Catholic with an evangelical twist
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Comments (12)
Donna Freitas
ShareThis
Learning from evangelicals isn’t as simple as introducing praise and worship music and talking about a personal relationship with Christ at your next youth group meeting.
Donna Freitas, a theologian and author of Sex and the Soul: Juggling Sexuality, Spirituality, Romance, and Religion on America’s College Campuses (Oxford University Press), has spent a lot of time with both Catholic and evangelical youth and has a few tips to keep in mind:
1. Share the church’s long tradition with youth. The church’s rich spiritual traditions are what distinguish it from evangelical culture, but most youth don’t know much about them. “That should be the poster. That’s the best selling point that Catholicism has,” Freitas says. “All these practices can be adapted to daily life.”
2. Empower Catholic youth. “The big difference between evangelical youth and Catholic youth has to do with agency and authority,” Freitas says. “Remind Catholic youth that they have ownership over their faith life.” When she talks to young people, she tells them, “You can do theology now.” Catholics need to know that their faith comes not only from the Vatican but from their own experiences too.
3. Remember that evangelical does not equal orthodox. Many think that becoming an evangelical Catholic means embracing all of the rules and practices of traditional Catholicism. This, however, only appeals to a small subset of conservative Catholic youth, Freitas says. Orthodoxy does not appeal to the average young person as much as a youth-created culture does.
4 Talk about sexuality positively. Evangelical culture often highlights sexual purity with an intensity that Freitas has found really stresses out students. While Catholic youth also struggle with the church’s standards on sexuality, Freitas has determined a better approach than only, “Don’t have sex.” “My way into conversations about sexuality is through justice and spirituality,” she says.
This article appears in the May 2010 issue of U.S. Catholic (Vol. 75 no. 5, page 28).
Related: Sex, lies, and hook-up culture: an interview with Donna Freitas
Nobody expects
By IORR (not verified) on Monday, May 24, 2010"Are we Catholic or are we heretics??"
Is that smoke I smell? Boy, it sure is hot in here.
Conservative Catholic
By Zorro (not verified) on Monday, May 24, 2010"small subset of conservative Catholic youth, Freitas says. Orthodoxy does not appeal to the average young person as much as a youth-created culture does. "
I've had it with this label. We have orthodox Catholic, Devout Catholic, Conservative Catholic, etc.
If you practice some 'cafeteria' Catholicism are you just Catholic?
Stop with the labels. Are we Catholic or are we heretics??
Orthodoxy, means obedience to all of that is the will of God and a high level of reverence for the Eucharist both through prayer and outward signs of respect (genuflecting)...If that doesn't appeal to the youth, then the gates of hell aren't far from eating the Church.
tradition is youthful
By Denis (not verified) on Sunday, May 23, 2010Want to see involved and engaged youth? Go to a traditionalist parish.
I suffered as a youth through the 80's, through pseudo-pentacostal worship and condescending attempts to "relate" to the youth. It wasn't until I discovered the artistic, musical, liturgical, philosophical, and theological traditions of the Church that I found my home.
Young people do not find meaning in pop psychology, false intimacy, ugly art and architecture, bad music, and misguided affirmations of the values of our sexually promiscuous culture.
If they did, they wouldn't need Church, because they get all of the above in the secular world. Why bother dragging yourself to Church on Sundays if it just looks like a tackier, sappier version of every other day of the week?
Orthodoxy
By Qualis Rex (not verified) on Saturday, May 22, 2010Orthodoxy does not appeal to the average young person as much as a youth-created culture does.
And abstinence does not appeal to the average young person as much as sex does. Adults understand that the measure of what is good for us is not based on its "appeal". Your opinion exposes your cultural bias and shallow attitude based on being brainwashed by pop-culture.
Oh, and FYI, if orthodoxy became "cool", then you better believe it would have "appeal to the average young person." Kids are sheep and slaves to peer-pressure. Show Zack and Codie as altar boys at a Tridentine liturgy and you'll see a spike in tween mass attendance the following day.
