In this episode of “Theology With An English Accent” (TEA) is the second talk I gave at the Southern Kansas Young Adult Conference last week. If there was one of my talks that I’d like every Catholic to hear, this is probably in top three and is based on the my acceptance speech for the FIAT Award last December:
We are all called to ministry : Doing what you love for Jesus (Download)
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A little while ago, one of my friends suggested that there should be a parish where there is a Young Adult Mass held every week for all members of the Diocese. The idea was that it would be really nice to have a place where the younger members of the Diocese could gather knowing that there would be lots of other young adults present. There would be superb music, excellent preaching and lots of young people.
There was a time in my own journey when I would have enthusiastically embraced this idea. In fact, in our Diocese we have a similar event each year, known as “Mega Mass”, where all the young adults come together and it’s very successful. However, I think that a weekly event would be extremely problematic.
No wrinklies allowed!
Aside from the politics of selecting a parish in the Diocese and personal preferences concerning music, establishing a young adult Mass would be difficult because it’s not like you could stop those who did not fall into the young adult age range from attending. As a consequence, if the young adult Mass were mostly made up of those outside the young adult age range, it is unlikely that it would attract many more young adults.
On the other hand, if the Mass did start to attract more and more young adults, I fear that it would end up depopulating other parishes of their young adults which I think would be disastrous. Something of this dynamic often exists naturally, with one or two parishes of the diocese being known as the “young adult parish”, robbing surrounding parishes of their young adults. Who will be the next generation in these parishes?
My other serious concern with an idea like this is that it plays into a kind of ecclesial consumerism which we’ve seen very clearly in the Protestant world. Obviously, we want music to be good, preaching to be inspiring and for our churches to be filled with the young, but part of me can’t help but think that to enter into such an initiative would be to start training people to think that these are the primary things which should be used to determine what makes going to Mass important. It also sets up a problem further down the line because what happens if the music takes a bit of a downturn? What if the homilies get a little stale? What if the young adult population dips? There will always be some other church somewhere which does it better and if that’s what we’ve trained people to value most, why would they want to stay in the Catholic Church?
What are you thoughts? Would you ever want to see a Young Adult Mass every week in the Diocese?
The other day while I was in the car my thoughts drifted back to the first time I coordinated a large church event. I remember I was amazed at how much time it took to plan, prepare, run and clear up afterwards. I had been to similar evenings before as a participant, but I had no idea how much work was involved in staging such an event. I’m equally sure that the majority of those who attended that night saw only fraction of what was involved, in much the same way as you only see a small portion of an iceberg above the water:
Last week we had a meeting of the Young Adult Commission. At these meetings we go over the current Young Adult initiatives in the Diocese and plan the new events for the months ahead.
Highs
At these meetings I’m often inspired. It’s encouraging to be with other Young Adult leaders who are passionate about what they’re doing. It’s great to feed off one another’s energy and catch a vision of “what could be…”.
Therefore encourage one another and build each other up – 1 Thessalonians 5:11
At last week’s meeting we came up with some superb ideas. Let me tell you, there’s some really good stuff in the pipeline for this summer…
As I was driving home last night I was thinking about the parable of the talents which we heard at Mass, where Jesus teaches us about using our God-given gifts in service of His Kingdom.
This parable’s message was certainly taken to heart by my former Protestant communities. In fact, I think this is one of the many things which we Catholics can really learn from our separated brethren. In those churches the question isn’t “Will you serve?” but “How will you serve?”.
In those congregations, the various ministries were regularly advertised and they were often mentioned in the pastors’ Sunday sermons. There was a very clear understanding that to be a part of the faith community meant to be joined with others in service. I remember in one parish’s bulletin, in the section listing the Church Staff, under the final entry of “Ministers” it simply read “Everyone!”
Service is also a really powerful evangelistic witness. Seeing people live out their faith by serving others stirs up far more interest and questions in unbelievers than any car fish sticker ever has. Service is also a great way to grow in your faith, grow in holiness and to encounter Jesus Christ in a really concrete way. As we will hear in next week’s Gospel:
“I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me” – Matthew 25:36
