Scores of protesters joined the 11-kilometre "National Summorum Pontificum" march - so dubbed in honour of Pope Benedict XVI's 2007 apostolic letter about celebrating the Latin Mass.

Young Catholics

According to Newmax, most marchers were young. Young enough, that is, to have been born after the Second Vatican Council's reforms of the 1960s, which was when the 500-year Latin Mass tradition was phased out.

With these reforms, the priest no longer faced the altar (ad orientum) but faced the congregation. Rather than say Mass in Latin, he used the country's everyday language.

Young Catholics who spoke to Newsmax said they loved the Latin Mass and were prepared to actively work against threats to its continuance.

"It is folly to try to restrict a particular Mass to which people are so devoted," one marcher said.

"It's a defining part of my life," another said.

"I first went to a Latin Mass when I was 13 ... Now I'm 35 and the Latin Mass has been a defining part of my life — it's incredibly beautiful."

"Some Catholics feel uncomfortable with the vernacular Mass and the priest facing the worshipers."

What prompted the march?

In July 2021, Pope Francis issued his apostolic letter "Traditionis custodes" to curtail traditional worship. Priests wanting to celebrate the Latin Mass had to get permission from their bishop.

Celebrating the Latin rite was banned from funerals, weddings and baptisms.

These instructions are startlingly different from those prescribed by Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict.

St John Paul II's 1988 document "Ecclesia Dei" calls for "wide and generous application" of previous orders permitting celebration of the Latin Mass.

"Respect must everywhere be shown for the feelings of all those who are attached to the Latin liturgical tradition" he cautioned.

Benedict's "Summorum Pontificum" went further, saying priests could freely celebrate the Latin Mass privately.

They could also celebrate it "in parishes where a group of the faithful attached to the previous liturgical tradition stably exists...".

Summorum Pontificum says that in these cases the "parish priest should willingly accede to their requests to celebrate Holy Mass according to the rite of the 1962 Roman Missal" [the last Catholic prayer book containing the words and choreography of the Latin Mass].

Rules vs devotion

While Francis is clear that he wants the Latin Mass completely sidelined, adherents to the traditional form of worship are digging their heels in.

Newsmax says in July 2021 nine churches in the Washington DC area offered at least one Latin Mass on Sundays. Today there are just three.

Source

• Newsmax

"We sacrificed to send them to Catholic school. They went to youth group. We did everything we thought we were supposed to do. What happened?"

It's one of the most common questions we get from callers to our radio program and clients in our pastoral counseling practice. And despite its frequency, it never gets any less heartbreaking to hear.

The Catholic Church is facing a spiritual epidemic. A recent study found that only 15 percent of children raised in Catholic homes will grow up to be faithful Catholic adults.

The conventional wisdom about raising Catholic kids doesn't work, but until recently, no one knew what to do instead.

As a result, we've clung to giving the same old advice to parents (go to Mass, send them to Catholic school and youth ministry, and hope for the best).

Then, when it fails 85 percent of the time, we chalk it up to our kids' "free will." Of course, that's true as far as it goes. We can't force our children to be faithful adults. But it's cold comfort, and parents need better answers.

Looking for better answers

To try to provide those better answers, The Peyton Institute for Domestic Church Life (an apostolate of Holy Cross Family Ministries) worked with the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate to create the Future Faithful Families Project.

First, we looked at data from the Global Social Survey, a representative sample of 2,600 Americans, to identify the general characteristics of families that successfully raised faithful adult kids.

More importantly, we identified Catholic families that successfully raised all of their children to a faithful adulthood, and we interviewed both parents and faithful adult children from those families.

We found that while things like regular Mass attendance, Catholic education, youth ministry and parish involvement were important, they were seen by these families as secondary and supportive of the way they lived their faith at home.

I want to clarify the last part of the above statement because when people hear us talk about the importance of living their faith at home, they tell us that they imagine that these families are always on their knees in prayer and somehow immune from the pressures of the real world. That is not true.

While families who successfully raised all of their children to a faithful adulthood did have regular family prayer times (usually some kind of morning, mealtime, and/or bedtime prayers), that doesn't appear to be the main factor responsible for their success.

Faith as a source of warmth

What mattered most was a family dynamic in which the family (especially the children) experienced their faith as the source of the warmth in their homes.

Children raised in these households experienced their family's faith as something that drew them together in good times and bad.

Of course, these families faced the same stressors and conflicts that all families encounter. Still, they felt their family prayed about these problems in a way that led to better conversations and stronger relationships. Read more

• Dr. Greg Popcak is an author and the director of www.CatholicCounselors.com.

But why?

They're not just disagreeing on a few things, as young people's view of the world is changing, including the places where they invest their time and faith.

Today, we're looking at 25 reasons why young people aren't sticking with the Church anymore.

Stuck in the past?

When it comes to things like LGBTQ+ rights and gender equality, many young people see the Church as outdated.

They're living in a far more inclusive and progressive world, so they expect the same from any institution they're from.

Many young people think the Church doesn't represent them, and they'd rather just call it quits.

Not enough likes

If it's not online, does it even exist? Young people are glued to the screens, and the Church hasn't quite caught up with this.

They're looking for interactive and digital-friendly ways to connect, meaning that weekly service in a physical building isn't cutting it for them anymore.

If it wants to keep up with the times, the Church needs a digital makeover.

Damaging scandals

With all those abuse and corruption scandals, a lot of young people are questioning the morality of the Church and its leaders.

After all, you can't exactly stand by an organisation that preaches one thing and does another.

This kind of hypocrisy is a major turn-off, especially for a generation that cares a lot about accountability.

Keeping it real

Likewise, a lot of young people crave authenticity and real connections, which they think the Church lacks, thanks to its formality.

Young people are drawn to places with genuine relationships, just without all the rituals. Instead of just going through the motions, they want to feel a personal touch.

Money matters

Similarly, younger generations want more transparency about where their money and donations are going.

Anything less than that feels like a betrayal to them. They want to be part of institutions that show where every penny goes and use their contributions effectively and ethically.

Too much fundraising

Nobody likes to feel like they're constantly being asked for money. When young people think churches are focusing on fundraising too much, they're happy to ditch the whole thing. They don't think money should matter most, but spiritual growth and community support. Can you blame them?

