Youth trend back to faith gains ground
YONKERS, N.Y. -- The thousands of young Roman Catholics who have journeyed to see Pope Benedict XVI include 65 prep school students sleeping on a cold church floor, who believe everything he says, and a 15-year-old Queens girl with a lesbian sister, who isn't so sure.
At a rollicking youth rally on the campus of St. Joseph Seminary, and at events throughout the week in Washington and New York, Benedict has encountered youth who have read his encyclicals -- and others more interested in the cool factor of getting to see the pope.
(AP)
The pope was welcomed to chants of ''Viva Papa!'' at the Saturday rally, but American youth don't always embrace their faith so easily. Which direction the younger generation goes will have a major effect on the future of American Catholicism.
Only 14 percent of Catholics ages 20 to 40 attend mass at least weekly, according to a study by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostate at Georgetown University. Other polls find Americans are switching religions more than ever or leaving faith altogether, with the Catholic Church feeling those trends acutely.
Yet evidence also suggests a blooming of youth Catholic orthodoxy. Tradition-minded private Catholic schools like Christendom College in Virginia and Ave Maria University in Florida boast small enrollments but are growing in stature. Also growing are women's religious orders in which sisters wear habits and perform traditional roles such as teaching.
These young, devout Catholics share an appreciation for orthodox theology, self-sacrifice and fidelity to church teaching.
John Romano, 16, wakes up each morning, says a prayer and tries to attend mass during the week when he can. He attends Northridge Prep in north suburban Niles, a 300-student, boys-only school started by members of Opus Dei, a conservative Catholic group.
Romano and a busload of classmates could not find lodging in New York for their pilgrimage to today's mass at Yankee Stadium. So he and 64 other students are sleeping on the floor of a parish hall in Manhattan.
''If things go bad, I think, 'Christ had to carry a cross,'" Romano said. ''Sleeping on the hard concrete floor ... I'm not complaining. I'm offering it to him.''
Benedict's message is appealing because it's truth, and people want what's real, he said.
''He has some really big shoes to fill,'' Romano said. ''John Paul II was great with the youth. Benedict is doing a great job keeping it moving. We need that. We're the future of the church.''
Many young adults, Catholics included, have been reared ''with a diluted version of Christianity, a sort of make it what you want, just be nice to other people version,'' said Colleen Carroll, author of The New Faithful, which studied young, traditionalist Christians. While that contains some truth, many young people find it too watered down and easy, she said.
Rich Meyer, the headmaster of Romano's school, said he detects a shift from Catholic youth from a decade or two ago, who felt it was part of youth to rebel against authority.
''These are typical teenage guys,'' Meyer said of his students. ''But at the same time, they understand one doesn't have to question everything. There is truth with a capital 'T.'"
