Is the Church Serving its Youth?

The youth in the Church make up an extremely important part of parish life. DYLAN APPOLIS spoke to priests about their views
on youth ministry.

The youth chaplain of the archdiocese of Durban has seen the brighter side of the youth and uses his own methods to help young Catholics embrace their faith.

The spirit of people moving from our Church to others is a challenging phenomenon and it pushes us to think about it, Fr Jean Kalala said.

One of the ways we should be thinking is to see if our teaching responds to the needs of the youth, and also if our approach is relevant to their needs.

As a youth chaplain, you have to read the signs of the times and engage the teaching of the Church with confidence and faith. Youth is a stage where life is a question mark, Fr Kalala said.

He said that he learns a lot from communicating with the youth.

I believe that some teachings are not reaching them in a way that they can understand, he said. They need what I call a new catechism with new challenges not inventing new catechisms but redefining the same teaching with the youth.

SACBC information officer Fr Smilo Mngadi believes the first thing is to make a shift in our catechism.

It is still mainly centred on the sacraments of initiation rather than the joys of Christian living, he said.

We also need to give young people meaningful roles and responsibilities in the Church. They should do the readings, usher people, be in parish committees, including parish pastoral councils, and so on, Fr Mngadi said.

Preachers should also be aware of the diverse age groups in their congregations.

Most homilies are directed to adults. Only rarely are teenagers addressed and this bores them. Church should be fun without compromising the Gospel values.

Fr Jonathan Vermaak CO of St Bernadettes parish in Walmer, Port Elizabeth, said that in his experience young people are actively participating, and in some cases leading the way, in rediscovering the faith of the Church which previous generations, for whatever reasons, had not fully received.

People, perhaps especially young people, are searching for the truth. Of course, it is important to meet people where they are at by offering this truth in an accessible form, but it nevertheless remains necessary to lead young people to the deeper and more challenging demands and gifts of the Gospel.

Fr Don Boh OMI of St Michaels parish in Potchefstroom noted that some young Catholics transcend denominational lines.

From my own experience in Potchefstroom, some of our young people do attend weekend Mass but also attend youth meetings at Pentecostal Churches where there are youth pastors, Fr Boh said.

They have told me that they enjoy the freedom of expression, group-sharing and socialising, and that they enjoy the more modern music during praise and worship. However, there are still the regular post-confirmation youth who attend weekend Mass, either on their own or with their parents, he said.

To try to keep the youth in the Church, we should perhaps hold youth Life in the Spirit seminars, retreats, rallies, workshops, youth-training leadership, which is already happening in many parishes.

Fr Emmanuel Mbeh, who served as the youth chaplain of Kroonstad diocese for five years and is currently studying human development, leadership and formation in England, said he has a list of things which he thinks is the problem when it comes to the youth.

The theology and spirituality of suffering, and the cost of discipleship, is not taught, lived or witnessed enough. The adults know and do persevere, but for the youth, there is a way out of suffering and something more attractive over the fence of the Catholic Church, and they then leave for other Churches or none.

The prayer life and the faith of the Christian community dont appeal to the youth. The balance of authentic meditation/contemplation on one hand and joyful/spiritual elation and celebration on the other can be lacking, Fr Mbeh said.

He listed some of the problem areas: Family life; basic family bonds and prayer; eroding moral standards; no family rosary or Bible-sharing; no peaceful family atmosphere but painful feelings or addictions by family members who go to the same church and receive the Holy Eucharist.

Fr Mbeh said that technology, materialism, secularism and media sensationalism have turned the heads of many youth, adults and even some of us priests, [shaping] what we watch at night and wear during the day, what we text and talk about at night and where we socialise during the day.

He said priests might be the problem as well.

Some of us priests are seen as lukewarm or boring in our preaching; we lack passion and vigour, we lack enthusiasm and the thrill of rhetoric, politicians, TV presenters, film makers, Pentecostal brainwashers or soccer animators.

He continued: Some of us priests are seen as too strict and less compassionate. Or we scandalise the youth. They often told me that we preach water and drink winethey see through the weaknesses and hypocrisy of the elders, leaders, models, parents in the Catholic community.

Sr Juliana Mary Abioye EHJ, who heads the youth department in the archdiocese of Johannesburg, said that youths leave the Catholic Church due to lack of proper initial orientation in the Catholic faith and conviction first from the family.

Leniency and lack of attention by those responsible for their training is also a cause, she said.

From my discussions and interaction with the youth, I see they have less interest and lack of commitment to the things of God and too much sense of freedom, she said.

She said the youth must be involved in parish ministries.

Youth can be guided to form a music ministry and guided on the liturgical music and be allowed to sing those songs in a modern way, without going out of the teaching of sacred music. Parents need to cooperate with the priest and those involved in their childrens spiritual formation and also cultivate the habit of praying together as a family with the scripture, Sr Abioye said.

Fr Russell Pollitt SJ, director of the Jesuit Institute South Africa, thinks we need to reflect on the way we prepare young people for confirmation to begin with.

They have already had years and years of catechism and often complain that it is boring and repetitive, he noted.

There are so many confirmation programmes available these dayswe dont need another one. We need to critically examine why what we are doing doesnt seem to be effective, universally, said the Jesuit who until last year served at Braamfontein parish, which also provides pastoral care for students from Wits and Johannesburg University campuses.

For too long we have treated confirmation like a graduation from catechism. Often our teachers are not well prepared and, although generous, do not understand young people, Fr Pollitt said.

In some situations or places young people teach and learn from other young people; this does not always work either and we make the mistake of thinking that it does. Very often we think we know what young people need to know maybe we need to start from the context of their lives, where they are, what they want to know and are searching for.

Fr Pollitt said that Pope Francis has urged us over and over to enter into a deep personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and to teach others how to do so.

He said that we are not teaching young people to love and be in a personal relationship with Jesus, we are teaching them content doctrines, the dos and donts. This should all follow from a personal relationship, Fr Pollitt said.

Many young people desperately want models of good Christian life. If they dont see that their parents are in a personal relationship with Jesus, are lax about being actively involved in their parishes and dont attend Mass often, how can we expect young people to stay? Fr Pollitt asked.

Parents also have to take a greater responsibility for the faith formation of their children by taking their own Christian lives more seriously.

Speaking from a parents point of view, Mahadi Buthelezi, marketing consultant at Radio Veritas, said: We invite our children to come to church with us but at times lose the battle as we would be told that they are preparing for tests or exams. Parents must also have an understanding of the pressures that their children go through, she noted.

It did cross our minds to force them but we felt it would be unfair to them they need to go to church willingly.

She said her family prays together every night at 8pm, without fail so as to encourage them to want to go to church.

Mrs Buthelezi said it is important to have youth engaged in the parish.

I think that the youth needs to be more involved in the Mass, have a full understanding of why it is important to go to church, she said. At the same time, young people should advise how they would prefer certain aspects explained or rolled out to them.

Mrs Buthelezi believes that among the reasons young people are leaving the Church are because of boredom and because the Church is too strict.

The youth of today are inquisitive and opinionated. The Church needs to somehow involve the youth more in ways that they prefer.

As for youths, they must be closer to the parish priest and plan outings, activities, plays, musicals, and so on.