Greg Finn, an educator from Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Primary Academy, has launched "The Redeemed", a weekly video project designed to encourage stillness, prayer and spiritual reflection among Catholic secondary school students.

Aiming to engage the "Nones"

Finn's initiative targets a growing trend of young people identifying as nones - those who profess no religious affiliation.

He aims to provide teenagers with a fresh way to connect with their faith.

"The Redeemed is here to help teenagers encounter Jesus in a life-changing way" Finn said.

"It is a new way for young people to enter the presence of God, a weekly video series to help a new generation experience the Gospel."

The videos, each about 10 minutes long, feature reflections on spiritual themes that resonate with teenagers.

Finn explained that the series aims to prioritise an experience of God's presence over traditional intellectual formation.

Follows success of Lockdown Project

The Redeemed is not Finn's first foray into digital ministry.

During the COVID-19 lockdown he created the "Mark 10 Mission", a video series that helped children engage with Catholic teaching when they could not attend Mass.

The project was widely adopted by schools across England, creating 86 videos in 2023 alone.

Drawing on the success of Mark 10 Mission, Finn hopes his latest venture will have a similar impact on older students.

New voice for a new generation

Georgia Clarke (pictured), director of youth ministry at St Elizabeth of Portugal church in Surrey, plays a key role in "The Redeemed".

Clarke believes the series will appeal to young people by offering authenticity.

"We introduce some pretty big themes through the videos" Clarke said.

"The fact that they'll be hearing our authentic voice is something that makes it stand out."

She added that today's youth are more open to spiritual exploration but seek leaders who are genuine.

"What I see from our young people is that they are super-open, but they want to see openness from those who are trying to lead them—otherwise they build up walls."

Sources

• The Redeemed
• The Tablet

Halík recently participated in a synodal gathering convened by the Vatican, highlighting concerns over parish priests' exclusion from previous synodal sessions and stressing the importance of their involvement in decision-making processes.

"We see ourselves as a societes perfecta", a perfect society that is too self-sufficient, said Halík.

Addressing the prevalent culture of clericalism, Halík commends Pope Francis' efforts. But he also drew attention to what he sees as "ecclesial triumphalism".

"Ecclesial triumphalism" he said, is a prideful, widespread attitude defined by a Catholicism that is closed off from the world around it.

In an address to the parish priests attending the synodal gathering, Halík lamented that "some Christians, alarmed by the rapid changes of the world, want to make the church an island of unchanging certainties".

"There are still places where the parish priest sees himself as the pope of his parish.

"The church confers the gift of infallibility on only one of its members, and then only under strictly limited conditions" he continued.

"And if even a pope relies on several consultative councils to help him make his decisions, how much more should a parish priest listen to those he has been sent to serve?"

Self-castration of the Catholic Church

Underscoring the diverse perspectives within the Church, Halík encouraged candid discussions on various contentious issues including LGBTQ inclusion and married priests.

Halík stressed the importance of embracing diversity and engaging with secular society. He criticised calls for withdrawal from the world as anti-Catholic, advocating for openness and universality.

"No wonder these people have an affinity for [Vladimir] Putin, [Viktor] Orban etc." he added.

"This type of closed Catholicism always has an affinity with totalitarian and authoritarian systems. To choose this way is the self-castration of the Catholic Church."

The synod process initiated by Francis, Halík said, takes incredible courage.

"He is not a progressive theologian, but he is a very wise pastor. He has empathy and humour, and an open heart, combined with the Jesuit strategy to go step by step."

Halík said there are those throughout the church, including in his home country, who are simply waiting for another pope to succeed Francis in hopes of a course correction.

"I think it is not possible" he said. "They are changes that are unchangeable, and he has opened the way."

Sources

National Catholic Reporter

CathNews New Zealand

The study, based on research carried out in the UK, United States, Brazil, and Canada in June, suggests that children felt marginalised by online worship and that parents felt that they were treated as "conduits" to pass on resources to their children instead of being offered support to nurture their children's faith.

Despite the diversity of churches in the four countries, researchers found the same challenges and issues reported during the pandemic.

The study, Do We Need a New Plan for Children's Ministry?, published at the end of last month, was written by a team of researchers from the four countries, including academics and theologians. They drew on an online survey of the views and experiences of 139 church leaders, 16 schools, and 113 Christian parents during the pandemic, as well as country-specific surveys and detailed interviews.

Children's ministry was affected particularly badly by the restrictions imposed as result of the pandemic, they discovered.

The study says: "The scale of the situation was captured by the Canadian research, revealing that 63% of churches cancelled or suspended Sunday School, 43% of churches cancelled or suspended midweek clubs and Vacation Bible Schools, and 35% cancelled or suspended camps."

