Pastor’s Page: Parents and Teens (Part II)                                                             

     “We need to do more for the teens in our parish!” This sentence is a mantra that I have heard in every parish where I have served. But in spite of developed youth ministries, youth retreats, and full time directors of youth ministry, few, perhaps ten percent of eligible ninth through twelfth graders participate.
      Lack of commitment by parents in church and church ministries is the primary reason. It is not a priority.
      The NSYR (National Study of Youth and Religion) mentioned in last week’s column, revealed that most youth believe in God (85% of Catholic kids). This is certainly parental influence. And of the Catholic responders, forty percent indicated that they attend Mass weekly. This may be accurate nationally but we are doing far worse than that in the cities and suburbs of the northeast. A retention rate of forty percent of the youngsters we confirm each year beginning in the fall of tenth grade, would mean about fifteen per grade or 60 ninth through twelfth graders at Mass each week! My sense is that this is not so at our parish or any other parish where I have served on L.I. Most parents are not mandating Church or youth group for their children because they have little interest themselves. After school activities, sports, clubs, and putting together high marks and an attractive resume for college, leaves church and spirituality at the bottom of the ladder of priorities.

      “Notably, the parents of the Catholic teens were far less likely than their Protestant counterparts to participate in organized parish activities outside worship.” (NSYR)
       The “National Study of Youth and Religion” found a much lower percentage of regular churchgoers among Catholic teens in comparison with Protestants. “On most measures of religious faith, belief, experience, and practice, Catholic teens as a whole show up as fairly weak.” The study further said that such a disparity between Catholic and Protestant youngsters can be explained “by the lower levels of religiosity of their (Catholic) parents” in comparison with Protestant parents.

      Faith begins and is sustained in the home, the little church. Young people may fight rules and regulations but they need boundaries and limits to mature in a healthy way. Confirmation is not graduation from Christianity. Christian growth is a lifetime adventure into God our Creator. We hunger and thirst for God who has given us life and all that we have and are. We want only to love others as He has loved us. The Mass and sacraments of the church nourish, sustain, and challenge us to live as Christ has shown us.

Peace, Father Bruce