WOMEN AND YOUNG PEOPLE LEAVING AND THE POPE'S HOPE-FILLED OVERTURE TO THEM

Two recent surveys were conducted by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) with the aim of better understanding the stories, experiences, behavior and attitudes of baptized Catholics. 

The first survey, commissioned by America Media, included responses from more than 1,500 American women who self-identify as Catholic.

The second survey, commissioned by Saint Mary’s Press, was a qualitative survey of young, disaffiliated Catholics — a group previously examined in a 2015 Pew Research Center survey.

Editors at America Media published a series of essays detailing the growing disaffiliation of women from the Church. The largest takeaway was that the majority of respondents, from differing generations, rarely, if ever, attend Mass on Sundays. 

Many of these same women do not participate in any Sacraments, social ministries or faith communities. Many of these respondents support initiatives or ideas at odds with the Church’s teaching, particularly those related to human sexuality and Marriage, along with beliefs and practices related to Ordained ministry. 

I know from personal experience -- in the comments I receive on this blog whenever I publish survey results from Cara or Pew -- that many Catholics adopt either a hostile or indifferent attitude to those who disassociate themselves from the Church. 

This attitude of dismissal is not lost on young Catholics.  

A number of respondents mentioned that the saddest part about their departure from actively practicing the Faith was the feeling that “no one cared that they had left.”  

Pope Francis has called for a Church defined by a spirit of accompaniment, and one that listens to the lived experience of its members — which includes all of the baptized. He’s instructed the Church to “open its doors” and “let Jesus out.”  

If people aren’t coming into our church buildings, then the Church needs to go out to them, the Holy Father has repeatedly said. 

This refrain is sure to come up during the discussions of the upcoming meeting of the Synod on Young People, Vocation, and Discernment, a meeting of the world’s bishops that Pope Francis has called to be held at the Vatican this October. 

Some suggest that the first step to bringing people back into the community of the Church will always be an invitation, offered in the context of a relationship. And that relationship will always require a willingness to sit with someone and listen to his or her experience and personal history. 

Pope Francis has encouraged Church leadership to open their ears to what the folks in the pews have to say.

It is a noble challenge.

But, unless the Holy See and the Bishops are seriously and sincerely concerned with what the faithful and disaffiliated have to say and are willing to take practical steps to respond to their needs, all will seem to be yet other instance of empty gestures.

Pope Francis is hopeful that the upcoming Synod will be positive and fruitful.  

We share that hope in prayer to the Holy Spirit that God's People will open their hearts to the Grace of Love and Forgiveness that comes to them through the ministry of the Church.