By Sister Kathy Burton, SSJ, and Mary Lou Hughes
In last week’s article in the Star Herald, “Ripe for the Harvest,” Julianne Stanz, director of Discipleship and Leadership Development for the Diocese of Green Bay, offered some very sobering statistics for the contemporary Catholic Church. In her article, Stanz referenced the 2018 study conducted by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) and Saint Mary’s Press.
This study reports that 74% of young people between the ages of 10 and 20 stopped identifying as Catholic with the median age being 13. Saint Mary’s Press published the complete study in a small book entitled “Going, Going, Gone: The Dynamics of Disaffiliation in Young Catholics.” This study and Stanz’ article, gave me pause. What are we doing as a church? How are our parishes supporting families and providing opportunities for discipleship training? Where is our hope for the future?
Believe it or not, these statistics can be a sign of hope. In fact, they are an invitation to think differently. These studies tell us that what we are doing is not as effective as in the past. The title “Ripe for the Harvest,” implies hope of something yet to come. Could this invitation be a call to our parish communities to evaluate their present ministries and envision different ways of accompanying families on this faith journey? This is a daunting task, one that requires support and effective tools.
Let’s take a look at what is happening and offered in our own diocese. This past spring, every parish sent a delegation to the Diocesan Convocation of Catholic Leaders. Here approximately 600 delegates experienced the joy of the Gospel and embraced their call to discipleship and the challenge to evangelize others.
In addition, opportunities are available to parishes to assist them in answering the call to discipleship. Studies continue to stress that effective faith formation begins first in family life. How can we support our families? Our diocese is in partnership with a national initiative called Strong Catholic Families/Strong Catholic Youth. In this workshop, a facilitator, through reflections and discussions, helps motivate and engage parents to embrace their responsibility for the faith development of their children and grow the domestic church of the home.
Celebrating milestones of life in families and parishes is also a way of passing on a lived faith, placing all baptized members from youngest to oldest in the light of God’s redeeming work. This ministry promotes both faith formation and outreach into the larger community.
In addition to these initiatives, the Offices of Faith Formation/Family Life/Lay Ministry Formation have developed standards for the preparation and celebration of the sacraments of initiation. We have also provided standards outlining an effective process for providing multiple models of faith formation in a parish. These standards assist parish formation teams in providing a more holistic, inclusive process aimed at forming young disciples.
Stanz concludes her article with a question for all of us: “Do we really believe that our world is a field ripe for an abundant harvest?” If we do, then all of us must respond to Jesus’ mandate to his disciples’ “… ask the harvest-master to send workers to his harvest. Be on your way. …”
Our baptism calls each and every one of us into a deeper relationship with Jesus which compels us to bring the Good News to all.
For more information about the diocesan initiatives mentioned in this article, please contact Sister Kathy Burton, SSJ, sr.kathy.burton@camdendiocese.org or Mary Lou Hughes, Marylou.hughes@camdendiocese.org, co-directors for the Offices of Faith Formation/Family Life/Lay Ministry Formation
Sister Kathy Burton, SSJ, and Mary Lou Hughes are co-directors of the Offices of Faith Formation, Family Life and Lay Ministry Formation, Diocese of Camden.
at the bottom and then tap “Add to Home Screen”