Science vs faith

We're living in the age of science, and when the Church questions science, it doesn't sit right with the younger generation.

For example, some churches don't believe in evolution and actively teach their flock the same.

Young people are strong supporters of science, and they can't sit by something that seems to be the opposite of this.

Show me the proof

Facts and data reign supreme in today's world, meaning that faith-based beliefs are a hard sell for the younger crowd.

They don't mind believing as long as it comes with some reason and proof. Most Churches encourage their flock to believe blindly instead of looking for evidence. For a lot of young people, this isn't good enough.

Love knows no bounds

America is a melting pot, but so is the rest of the world, and many people young people are in relationships that cross traditional faith lines.

When some Church leaders speak out against interfaith marriage or relationships, it doesn't vibe with young people.

They believe that love should come first. Read more

• Andrew Parker is a writer for Because Mom Says.

A recent Cardus Institute study says young Canadian Catholics are twice as likely as their elders to attend religious services at least once a month.

Faith's shifting landscape

Cardus' 2022 report "The Shifting Landscape of Faith in Canada" says religious indicators among people identifying as Roman Catholic have declined since 2017.

Fewer said they believe in God, have an experience of God in their life or regularly read scripture, pray or attend religious services.

Younger Canadian Catholics are the exception says Deacon Andrew Bennett from Cardus.

81 percent of young Catholics believe in life after death and, while 91 percent of under 35-year old female Catholics believe this, only 60 percent of older female Catholics do.

Bennett thinks the more Canada's secular society grows, the more Catholicism will become an attractive option for young adults (18-34 years old).

It's a form of rejection rather than escape. Increasingly, young people are rejecting society's "highly subjective idea of truth" Bennett says.

"They are seeking integrity, authenticity and something with real staying power ... and returning to their Catholic roots..."

Personal beliefs

Cardus' 2024 "Still Christian(?)" survey examined the relationship between Canadian Christians' personal beliefs and the teaching of various church denominations.

It found "younger Christians appear to be more intentional or committed to the teachings and practices of the faith than Christians of their parents' or grandparents' generations".

The younger generation "is beginning to desire a more traditionally Catholic life" Bennett says.

"If you look at any church where the Traditional Latin Mass is being offered ... they are bursting at the seams."

At one parish the Latin Mass has become the source and summit for its growing community.

Parochial vicar Fr Kent Grealy says parish growth in young people and families has amounted to about one new parishioner each Sunday for almost the last six months.

He thinks that, apart from an escape from the ideals of modern culture, there is something intrinsic in discovering a higher purpose that leads young people directly to the Gospel.

The romance of faith begins to take shape around that age and draws them into discovering the Gospel, Grealy says.

It "shows them that the nihilistic and materialistic bent of modernity makes life not worth living".

Some advice for parishes

Eric Chow from the Archdiocese of Vancouver says young Catholics crave to find their role within the Church. They're also seeking an identity that is true to who they are and who God has made them to be.

The demographics are changing - young Catholics want Church, and engagement, within its life and leadership formation.

"They are hungry for more than even just a young adult community, something that is not limited to a prayer group once a week" Chow says.

"I think [increased young adult involvement] invites every parish to consider how they might provide support ... tangible on-the-ground leadership opportunities to serve the Church in a greater way."

Source

• Catholic News Agency

The forum provided an opportunity for 12 students from across the Asia-Pacific region to speak directly to Francis about their ideas and reflections about their shared social concerns.

The Loyola University Chicago-organised "Building Bridges Initiative" has seen similar online forums take place across the globe.

Anti-gay slurs hurt

The Pope heard from one forum member that reports of his disrespectful comments about gay people caused hurt.

Filipino Catholic university student Jack Lorenz Acebedo Rivero (pictured wearing rainbow scarf) confronted the issue straight-on, telling the pontiff to please "stop using offensive language" against LGBTQ people.

Slurs cause "immense pain" he said.

"I myself am outcast and bullied due to my bisexuality, my gayness, my identity and being the son of a single parent."

Rivero says his situation is made worse because the law in the Philippines does not allow divorce.

"Due to this, I developed bipolar disorder and I am stigmatised.

"My mother cannot divorce my father. Please allow divorce in the Philippines" he begged the Pope.

Isolation, mockery and no formation

Among the concerns students spoke of were land injustices, systemic poverty, gender discrimination against Muslim women, fears of terrorists.

Others offered ideas.

One student from Australia spoke of young Catholics' isolation in an increasingly secular culture.

"Many of us feel lonely in our schools and universities. Daily we are bombarded by secular ideologies, mocked for our faith and outnumbered in our mission to be beacons of hope" Elizabeth Fernandez told Francis.

We are committed to serving others and building a "culture of charity" she said.

Another big concern in Australia is faith formation for young people.

"Some religion teachers in Catholic schools use class time to preach their own agendas of abortion, contraception and gender theory."

This could change if all religion teachers were trained catechists and if young people could be incentivised to become catechists themselves.

"We want young people to have greater access to confession and to have Christ integrated into all school subjects, thereby fostering a culture of greater reverence for the Eucharist" she said.

Pope responds

After listening to everyone, Francis responded to their concerns.

Personal identity was a recurring theme many mentioned, he observed.

He urged those being mocked for their faith to love those who mock them in turn, without settling for a "lukewarm" Christianity.

Good faith-based education helps us be "authentic, real Christians" he stressed.

Barely touching on the LGBTQ issue, he said problems caused by discrimination can be resolved with closeness and proximity.

Focusing mostly on discrimination where women are treated as if they are in "a second category", he noted "we see that today in the world women are the best leaders … and are superior to men in their ability to create community.

"The capacity for motherhood gives women a much more effective position of action than men - and this is important" he said.

Source

• You Tube
• You Tube
• CNA
• Catholic Weekly
• BBC

Catholic youth groups are experiencing a resurgence. Hundreds of young Catholics are being drawn to faith-based activities and community service, the word from youth groups says.

Hope is in the air

Bishop Fintan Gavin of Cork and Ross says the resurgence makes him feel hopeful.

"I am very hopeful.

"We had last Sunday the Eucharistic procession (pictured) and we had more than 4,000 people.

"Many of them were young people who were living their faith on the streets.

