As schools begin and collegians return to campus, we as a parish also return to a fuller schedule, and we too, will soon continue our religious education and formation programs for youth. This weekend after Masses, our Christian Formation Office Staff will be available to answer questions or address concerns, about our offerings for faith formation. Many people today ask, "Who needs God?" or "Who needs the Church?" While many people state that they believe in God and Jesus, their beliefs and lifestyles often do no match the beliefs and practices promoted by the Scriptures and the Church. How do we help our young people to see that they are called from the day of their baptism to follow Jesus as His disciple?
While parents are the primary teachers in the ways of faith, increasingly this is part of the problem. Parents themselves do not see the value in having a relationship with Jesus or even practicing their faith in public. Our catechists are often the only adults who approach the issues of faith with our youth. Parents give in to a culture that values athletics and other extracurricular activities over spirituality and religion. Spiritual and religious understanding and concern are very weak among American teenagers. The "good" news, is that the Catholic Church is not alone in its concern; the "bad" news is that we are near the bottom in rankings of religious bodies of adolescents' religious literacy and articulation of their faith. But recent studies have shown that rarely has a generation of young people been so interested in spirituality and religion and so open to experiences of the holy and the transcendent. This means that this is the right moment for our Church to reach out to our youth.
So what do we do? First, we need to be always listening and responding to the Word of God in our own lives. None of us are above the need to be evangelized and continue in our own growing in the faith. Second, we need to talk about the three R's - Rigor, Relevance, and Relationships.
Rigor. We need to insist that our religious education for youth be intentional and complete. It's not just about what we teach in our homes and parish. Intentional catechesis must be cognitive, affective and effective experiences of the heart and mind and this must continue throughout their lives.
Relevance. It is important to dialogue with our youth and to walk with them, remembering that it needs to make sense and be relevant for them and their environment. Faith should be relevant to our daily lives.
Relationships. Catechists, parents and the Church must be in a relationship with our youth and with Christ. Do we involve our youth in parish life? How much do we value youth ministry? The goal of catechesis to youth is to help them come to, or deepen, a personal relationship with the Lord.
These are questions not just for the Catechists of our parish or the parents, but for the entire Church. I think it is time that we as a parish begin to focus on the fact that we might be losing our youth to something other than the Lord.
We will continue with a whole family catechesis model here at Prince of Peace because if we don’t bring parents to the Lord, then our other efforts are mostly fruitless. We need adults of all ages to help in our Christian Formation programs and specifically in Children’s Church, children’s formation and that of our teens. Are you willing to help?
This is the right time for the Church to reengage itself in the task of forming our youth as disciples of Jesus. The results are often not immediate, but we must plant the seed so that our youth may realize their discipleship in God's own time.