids reach school age.
2. Not all generations are equal. Up to the Baby Boomers, the tendency was for kids to
drop out as teens and young adults, and then return when they had kids. Newer generations
are different: they may not return to Church at all, or they drop off kids for religious
education and then go off to Sunday brunch. They delude themselves into
thinking they can raise Catholic kids without practicing themselves. So we see
more and more parish committees, councils, and programs dominated by folks aged
50+.
3. Passing the torch is way overdue. The
wait for a new generation to take over has gone on too long, and time is
running short.
But past failures have taken their toll.
Most Baby boomers are middle-aged folks walking around with a 16-year-oldÕs
faith inside. Is it any wonder they donÕt take it seriously, or feel that investing
in parish life will not benefit them? And it's not their fault: almost all
parishes have continued to put school-age formation first, and skimped on adult
formation, even thought the official church policy since 1971 has urged exactly
the opposite—that adult formation should be #1.
We are reaping what we have sown, and
there is no sign the prospects are any better for those younger than the Boomers.
The sad truth is that over the years weÕve revised and reformed our religious education
curricula without ever facing facts: NO curriculum for kids will produce adult Catholics!
And no youth program guarantees a yield of active adults.
Where is the hope here? Look back at my point #2. The Boomers are the largest
generation in US history. They are retiring earlier wealthier and healthier
than anyone before them, they have longer life-expectancy and more free time,
and they will soon be 1/3 of the US population. AND they have never done
anything the conventional way, so why would we expect their retirement to be
like their parents? They are not likely to settle for a short Òterminal
vacationÓ before they die, especially since many of them will be retired longer
than they worked.
In other words, the Boomers represent the largest
untapped labor force in US history. Many organizations are already focusing on this
Òthird ageÓ population, planning how to tap their energy and creativity and commitment
to help them move their organizations in new directions. But parishes have
mostly forgotten them.
Maybe the old slogan was right in the
first place? Maybe those Baby Boomers
really WERE the future of our parishes? And maybe the Boomers still ARE our
future---thirty years later. The only thing that's changed is that theyÕre not
so young anymore!
Why not focus on their potential? LetÕs
get in gear and offer the formation they need, and re-tool our Boomers for the
work ahead—which will, of course, include figuring out a way to reach the
youth, since they might SOMEDAY be our future even if theyÕre not there yet!
© Bernard F. Swain PhD 2006
Send Your Comments and Questions to bfswain@juno.com
Dr. SwainÕs
opinions do not represent the views of this parish or any other official body.
Bernie Swain has
devoted more than 30 years to adult spiritual formation in dioceses in the US,
Canada, and France. Since 1991 he has maintained a private practice as trainer,
teacher, and consultant to leaders in parishes and other religious
organizations. He holds degrees in theology and political science from Holy
Cross, Harvard, The University of Paris, and The University of Chicago.
His writings include Liberating
Leadership (Harper & Row,
1986) and more than 200 articles in periodicals such as The National Catholic
Reporter, Commonweal, The Miami Herald, The Catholic Free Press, The Pilot,
Harvard Theological Review, and
Liturgy.
A lifelong layperson,
he lives in Boston with his wife and three children. Visit his website at:
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