Again On The Difficult Subject of the Youth

The other day on Reddit, a young man asked the r/Catholicism subreddit about how to help his non-Catholic girlfriend get involved in the parish, because she said it was unwelcoming compared to Protestant churches.  What resulted was less of a good grouping of suggestions for his girlfriend and more a group of we 20-somethings complaining.  All of us who were converts and in the discussion had to admit that yes, compared to our Protestant brethren, Catholic churches are downright rude in comparison and ice cold to newcomers.  

I tried to push this off as something of a one-off.  I had mostly buried it in my mind, when today at Mass, I looked at my bulletin before we began.  There was a four page letter from our Bishop, explaining many parishes are being combined and many others are being closed.  The primary reason?  Not only are our priests radically declining, but so to is the Catholic population of the diocese.  For every infant baptism, four elderly parishoners die. 

The letter was somber, and rightfully so.  That ratio will not allow the diocese to survive in time, unless it is reversed.  Furthermore, at the announcements at the end of Mass, a great cheer went up from the elderly when father announced that Finals Week would begin on Monday.  Father looked a bit disturbed, and quite honestly, so was I.  It wasn't a cheer for the outreach we do every Finals Week as a parish, but a cheer that was in thanksgiving for not having to deal with people of my age. This attitude matches the rumors that our Bishop has been fighting for the youth while others have suggested slashing funding for youth programs and catechesis "because they'll just leave anyway".

The Bishop's letter did have one silver lining, that some parishes in our diocese are actually growing.  However, they are few and far between.  I've said before and will say again.  What we, the youth, want is Truth and Love.  Unfortunately, we need both of those, and if you're cheering at the idea of us being out of your hair, then you have most definitely missed out on love.