The shift to online provision for children and young people did not work for many families, researchers found.

Two-thirds of those surveyed said that they felt disappointed or frustrated by the online provision, which often replicated what might have been provided in church, without allowing for a different setting at home.

"Comments illuminating this included: ‘I had to remind them to remember the children,' ‘it was easier to connect with parents than children,' ‘they did not take children seriously,' ‘the kids were left behind,' and ‘the children disengaged.'

These comments revealed an overriding sense that often pandemic ministry was more adult-focused, resulting in the exclusion of children," researchers said.

One survey of UK church activity during lockdown failed to ask a single question about children's or families ministry.

Collaboration between home, school, and church to support and nurture children's faith was lacking, and parents felt disempowered by the existing church culture to nurture their children's faith themselves.

Churches were often viewed as a "service provider" rather than a collaborator when it came to nurturing children's faith.

Researchers heard stories of how, even though the restrictions imposed by Covid were easing in some countries, children and families were not returning to church.

"As the pandemic restrictions ease, these impacts seem to continue, as many anecdotal reports in each of these nations indicate that children and families are not returning to pre-pandemic levels of attendance in church activities or programs."

When asked what their families' spiritual needs were, only one per cent of parents wanted their church to return to its pre-pandemic ministry; 97 per cent said that they wanted the church to offer more support to parents to help to nurture children's faith.

The report said that there was an "urgent" need for churches and church organisations to prioritise children's ministry, setting a clear strategy and prioritising "greater relational connection, rather than being primarily content or program-driven", the study concludes.

• Rebecca Pavely writes for Church Times

According to some recent estimates, around 4 in 10 millennials and members of Gen Z, a group that comprises those born after 1980, do not identify with a religious tradition.

In comparison, only about a quarter of baby boomers indicate that they are religiously unaffiliated.

Social scientists are only beginning to explore the demographic factors that drive individuals who no longer feel attached to a religious tradition.

But as someone who follows the data on religious trends, I note one factor appears to stand out: gender.

Scholars have long noted that atheism skews male.

Meanwhile, critics have pointed toward the apparent dominance of male authors in the "new atheism" movement as evidence of a "boys club." Indeed, a quick scan of the best-selling books on atheism on Amazon indicates that almost all of them are written by male authors.

Men are more likely to be nones

According to data from the Nationscape survey, which polled over 6,000 respondents every week for 18 months in the runup to the 2020 election, men are in general more likely than women to describe themselves as atheists, agnostics or nothing in particular.

The survey, conducted by the independent Democracy Fund in partnership with the University of California, Los Angeles, was touted as one of the largest such opinion polls ever conducted.

However, tracking the gender gap by age reveals that at one point the gap between men and women narrows. Between the ages of 30 and 45, men are no more likely to be religiously unaffliated than women of the same age.

But the gap appears again among older Americans. Over the age of 60, men are 5 to 8 percentage points more likely to express no religious affiliation.

Moreover, older Americans - both men and women - tend to be far less likely to identify as "nones" compared with younger Americans, according to respondents of the survey.

The ‘life cycle' effect

What may be driving this pattern of young women and older women being less likely to identify as nones than their male counterparts?

One theory in social science called the "life cycle effect" argues that when people begin to marry and have children, some are drawn back into religious circles to raise their kids in a religious environment or to lean on support structures that religion may provide.

But once kids grow up and leave the house this attachment fades for many. I make this point in my forthcoming book called "The Nones."

The data on gender and those with no religious affiliation could indicate that this drifting is especially acute for men.

One explanation could be that men are more likely to be religious when they are part of a family unit, but when children grow up, that connection becomes weaker. Unfortunately, the survey does not offer a direct test of this hypothesis.

But it would fit with survey research over the past five decades that has consistently found that Christian women are more likely than men to attend church.

One word of caution about the data is necessary.

The survey is just a single snapshot of the public in 2019 and 2020. It's possible that this same pattern would look different if data were collected 20 years ago or 20 years from now.

Either way, it offers a small window into how age and gender interact with the religious lives of Americans.

• Assistant Professor of Political Science, Eastern Illinois University
• First published in The Conversation. Republished with permission.

In fact, the number of teens who associate themselves with atheism is twice as much as the general population, according to Barna.

The decline in religion among teens is at a staggering 29% among 8th graders, 25% among high school sophomores, and 27% among high school seniors in 2010 — an average of a 12% decrease from 2000.

"My religion and faith is important to me, and it saddens me that people are straying away from the church," said senior Kryztyna Hernandez, who considers herself a devout Catholic.

"I just wish there was something that I can do about it."

