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July 24, 2011 edition

Young People Hunger for True Relationship with Jesus
by Bishop Dale J. Melczek

Over the next month, I will have the opportunity to witness the unique faith expressed by adolescents and young adults at two very important events: the diocesan Catholic Youth Xperience (CYX, July 23-24), and the diocesan pilgrimage to World Youth Day (France and Spain, August 12-22).

In his message to youth for the upcoming World Youth Day, Pope Benedict XVI acknowledged that a primary reason the event was awarded to Spain is because of declining religious participation in Europe. Here in the United States, we, too, see declining attendance at mass and worry about the future of our Church.

Statistically, however, our young Church gives us a sign of hope! In a landmark religious study detailed recently in Souls in Transition: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of Emerging Adults (Christian Smith, Patricia Snell), we learn our high schoolers, college students, and young adult Catholics are, in fact, very religious. They believe strongly in God, turn to God often through personal prayer, and seek a religious experience that embraces social justice.

The disconnect between their “high level of religiosity,” as the authors put it, and declining regular participation in Sunday Mass is a very significant problem for us to explore and address.

Overwhelmingly at these youth events I am reminded that young people seek a true relationship with Jesus Christ that they can see, touch, and feel. Pope Benedict wrote: “In every period of history, including our own, many young people experience a deep desire for personal relationships marked by truth and solidarity.”

At World Youth Day, over 30 pilgrims from our diocese will enter into that kind of relationship with Jesus and with well over one million others around the globe in Madrid. We will immerse ourselves in daily Eucharist, Station of the Cross, Reconciliation, and catechesis. We will light candle s and pray in a vigil led of by the Holy Father. Before arriving in Spain, we will pray and celebrate mass at the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes.

We are fortunate our sacramental Catholic faith is one in which the senses are stimulated. Our young people respond to a faith expressed experientially, together with a community of peers.

A much shorter trip than Madrid, but a pilgrimage nonetheless, is this weekend’s eighth annual Catholic Youth Xperience. I look forward to celebrating Mass with enthusiastic teens and adult leaders from nearly 30 parishes on the campus of Valparaiso University on Sunday afternoon. CYX remains the showcase event for youth ministry in the Diocese of Gary, and is a comprehensive experience of catechesis, prayer, service, and discipleship.

This November, our teens and their leaders will join over 20,000 others in Indianapolis for the National Catholic Youth Conference. Just prior to that in October, a few hundred middle schoolers will gather at Andrean for the large diocesan youth ministry event, “Grásta Dé!” And now each month, our Youth and Young Adult Ministry Office offers “ReConnect,” a chance for young people from throughout the diocese to gather together for prayer and fellowship.

These events are not meant to replace the parish experience, but rather to enhance it. A recent study showed that Catholic youth who participated in retreats, rallies, and conferences were significantly more likely to attend Mass regularly, to re3ad the Bible, and to report being close to God.

There is no shortage of opportunities for the young Church in Northwest Indiana to experience Christ. I salute our priests, youth ministers, catechetical leaders, and parents who are doing everything they can to encourage the young people they serve to see and touch the face of Christ.