"It is not about numbers, but it is about being there… We need to find a way where young people can be in the culture of today and be a life-giving force within that culture.

"Not running away from the culture but not embracing every aspect of the culture either. That is why young people need the support of one another."

Counterculture recognised

Presentation Brother Martin Kenneally who works with youth leaders says he sees "a young Catholic counterculture emerging in Ireland.

"They are genuine young people searching for meaning."

Some of the young Catholics he works with are involved in a Leadership Education and Formation project.

There are also several prayer groups. Like Kenneally, organisers say they also are seeing a resurgence of interest among young people.

A parish catechist in County Dublin says about 60 young people packed into a small café for a talk on ‘Does God exist?'

"We as a Church need to be creative in our apologetics and getting back to what it means to be a Christian…" he says.

"The younger people who are making the jump to come to church want community, but they also want the answers to their faith. We are in the position to give 2,000 years of philosophy and theology on the good life."

Be signs of hope

Gavin notes that "Maybe we come from a picture in the past that we had too much support from the culture, and we keep contrasting things.

"This is where we are called to be ‘the Church of the here and now' as St Joan of Arc said.

"We need to be signs of hope. A Christian without hope is not really a Christian."

Source

• Irish Catholic

It found that while about 25 percent identified as being atheist or agnostic, believers and non-believers were very likely to both agree about the severity of environmental problems and the danger of political corruption in the world.

Religious belief did play a role in attitudes on several other social issues, the survey said.

For example, atheists tended to support the legalisation of prostitution and surrogacy, while Catholics were more likely to reject the death penalty and the justification of war compared to people of other religions and atheists.

Results of the survey, titled, "Young People: Expectations, Ideals, Beliefs," were released Feb. 29 by the Footprints Research Group of the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome together with seven other universities around the world.

The group said it wanted to look at young people from an international point of view since the vast majority of research on young people usually takes place on a national level.

And it wanted a "broad perspective" from a Christian anthropological view about their values, the reasons for their decisions, their religious practices and perceptions of the Church.

The survey with 37 questions was conducted in Argentina, Brazil, Italy, Kenya, Mexico, the Philippines, Spain and the United Kingdom from Nov. 16 to Dec. 11, 2023.

It sampled at least 600 young people from each of the eight countries for a total of 4,889 individuals between the ages of 18 and 29. The margin of error was plus or minus 1.4 percentage points.

Belief in God

About 73 percent of those surveyed said they believe in God while 8 percent were "searching to believe in God," it said.

However, the majority of those surveyed agreed on a sliding scale that "it isn't necessary to believe in God to have good values," with the highest number of people disagreeing with that statement being young people in Kenya and the Philippines.

At least three-quarters of those surveyed believe sin exists and that parents should pass religion on to their children. Those in sharpest disagreement to both statements were in Spain and the U.K.

Of those who said they stopped believing in God, the majority said it happened during middle school and high school.

The survey found there were two most frequent reasons for no longer believing in God.

These were feeling God was a "psychological refuge" or "substitute" for what cannot be explained or understood, and knowing a lot of "bad" believers, leading them "to understand that religion doesn't help people to be better."

Regular attendance at religious services and frequent daily prayer were highest among young people in Kenya and the Philippines.

Importance of going to Mass

"With regard to Mass attendance, many young Catholics defend their position that denies the correlation between going to Mass and being a good Christian," according to a press release by the pontifical university.

Those who reported not attending Mass regularly and 69% of those who said they do "share the belief that being a good Christian is not necessarily contingent upon Mass attendance." Read more

• Carol Glatz writes for Catholic News Service.

The movement, founded by Fr José Pedro Manglano, is characterised by its focus on music, adoration, formation talks, charity activities, retreats and missionary work.

Hakuna has also made waves on social media with its Catholic pop music, amassing a significant following on platforms like Instagram and YouTube.

While many Catholic groups struggle to engage young people, Hakuna's growth is undeniable - and fast.

Hakuna has spread to almost 40 Spanish cities, another 10 European countries, six Latin American countries plus South Korea and Boston. The group says it plans to start soon in other American cities.

Something changed

Hakuna's origins can be traced back to Madrid a decade ago. It started when Fr Manglano led a group of students to World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro in 2013.

Victoria González, one of Hakuna's earliest members, explained that they sought to enhance their spiritual formation beyond what they received in school, leading to the formation of the group.

"I couldn't go to Rio because I had started working, but seeing how my friends came back was amazing. Something changed in them," González said.

A few attendees formed a little Catholic pop music group and started releasing songs online while working on an album.

The movement's core activities include organising holy hours with spiritual talks, serving the poor and creating Catholic pop music. These endeavours aim to reflect their belief in "radical joy."

Ecclesial identity recognised

The Hakuna movement had its ecclesial identity recognised when Cardinal Carlos Osoro of Madrid approved it as a private association of the faithful in 2017.

In 2018, 1,500 members of Hakuna went to Rome to be greeted by the pope who approvingly called them a "great Eucharistic family."

Hakuna's impact extends beyond music and adoration.

They've ventured into publishing books, hosting concerts in renowned venues and conducting theology courses and spiritual retreats. Fr Manglano, who embodies the spirit of the movement, emphasises the importance of authentic service and love for all.

Core values align

Critics have noted Hakuna's informality, both in its liturgical practices and in its deviation from traditionalist norms within the Church.

Fr Manglano acknowledges that Hakuna's form may seem modern, but he emphasises that the core values of the movement align with the earliest Christian communities' ideals.

Hakuna's distinctive charism revolves around three principles: living with the joyful face of the resurrected Christ, embracing every reality with the unmeasured love of the Cross, and fostering unity within the Church. Their spirituality is deeply rooted in the Eucharist and in a commitment to service.

For some members, the Hakuna movement has become a vocation. For others, it serves as a gateway to rediscovering their faith and deepening their relationship with God.

Life is Joy

Manglano stated that the heart of that life is joy.

"We just live the joy of being Christians. Christ is risen and, after that, any situation of death is a situation of light because Christ's life has triumphed over death, the Father's love overcomes any situation or deathlike condition. It's the joy of living a new life and becoming a new man according to a God that loves us beyond all limits we may put with a love that transfigures reality, transfigures our person," Manglano said.

