Making The Case

This week I had the opportunity to talk about my work with young adult ministry and Catholic social teaching with a leader in the field of social justice in the Catholic Church. In my conversations with ministers and young adults across the country, I have generally heard very positive feedback about the need to create more resources for the intersection between Catholic social teaching and young adults. So I was quite surprised when this expert responded to me with a polite dismissal, saying, "You know, I'd ask the question of why we'd even bother to do 'young adult ministry' at all."

About a hundred statistics and pastoral experiences jumped into my head at that second. I tried quickly to make the case (the old elevator speech) for the need for faith communities to reach out with intentionality to those who are not in their pews, to consider what it means for their present and their future that entire generations of young people are not even darkening their door steps in the numbers they used to. I talked about how churches used to sit back and wait for young people to return to the truth of the church, to get married or raise their children. But now, significant changes to the lifecycle stage of young adulthood, combined with unique characteristics of Gen X & Gen Y, have created what seems to be a perfect storm. Young adults are simply not in our churches in the numbers or percentages that they used to be; we have to address this reality.

But I didn't change his mind one bit. He smiled politely as he listened, but I was unable to convince him that a real need for the life of Catholic social teaching is to translate this teaching into the language and reality of today's young people.

At first I was disappointed by this encounter. I wondered why someone who cared so passionately about getting Catholics to feel the fire for social ministry and work with the poor could so easily dismiss the idea of reaching out to draw new generations into this call of the Gospel. 

But in reflecting on our conversation since, I have realized that it was as much a moment of grace as every positive exchange I've had on the subject. Sometimes we need someone to dismiss our passion in order to realize how firmly anchored we are in the truth. Sometimes we need an expert to tell us we are wrong in order to reveal how truly right we believe we are. Sometimes God deliberately sends us a challenge to test how firmly we believe in the work we are called to do.

So ultimately, I am really glad that this person completely shot down my idea and everything I have been working for over the past several years. I feel renewed energy to bring this message to even more people, because I am convinced that ministers and church leaders need to see the reality of young adults' need in our church. And the future of any social justice work done in the name of Christ will depend on the involvement and commitment of new generations.

Part Two - Gaps

As a follow-up to my post yesterday about "The State of Our Unions," I wanted to share one more excerpt from David Popenoe's essay. Among the many aspects studied by the National Marriage Project are attitudes about marriage and family among today's teenagers. Popenoe cites the most recent findings from studies of high schoolers and contrasts them with the reality seen among young adults:

"The great majority of American high school seniors still want to get married, with 82% of girls and 70% of boys recently saying that 'having a good marriage and family life' is 'extremely important' to them. These percentages, in fact, represent a slight increase from the late 1970s. But as high schoolers reach young adulthood, when the attraction of cohabitation and careers gains strong currency, making the actual commitment to marriage is not easy. Young people need, therefore, to be made continually aware of the many benefits married life brings, both for themselves and for their children. The empirical evidence is now strong and persuasive that a good marriage enhances personal happiness, economic success, health and longevity. This evidence should become a regular part of our education programs and our public discourse."

Popenoe poses an interesting question: why do we have such disparity, this gap between what young people believe about marriage at the end of high school and what they believe just a few years later? What happens during these years to change their minds?

I think one part of the answer lies in a point that the National Marriage Project addresses, but fails to connect to the question of the gap between high schoolers' and young adults' attitudes towards marriage. It relates to another disparity - the growing "marriage gap" in America between those who are well-educated and those who are not. Consider these facts:

• Americans with a college degree (about 25% of the U.S. population) are much more likely to marry and much less likely to divorce than those without a college education. 
  
• In the early 1990s, 16.5% of college-educated women were divorced within 10 years of marrying, compared to 46% of women who did not finish high school. Such differences in the divorce rate have remained relatively steady over time.
• Most of the recent decline in divorce rates is among the college-educated. For those who did not finish high school, the divorce rate is actually rising.

So perhaps these two gaps are related - the gap between high schoolers and young adults, and the gap between those with college educations and those without. The question of social justice thus enters the debate: does a young person's access to higher education influence how he or she will ultimately view marriage? Studies show that Americans with less education and lower income levels are more likely to live together instead of marry, more likely to divorce, and more likely to have children out of wedlock. 

Do we need to reframe the question? Is it not always the allure of cohabitation or the pressure of careers that redefines young people's view of marriage (although this may be true for the mid-to-upper classes)? Could it also be the reality of diminished educational and economic opportunities that colors many young adults' attitude towards marriage?

