The youth needs a voice

We want to win our children for Christ.” This is the mission statement displayed prominently inside an Anglican church in Athlone, Cape Town.

The wording is apposite. In stating the need to win children for Christ, the parish acknowledges that it needs to work at persuading young people to follow Christ into adulthood. Presumably, the parish has programmes in place to realise that objective.

Many Catholic parishes throughout South Africa likewise have a potent ministry directed at children and youths that goes well beyond the obligatory catechism and confirmation classes. Such parishes must be not only applauded, but also be emulated.

Alas, while many parishes in South Africa have an active youth, many others have not. It is reasonable to presume that the number of young Catholics leaving the Church after confirmation is higher at parishes where youth ministry is lacking or ineffective than it is in parishes where such ministry is vibrant and an integral part of the parish.

There may well be good reasons why many parishes do not have a functioning youth group. Not infrequently, however, the problem resides with a lack of motivation, application, encouragement, and human resources.

Our collective obligation in the Church, as Christ’s disciples, is to evangelise. This can take many forms, and the subjects of our evangelisation efforts are miscellaneous. It is becoming evident, however, that the new mission territory for the Church is the youth.

Young people today are exposed to a diversity of influences and distractions that young people even a decade ago did not face. The Church, through the parish, has to compete with these. When it fails to connect with a young Catholic, that person might well not be a Catholic in adulthood. Some will drift into an agnostic indifference, others will join congregations where they consider themselves welcome—and are made to feel so.

Much youth work is being done in the Church on national and diocesan levels, as well as by several organisations dedicated to youth ministry.

Youth representatives themselves are going to present their propositions at the Pastoral Forum for the Laity in August. The whole Body of Christ—bishops, clergy, religious and laity—must be meticulously attentive to what the youth will tell them, because the tone of youth ministry, even on the level of pastoral plans, must be subject to influence by young Catholics.

Indeed, pastoral experiences suggest that much can be gained by involving the youth in decision-making processes. Some parishes have found benefit in including a youth representative on the parish pastoral council. In Britain, a priest reported an innovative and successful experiment in which a junior parish council was elected, with its proposals and resolutions being considered with seriousness and respect.

And this is the key: youth ministry must be able to adapt and innovate to be appropriate to the people it is supposed to serve. It must provide young Catholics with the platforms to pose questions and express their aspirations in open dialogue at all levels of the Church. The youth’s engagement with the Church must be defined by their needs.

As the Church celebrates the annual World Youth Day in Rome on Palm Sunday, let us direct our attention at the means by which we can win our youth for Christ.