Comments on: Fact: demanding, liturgical churches attract youth

By: Rick

Rick — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 14:56:01 +0000

Hilarious, John! Complaining, grousing, judging others, comparing other forms of worship to what you get in bars (I guess you speak from experience). You say this in the same breath as ‘damn little about Jesus’. If you don’t see the irony in that, then you know ‘damn little about jesus’.

By: John

John — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 17:10:44 +0000

Ya I’ve seen it over and over, churches offering the Latin Mass pre vat2 are packed to the rafters with mostly 18-40yr old people.At my local church the 10.000 or so masses in english spanish french swahili magyar ete etc on Sunday are almost totally greyheaded so 60’s and boring. No challenge,no commitment, damn little about Jesus, just love love love, touchy feel oh so good. I get that crap at my local bar.

By: Joshua Taylor

Joshua Taylor — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 18:07:07 +0000

my grandfather is also a baby boomer and he is also a war veteran,;’

By: Top 10 Most Commented Posts of 2009 « Divine Life – A Blog by Eric Sammons

Tue, 29 Dec 2009 12:01:40 +0000

[...] Fact: demanding, liturgical churches attract youth. Rule #1 of Catholic blogs: discussion of [...]

By: Rick

Rick — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 05:16:50 +0000

Sorry to misspell Catholicism. I hit the “post” button prematurely.

By: Rick

Rick — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 05:15:09 +0000

Back to relevance. Cosmology, geology and genetics have removed God from a central, active role in creation of the universe and humanity. This is what all faiths face. An increasing number of educated people view old ideas about afterlife as quaint, and are no longer as easily intimidated as they once were. The church/mosque/sangha/synogogue are now competing with pop culture on perceived equal footing – and most of us are losing. People are looking for personal relevance and flocking to charismatic churches and other alternatives to what they see as the “same old thing”. People are looking for something deep and personally transformative.
I agree with the author that this requires effort, time and commitment; however, the charismatics offer a quick and easy route. Hence, their popularity.
My tradition is not evangelical, so this is easy for me. We freely offer what we think is true to our core beliefs and relevant to a person living in this modern world. Evangelical faiths like Catholacism have a much more difficult path.

By: Anthony

Anthony — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 15:27:18 +0000

I was all with you until your last sentence. I totally agree with why they fall away along with yourself. I rejoice that you were brought back by God.

However, your last sentence reeked of judgement and closed-mindedness. True beauty comes in all shapes and forms. Landscape, people…worship. To say that there is only one true worship experience is wrong. If God is the god of all (and He is, Im sure we both agree with that) then why can he not be worshiped and glorified in different ways?

By: OIKELOME Emmanuel

OIKELOME Emmanuel — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 15:25:58 +0000

There is an African saying ,”If you have not been to another man’s farm , you’ll say your father’s is the biggest” In the United kingdom ,it is an established fact(Gov. Stats. church trends) that the youth population in Church is declining,fastest amongs the lithurgal churches and the only church showing growth right accross the age divide,expecially the youth’s , is the independent, pentecostal charismatic churches.
Myself and like minded christians with pentecostal nonliturgal background are trying to reach to christians on all sides to provide the right balance the church needs regardless of methodology and draw men and women back to church, If i be lifted up, i will draw all men unto me

By: Eric Sammons

Eric Sammons — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 13:44:10 +0000

Anthony,

I am saying that the Mass is the best place to encounter Christ (and note: by Mass I am speaking generally of the Eucharistic liturgies of the East and the West, even though in the East it is called the “Divine Liturgy”). The Mass is where we meet Christ most directly, both in the reading of the Sacred Scriptures and most especially in the Eucharist.

Again, we can’t set up false dichotomies. This does not mean that one cannot encounter Christ in other ways – such as through personal prayer, helping the poor, or reading the Scriptures alone. But the Mass must be the center of our relationship with Christ; as Vatican II stated, it is the “source and summit” of our Christian life. A life in Christ that does not include the Mass is lacking in a fundamental way.

You say that “dumbing down” the liturgy might be the best way to reach youth. Please show me the proof of that – this study and forty years of trying that have shown that it simply isn’t true. Young people want to feel that they are part of something greater than themselves; a reverent, traditional Mass conveys that sense; a “dumbed-down” liturgy does not.

Reaching out to youth is obviously a multi-faceted ministry. As I mentioned earlier, one cannot simply offer a more traditional, reverent liturgy and expect the kids to start showing up. But all youth ministry – and all ministry – should be directed towards an encounter with the Son of God Jesus Christ, and the central place for that encounter is the Mass. We should do everything we can to making that liturgical encounter full of awe and wonder, so that our youth will exclaim with St. Thomas, “My Lord and my God!”

By: Telemachus

Telemachus — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 05:15:33 +0000

Aesthetics is important. To a certain extent, the integrity of the Liturgy has to do with aesthetics, and proper aesthetics glorify God. I experience transcendence at Mass, and the degree to which I experience it has much to do with how God is presented to us, and how we are presented to God.

We are sensate beings, and that which pleases the senses (beauty) helps us to understand what we are experiencing during Mass. It’s Sacramental. If youth do not understand what beauty is, it is because they are not experiencing it. This is why they fall away. It is why I fell away. But I was attracted back by the majesty of the Church, and I understood this majesty to be evidence that God is with her. Help the youth to understand true beauty, and don’t allow the trappings which they pick up from the modern world to push aside the aesthetics of our higher forms of worship. Let them have their modernistic “worship services” in an auditorium; a church is for God.