"It's the joy of knowing that heaven begins here," he added.

Sources

The Pillar

CathNews New Zealand

He met with sexual abuse survivors, Ukrainian pilgrims, university students, young people suffering from illness; and he challenged them all to work for a "hope-filled future."

A much smaller contingent of young people will have the pope's ear this October in Rome at the first of two month-long meetings in 2023 and 2024 of the Synod on Synodality on the themes of communion, participation and mission.

For the first time in history, laypeople will have the right to vote in a synod, and among the voting members are college students and men and women in their 20s and 30s.

The pope has said, "Synod means walking on the same road, walking together."

As we embark on this new path in the life of the church, what are some guidelines to consider when thinking about listening to, and walking with, young people?

Young people are not a monolith. It can be unhelpful and reductive to speak about any group in the church as a unified bloc.

In a similar way, we should avoid speaking of "young people" as if they all share a common perspective on or experience of church.

There are young Catholics who are drawn to more traditional liturgies and those who feel at home in a Catholic Worker House, and some find deep meaning in both.

There are young Catholics who feel hurt and alienated by the church's teaching on sexuality and others who see the church's countercultural witness as a bulwark in a destabilising, relativistic world.

There are hundreds of thousands more who have not set foot in a church since their baptism or confirmation.

Outside the U.S. church, there are young people fighting in and fleeing from the war in Ukraine; young migrants risking their lives in the Mediterranean and on the Rio Grande; and others struggling in refugee camps across the Middle East and Africa.

When framed in this way, "listening to young people" can start to seem an impossible task. But this way of speaking may also shed some light on the sometimes opaque concept of synodality.

If we are to truly listen to all these young voices, it will take more than a Vatican meeting or survey.

It will require a new way of being church, a church that accompanies its people and is attuned to their hopes, doubts and lived experiences.

The church must admit its failures and offer something different.

The working document for the synod says that a synodal church is one that "seeks to widen the scope of communion, but which must come to terms with the contradictions, limits and wounds of history."

Most young Catholics today have known only a church marred by the sexual abuse scandal—but that does not mean they see it as ancient history.

While the church has made great strides in the protection of children and vulnerable adults, the revelations remain shocking for each new generation of Catholics as they mature.

Church leaders must be forthright with young Catholics about past failures and transparent in their ongoing efforts to hold accountable those who covered up abuse.

For young people to show up at the table, they have to trust they are speaking with adults who have their best interests at heart.
But the church has failed young people in other more subtle ways.

It can be easy to blame secular culture, or even young people themselves, for the exodus of millennials and Gen Zers from the pews. And there is plenty to critique about modern society.

But we should ask ourselves: Have we failed to offer something different?

Studies show that Gen Z is the loneliest generation.

If these young people are not finding community in parishes, have we been bold enough in searching for new models of relationship?

In a country marked by deep polarisation, have Catholics too often indulged in those divides instead of seeking to be agents of reconciliation?

Young people today are hungry for authentic communion, both with other people and with God, but they are sceptical of institutions and allergic to hypocrisy.

To be credible in their eyes, Catholics should be honest about our shortcomings but unafraid to go against the grain of an increasingly flattened, materialistic world. Continue reading

• Article written by the Editors, America magazine

The once powerful Brazilian basic church communities have declined since the 1990s.

Last week, 1,000 Brazilian basic church community leaders gathered to discuss Brazil's most pressing issues, from Amazon deforestation to unemployment. They also set up a future-focused strategy.

A central discussion point was ways to encourage more young Catholics to join them.

CEBs and Liberation Theology

Brazil's Basic Church Community movement grew strong in the 1970s during a military junta rule when people's basic rights were suppressed.

Priests and religious often accompanied basic church communities which played a central community role.

The basic church community movement inspired Catholics to participate directly in church life. It encouraged them to organise and act to improve their living conditions.

Liberation theology was the basic church community's theoretical counterpart. Many liberation theologians were persecuted in the 1980s.

"Attacks on Liberation theology were attacks on the basic church communities. That process was very strong during the papacies of John Paul II and Benedict XVI," professor of theology and long-time basic church community leader Celso Carias says.

Basic church community membership dropped from 50,000 to today's 20,000.

Clericalism and democracy

While the Church in Brazil became more centralised, clergy took over most parish life, Carias says.

"The community ... was gradually driven away from the decision-making spaces of the parishes."

What was challenged was the kind of spirituality directly connected to social causes which the basic church community stimulated.

Carias says resurrecting the relevance of basic church communities in Brazil will take daily effort - effort that ignores resistance.

An outgoing church

Pope Francis is an important CEB supporter. Last week, he sent a video to motivate basic church community members at a national gathering, urging them to keep working for an outgoing Church.

One of the 50 Brazilian episcopate members at the gathering is delighted that many clergy participated. But "there is a huge resistance among many in the Church to accept the basic church community model," he says.

"Many people continue to prefer a closed Church ... that looks only to itself. We have many barriers to overcome."

He suggests working with popular movements and community organisations as Francis does.

Beginning again

Members of Brazilian Indigenous groups were also at the gathering. Some led the liturgy.

Bishop Luiz Fernando Lisboa says "A person who was not an enthusiast of the basic church community told me that 'only in a Church like that did the Indigenous and other traditional peoples have a place'."

"It was a moment of conversion."

Many Youth Pastoral Ministry leaders at the gathering were invited to work with veteran leaders to reorganise basic church communities throughout Brazil.

Bible circles are reviving, and young people are joining them.

"We have to educate and form new leaders. That is how we will change things," basic church community leader Edson Canchilheri says.

In rural areas, basic church communities can help communities as they have formerly - promoting solidarity and practical support and supporting rural associations striving for better conditions for farmers, Canchilheri says.

Source

• La Croix

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Young Catholics are left with the two-edged sword of an exciting increase in the exploration of faith amongst peers, mixed with the risks of social media dominating their faith formation.

Despite the growing dissociation of young people from the Church, Gen Z are open to spirituality, with 46 per cent seeking weekly guidance on TikTok, according to data from a recent McCrindle Research report (Changing Faith Landscape in Australia).

Confusion rises, with some users knowing how to utilise TikTok for quality Catholic content, while others are unaware of how to sift through the vast range of opinions about Faith.

