Seminar in Youth Ministry Session Four

1. Youth Culture

5. Average Youth Participants

27. Average Youth Participants

28. BELOIT COLLEGE'S MINDSET LIST FOR THE CLASS OF 2011

74. BELOIT COLLEGE'S MINDSET LIST FOR THE CLASS OF 2011 Available at http://www.beloit.edu/~pubaff/mindset www.dscottmiller.com

93. Where Today’s young people “are”

96. Hardwired to Connect The New Scientific Case for Authoritative Communities Commission on Children At Risk

98. Now instead of being about caring for kids or what’s best for kids, they’re often more about what’s best for adults and keeping kids busy. I describe this as “systemic abandonment of the young” by the adults who are culturally charged with caring for kids. If kids don’t fit the pre-ordained boxes that adults control, they end up hurt, abused and left behind.

101. The “Class of 2011” Young Catholic They have had only one Pope, until very recently!

102. The Second Vatican Council is as ancient history as the Council of Trent. Therefore… The “Class of 2011” Young Catholic

103. They have no memory of the Latin Mass. The “Class of 2011” Young Catholic

104. Women have always been readers and eucharistic ministers at Mass. The “Class of 2011” Young Catholic

105. They have no idea what a biretta is. The “Class of 2011” Young Catholic

120. National Study on Youth and Religion

122. Religion has a significant presence in the lives of many U.S. teens today. Finding #1:

123. Contrary to many popular assumptions and stereotypes, the character of teenage religiosity in the U.S. is extraordinarily conventional . Finding #2:

124. Religious education is failing – if by that we mean helping people understand what they believe. Finding #3:

125. “ Many teenagers know abundant details about the lives of favorite musicians and television stars or about what it takes to get into a good college, but most are not very clear on who Moses and Jesus were .” -Dr. Christian Smith

126. 17 year old, white Catholic boy from Wisconsin: “ My religious beliefs, what’s good and bad, like you know, if you kill or rape someone, I think you’re screwed, give up on life ‘cause it’s over .” Then he added, “I’ll never stop being Catholic, even if I stop believing in God, I’ll still be Catholic .”

127. 15 year old conservative Protestant Hispanic boy from Texas: “ I’m sure God exists and like, helps people and answers their prayers, that’s pretty much it.” [Do you believe in Jesus?] “ Ah, yes…I think (little laugh). I don’t know, I don’t know .”

128. Most U.S. teens have a difficult to impossible time explaining what they believe , what it means, and what the implications of their beliefs are for their lives. Finding #4:

129. 17 year old mainline Lutheran boy from Colorado: “ Uh, well, I don’t know, um, well, I don’t really know. Being a Lutheran, confirmation was a big thing but I didn’t really know what it was and I still don’t. I really don’t know what being a Lutheran means.”

130. “ Indeed, it was our distinct sense that for many of the teens we interviewed, our interview was the first time that any adult had ever asked them what they believed and how it mattered in their life.” -Dr. Christian Smith

131. Regardless of the denomination, most U.S. teens are “Moralistic Therapeutic Deists” Finding #5:

132. 15 year old Hispanic conservative Protestant girl from Florida: “ God is like someone who is always there for you, I don’t know, it’s like God is God. He’s just like somebody that’ll always help you go through whatever you’re going through . When I became a Christian I was just praying and it always made me feel better .”

133. 14 year old Jewish girl from Washington: “ I guess for me Judaism is more about how you live your life. Part of the guidelines are like how to live and I guess be happy with who you are , ‘cause if you’re out there helping someone, you’re gonna feel good about yourself , you know?”

134. 14 year old white Catholic boy from Pennsylvania: “ ‘ Cause God made us and if you ask him for something, I believe he gives it to you. Yeah, he hasn’t let me down yet. God is a spirit that grants you anything you want , but not anything bad.”

135. 16 year old white mainline Protestant boy from Texas: “ Well, God is almighty, I guess [yawns]. But I think he’s on vacation right now because of all the crap that’s happening in the world , ‘cause it wasn’t like this back when he was famous.”

137. Highly religious teens appear to be doing much better in life than less religious teens. Finding #6:

138. “ At the very least, what appears to be clearly not true is the idea that the religious teenagers are essentially no different from non-religious teenagers.” -Dr. Christian Smith

139. “ Catholic teenagers, who represent nearly one-quarter of all U.S. teens, stand out among the U.S. Christian teenagers as consistently scoring lower on most measures of religiosity .” -Dr. Christian Smith

140. * This question was only asked of teens who attend Mass more than twice a year. U.S. CP MP BP RC J LDS NR Made a personal commitment to live for God. 55 79 60 74 41 21 69 13 Shared own religious faith with someone not of faith 43 56 51 41 37 58 72 -- Youth Group participation rate (involved in YG/YG available) 52 64 64 44 32* 41 75 -- Only one religion is true 29 46 26 31 19 9 67 5 Okay to practice religions besides own 51 36 59 40 58 78 36 70 Evangelization: “people should leave everyone else alone” 43 27 39 42 55 75 15 66 Okay to pick and choose beliefs without accepting whole faith 46 36 53 34 54 71 31 62 Believers need to be involved in a religious congregation 32 35 27 45 32 20 60 14

142. Type B: Benevolent God Type A: Authoritarian God Type D: Distant God Type C: Critical God Believe that God is Angry low high high Believe that God is Engaged

148. 23 23 38 36 44 52 56 44 44 56 53 44 Can you be a GOOD CATHOLIC without this? Percentage saying yes 1987 1993 1999 2005 Without believing that Jesus physically rose from the dead Without believing that in the Mass, the bread and wine actually become the body and blood of Jesus Without donating time and money to help the poor Without obeying the church hierarchy’s teaching regarding abortion

149. 60 58 65 66 51 61 68 67 66 73 72 75 57 57 62 70 77 73 76 Can you be a GOOD CATHOLIC without this? Percentage saying yes 1987 1993 1999 2005 Without donating time and money to help the parish Without obeying the church hierarchy’s teaching on divorce and remarriage Without their marriage being approved by the Catholic church Without obeying the church hierarchy’s teaching on birth control W/out weekly church attendance