Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, July 13, 2025
At a recent Jack’s Yacs young adult event, we had a barbeque dinner and a discussion after Sunday Mass. The topic was “how to live as Catholics in the midst of a busy young adult life”. Our young adults began by sharing why they themselves practice the faith, go to Mass and pray. I told them that most of my own young adult nieces and nephews do not regularly attend Mass. So why do so many young adults come to Mass at Saint John’s? I estimate that 25-33% of our Sunday Mass attendees are in their 20s and 30s.
Several of the young adults were converts, young people who on their own chose to become Catholic. These young people spoke of their search for meaning and stability. They felt that they needed God and that they found a way to serve and love God in the Catholic Church.
Others came from Catholic families. I wondered whether these young people would say that they simply continued practicing the faith as they had done with their parents. In fact, every speaker indicated that he or she had made a well -reasoned and intentional decision to practice the faith. Perhaps their parents influenced them; but they remain active Catholics for their own reasons and needs. Like the converts, they felt a need for God. Several of them had stopped going to Mass for a while, but missed the connection to God that going to Mass stimulates.
Our young adults, whether they are converts or from Catholic families, practice the faith because without it they feel that something is missing. They feel more whole when they are in a close relationship with the Lord. No one quoted Saint Augustine, but I was reminded of what he said about his own journey to Christ:
“For you made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you”. In essence, this is what I heard from our young adults, that they feel a restless need if they do not encounter Christ in the Church and in the Eucharist.
They said two other notable things.
They spoke about being turned off by judgmental Christians. So many of their peers associated judgment with Christianity and they too have encountered judgment and disapproval. They wished that they could tell others that true Christianity is not about judgment but about mercy and acceptance.
They also spoke well of Saint John’s. They had all attended other Catholic Churches and had positive experiences elsewhere. In no way is Saint John’s the only church where they feel at home. But they also said that Saint John’s is a particularly welcoming church community.
I have heard on numerous occasions about Saint John’s spirit of welcome. This is remarkable when we consider that the majority of our Sunday congregation are visitors, not parishioners. When we add that another quarter of our congregation are young adults, who are not likely to be at Saint John’s for more than a few years, our stable and long term parishioners are only a few people. Yet we project welcome!
I commend our parishioners and I encourage you to continue to go out of your way to welcome our visitors; indeed, let’s welcome and encourage one another always.
The Archdiocese is in the midst of an evangelical renewal and reaching out to unchurched Catholics and others outside the Church is the goal. I feel that this listening session with our churchgoing young adults provides data about how to reach other young adults who are not now in church.
