A new survey from Marist College in Poughkeepsie, NY has much to examine on
millennials. Some initial findings include a high rate of participation in charitable efforts and a longing to learn more about their faith. In fact 84% of Catholics in the survey were interested in learning more about their faith.
Over the next few days, I’ll take different points from the survey and expound on them as per my own experience with the generation. I’ll add some context to this as I think the survey results are amongst some of the most accurate out there.
First off, we’ll look at the interest in learning more about faith.
When presented with the opportunity to learn about faith younger people are almost always interested. The problem that exists is the delivery system that we choose to give them their information with. Do we use our gifts and talents to express an educational initiative in new technological forms or do we simply say “Show up on Thursday night and bring a friend and learn more about Mary”?
We really know how to shoot ourselves in the foot even when we have good information at our disposal.
Secondly, even when we provide an outlet for this information we have to be shared there’s often no follow up. So we’ve given people some faith information…well…so what? What do we want them to do with that information? We want them to be inspired so that they might share that word with others–that they might become what it is that we believe.
Does the information we provide on faith actually move people into a place where they can form ideas on how to make a difference in their own personal lives or is it just more facts and figures to store in their heads to recall at a cocktail party when people have a question on Catholicism?
That indeed is the big question and it is up to us to answer it. What experiences can we lead and offer to young people to help them more intimately take our faith more deeply into their lives?