The pressing question is how the beauty of Christ is being shone into the ugliness of contradiction as we navigate the new landscape of mission.

Despite the growing dissociation of young people from the Church, Gen Z are open to spirituality, with 46 per cent seeking weekly guidance on TikTok, according to data from a recent McCrindle Research report (Changing Faith Landscape in Australia).

Good news

In a social media-dependent world, Catholic videos are helping to ground the Church's identity within apps and broader culture. Some Catholics currently use TikTok and Instagram as personal sources for faith formation, claiming helpful effects.

Prayer prompts, inspirational testimony, and Catholic answers for contemporary topics are some of the benefits accessible throughout one's day.

Generation Z recognises TikTok as an appropriate place for discussing spirituality according to the McCrindle report.

TikTok's potential reach for evangelisation is great, with the ability to spread the kerygma instantly.

TikTok is an opportunity for our modern age, allowing Catholics to meet peers where they currently stand with faith, and share truth in a familiar space.

Videos promoting Jesus's love and compassion are popular among those searching for faith online.

Data shows an increase in identification with Jesus and a decline in alignment with the ‘Church', reaffirming an openness to Jesus and ‘spirituality' without comprehension of the role of the Church.

Not so good news

TikTok is an uncensored platform with the potential for addiction, confusion, disordered secularisation, and uncontrolled opinion.

The app exists for entertainment and engagement without justification - populating fake news.

For the average person seeking clarity about Catholicism, there is little-to-no distinction between personal grievance towards the Faith and genuine Catholic teaching.

Some of the mixed and negative Catholic representations on the app are even found under hashtags #catholic and #priests.

These range from complaints and mockery of a personal Catholic experience, to outright slander or heresy regarding Catholic teaching.

Frequently, Protestant creators discuss apologetics without reference to what the Catechism says as they promote anti-Catholic views to gain traction.

These trends are contrasted with the more positive content associated with the hashtag #jesus, reinforcing how people may be open to ‘spirituality' and connect with Jesus, but do not resonate with anything ‘Catholic'.

Generation Z recognises TikTok as an appropriate place for discussing spirituality according to the McCrindle report.

And downright ugly

Comical videos of Catholic ‘in jokes' circulate on the platform and, although humorous and unifying for the formed Catholics, do not provide answers for the unchurched.

Other Catholic content is increasingly cringe-worthy and lacking in tasteful execution, reinforcing the perception of the Church as outdated. More complexities arise in bridging the gap between spiritual content online and participation in the life of Christ.

Shifting the culture beyond the parameters of TikTok's 10-second content duration and towards an active Catholic life may become a point to consider in the longevity of this digital evangelisation.

In a world thriving on relativism, the ability to navigate truth, beauty, and goodness is already difficult. With conflicting content, TikTok offers few favours to assist the searching mind.

Without comprehension for discerning between hurt and teaching, truth and lies, misinterpretation and trusted wisdom, TikTok lacks a pastoral regulation in guidance about Catholicism.

The silver lining and hopeful fact among such complexities is that Gen Z is searching for truth, purpose and God.

How are we representing Christ and His Good News in the digital world, whilst encouraging people to move beyond dependency on social media for prayer?

Are we encouraged to become creators ourselves, avoid the app altogether, or spread awareness for the better videos that already exist?

The landscape of digital evangelisation comes with all sorts of new questions and concerns, as the uncensored space has the potential to cause personal damage.

Yet, the Church has an opportunity to capitalise on the current openness and offer searching souls a witness and invitation to the good, the true, and the beautiful Church of Christ.

• Anna Harrison is a Youth Officer for Sydney Catholic Youth and holds a Liberal Arts degree
• First published in Catholic Weekly. Republished with permission.

The Lazarus Association is one expression of its continuing inventiveness. The organization is pioneering a new approach to homelessness that has transformed the lives of hundreds of people, won papal approval, and spread across Europe.

It began in 2006, when two young Frenchmen — Étienne Villemain and Martin Choutet — felt called to help the homeless in Paris.

"They both had the desire to establish a genuine bond with others ‘on an equal footing,' to live poverty with simplicity and to live out this ‘mission' prayerfully," Sibylle de Malet, the association's international manager, told The Pillar.

A Catholic parish lent the two men an apartment, and they moved in with four men with precarious housing situations: Yves, Karim, Rabah, and Valery.

The arrangement was unsurprisingly challenging at times. One day, Étienne Villemain — who would later inspire Pope Francis to establish the World Day of the Poor — returned from work to find Karim brandishing a gun. He knew that Karim came from a violent background: as a youngster, he witnessed his father strangling his two-year-old sister and then taking his own life. He had grown up in shelters and struggled to express his feelings.

Karim soon reassured Villemain that the gun was plastic. "But I have a question for you," he said, "who pays you to live with me?"

"Karim didn't know friendship, this free and loving relation with others, which was the source of his human reconstruction," commented Malet. "That's how our adventure started."

The transformation of Fred

Out of that experiment was born the idea of an organization that would bring together homeless people and young professionals to live under one roof.

The Lazarus Association was formally established in France in 2011. Some 250 people are currently living in its shared apartments in 16 cities in France, Belgium, Spain, Switzerland, and Mexico.

Each home is single-sex and accommodates between six and 10 people, known in French as "colocs" (housemates).

"Half of our residents have been homeless or experienced socio-economic insecurity, and the other half are young working adults who volunteer with the organization," Malet explained.

"Everyone has their own bedroom and a stable standard of shared living where privacy and freedom of choice are respected. The living room, kitchen, and bathroom are shared. We treat all our housemates equally - housework is divided fairly, and everyone pays the same affordable rent."

In purely statistical terms, shared homes are remarkably successful:

• 85% of homeless people go on to find a permanent place to live;
• 46% find employment or training; and 9
• 5% say they are either happy or very happy living with young professionals.

Malet cites the example of a man named Fred who was homeless for five years. Continue reading

It's a fascinating question.

A couple of recent articles in France have contemplated the so-called resurgence of left-wing Catholics, who are identified as young, ecologically sensitive, and - some of them - even very left-wing. They are also distant from their rather conservative Church.

