The Young Adults pages are intended to be read primarily by persons from 18-39 years of age. They are not intended to be read by persons aged 13 or under.

Creating a Church That Is Relevant to Young Adults
A Summary of Comments at the Young Adult Catholics' Workshop,
VOTF Conference, July 20, 2002

This summary synthesizes comments from 140+ participants,
of whom most were mothers of young adults.
Also participating were a significant number of women religious.

Jeanne Martin

Young adults demand meaningful involvement at all levels of the church from liturgy to hierarchy. They require homilies that deal with the complexity of today's world, which can then be applied to their life situations. They must have a place at the table in both their local parish and in the diocese. Older and younger members expressed a desire to come together in community to share their different life experiences. Young adults desire to have a common ground with older members of the body and wish to maintain a place where such dialog can continue in this framework.

This generation needs to be nourished with post-confirmation programs such as Bible studies, Canon Law, Vatican II Council, Church History and Doctrine, without lectures. This program needs to be interactive, engaging, and providing room for challenges. Young adults need answers to why the Church believes what it does. Blind faith in Church teaching is not enough, which is not to be confused with faith in God and the spiritual realm.

Young adults require a program that connects the life of Christ to their acts of social justice and to the sacramental life of the Church. This diagram should be illustrated in circular form because young adults view faith as holistic. This paper assumes that women are equal members of the Body in all areas of the Church, from liturgy to hierarchy and will not be excluded in any area of the Church or the process.

Specific ways in which young adults can have dialog with the larger body of the church is by speaking in small groups to local parish priests, setting up post-confirmation educational programs on their faith, holding youth conferences at area colleges, using the theology of TAP, ALPHA program, etc.

Specific ways priests can reach out to young adults are by involving them in the liturgy process, inviting them onto the Parish Council (especially if they are not married), teaching them what they know about the Church doctrine, canon law, etc. Young adults are politically savvy, and any attempt to keep them out of the loop will meet with dismal failure. Night Masses are also beneficial to younger adults.

Older parishioners can reach out to young adults through social gatherings such as coffee houses and sharing (not lecturing) their life experience in the Church. Older Catholics can encourage a younger Catholic to become a member of a local Parish Council, Parish Voice member, and the like.

Conversely, young adults can reach out to older parishioners by respecting their older traditions and devotions of faith, and by dialoguing with them about life today and how it can enrich today's Church.