Soul Searching: the Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teens
We already know this in our hearts....
The following is taken from Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers. Christian Smith with Melinda Lundquist Denton. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005) p. 210
Parish and Diocesan Institutional Commitment and Infrastructure
Another likely explanation for the comparatively lower levels of Catholic teen religiosity is an apparent lower level of institutional commitment and investment of the U.S. Catholic Church to and in youth ministry at the poarish and diocesan levels. Simply put, the U.S. Catholic Church appears in its institutional infrastructure to invest fewer resources into youth minisstry and education than do many other Christian traditions and denominations in the United States. Take parish-level youth groups, for example. We have already seen (in Table 14) that while between 81 and 86 percent of Prostestant teens belong to church congregations that offer youth group programs, only 67 percent of Catholic youth do. Table 14 likewise shows that about half the percentage of Catholic youth compared to Protestant youth belong to churches with full-time, paid youth ministers (21 percent Catholic compared to 37-44 percent other Christian.) This may help to explain why only 12 percent of Catholic teens attend youth group once a week or more often, compared to 23-44 percent of other Christian teens.
The impression given by these numbers is reinforced by the Church evaluations of Catholic parents of teens. According to reports presented in (table 22) Catholic parents are much less likely than other types of Christian parents to say that ministry to teenagers is a very important priority in their church congregation (47 percent compared to 56-80 percent, depending on the Prostestant tradition). Catholic parents are more likely than other types of Christian parents to say that ministry to teenagers is only a somewhat important priority in their congregations (23 percent compared to 9-14 percent). Similarly, U.S. Catholic parents of teenagers are noticeably less likely than other Christian parents to say that their church has been very or extremely supportive and helpful to them as parents in trying to raise their teens, and are more likely to say that their church has been somewhat or a little supportive of them as parents of teens (table 22). At the parish and perhaps diocesan level, therefore, the Catholic Church seems to be relatively weak when its comes to devoting attention and resources to its youth and their parents.
Effective youth ministy and the engagement of teenagers in vibrant lives of faith cannot be manufactured through simple organizational programs. At the same time, churches are social organizations. It is difficult for them to mobilize for successful youth ministry and the Christian education of teens when those are not institutional priorities of dioceses, and parishes providing the kind of attention, budgets, training, personnel, publications and other infrastructure supports needed.*
*Notes p. 327 #11
Anecdotal evidence suggests that a number of Catholic dioceses have closed down their youth mnistry offices in recent years due to financial constraints, likely resulting from a weak economy and perhaps priest abuse payouts. At least some frustrated Catholic youth ministry workers with whom we have communicated interpret this as a sign of the relatively low priority of youth ministry in some sectors of the Church, and that youth ministry is often seen as a luxury, not a necessity.
The following is taken from Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers. Christian Smith with Melinda Lundquist Denton. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005) p. 210
Parish and Diocesan Institutional Commitment and Infrastructure
Another likely explanation for the comparatively lower levels of Catholic teen religiosity is an apparent lower level of institutional commitment and investment of the U.S. Catholic Church to and in youth ministry at the poarish and diocesan levels. Simply put, the U.S. Catholic Church appears in its institutional infrastructure to invest fewer resources into youth minisstry and education than do many other Christian traditions and denominations in the United States. Take parish-level youth groups, for example. We have already seen (in Table 14) that while between 81 and 86 percent of Prostestant teens belong to church congregations that offer youth group programs, only 67 percent of Catholic youth do. Table 14 likewise shows that about half the percentage of Catholic youth compared to Protestant youth belong to churches with full-time, paid youth ministers (21 percent Catholic compared to 37-44 percent other Christian.) This may help to explain why only 12 percent of Catholic teens attend youth group once a week or more often, compared to 23-44 percent of other Christian teens.
The impression given by these numbers is reinforced by the Church evaluations of Catholic parents of teens. According to reports presented in (table 22) Catholic parents are much less likely than other types of Christian parents to say that ministry to teenagers is a very important priority in their church congregation (47 percent compared to 56-80 percent, depending on the Prostestant tradition). Catholic parents are more likely than other types of Christian parents to say that ministry to teenagers is only a somewhat important priority in their congregations (23 percent compared to 9-14 percent). Similarly, U.S. Catholic parents of teenagers are noticeably less likely than other Christian parents to say that their church has been very or extremely supportive and helpful to them as parents in trying to raise their teens, and are more likely to say that their church has been somewhat or a little supportive of them as parents of teens (table 22). At the parish and perhaps diocesan level, therefore, the Catholic Church seems to be relatively weak when its comes to devoting attention and resources to its youth and their parents.
Effective youth ministy and the engagement of teenagers in vibrant lives of faith cannot be manufactured through simple organizational programs. At the same time, churches are social organizations. It is difficult for them to mobilize for successful youth ministry and the Christian education of teens when those are not institutional priorities of dioceses, and parishes providing the kind of attention, budgets, training, personnel, publications and other infrastructure supports needed.*
*Notes p. 327 #11
Anecdotal evidence suggests that a number of Catholic dioceses have closed down their youth mnistry offices in recent years due to financial constraints, likely resulting from a weak economy and perhaps priest abuse payouts. At least some frustrated Catholic youth ministry workers with whom we have communicated interpret this as a sign of the relatively low priority of youth ministry in some sectors of the Church, and that youth ministry is often seen as a luxury, not a necessity.
posted by Diocese of San Jose at
9:37 AM
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