On the other side of the spectrum, there are those who say we must pay more attention to young Catholics who go to church, those who are more sensitive than their elders to rituals, sacraments, prayer, and who are nostalgic for tradition.

This weekend, this second group will be the main participants in the Pentecost Chartres Pilgrimage, known as the "Pilgrimage of Christendom", organized by traditionalist movements.

Once again, people will boast about how many people attended this pilgrimage, arguing that this is the kind of conservative Catholics young people long for.

They pray, but differently

In a recent article published in La Croix, Father Pierre Amar underlines this divide between "young" and "old Catholics", a divide that also emerges in all parishes from the debates on the synod.

The "old" are more attached to involvement in society, the young more to prayer and liturgy, without abandoning charity work.

By the way, imposing opposition by explaining that the "old people" are not concerned about prayer and liturgy is silly.

The graying generations are the ones that fill the pews at Sunday Mass. And as far as I know, they are going there to knit! So they pray, but differently.

Basically, these questions reveal two things.

On the one hand, young people are very diverse; which we already knew. On the other hand, and above all, there is the anxiety - and even panic - that Catholics feel in the face of the strong and brutal reduction in the religious practice of young people.

Wondering for hours if young Catholics are more to the right or more to the left is like trying to find out if the handful of Trotskyites are more Lambertist or Frankist!

The truth is cruder: there are almost no young people left in the Church. And we can endlessly argue about their political and liturgical choices...

Our concern should not be about the political views and liturgical preferences of the few young people who actually come to Mass on Sunday. Rather, we should ask where all the others of their generation - the majority - are.

Do young people feel at home in a Church with so many moral norms?

For a long time, the finger has been pointed at parents, guilty of not having passed on the faith. This is a bit reductive.

Such a massive trend cannot be explained by the inability of parents to transmit their values and what gives them life.

After all, in other areas, they manage to do so quite well.

We must have the courage to ask ourselves certain questions: do these young generations, who are concerned with a great deal of tolerance towards all life choices, feel at home in a Church with so many moral norms?

Can young women, who have grown up in a feminist culture, feel part of the liturgy as it is currently celebrated?

Then again, is the language of the institution and of churchgoers accessible, understandable, and, above all, relevant to the young people?

The Gospel message is anything but bland. Yet it elicits, at best, only polite indifference among the youth.

Instead of endlessly arguing about the young people we already find in our churches, perhaps it's time to take a greater interest in all those who don't come.

• Isabelle de Gaulmyn is a senior editor at La Croix and a former Vatican correspondent.
• First published in La-Croix International. Republished with permission.

In a flourish of juvenile, blind confidence, we three founding hosts of "Jesuitical" (our former cohost, Olga Segura, now an editor at The National Catholic Reporter, is someone to whom we remain deeply indebted for making the first three years of the show with us) assumed that we could just turn on the microphones during our normal, daily conversations, and other people would clamour to hear what we had to say.

Dear readers and listeners: We were wrong. Those first pilot episodes were unfocused, uninteresting and, frankly, painful to listen to. You might still think the show comes across that way, but we promise you, we used to be so much worse.

To mark our five-year anniversary, we are looking back on what we have learned from our guests to help us and our listeners navigate the modern world as people of faith.

Yet we had an inkling that something was missing from the Catholic podcasting space.

We imagined there must be thousands of young people out there who were involved in campus ministry or did Jesuit Volunteer Corps or always went to the same last-chance Sunday Mass with their college friends and who now found themselves in a new city with a perhaps lacklustre parish and hungry for the Catholic community and spiritual nourishment.

Taking a page from our Jesuit colleagues, we sought to meet these theoretical young people where they were: on their smartphones.

So, to mark our five-year anniversary, we are looking back on what we have learned from our guests—Catholics and non-Catholics vastly smarter and more interesting than we are—to help us and our listeners navigate the modern world as people of faith.

Lessons About Young Catholics

Young Catholics need formal and financial support from the institutional church.
Molly Burhans, the founder of GoodLands—an organization that helps the Catholic Church leverage its landholdings to further its mission—was recently profiled in The New Yorker for her heroic efforts to fight climate change.

Ms. Burhans is a devout Catholic whose ecology is rooted in her faith. And Pope Francis has clearly made caring for our common home a priority for the church with his encyclical "Laudato Si'."

And yet, most of the support Ms. Burhans has received in her ministry has been from the secular world.

After Ms. Burhans created the first global map of the Catholic Church's landholdings, Pope Francis approved a plan for her to move to Rome and establish and run a Vatican cartography institute on a trial basis.

There was just one problem: It came with no staff and a very modest budget.

So Molly declined the offer.

She has since submitted a new proposal.

All the while, Molly continues to receive awards and offers from some of the most prestigious environmental groups in the world.

Career paths for lay vocations are not obvious.

The default view tends to include only a) academia, b) youth and young adult ministry, or, c) uh, I don't know, here's the password to our social media account. Go crazy, kid.

Unless we figure out how to incorporate young, lay Catholics and their talents and passions more fully into the formal structures of the church, the church is going to experience "brain drain" of people like Molly Burhans and so many others.

"I would have no self-respect, honestly, if I had stayed working for the Catholic Church as long as I had with the amount of resources I've had."

Young people are leaving the church—but it is not for the reasons you think.
A bunch of people with gray hair sit in the parish hall listening to a speaker.

Inevitably, someone raises their hand during the Q. and A. session and bemoans the fact that young people just are not interested in church anymore, that their adult child has drifted away, and they do not know what to do about it.

Luckily, the Springtide Research Institute, whose executive director, Josh Packard, spoke with us, is looking for the answers.

The institute is devoted to studying young people's feelings toward religion.

They found that a young adult who had five adults who cared about them was far less likely to engage in high-risk behaviour.

The same principal could help to connect young people to the church.

"[Millennials are] not leaving the church.

They were not raised in it to begin with.

They don't have anything to leave, but instead, they're going to be building things. And they're going to be doing that with the bits and pieces and fragments of the institutional lives that have been left behind for them." - Josh Packard, Episode 172, March 12, 2021

Stop putting young adult Catholics at the "kids table."
In 2018, over 300 young people from all over the world went to the Vatican to help prepare the meeting of the Synod of Bishops on young people.

