Keeping Gen Z active in Church

MADISON  The reality that young people are leaving the Catholic faith and instead choosing to identify as non-religious at alarming rates represents a crisis for the Church but also an opportunity for parishes in the U.S. to discover and put in place innovative ways to attract and keep these young faithful and form them into disciples. These “outside the box” parish initiatives must aim to give youth a place where they feel a sense of belonging and acceptance, start forming them younger — as early as middle school — and help the faith community clearly articulate why its members believe in Christ.

Those were among many challenges to parishes of the Diocese issued during a two-day workshop, “Build a Vibrant Youth and Young Adult Ministry,” conducted by Parish Catalyst on June 10 and 11 at St. Paul Inside the Walls: the Diocesan Center for Evangelization at Bayley-Ellard here. On that Monday and Tuesday, teams of priests, staff and volunteers from 10 parishes in and around the Diocese gathered here to learn about the needs of “Generation Z,” who range from 9 to 22 years old; hear from experts, who have successfully ministered to them, and work with consultants and peers to develop a plan for youth and young adult outreach in their own parishes. Leading these interactive, all-day sessions was John Poitevent, director of facilitation for Parish Catalyst, a Catholic non-profit organization that helps parishes experience renewal through collaborative learning and strategic planning.

“Today, parishes need to think outside the box to attract and keep young people, because we are competing with so many things [in society]. As Catholic leaders, we need to think creatively, act courageously and renew the Church,” said Poitevent, who encouraged parish leaders to “leave room to fail.” They should try out different ideas, see which ones work and don’t and adopt the ones that succeed — all with a sense of “discovery, courage, collaboration and humility,” he said.

Several parishes and other entities in the Diocese participated in Parish Catalyst workshop, already committed to improving their youth ministry, religious education and other programs that serve young people. They were: the Cathedral of John the Baptist, Paterson; St. Peter the Apostle, Parsippany; St. Paul Inside the Walls here; St. Vincent Martyr, Madison; Holy Family, Florham Park; St. Lawrence the Martyr, Chester; Notre Dame of Mount Carmel, Cedar Knolls; St. Mary, Paterson; and St. Margaret of Scotland, Morristown.

“We [at St. Paul’s] wanted to learn more about Generation Z from Parish Catalyst, so we also invited parishes to participate,” said Brian Honsberger, diocesan assistant director of evangelization. “We learned that parishes need to think younger. Usually, when parishes invest in youth, they think high school. But the research shows that middle-school age is when these young people start making lifelong religious decisions. We have to affect culture but we also have to understand that we might have to adjust,” he said.

On the first day at St. Paul Inside the Walls, John Vitek, president and CEO of St. Mary’s Press, explained in a video presentation that a recent study of young people, 15 to 25 years old, who once identified as Catholic but now identify as not having a religious affiliation, showed that percent of “disaffiliated” young people jumped from 16 to 23 recently. They leave earlier than previously thought — at a median age of 13 — for many reasons, including the moral failings of the Church, a lack of belief in its teachings and a belief that there are many paths to God. Their rejection of Catholicism is thoughtful and articulate, said Vitek, citing a study that he co-authored, “Going, Going, Gone: the Dynamics of Disaffiliation in Young Catholics.” It was a collaboration between St. Mary’s Press and Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.

But the joint study also shines a ray of hope: that when most of these disaffiliated young people leave the Church with no religious affiliation, only 14 percent identify as agnostic or atheist. This suggests that the rest might still be thirsting for the sacred or transcendent — giving the Church an opportunity, Vitek said.

“Young people are looking for a place to belong. The most powerful thing is being called by name, being seen and understood and having a place where they are tended to and can wrestle with their doubts without judgment but with acceptance for who they are. No program will resolve this longing. Do we [in the parishes] know the depths of their hearts, their greatest joys and their deepest sorrows? That’s at the heart of the Gospel message,” Vitek said.

In addition, parishes need to discern the “Why?” — the motivating reason — they believe in Christ and be able to articulate that to the young people. These faith communities also need to start reaching out to this demographic at a younger age, as young as 10, Poitevent said. The workshop included break-out sessions, which gave the parish teams the opportunity to assess what is working — and not working — in their faith communities and develop an action plan.

Over the years, St. Paul Inside the Walls and the Diocese have cultivated a relationship with Parish Catalyst. In 2017, Bill Simon Jr., its founder and president, came to St. Paul’s for a talk on “Great Catholic Parishes.” Over the years, St. Paul’s and other local parishes have participated in one of Parish Catalyst’s programs, the Catalyst Learning Group on Millennial Discipleship. This initiative brings teams from 10 parishes around the U.S. at a time to Los Angeles, where Parish Catalyst is based, for four separate sessions, where they listen to speakers on the subject of attracting and engaging the millennial generation, review relevant materials and share ideas and insights with each other, while developing action plans for their individual parishes.

After the June 10–11 workshop, Nancy Peters, director of religious education at St. Margaret’s, called the workshop, which included slide presentations, “eye-opening” — perfect because the parish wants to rejuvenate its Confirmation and young ministry programs. Also, she likes the idea of pairing Confirmation students with middle school students in a peer ministry setting.

“It’s important to have young people in a room in groups sharing their faith but it’s also important for them to have a mission,” said Peters, who noted that Confirmation students enjoy visits to Homeless Solutions, where they make food and serve it to the poor. “Now, we understand the young people we are preaching to and we know how to improve on what we have,” she said.