Quarantining a generation

[Sojourner]

My friend Ben (currently studying at Bethel Seminary in St. Paul (protestant)) recently posted something very interesting on his blog, [url="http://christianretail.blogspot.com/"]They Will Know Us By Our T-shirts[/url], on the topic of creating services and churches focusing on on particular age group, namely young adults. He cites an article [url="http://www.boundless.org/2005/articles/a0001151.cfm"]an article by Suzanne Hadley[/url].

One interesting paragraph from Hadley's article:
[quote]Sacrifice and submission are staples of Christianity. When the church separates young adults from the body for the sake of taste or style, it does them a disservice. We come to believe we're entitled to special treatment and not obligated to participate in the duties of the larger body. Services meant to empower young adults may end up letting them off the hook. [/quote]

While this phenomenon is perhaps most often evidenced in Protestant churches -- I can list off several churches I know of which cater specifically to a younger audience through more relaxed messages, music, etc. -- I'm sure it also happen in Catholic circles.

I've personally never quite felt like I fit in the parish I was confirmed in, but I've largely chalked it up to the natural disconnect I feel because I'm not a cradle Catholic. What have you all seen? Is there a disconnect between younger generations and the larger church body? What, in your estimation, is the best way of addressing this?

[Norseman82]

[quote name='Sojourner' date='Oct 18 2005, 12:18 PM']I can list off several churches I know of which cater specifically to a younger audience through more relaxed messages, [right][snapback]762565[/snapback][/right]
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That right there is the problem, in my estimation. The message must not be relaxed or "dumbed down" for fear of offending them/us.

I do believe that young adults/singles do need catering to for Christian socialization that may not be met by a generic parish structure. Case in point: my parish's demographics is mostly elderly, with the next biggest group being parents with schoolchildren.

[tojo]

The Church is in the habit of creating university parishes, which ought to be more geared towards college-age people.....

[Sojourner]

[quote name='Norseman82' date='Oct 18 2005, 12:32 PM']That right there is the problem, in my estimation.  The message must not be relaxed or "dumbed down" for fear of offending them/us.

I do believe that young adults/singles do need catering to for Christian socialization that may not be met by a generic parish structure.  Case in point:  my parish's demographics is mostly elderly, with the next biggest group being parents with schoolchildren.
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I agree that "dumbing down" the message isn't the answer. The churches I'm specifically thinking of (all Protestant) aren't presenting a dumbed-down version, but one that's packaged in a more engaging manner. One guy wears very casual clothing to preach, another has been working to get people to understand sinfulness by redefining it as "brokenness."

My parish demographic is not all that different from yours ... we have a lot of elderly folks, then a bunch of yuppies, some of whom are married, but most of whom either don't have kids or have very young children (not yet school age). It's due to our location -- right downtown, where people are either living because they've lived there forever or because it's cool to live downtown. It's not cool, however, to raise kids downtown ...

I like Hadley's point that there needs to be an expanded version of "family" between generations and outside bloodlines.

[Norseman82]

[quote name='Sojourner' date='Oct 18 2005, 12:41 PM']I agree that "dumbing down" the message isn't the answer. The churches I'm specifically thinking of (all Protestant) aren't presenting a dumbed-down version, but one that's packaged in a more engaging manner.
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Unfortunately, up over by here, I've seen my share of "dumbing down" on the Catholic scene (I'm sure because a lot of the people running young adult ministry are children of the '60s), although I also see a lot of solid Catholic young adults who are stepping up to the plate to fill the void.

[Fides_et_Ratio]

[quote name='Sojourner' date='Oct 18 2005, 01:18 PM']My friend Ben (currently studying at Bethel Seminary in St. Paul (protestant)) recently posted something very interesting on his blog, [url="http://christianretail.blogspot.com/"]They Will Know Us By Our T-shirts[/url], on the topic of creating services and churches focusing on on particular age group, namely young adults. He cites an article [url="http://www.boundless.org/2005/articles/a0001151.cfm"]an article by Suzanne Hadley[/url].

One interesting paragraph from Hadley's article:
While this phenomenon is perhaps most often evidenced in Protestant churches -- I can list off several churches I know of which cater specifically to a younger audience through more relaxed messages, music, etc. -- I'm sure it also happen in Catholic circles.

I've personally never quite felt like I fit in the parish I was confirmed in, but I've largely chalked it up to the natural disconnect I feel because I'm not a cradle Catholic. What have you all seen? Is there a disconnect between younger generations and the larger church body? What, in your estimation, is the best way of addressing this?
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In short? Getting rid of those ridiculous Life Teen Masses would be a large step in overcoming the gap.

[photosynthesis]

[quote name='tomasio127' date='Oct 18 2005, 01:37 PM']The Church is in the habit of creating university parishes, which ought to be more geared towards college-age people.....
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not all young adults go to college, not all college students go to big enough colleges that would have enough students to have a university parish, and the vast majority of university parishes and newman centers at secular colleges have succumbed to New Age-esque heresies.

Has anyone here read "The New Faithful?" It's a good book, and it talks about young adults and why they are returning to Orthodox Christianity. Young people need orthodoxy and age-appropriate fellowship. Going to the Parish Bingo night is not age appropriate, and neither is the 10am bible studies. At my grandma's parish, all the parish activities are scheduled during the day, which means only retired people and stay at home moms can go to them. most young people have jobs, and activities need to be scheduled to accommodate those of us who have something to do from 9-5

[Fides_et_Ratio]

[quote name='photosynthesis' date='Oct 18 2005, 02:26 PM']not all  young adults go to college, not all college students go to big enough colleges that would have enough students to have a university parish, and the vast majority of university parishes and newman centers at secular colleges have succumbed to New Age-esque heresies.