One of those delegates, Katie Prejean McGrady, had spent a lot of time working with young people in the church as a speaker, writer, youth minister and high school theology teacher. (Katie now hosts a daily radio show on Sirius XM).

We talked to Katie about what it was like to dialogue with bishops about youth and young adult ministry, and what changes she wanted to see in how the church welcomes young people.

"A lot of times young people are relegated to the cheap seats, when it comes to Catholicism.

"They're either the problem to be solved, they're the kids that made a mess in the parish hall or they're the ones that can clean up after the adult gathering….

"They're just kind of put into this separate category rather than [being recognized as] an active part of the life of the church.

"I hate the term ‘youth Mass.'

"It's Mass—and young people just happen to be engaged more in the work of the liturgy. But why can't that happen at the 9 a.m. Mass?" - Katie Prejean McGrady, Episode 75, Sept. 14, 2018 Continue reading

• Ashley McKinless and Zac Davis

The CARA national survey, "Faith and Spiritual Life of Catholics in the United States," polled 2,214 18 to 35-year olds. It was conducted between July and August 2020.

It aimed to develop a better understanding of the faith and spiritual life of Catholics in the US especially Hispanics and young adults, and how to meet their needs.

The survey findings include data showing:

• 73 percent agreed "somewhat" or "strongly" that they could be a good Catholic without going to Mass every Sunday.
• 39 percent agreed "somewhat" or "strongly" that they could never imagine themselves leaving the Catholic Church.
• 13 percent attended Mass at least once a week before the pandemic.
• 21 percent said they attended Mass at least once a month, 31 percent a few times a year and 36 percent rarely or never attend Mass.
• The most common reason given for not attending Mass was a lack of time (57 percent), not believing missing Mass is a sin (55 percent), family responsibilities (44 percent), "not a very religious person" (43 percent) and preferring to practice their faith outside the parish (43 percent).
• A third (weekly Mass attendees) have participated in faith-related groups as adults.
• 6 percent were "very" involved with parish activities before the pandemic, 13 percent were "somewhat" involved, 17 percent "a little" and 64 percent were not involved.

The crisis of Catholic clergy sexually abusing minors was the most frequently given reason (44 percent) for not being more active in parish life.

Other reasons include the church's teachings on homosexuality (42 percent), feeling older people are too influential in the parish (35 percent), the church's teachings on birth control (34 percent), the roles available to women (33 percent), a feeling that the church is not open to dialogue with other religious faiths (33 percent) and divorce and remarriage (32 percent).

Most weekly Mass attenders are in parish or diocesan young adult groups (34 percent), religious volunteer groups (19 percent), pro-life groups (15 percent), Vinnies (11 percent).

• 74 percent active in Catholic groups agreed "somewhat" or "very much" that they are motivated to learn from new experiences.
• 74 percent participate to nourish spiritual life, 69 percent to "reduce negative feelings", to serve others (69 percent) and for social ties (65 percent).

Source

• America Magazine
• Image: The Southern Cross

Kimberly Belcher, a professor of theology at the University of Notre Dame, studied students at three US Catholic campuses who regularly engage in Eucharistic adoration.

She found the absence of connection to the world is at the heart of the appeal. Eucharistic adoration "sets aside the time and space when they will not be interrupted," she says.

According to Pew Research, there are many Catholics among the 40 percent of American millennials who no longer identify with a particular faith community.

By contrast, the practice of Eucharistic adoration is increasingly popular among young Catholics who publicly embrace their faith. Pew research found about a third of American millennials are regular churchgoers.

Eucharistic devotions were promoted by Pope St. John Paul II in the 1990s.

"It's always a chance to stop and reset and spend time with the Lord in a tangible way," a 24-year old student comments.

Others speak of "an immediate sense of peace. You realize it is more than a piece of bread. It is Jesus."

On one campus, Eucharistic adoration is available 24/7 during the academic year. It also has a social justice dimension: a eucharistic procession in the campus town last year included a plea for unity in the church and nation and an end to racism.

One student says there are times at his campus where the chapel is filled with hundreds of silent prayers. "You can't become a saint without having a eucharistic prayer life," another student says.

Belcher discovered many young Catholic social activists immersed in issues of the environment and social justice are among the worshippers. She says many keep their progressive political views after leaving college, while their participation in Eucharistic adoration remains a marker of Catholic commitment.

Bishops are uniformly supportive of the practice.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan has participated in Catholic Underground services, in which - prior to COVID-19 - thousands of worshippers, mostly young people, participated in Eucharistic adoration.

Those who participate are part of "a new minority who give their bishop so much hope," Dolan says.

Another bishop Sis says the practice nurtures community and a shared sense of belonging among Catholic students.

A youth ministry worker sees Eucharistic adoration as an antidote to much of what ails modern young adults.

It can serve as a badge of Catholic identity, particularly for a generation in which so many young adults have abandoned faith practices, he says.

However, one professor - who is supportive of the practice - has a word of caution too.

She is concerned that the practice puts God into too small of a space (the tabernacle). Healthy Catholic sacramental life sees God's presence not only in the formal signs of the church but also in the world at large, she says.

Source

• America Magazine
• Image: National Catholic Reporter

Young people have lessons they could teach the Church about synodality, Pope Francis says.

"They have asked us in a thousand ways to walk alongside them — not behind them or ahead of them, but at their side. Not over them or under them, but on their level."

Francis made the comment in the introduction to a new Italian book of essays about youth ministry.

"Around the Living Fire of the Synod: Educating for the Good Life of the Gospel," was written by Fr Rossano Sala, a Salesian priest.

Sala was one of the special secretaries of the 2018 Synod of Bishops on young people.

"Discernment" was one of the key topics at the synod. It was also a key focus in "Christus Vivit," Francis' 2019 post-synod apostolic exhortation.

In his comment in Sala's book, Francis says he is not trying "to transform every member of the people of God into a Jesuit."

The Jesuit order specialises in teaching spiritual discernment or prayerfully reading the signs of the times and seeking to know how God wants individuals and the church to respond.

Some people think "the pressing call to discernment is a fad of this pontificate and it is destined to pass quickly," Francis says.

However, in his view the spiritual practice is essential today when things are changing quickly. Many people are struggling and many need to hear the Gospel, he says.

