In the past, people went to church with their families, but now many who went to church no longer go. There are cases where people naturally become distant after entering college, but there are also many who are waiting to do so on entering college. For these people, the church is not the place they want to return to.
Young people are often seen as selfish individuals and “a generation that seeks only material goods and enjoyment” based solely on outward appearance, but what she observed was different. Just as much as the older generation, they long for new insights and wisdom beyond the horizon of reality, pursue a community where they share thoughts and experiences, and are interested in the climate crisis and a sustainable future. The way they express themselves, connect with each other and form a community are just different from the older generation.
Young people's spiritual pursuits do not necessarily lead to Christianity. She is more concerned about how the church is seen through the eyes of young people. When discussing with students what role and contribution religion can play in our lives and society, unfortunately, many of them show hostility and indifference. For young people, the church is “a group rife with hypocrisy, exclusion, sexism, hatred, and egoism.” They are no longer even disappointed in the church since they have no expectations. The church not only does not understand the difficulties they face in life, nor willing to listen.
The pain that young people face varies depending on the situation they are in but is usually expressed as depression, anxiety, and isolation. These are issues that the Church has paid pastoral attention to for a long time, and the Church's spiritual tradition also has abundant resources to examine and comfort them. It is not that the church is not interested in young people. Both dioceses and parishes have already made great efforts to retain young people for a long time. Nevertheless, young people still, or increasingly, turn their backs on the church. Where did it go wrong? The problem is not a lack of interest, resources, and effort, but rather the fact that the church is "unwilling to listen?"
Last January, she watched a website discussion hosted by the American Jesuit magazine America. Priests, religious, and female believers who attended the first session of the Synod of Bishops on Synodalitas (October 2023) were invited as panelists to share their experiences. Participants agreed that this general meeting was surprisingly new in terms of methodology and process.
Since the beginning of Synodalitas, Pope Francis has emphasized that a change in thinking and approach is needed rather than resolving individual issues that have piled up. The Pope's vision was embodied in deep listening, with no interruptions allowed throughout the General Assembly. No one interrupted the participants, including women and young people in their twenties, to fully share their stories. After listening to each other's stories, there was mandatory silence to prevent spontaneous and emotional responses. Participants learned how to listen before speaking, and to express different opinions without breaking the consensus, and discussed how they could work together with different positions. I saw hope in that experience.
Isn't the attitude and skill of listening what the church needs most? In an attitude of learning and accepting rather than teaching and demanding, and in the process of stepping back and making way for the church and creating a space to go together rather than insisting that the church is always right, perhaps young people and the church can meet again.
