Pastoral Letter, Part 3: Planting Seeds for the Future
In this final part of my Pastoral Letter, I want to share some reflections on the future of our parish—specifically, what we as parishioners can do today to plant seeds for our parish’s growth in the years to come. I’ve always believed that a good pastor is called to pour himself out for the people entrusted to him, while also keeping an eye on what will come down the road. This is a balancing act, to be sure, but it would be foolish for us to not think about the future. The greatest hockey player of all time, Wayne Gretzky, is famous for saying “I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.” We need this same future-focused approach as a parish, particularly in how we plan for new parishioners in the next few years. Every parish needs young families to repopulate its pews and keep the flame of faith alive. To plant those seeds, we need the soil and environment of our parish to be as conducive as possible to the growth that new families can bring. Now, let me be clear: this does NOT mean that we neglect our longstanding, existing parishioners for ministry or care! It just means we must always be thinking ahead, so that All Saints can be well positioned for growth down the road. Every parishioner can contribute to this enrichment!
So what can we do as a parish today to plant the seeds for future growth in the years to come? How can we make our parish a place that is fertile ground for young Catholics who want to raise their families in the faith? To start, I think one of the biggest mistakes we can make is thinking that the future parishioners of All Saints will be exactly like the ones we have right now; that 20 years from now, our parishioners will want the exact same things and have the same concerns as parishioners today. I believe this is a mistake because, while we all share a common profession of faith and have the same collective goals, each and every generation brings their unique experiences, struggles, joys, and concerns to Christ and the Church—and every parish needs to meet that cultural moment to bring the Gospel to a new generation in a clear and compelling way. This is a very humbling thing to admit, to be sure: that what worked in the past might not be what the Church needs today. It’s not easy to put ourselves in the shoes of a different generation, whose worldview and concerns could vary quite differently from our own. Yet, if our parish is to attract new families in the future, I believe we must read the signs of the times, understand where young Catholics are coming from, ponder what they’re looking for in our faith, and discern what it means for our parish.
As far as what Millennial and Gen Z Catholics are looking for, I can only speak from my experience as a 33-year-old and through my work with young adults over the years, but in my experience, today’s young adults have grown up in what I would call a “liquid society” characterized by constant change and instability. Catholics in their 30’s came of age with the dawn of the internet, 9/11, undeclared war, clerical sex-abuse, the smartphone, the financial crisis, recession, social change and COVID–just to name a few. This “liquid society” also professes that we can only be happy when we’re able to do what we want, when we want it, and sees morality and limits as oppressive to our individual autonomy. Young adults have also had to navigate anxiety, depression, and other mental health struggles brought upon by addictions to drugs, social media, and pornography, all while experiencing higher rates of broken homes and family breakdown. It is a generation that is seemingly more connected than ever yet experiences an epidemic of loneliness; a generation of people searching for meaning but not knowing where to find it. While every generation experiences the world changing around them, the reaction to change by this generation of young people has been significantly different than the reactions of generations past: today’s young adults are increasingly dissatisfied with the promises of the world around them. They have tasted and tried everything the world has said will make them happy, and they have been found wanting.
So, it might be surprising to hear that in recent years, despite these struggles, young adults have been converting to Catholicism in increasing numbers. For instance, this past spring, France registered over 10,000 adult baptisms at their Easter Vigils across the country—their largest number in recorded history—in one of the most secular, post-Christian nations in the Western World. Closer to home, All Saints now has 26 adults and 11 children in OCIA to be brought into the Church next Easter, our largest number in decades, and over 75% of the adults are between the ages of 18-35! These are fantastic developments that should make us hopeful for the future of the Church!
Something is happening in the hearts and minds of young people in the Western world—and it would be foolish for us to not try and catch this wave that is moving in the world today. However, if we were to stop and ask “why” so many young adults are drawn to Catholicism today, we’ll find that the reasons for it might not be what we expect.
For instance, today’s young Catholics are far more likely than other age groups to embrace the Church’s ancient traditions and time-tested practices because of their longevity, symbolism, reverence, and stability. They see the Church’s traditions as a heritage to rediscover, and a treasure chest with long-lost riches inside, waiting to be opened. Traditions that some might consider to be “old fashioned” (such as choosing to receive Communion on the tongue, reciting the St. Michael Prayer, singing the Salve Regina, etc…) are now immensely popular and mainstream for younger Catholics—most especially at Newman Centers on college campuses, believe it or not! Whether it be in Sacred Music, liturgy, Church design, or other personal pieties, there is a sense that, for young Catholics, “what’s old is new again.” They want a Church that doesn’t just see itself as one path among others, but one that is compelling and countercultural. They prefer a Catholicism that is challenging and strange, rather than easy and accessible. They want a faith that doesn’t just pander to the world but speaks the truth with boldness and conviction. Young parents are also looking to the Church for objective, concrete, clear answers to the questions which dominate modern life: What is a person? What is the meaning of my life? Why do I suffer? Is there such a thing as truth? Young people are drawn to the Church, and specifically her traditions and history, because they stand as a 2,000-year bulwark against the chaos of the world that we’ve become accustomed to. As one priest in New York City recently said in a news article, “the most common impetus of young adults becoming Catholic is that they realize the world cannot provide them with any moral order, or reasons for living in any particular way. A culture of license has left them unmoored.”
This is what young adults are now searching for in Catholicism. It’s why young Catholic families look for timelessness in our faith, rather than innovation; stable footing to raise families, rather than shifting customs; and an unshakable moral foundation that can withstand the constant changes of the world around us, rather than “getting with the times.”
I say all this because we often think that young people only want the freshest and most modern approaches to religion–but I’ve found this to be definitively false when it comes to our Catholic faith. The parishes that are growing the most in our Archdiocese and around the country are the parishes that embrace the priorities mentioned above. If we want to attract new families to our parish and school, then we can’t be afraid to think along these lines. If we’re looking for “where the puck is going to be”, to quote Wayne Gretzky, then I think this is a good place to start. I also believe All Saints is uniquely positioned for future growth in both our parish and school. We have an over-200-year history, a tremendous location, and a beautiful Church building—all things working in our favor—provided we’re willing to till the soil and plant the seeds for what will grow in the future.
To conclude, I firmly believe that our parish has a wonderful opportunity to Follow Jesus, and Form Saints. I’m excited to have shared these ideas with all of you in this Pastoral Letter, and can’t wait to see what we accomplish together as we enter our 3rd Century as a parish. While this will not be easy, we know that the saints themselves are watching over us. In every age, when the Church and the world faced great challenges that threatened our faith, it was the saints who provided inspiration and intercession for the work of salvation. God gave the saints to Holy Mother Church as the answer to the problems she faced in prior centuries–and he is still inspiring and raising up saints in our own time. I pray that we can see sanctity and sainthood as the purpose of our lives both individually and collectively as a parish. This is why we’re here on this earth, after all: so that we can eventually spend eternity in union with God, our loving Father.
In this endeavor, though, I know I can’t do this alone. I need your counsel, advice, encouragement, trust, and (most importantly) your prayers. Know that I pray for you daily, and especially at my weekly Mass that I offer for all of you. Please do not be afraid to come to me if you have an idea, a thought, or even a question or concern; my door is always open. I’m here as your pastor to love you with a shepherd’s heart, and that begins by listening and being attentive to your needs as parishioners.
May God bless you and your families as we strive to Follow Jesus and Form Saints together!