Make your parish young-adult-friendly
How one parish did it
Photo from Photos.comThe future of the Catholic parish depends upon the number of young adults it can attract. Simple as that. And we are failing. But it doesn’t have to be that way. What is needed is a change of purpose, image and operation. It might mean giving less attention to some of the current groups and ministries in order to make room for this new priority. The payoff is a new vitality that will enliven the entire community.
A shift in emphasis
Consider a pastor who wanted to redirect priorities in order to make the parish more “young-adult-friendly.” A possible scenario might be as follows:
He gets up before the assembly at all of the weekend Masses. “Look around you, folks,” he begins. “What do you think is the average age here? 50? 60? Over 60? It’s certainly not 30 or 40, or even 45. Where are the young people? We are missing a huge group of people. The leadership of your parish, including myself, the staff and pastoral council, has committed itself to locate, invite, support and attract as many young adults as possible. You probably know a relative, an acquaintance, a co-worker or a friend between the ages of 20 and 45 who lives in the area and is a Catholic—perhaps not practicing, but a Catholic nevertheless. Tell us who they are. There are cards in the pews. You can drop the information in the collection basket or give it to an usher as you leave church. Getting their names is a beginning. We will use the parish lists for the same purpose. Another task coming out of this new focus is to form a core team of young adults to organize this new ministry. Your role, besides giving us names of young people, is to pray hard that we succeed in this adventure.”
Harvesting the fruit
Fast forward a year. The change in priorities which the pastor announced at the Masses is beginning to bear fruit. Using the parish census files and the names submitted by parishioners, the pastoral staff assembled a list of 750 young adults, both those with or without children. The pastor hired an enthusiastic and well-qualified young woman to reach out to the young adults. Armed with the list of names and drawing on the experience and suggestions of the pastor, staff, and leaders, she selected a core group of 20 young adults who had a reputation for being good leaders, motivators and organizers.
At the first meeting, the core team split into a number of task groups. One task group came up with an attractive package of six events for the coming year. It focused on a few discussion evenings led by well-known speakers, using money supplied from the parish “young adult” budget. In between these special presentations were social events, including a bike ride in the fall, a ski trip in the winter, an amateur night followed by a dance in the spring.
A second task group focused on service projects, things that would be challenging but not intimidating so as to give the participants a sense of accomplishment and motivation. One option was a tutoring program that included one-on-one interaction with high school students who had difficulty keeping up with their studies. A second was a “Work Project” in another section of the city that not only provided a sense of accomplishment but a chance to socialize with one another as well.
The third task group mapped out a communications and marketing strategy. Its goal was to make contact with all 750 young adults on the list and invite them to the various projects and events that were being planned.
The last task group took the noon Mass on Sunday as its focus. What could be done to make it appealing to those in their 20s, 30s and 40s? Because not all young adults had the same expectation about what constituted a “good liturgical experience,” it was difficult to come up with a plan. The task group agreed that at the very least the Mass should have young adults serving in all of the liturgical ministries, including greeters, ushers, lectors, communion ministers, servers, musicians, even those creating the art and environment for the noon Mass. As one of the task group members said, “We young people are not apathetic about our faith. We want to serve, but we have to be shown that our gifts are needed and respected. If we have a say in what is going to happen we will make sure it gets done.”
Over the first year the ideas generated by the core team began to take shape. The first discussion night drew a sizeable crowd, helped along with a “wine and beer tasting” social at the end. Flyers about upcoming events were circulated throughout the area and notices sent out by every electronic means possible—Twitter, Facebook, the parish Web site, e-mail blasts, and text messaging. New faces began showing up at the noon Mass, partly motivated by the appealing emphasis of the Mass and partly because of the “mixer” afterwards. Slowly a recognizable young adults group began to materialize as more and more regulars showed up for the events.
When the pastor gave his “State of the Parish” talk at the weekend Masses last week and talked about the presence of active young adults in the parish, the assembly gave him an enthusiastic round of applause. He tried to deflect the response, but the people knew that he had much to do with the new vitality they witnessed in the parish. The young adults were bringing new life to the parish. “There is still a long way to go,” the pastor cautioned, “but we have, young and old alike, made great progress. No longer do I worry about the future of our parish. It has become a ‘place for all ages,’ growing in faith together.”
Thomas P. Sweetser, SJ, is the founder and director of the Parish Evaluation Project. His articles have appeared in America, National Catholic Reporter, Commonweal, Chicago Studies, Today’s Parish, Human Development, and Church.