To achieve spiritual discernment, listening and dialogue are key first steps, Francis wrote.

"It is more necessary than ever today to enter into an honest listening to the joys and struggles of every member of the people of God, and especially of every young person.

"The church as a whole still has a lot of work to do" in learning to listen "because too often, instead of being 'experts in humanity,' we end up being considered rigid and incapable of listening."

The Gospel shows us that listening was the first attitude of Jesus. It should be our first response to encountering another person made in God's image and loved by God, Francis explained.

Dialogue is the natural second step, he continued.

"It is born from the conviction that in the other, the one who is before us, there are always the resources of nature and grace.

"Dialogue is the style that exalts the generosity of God because it recognizes his presence in everything and, therefore, one must find him in every person and be courageous enough to let him speak," he wrote.

There are many signals showing the church it must change. These include the digital revolution, the climate crisis, migration and "the plague of abuse" and the COVID-19 pandemic, Francis wrote. These are "transforming everyone's existence and we don't know where it will lead."

Francis says the choice to focus on "synodality" at the next general assembly of the Synod of Bishops, in 2022, is a natural outcome of the synod on young people.

BSource

• National Catholic Reporter
• Image: Vatican News

She said young people are looking for an encounter with each other, with the church and with the sacraments, in ways that are relevant for them.

It requires a willingness to "interlink with each other more and hold each other up."

McCafferty was one of two young adults selected by the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference to participate in the international forum held at a retreat centre just south of Rome last month.

The forum followed up on the Synod of Bishops on young people, faith, and vocational discernment which took place last year.

She said Catholic young adults felt the hierarchy had started listening to them in preparation for the 2018 Synod.

And they will do whatever they can to make sure their voices continue to be heard.

But they also want to be part of the actual implementation of the changes.

Young people want authenticity
McCafferty says the greatest desire of young adults is for the church to be authentic.

"Authenticity is about transparency, it's about vulnerability at times, but it's also about ground level, about being community."

It always involves person-to-person contact.

"When a young adult goes to a parish church regularly for months and only one person talks to him or her — it happens," she said, "it tells the young adult that an authentic, caring community does not exist there."

280 people between the ages of 18 and 29 from 109 countries took part in the Forum.

Following the Synod, Pope Francis published Christus Vivit, a 50-page letter to "all Christian young people" on April 2.

McCafferty called Christus Vivit "a constant source of encouragement in my own faith journey and inspired me in my ministry.

"The challenge of course now is to enable its richness to reach those who need to hear the heart of the document."

Source

• cnstopstories.com
• catholicnewsagency.com
• Image: crosswalk.com

The statue depicts Jesus at 18, the average age of an incoming college student.

According to Aloysius Hogan, S.J., who envisioned the project when he was the college president in the 1930s, the figure was the first artistic depiction of Christ at the age of a college student.

The life of Jesus Christ as a young person, something not often depicted in art, is one that Pope Francis invites us to consider in his newly released exhortation, "Christus Vivit," his official follow up text to the Synod on Young People, the Faith and Vocational Discernment that took place last October.

In this long letter to young people, the pope urges them "to contemplate the young Jesus as presented in the Gospels, for he was truly one of you, and shares many of the features of your young hearts" (No. 31).

What difference might it make to contemplate Christ as a young person? What different might it make to consider how Christ is alive in the young, baptized members of his church?

For Francis in "Christus Vivit," the answer seems to be twofold. First and foremost, by seeing Christ in young adults, the church is called to acknowledge that young Catholics are not simply the "church of tomorrow," as many will often say, but they are the church of the present.

Citing his address at World Youth Day in Panama, Francis describes young people as the "now of God" (No. 178).

This is something that was also brought up in the final statement of the synod, which emphasizes that "Young Catholics are not merely on the receiving end of pastoral activity: they are living members of the one ecclesial body, baptized persons in whom the Spirit of the Lord is alive and active. They help to enrich what the Church is and not only what she does. They are her present and not only her future" (No. 54).

To recognize that Christ is alive in the young members of his body affirms both the agency and responsibility of young people in the church and society.

In the letter, Francis several times affirms the social commitments of young adults, including the recent "news reports of the many young people throughout the world who have taken to the streets to express the desire for a more just and fraternal society" (No. 174).

For the pope, this is an important gift that young people offer the church and the world.

"Christus Vivit" urges young people to continue to deepen this social commitment and to make their voices heard, even if political and ecclesial leaders may not want to hear them. In one of the more approachable sections, he urges young people to be active agents in their world:

Dear young people, make the most of these years of your youth.

Don't observe life from a balcony. Don't confuse happiness with an armchair, or live your life behind a screen.

Whatever you do, do not become the sorry sight of an abandoned vehicle! Don't be parked cars, but dream freely and make good decisions.

Take risks, even if it means making mistakes.

Don't go through life anesthetized, or approach the world like tourists. Make a ruckus!

Cast out the fears that paralyze you, so that you don't become young mummies.

Live! Give yourselves over to the best of life! Open the door of the cage, go out and fly!

Please, don't take an early retirement (No. 143).

This leads to a second implication for seeing Christ alive in young people. Youth, campus and young adult ministry must be rethought through a missionary and participatory key.

A recognition that Christ is already active in young members of the church calls for a rethinking of youth ministry and a move to more participatory models where young people can become, as the Second Vatican Council called for, "the first apostles to the young" (Apostolicam Actuositatem, No. 12).

For Francis, this means moving away from models where young people are passive recipients and a priest, religious or lay minister is the only agent. Instead of top-down approaches, Francis calls for a model based more on synodality, collective discernment and accompaniment.

The church is called to acknowledge that young Catholics are not simply the "church of tomorrow," but they are the church of the present.

"Youth ministry," he writes, "has to be synodal; it should involve a ‘journeying together' that values "the charisms that the Spirit bestows in accordance with the vocation and role of each of the church's members, through a process of co-responsibility....

"Motivated by this spirit, we can move towards a participatory and co-responsible church, one capable of appreciating its own rich variety, gratefully accepting the contributions of the lay faithful, including young people and women, consecrated persons, as well as groups, associations and movements.

"No one should be excluded or exclude themselves" (No. 206). Continue reading

• Image: Logos