Has anyone here read "The New Faithful?"  It's a good book, and it talks about young adults and why they are returning to Orthodox Christianity.  Young people need orthodoxy and age-appropriate fellowship.  Going to the Parish Bingo night is not age appropriate, and neither is the 10am bible studies.  At my grandma's parish, all the parish activities are scheduled during the day, which means only retired people and stay at home moms can go to them.  most young people have jobs, and activities need to be scheduled to accommodate those of us who have something to do from 9-5
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That's really interesting. Most of the parishes around me schedule everything in the evening (and all at 7pm), so unless they are on different nights of the week, people end up having to pick and choose between the Bible Study or the Pro-life group or something.

Only the elderly activities are held during the day (because the only elderly people that attend are all retired).

[Norseman82]

Additionally, one characteristic of younger people is that they are more mobile, and that is why they may be apprehensive about committing at a parish if they may be moving away within a year or less for whatever reason.

One other thing I did notice is that there really are two subsets of young adult ministry: singles and marrieds. These two subsets have different needs (singles are looking for a spouse, whereas marrieds might be looking for other married couples to compare notes on raising a family). I'm not saying that the two cannot mix, but the standard young adult years of being 20-39 is not really realistic now, and there are plenty of people beyond their 30s who may be starting families and will have something in common with those in their twenties starting families.

[photosynthesis]

[quote name='Norseman82' date='Oct 18 2005, 02:44 PM']Additionally, one characteristic of younger people is that they are more mobile, and that is why they may be apprehensive about committing at a parish if they may be moving away within a year or less for whatever reason.

One other thing I did notice is that there really are two subsets of young adult ministry:  singles and marrieds.  These two subsets have different needs (singles are looking for a spouse, whereas marrieds might be looking for other married couples to compare notes on raising a family).  I'm not saying that the two cannot mix, but the standard young adult years of being 20-39 is not really realistic now, and there are plenty of people beyond their 30s who may be starting families and will have something in common with those in their twenties starting families.
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yes, that is very true..

[jezic]

i wonder why the message would be relaxed for teens. ....

do they think that teens don't know what is going on in the world?

Why is the message not always the same? Jesus preached the same gospel to every person he met.

I can see the need at times for different types of Masses (like Latin Masses, English Masses, Choral Mass, Solemn Mass, Chant, and more) but the message in each is still the same.

[Sojourner]

[quote name='Norseman82' date='Oct 18 2005, 01:44 PM']Additionally, one characteristic of younger people is that they are more mobile, and that is why they may be apprehensive about committing at a parish if they may be moving away within a year or less for whatever reason.
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That's definitely true. I had to work through that when I was younger -- it's no fun saying goodbye to people you love, so it's easier just to not get in relationships with people it will be hard to say goodbye to. My younger sister (20) is working through the same thing now.

[quote name='Norseman82' date='Oct 18 2005, 01:44 PM']One other thing I did notice is that there really are two subsets of young adult ministry:  singles and marrieds.  These two subsets have different needs (singles are looking for a spouse, whereas marrieds might be looking for other married couples to compare notes on raising a family).  I'm not saying that the two cannot mix, but the standard young adult years of being 20-39 is not really realistic now, and there are plenty of people beyond their 30s who may be starting families and will have something in common with those in their twenties starting families.
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It's definitely easiest to be friendly with people who are in the same life situation you are ... but I think it's imperative to look for relationships with people who are outside your normal frame of reference. It makes your life experience richer to be able to empathize with someone who's life situation is drastically different from yours; through the relationship, you enrich one another. The church, IMHO, should be the perfect petri dish for these types of relationships to grow.

[scardella]

In the suburban parish that I grew up in, it had things for children-teens, then there are adult things which a college-age/young adult type wouldn't feel comfortable in. All the people there are married w/ children. Many many parishes seem to ignore people from about 18 to about thirty....

[Socrates]

My parish has a pretty good overall situation - lots of people of all different ages, including plenty of young people (probably more younger than older), with lots of big families.

However as a (somewhat) young single adult, I do feel somewhat out of place. Most things seem geared more towards either families or teens. Whenever someone tries to start something for young adults/singles, it never takes off - there is either lack of interest or poor organization. And a now defunct "singles group" from a year ago seemed to largely attract older people.

More on track, I'd say there should be parish and religious activities geared towards younger people, and young people or singles shouldn't be treated as if they didn't exist or don't matter.
However, I don't think kids should have their own "youth oriented" masses, and youth-oriented religious activities should not be "dumbed-down" or frivolous.
However, I think there should be religious and social functions/activities for the young.

[Dreamweaver]

I don't think the answer would be for more youth-oriented masses. Way back before I was catholic, sometimes I would go to non-denom services with a friend. Some churches even had a separate auditorium for the kids services, with puppet shows and such. I dunno, maybe that would work for toddlers or something.

I think it would be cool to see more parishes do evening daily masses, like maybe 8 or 9 o'clock (not necesarily every night of the week though). I can't go to a weekday mass due to my schedule, and it would allow families and other working people to attend a weekday mass together.

Being in college is also another awkward situation. I haven't officially become a member of my parish, knowing that I'll be moving away in 1 1/2 years (ah, the years have gone by!)

[journeyman]

[quote name='Fides_et_Ratio' date='Oct 18 2005, 01:28 PM']That's really interesting. Most of the parishes around me schedule everything in the evening (and all at 7pm), so unless they are on different nights of the week, people end up having to pick and choose between the Bible Study or the Pro-life group or something.

Only the elderly activities are held during the day (because the only elderly people that attend are all retired).
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Elderly activities might be schedule during the day for the reason you suggest (being retired, they can participate during "working" hours), but another reason might be because their night vision isn't what it used to be.