What can we do to get young people interested in the Catholic Faith.
If you ask why young people are not attending Mass anymore you can get many answers. There are those who 'apparently do their best, it is just a different age' There are those who put it down to a lack of teaching in schools and families on the essentials of the Faith. Just teach chastity and morals and all will be well. Just tell them about Jesus and speak about Jesus and become popular and you will be doing the job right. There is a certain truth in all of these, though there is one thing we must never do it seems, and that is blame ourselves.
But the answer lies in understanding that young people today are more idealistic about their society than ever before. Many are committed to justice for all, but are turning more to those who have little understanding of human nature and how many things they believe are good in society are actually destructive. But what they have is a 'big picture' which is an illusion and secular values that are destructive of society. Just look at what secular values have cost. My negative 'big picture' you might say is watching the rise in teenage suicides, in knife crimes, in rape, in so many children growing up in children homes without parents who are then sexually exploited because they have not experienced the love of a family. And while politicians rant and rave about poverty they fail to see that it was their opposition to family life that has caused poverty in the first place. Many young people caught up in the sexual revolution have become the head of single parent families in a society where two wages are demanded for comfortable living. Then there is the irresponsible rise in divorce to about half of all marriages. The insistence that there is almost no difference between a man and a woman, yet it is obvious when looking at a normal family that the approach of a father is quite different from the approach of a mother when dealing with children. Children need both parents. The victims of this society are the children who grow up in it. Many are hurt, many never achieve. But they have no other 'big picture' to follow. Or have they? Well they should have.
Jesus gave us the 'big picture' which was to be his Kingdom. As we know from reading Matthew 19 Jesus hated divorce. But alas if he appeared in many of our churches today and said the same words people would shout at him "Stop, you are being judgemental!" Or if he condemned Adultery, many priests would advice him that he is wrong and as long as people gave to the poor then such relationships were acceptable. "Your judgements were OK in their day but we are more educated now, and anyway we know about conscience today and that you really do not mind at all" Why am I getting at here. I am saying rather than building the Kingdom of Heaven on earth as we pray for in the Our Father we are as a Church very much ensuring that that Kingdom never comes and a Church which conforms with society takes its place.
What was the 'big picture' Jesus tried to give us? It was a society in which people who married as Christians recognised they were joined by God and God was part of their marriage. Again in his understanding of human nature Jesus saw that preparation for marriage was essential, and part of that preparation was not experimenting with sex before marriage for such behaviour makes fidelity to one person difficult and is a major factor in the break up of marriage, since infidelity is often the result. And as Christians we see God as very much part of the marriage and turn to him in difficulties, and we do not make protecting the children from fighting an excuse for a divorce, but we honour the children and God by respecting the right of the children not to hear us quarrelling. I grew up with fighting parents and at one stage my parents almost divorced, however I am glad that they remained together for I would have resented any other man in my life who was not my father. So the big picture is a society where husbands and wives are faithful to one another, a society where children grow up in the love of a father and mother. A society where because they feel loved children grow up happy and do not feel hurt bu the absence of a father. There is so much loneliness, despair, and suicide among children who feel unloved and unwanted. Now we have the vision of Jesus and it is contained in the 10 Cmmandment of the Old Testament which without the grace of God many Jews found hard to follow. But as Paul said in Corinthians 1 "we now live in the grace of Jesus" That grace is a positive help to us. Can we chose between the secular world and the Kingdom of Jesus? Not if we are :Christians. But remember that when we teach chastity to our children it is not just to make them feel good. To tell them that it is a good thing to do this and God will love hem. No, their chastity must be part of the vision of Christ, a call to change the world, the 'big picture'.
But the answer lies in understanding that young people today are more idealistic about their society than ever before. Many are committed to justice for all, but are turning more to those who have little understanding of human nature and how many things they believe are good in society are actually destructive. But what they have is a 'big picture' which is an illusion and secular values that are destructive of society. Just look at what secular values have cost. My negative 'big picture' you might say is watching the rise in teenage suicides, in knife crimes, in rape, in so many children growing up in children homes without parents who are then sexually exploited because they have not experienced the love of a family. And while politicians rant and rave about poverty they fail to see that it was their opposition to family life that has caused poverty in the first place. Many young people caught up in the sexual revolution have become the head of single parent families in a society where two wages are demanded for comfortable living. Then there is the irresponsible rise in divorce to about half of all marriages. The insistence that there is almost no difference between a man and a woman, yet it is obvious when looking at a normal family that the approach of a father is quite different from the approach of a mother when dealing with children. Children need both parents. The victims of this society are the children who grow up in it. Many are hurt, many never achieve. But they have no other 'big picture' to follow. Or have they? Well they should have.
Jesus gave us the 'big picture' which was to be his Kingdom. As we know from reading Matthew 19 Jesus hated divorce. But alas if he appeared in many of our churches today and said the same words people would shout at him "Stop, you are being judgemental!" Or if he condemned Adultery, many priests would advice him that he is wrong and as long as people gave to the poor then such relationships were acceptable. "Your judgements were OK in their day but we are more educated now, and anyway we know about conscience today and that you really do not mind at all" Why am I getting at here. I am saying rather than building the Kingdom of Heaven on earth as we pray for in the Our Father we are as a Church very much ensuring that that Kingdom never comes and a Church which conforms with society takes its place.
What was the 'big picture' Jesus tried to give us? It was a society in which people who married as Christians recognised they were joined by God and God was part of their marriage. Again in his understanding of human nature Jesus saw that preparation for marriage was essential, and part of that preparation was not experimenting with sex before marriage for such behaviour makes fidelity to one person difficult and is a major factor in the break up of marriage, since infidelity is often the result. And as Christians we see God as very much part of the marriage and turn to him in difficulties, and we do not make protecting the children from fighting an excuse for a divorce, but we honour the children and God by respecting the right of the children not to hear us quarrelling. I grew up with fighting parents and at one stage my parents almost divorced, however I am glad that they remained together for I would have resented any other man in my life who was not my father. So the big picture is a society where husbands and wives are faithful to one another, a society where children grow up in the love of a father and mother. A society where because they feel loved children grow up happy and do not feel hurt bu the absence of a father. There is so much loneliness, despair, and suicide among children who feel unloved and unwanted. Now we have the vision of Jesus and it is contained in the 10 Cmmandment of the Old Testament which without the grace of God many Jews found hard to follow. But as Paul said in Corinthians 1 "we now live in the grace of Jesus" That grace is a positive help to us. Can we chose between the secular world and the Kingdom of Jesus? Not if we are :Christians. But remember that when we teach chastity to our children it is not just to make them feel good. To tell them that it is a good thing to do this and God will love hem. No, their chastity must be part of the vision of Christ, a call to change the world, the 'big picture'.
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