On a web-based talk show "Living Waters," Ray Comfort and his colleague recently discussed an email sent to them by a 14-year old freshman named Joe from Portland, Oregon.

Joe says that he is an atheist because he begged and cried for God to give him a sign that [God] was there but received nothing and that he felt free when he left the Mormon church because he was not on a predetermined path anymore.

About 13% of teens identify as atheist, which is double the population of adults who consider themselves atheist.

Others, according to Barna, say that the problem with the drop of religion in teens is the idea of evil and suffering and how it could exist if there is God who does no evil.

Barna also claims that political issues, like LGBTQ rights, poverty and immigration policy may also explain the decrease in religion in teens.

"Growing up in Lebanon in a Muslim family I was always taught that Allah was superior than all but as I grew older and went to college in the States, I realized that He couldn't solve all my problems," said a college student who does not want to be identified out of respect for her family.

"If he was really superior, He would be able to help me whenever I needed Him most and sadly he did not."

There are also growing numbers of agnostics among the general population.

"As time progresses, I seem to find more and more solace in the absence of a god," said Nicole Daniels, a teen from the "Living Waters" talk show who identifies as an agnostic atheist.

Sophomore Ella Altamirano from Walter Payton College Preparatory High School, who is also an agnostic atheist, says that she researched and discussed the topic and believes that it lines up with her beliefs.

In an Australian survey found on Conversation.com, half of the teens say that they do not identify with a religion, but many still find themselves being spiritual in other forms.

The forms of spirituality were then divided into six categories.

These spiritual people consider things like death and reincarnation or even something like a higher being (but not God).

"Everything is just a lot more complicated like ‘I'm religious but I don't got to church' or ‘I pray and am spiritual but I don't believe in a god," said senior Melissa Mancio, who was raised in a Catholic household.

"Religion and your faith isn't black and white anymore; that's why identifying as ‘religious' is complicated."

Teenagers are experiencing a pivotal moment in their lives, with many trying to find themselves. Continue reading

• Image: City Bible Forum

'Mum's dying.'

'Yes.'

We sat in silence for a bit.

'I've lost my faith.'

'Uh huh.'

'When my friend died.'

'Mm.'

We held hands and Mum's too, wondering in our own ways, about God and faith and people dying and what the universe meant, if anything.

As we fell silent I thought about all the people I had sat beside as life ebbed away and heard of faith being lost as though it was something material that could be found, discovered, or held before, judging by the stories I hear, inevitably lost.

Perhaps, I mused, faith is like the keys that I lose about ten times a day. They're always at the bottom of my bag. It's just that they're so much a part of my life that I can never quite recognise them in the jumble of my chaotic world.

'Could you do a prayer?' she asked.

I must have looked a bit quizzical.

She looked a bit coy.

'Mum stayed religious.'

'I'm not all that flash at praying myself.'

She laughed, 'but aren't you meant to be the chaplain?'

'Yeah, well, we could give it a go, you with your lost faith and me with my shortcomings.' She grinned.

We gave thanks for her Mum's life well lived. For the good times and the downright awful bits. For both pain and sorrow. Then we were still. That's all it was. No God involved, no pleas, no bargaining, just gratitude and acknowledgement of what is.

Someone else came into the room and the moment was over. I got up to go but turned back. 'Someone, I forget who, once said that faith is about courage. But the most important bit about that is to say that you've got heaps of it; faith, courage, whatever, to sit here with your mum whilst she dies.'

On the face of it, my offering into this situation was not particularly religious or Christian. It suited the situation of the person involved who would likely fit the None category, (atheists, agnostics, people who believe nothing in particular).

An experienced Humanist chaplain could have done the job as well as me, however in New Zealand, even although only 8-12% of Kiwis go to church, leaving a staggering 88% outside mainstream religion, the government continues to contract with a consortium of Christian churches to provide Christian hospital chaplaincy. A Humanist chaplain would not be employed.

Yet times have already changed and Kiwis have found new ways to express spirituality outside of the mainstream. As Dr Richard Egan from the University of Otago says:

'Spirituality means different things to different people. It may include (a search for) one's ultimate beliefs and values; a sense of meaning and a purpose in life; a sense of connectedness; identity and awareness; and for some people, religion. It may be understood at an individual or population level.'

Christianity has a part to play in that process of shared development, as do all religious, philosophical and wisdom traditions. We can draw from our rich tradition, a history of service and significant financial commitment to work with others to build a creative and compassionate spiritual healthcare service that meets the needs of Kiwis who are spiritually on the move.

Some may find this disturbing. I find it exciting to be part of what will inevitably be an enriching and stimulating challenge, for all of us. What do you think?

• Sande Ramage in Spirited Crone

Sande Ramage is an Anglican priest and blogger.