At one o’clock in the afternoon on a Sunday you can find a group of young adults’ video chatting on the computer holding a virtual bible study.
One group that has been affected by the Coronavirus social distancing is the young adults’ group at Holy Family Catholic Church. Holy Family is a traditional style Catholic Church in St. Louis Park Minnesota. Before the outbreak of the virus this young adult community was thriving amid pessimism within the diocese and general sentiments towards the future of the Catholic Church from older Catholics. An attitude that older Catholics hold is that it is only “white hair” is in the pews these days.
Aware of this attitude in the Arch Diocese of Minneapolis St. Paul the Holy Family Young Adults decided to show their presence, and support at the Archdiocesan Synod this Spring. Amid the concerns of the crowd were: the sex abuse scandal, woman priests, and the conservatism of the church. Catholics that were older than 35 brought forward worries, problems, and concerns to the Archbishop. One of these concerns is that the current Church is way too conservative for younger Catholics.
Multiple members of the Holy Family Young Adults group had the chance to take the mic and have a minute to share their thoughts with the Archbishop. Unlike the older crowd, the young adults shared raving reviews about the diocese. They shared praise about our welcoming community and the growing force of young adults’ ministries.
The Twin Cities’ young adult presence has grown substantially over the past few years. Young adults from all areas of the twin cities have been coming together to share in community and learning about the Catholic faith. There is a wide variety of events in the Twin Cities for young adults from a bag toss and chili cook-off at Our Lady of Lourdes, to Theology on Tap held by the Cathedral. Young Adults are not only interested in having drinks with friends, but they also have a genuine interest in learning more about Catholic teaching.
The Church has concerns about the future of the church with scary statistics showing that for every one person that joins the church six leave (USCCB). The reason the young adults wanted to attend the Synod was to show the diocese that the future of the church has potential. The scandals of the past have lowered interest in young people, but the ones that are here are devoted, and ready to help.
Find out if your parish has a young adult’s ministry by visiting the church website.
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