Young Adults & Marriage

This week I read "The State of Our Unions 2007: The Social Health of Marriage in America," the latest report from the National Marriage Project at Rutgers University. The report begins with a fascinating essay by David Popenoe on the role of "secular individualism" in weakening marriage as the primary social institution both in America and abroad. 

Consider the following excerpts from Popenoe's essay:

"A powerful indicator of future trends are the beliefs and attitudes of today's young people, which are unmistakably more secular and individualist than those of their elders. A recent study concluded that emerging adults (ages 18-24) in America, compared to their earlier counterparts and their older contemporaries, are more disaffected and disconnected from society, more cynical or negative about people, and have moved in a liberal direction. A Pew Foundation national survey found that 20% of today's young people (18-24) say that they have no religious affiliation or are atheist or agnostic, nearly double the percentage of the non-religious found in that age group less than 20 years ago."

Such statistics may seem to paint a bleak picture of the future of religion, and therefore, Popenoe argues, of marriage in America. And yet, consider his thoughts on "the best prospects for cultural change":

"Any widely accepted 'new morality' that might change family behavior would probably have to be compatible with secular individualism's motivating force - rational self-interest. The self-interest of today's young people still includes the desire to have strong intimate relationships and to want to do best by their children. And there is every reason to believe that these interests will continue into the future because they are, in fact, an intrinsic part of being human. The task that lies ahead, then, is to help young people to see the importance of marriage and strong families as the best way to achieve these interests..."

From a Catholic perspective, it seems odd to appeal to "rational self-interest" as grounds for cajoling young adults into the institution (to say nothing of the vocation!) of marriage. And yet, Popenoe's argument is both pragmatic and provocative. Young adults are always talking about their desire for real relationships, for meaning in their lives. How can churches engage their most basic wants and needs as humans, to show them that marriage can be precisely this kind of life-giving relationship - and not just another institution to dismiss as oppressive or outdated? 

It seems to me that marriage and the church find themselves in similar situations these days, misunderstood or even maligned as antiquated institutions, not the foundations for healthy relationships. Both require much more attention and thoughtful discussion from the perspective of young adults...

Back to blogging!

A good friend reminded me today (albeit lovingly) exactly how long it had been since I last wrote on this blog. And she was right - the momentum of a new academic year swept me up in its energy, and as a result of jumping into new work and classes, my blogging has taken the proverbial back seat. But I had a great conversation with one of my professors this week in which he reminded me that I have to keep my experiences from this summer on the front burner in order to stay focused and energized on what I have learned - and what I am called to next. (I believe his exact words were, "I know you well enough to know that you will jump into the academics - but I also know you don't want to leave all these learnings behind!" Probably everyone in my life could call me out in the same way; a good reminder.)

My recent lack of posting certainly doesn't mean that any of the questions surrounding young adults and social justice have become less pressing on my mind. Indeed, as the momentum around the November election builds and the global economies shudder with each financial aftershock, I find myself thinking more and more about where young people find themselves today and what kind of future they imagine for themselves. 

How will the next generation of presidential candidates and Wall Street CEOs learn from the state of the world they experience today? How might Gen Xers and Millennials lead differently? Surveys show us that today's 20- and 30-somethings are increasingly concerned with issues of social justice in the political arena. Similarly, studies of young Catholics confirm that they identify care for the poor as a central part of Christianity. But what do these surveys really reveal? Have young adults simply absorbed some kind of trendy, global altruism (like all the Hollywood celebrities raising awareness of poverty and AIDS in Africa) or are they deepening their understanding of what it means to opt for the poor, to be in solidarity with the marginalized, to give voice to the voiceless - to carry out the mission of Christ in the world today?

Perhaps more importantly, what are young people going to DO with this globally-minded, justice-oriented mindset that we hear so much about from the media? Will young adults' interest in this fall's election spur them on to lifelong political involvement and activism on behalf of the issues they passionately support or reject? Will their global perspectives lead them to take different views on the financial crises facing not only our own country, but the whole world?

My hope is that churches will take more active steps to engage these young adults, who are quick to name their spiritual hunger but less quick to do something about it. If our faith communities would invite young people into real dialogue with church leaders about their needs, fears, and hopes - as well as the gifts they could bring to the church in turn - then all of this energy we glimpse in young people today could reenergize our parishes as well. 

What parish wouldn't love to have twenty - even ten! - more young adults as active participants in their liturgies, members of their committees, leaders of their ministries? But most churches aren't doing a single thing about the lack of young people in their pews (other than perhaps lamenting their absence), and then church leaders wonder why young adults seem to be more jazzed about politics than religion these days.

Lots of important questions to consider as November draws closer and the economic forecasts continue to challenge us...