Exploring Religious Education

Exploring Religious Education

The Church has a problem, attracting youth. The Church needs youth to

keep the Mass going, because as the old get older, the young get less

interested. Churches in Canberra are already taking action to attract

young people. There are youth groups that hold concerts, parties and

get togethers so that people of the same age group can meet and relate

to each other.

The youth of today has not been brought up in a Church based community

as the Generations before them had been. Young people have less

knowledge of the history and meanings of Church, Mass and the Bible.

This makes it hard for a teenager to sit though a Mass. Children that

have been brought up in a Church going family generally have bad

memories of being dragged into a Church and having to sit for what

seems like hours on end listening to the Father preach. If younger

children were taught to understand the meanings of what each part of

Mass stood for a greater respect for the Church would be found.

The time that Mass takes up is valuable, to both teens and the parents

who have to take them. Mass is often a very long process and working

parents cannot spare what precious time they have to spend upwards of

an hour in Church. Some Parishes in Canberra have taken this into

account and provide different times, days and lengths of Masses to

provide for all those out there that often cannot find the time to

attend a congregation. Teenagers are renowned for their lack of

ability to concentrate for large amounts of time. A long Mass will

bore teens and this will push them away from the Church when they are

older. Memories of being bored will put an...

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...ptions now out there the Church is having a hard time drawing

attention away from other religions and belief structures, but if the

Church wants the youth to come back into the congregation then they

need to adjust to these issues (In the same way that people had to

adjust to electricity, cars and spaceflight). In this freethinking

society, it is difficult to be attracted to a religion that tells you

go to Church. Humans aren’t very good at being commanded these days,

and the Church needs to loosen its grip around the throats of the

unwilling.

To make the Church more attractive to the youth of today would be

quite a challenge for both the Church and the teens that the Church

would be aiming at, but it would only involve a few steps, and it

would be worth it. The Church needs young people to keep the faith

going.