Baaaaaa
By IORR (not verified) on Sunday, May 23, 2010"Kids are sheep and slaves to peer-pressure."
You have a real high opinion of kids don't you? Your wisdom is astounding.
Orthodoxy does not appeal to
By wsxyz (not verified) on Friday, May 21, 2010Orthodoxy does not appeal to the average young person as much as a youth-created culture does.
Is this supposed to be a pro-heterodoxy argument?
Are we supposed to junk the faith and have some really wild teen parties in the parish hall just to bring them in the door?
No. Teach the basics. There is a God. He created you to be happy with Him forever in Heaven. To do this you must learn to know Him, love Him, and serve Him in this world. If you choose to reject God, you will be separated from Him in Hell for all eternity. Hell is a place of eternal suffering.
On another topic, my "Captcha" words are "the embezzle". Great....
catholic with an evangelical twist
By Anonymous (not verified) on Tuesday, May 18, 2010As a convert, I have struggled with "old-school" teaching of the faith and engaging the youth of our parishes. Most of the parishes I've lived in do a very, very poor job of reaching out to teens and young adults. Most youth are looking for that emotional tie to faith, like it or not. The Bible is not "taught" from the pulpit. Most homilies are shot-gun affairs or we get hung up on the special issue of the day. And the way the readings are structured are ridiculous. The books of the Bible tell the story of our faith. Piecing together unrelated readings and skipping around verses (like reading verse 1-3, then 7&8, etc) is pretty strange and unnecessary. TELL THE STORY! Then we are preached AT. The Church needs to develop meaningful ways to reach the younger members, make them feel they matter. Jesus would be a rebel in today's church.
youth and the Bible
By plavo (not verified) on Wednesday, April 21, 2010I've been a priest for over forty years and it baffles me as to why young catholics aren't interested in the Bible, and even more, don't even gravitate to it, and the only thing I can some up with is that since early on, they have had scripture read AT THEM that is incomprehensi ble and non-engaging; some of the snippets of Paul, or the Gospel "as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert", or whatever, and it is a crying shame. Our grade school children are led to Mass and have a lectionary read to them that even adults wouldn't understand....so how can they grow in the love of scripture? and our hierarchs are worried about literal latin translations! How sad!
Why
By IORR (not verified) on Sunday, May 23, 2010Part of it is that they have been forced to go to mass since they were toddlers. Teens naturally rebel against whatever they are told to do. Since, at least officially, attending mass is mandatory and not voluntary they resist it and disengage. Often it has been such a struggle for parents getting them to go that it is almost a relief when they don't. Celibate priests don't realize how Sundays are not the idealized family days they think they are. For many families Sunday starts with rousing reluctant kids out of bed and forcing them to do something they don't want to. By the time they get to mass they have just come from a high stress situation and are not at peace. For families like this mass becomes something they have to do not something they want to. That's why many parents figure they've done their job through Confirmation and give up the fight after that. They figure since Confirmation means full initiation into the Church it's the teen's responsibility to get to mass. It's one of the battles they choose to give up. This sounds negative but it's a reality for many families that priests never personally experience.
youth and the Bible
By Stephen Pohl (not verified) on Tuesday, May 18, 2010"so how can they grow in the love of scripture? "
Not your job Fr. Plavo! Not the "hierarchs" job either.
It's not a problem with the lectionary system either.
It's the parent's job. Catholic children's Bibles have been around for at least the 60 years of my life. If Catholic parents read those stories to their children when they are young, they are much more likely to know and love the Bible. Been there, done that. it works. But Catholic parents have to take the time to do it, starting young and making it pleasant.
U.S. Catholic insists on a civil and respectful dialogue on our website, following our Comment policy. Comments should be charitable, on topic, and brief. U.S. Catholic reserves the right to delete comments deemed inappropriate. We encourage you to choose your words wisely.
