NSYR Catholic Data

Challenges

The NSYR reports that, generally, young people are ‘incredibly inarticulate about their faith, their religious beliefs and practices, and its meaning or place in their lives.” This was true even for teenagers who regularly attend church. Religion is in the background of their live, unfocused and implicit, important but not a priority, valued but not invested in, and praised but not describable.

The NSYR further states that “our distinct impression is that very many religious congregations and communities of faith in the United States are failing rather badly in religiously engaging and educating youth.”

Specifically, Catholic teens scored 5-25 percentage points lower than their conservative, mainline, and black protestant peers on many of a variety of religious beliefs, practices, experiences, commitments, and evaluations(Smith 194). According to Dr. Smith, “Compared to the official Catholic norms of faithfulness and to other types of Christian teens in the United States, contemporary U.S. Catholic youth are faring rather badly. On most measures of religious faith, beliefs, and practices, Catholic teens as a whole show up fairly weak. We think this can be attributed to a number of causes…Catholic teenagers today merely reflect the leading edge of a larger trend” (Smith 216).

Our young people are inarticulate because often times we have not taught young people how to talk about their religion or provided sufficient opportunities to practice talking about religion and faith. This is a weakness in methodology and opportunity that will not be solved by rote memorization, rather we need to provide a context in which young people can engage in guided discussions that relate Church teachings and beliefs to their lived experiences. Kenda Creasy Dean stated in January 2005 that "Religiously devoted teenagers seem to come from communities that value their participation in the life of the community and encourage and offer young people opportunities to practice their hermeneutical and practical skills."

The NSYR suggests several factors affecting Catholic young people’s understanding and practice of their faith (Smith 207-216):

  •  Catholic upward mobility and mainstream acculturation undermines the vitality of the Church.
  • Catholic school and CCD can no longer serve as the primary vehicles for education, formation, and ministry.
  • Youth evangelization and formation are a low institutional priority at the parish and diocesan level.
  • Catholic teenagers significantly reflect the relative religious laxity of their parents.

The study states specifically that the Catholic Church seems to lack the institutional commitment at the parish and diocesan level in the religious formation of young people.

The study concludes that the greater the availability of religiously grounded relationships, activities, programs, and opportunities for teenagers, the more likely teenagers are to be religiously engaged and invested. In other words, “congregations that prioritize youth ministry and support for their parents, invest in trained and skilled youth ministry leaders, and make serious efforts to engage and teach adolescents seem much more likely to draw young people into their religious lives and to foster religious and spiritual maturity in their young members”.(Smith 262-262)

Stated negatively, churches that do not invest in their youth will find youth unlikely to invest in them. “The analysis shows that the presence of a full time youth minister in the congregation, compared to no designated youth minister at all, significantly increases those teens (who attend on their own without parents) attendance”(Smith 113-114). However, NSYR found that only 21% of Catholic young people are in parishes that employ full time youth ministry coordinators.(Smith 51)

“…to achieve the huge religious potential that appears to exist for Catholic teens would seem to require that the Church invest a great deal more attention, creativity, and institutional resources into its young members—therefore into its own life. Undeniably the future shape of the U.S. Catholic Church vitally depends on it.” (Smith 194).

Conclusions and Recommendations

Based on the findings reported by Dr. Smith and the authors of the Catholic Report, here are five specific conclusions and corresponding recommendations for the Catholic Church’s ministry with young people:

  1. Religion is a significant presence in the lives of Catholic young people and many express this importance through participation in Catholic liturgical and spiritual practices.
    • Recommendation: Catholic faith communities must provide a comprehensive ministry to, with, for, and by young people, “drawing young people into responsible participation in the life, work and mission of the faith community.”(RTV 11)
  2. Catholic young people are incredibly inarticulate about their faith, unable to adequately express what they believe and the basic teachings of Catholicism.
    • Recommendation: Our pastoral ministry with young people in parish and school settings requires a comprehensive vision for adolescent catechesis; a practical blueprint for developing an effective catechetical program with varied formats, settings, and approaches; and opportunities for faith formation and developing spiritual practices.
  3. Young people faithfully “mirror” the religious life of their parents and serve as a “barometer” of the larger faith community.
    • Recommendation: Parish faith communities need an intentional outreach to families, emphasizing a ministry of welcome, connecting families with the life of the faith community and renewing our efforts at adult catechesis.
  4. Moralistic Therapeutic Deism, a religious “Whateverism”, serves as a “default position” for adolescent religiosity when religious communities’ engagement and education of youth is weak.
    • Recommendation: Catholic faith communities and pastoral ministers must renew our commitment to a “new evangelization” that proclaims the challenging and life-changing Good News of Jesus Christ, and that emphasizes worship, service and justice, and participation in a faith community.
  5. The Catholic Church seems to lack an institutional commitment to youth evangelization and formation at the parish and diocesan level.
    • Recommendation: Because “congregations that prioritize youth…, invest in trained and skilled youth ministry leaders, and make serious efforts to engage and teach adolescents seem much more likely to draw young people into their religious lives and to foster religious and spiritual maturity in their young members”, parishes need to provide the resources, trained personnel, and financial support to implement the Catholic Church’s Vision of Youth Ministry.

As the authors of the Catholic report state: "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 is a kairos moment-the right moment-for the Catholic Church and her pastoral ministry to, with, and for young people."