Complex Catholicism: Understanding different ‘types’ of young people and exploring how to reach out to them in the context of coronavirus
Week 5 of our online conversations looked at answering the following question: How does the Church’s ministry reach the broad range of young people within and beyond our visible communities? This week we were joined by Matthew Van Duyvenbode (The Trussell Trust) and Stephen Davies (Missio) co-authors with Danny Curtin on Complex Catholicism.
In the hour long session Matthew unpicked the research project - looking especially at young people’s Catholic identity and their ‘centre of gravity’ in respect to the authority which Catholicism has in their life. Stephen Davies touched on the 12 different youth typologies fro the research, in particular inviting participants to think about the young people on the ‘peripheries’ of the Church that we might not be reaching during this time.
For ease we have included graphics from the research alongside questions and comments from the main points of the conversation:
Prayer:
“Where does Jesus send us? There are no borders, no limits: he sends us everywhere. The Gospel is for everyone, not just for some. It is not only for those who seem closer to us, more receptive, more welcoming. It is for everyone. Do not be afraid to go and bring Christ into every area of life, to the fringes of society, even to those who seem farthest away and most indifferent. The Lord seeks all; he wants everyone to feel the warmth of his mercy and his love”.[94] He invites us to be fearless missionaries wherever we are and in whatever company we find ourselves: in our neighbourhoods, in school or sports or social life, in volunteer service or in the workplace. Wherever we are, we always have an opportunity to share the joy of the Gospel. That is how the Lord goes out to meet everyone. He loves you, dear young people, for you are the means by which he can spread his light and hope. He is counting on your courage, your boldness and your enthusiasm - Christus Vivit, 177.
Lord God, you see us and know us better then we know ourselves.We pray for all young people who ay not be seen or known to us in our work.
We bring before you all those young people who suffer in mind, body and spirit.
Open our eyes to the needs of young people in our local communities, schools and families.
Help us to see what they really need and what they offer us and the world.
Open our ears to hear what young people are saying to us.Open our mouths to speak out for them. Open our hearts to welcome them.
We ask these things through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who sees and knows us all as we really are. Amen.
Catholic self-identity
Matthew reflected on the ‘blurring’ of the boundaries in ‘Catholic’ young people’s identity. 60% identify as Catholic, whilst 40% do not use Catholic as a label to describe themselves, even though (as an example) many of them are going to Mass. What does this mean for how we approach our youth ministry at this time? Perhaps we need to move from a ‘checklist’ approach (such as ensuring we are ‘providing opportunities for prayer’) to considering the huge complexity of how young people identify and connect, or not, with the Catholic community.
Faith society stance in Covid-19:
Three distinct, similarly-sized groups emerged from the data. These three groups appear to have different ‘centres of gravity’ when thinking about the place of their faith in the world: The first group place greater emphasis on Catholicism as their centre of gravity; called this group APOLOGISTS. The second group look neither towards Catholicism nor Society as their centre of gravity - or perhaps look towards both, but don’t try to integrate these views. We’ve called this group ABSTAINERS. The third group place greater emphasis on Society as their centre of gravity. Because they look to their social context as a starting point for thinking about faith, we’ve called this group ASSIMILATORS. In the present context of COVID-19 the research could lead us to reflect on the following:
Apologists:
If experience may often be centered around sacraments, what other spirtual disciplines can they grown into?
How do we equip this group to have mature conversations about where their faith fits into suffering?
How do we make this group make sense of a kind of feeling of ‘exile’?
Abstainers:
How do we create opportunities for this group to experience the Church as a community?
How can we help this group grow in confidence that they are a vital part of the church?
How does the group make sense of faith beyond the church rhythm and ritual? (Connecting them into a personal connection at this time)
Assimilators:
How might we engage with social issues to connect with these young people?
How can we help this group see the Christian community as a source of solutions? How can we fire them up in the social space?
For us is online engagement a new opportunity to speak with this group? If so, where might we find them? (Not normally found in Church).
Types of young Catholics
For a detailed explanation of the ‘typologies’ see the Typology booklet produced by Camino House.
Reflection from Stephen: Lucy, in the centre of this circle, is someone who we all will know. She’s likely to be an apologist. How would she be engaging at this time? Perhaps she will be ‘attending’ different online services during the week and responding to some of the Instagram posts youth teams are posting. She could will be helping out with shopping for someone who is isolating or with the local food-bank. But Lucy is a very small percentage of our Catholic young people. However, nearly half the young people in our ‘Catholic bubble’ sit in the outer circle. Although we may call them Catholic - many would place no personal importance on their connection with the Catholic community.
How do we reach out to people that are further out? If people are looking for something and going online, so how are we as a Church reaching out more to people like Caitlin who isn’t going to be tuning into a service at her local church, but may be looking out for something more?
Resources and Ideas shared:
We asked: What are the connection points between the young people and the Catholic Community in this moment? (Are many young people ‘connecting’?) Thinking about the current opportunities available to young people to practice their faith, what language is being used and what assumptions are being made?
Assimilators are the indication of what the Church is actually doing well.
The Church is not the building, the Church is the people - assimilators might be reminding us of the fact that the Church is the people. There are other ways we can connect with young people at this time, outside of our buildings.
People might be bereft that Churches are closed and that is okay, but how do get our good messages out there and celebrate the stories of young people putting their faith into practice now? It’s not just when can we get back to Church, it’s what are we doing as a society and as a Church now.
~ How do we engage with them now and in the times that will follow?
~ How do we reach the most vulnerable and support them and their families? Families are a way to connect. Can we enable them to reach the ‘assimilators’. Would resources like http://www.justicefaithfamily.org/ help?
Research Documents to read (if you haven’t already!):
Complex Catholicism - Discovering the realities of young Catholics a detailed typologyComplex Catholicism - The lives and faith of young Catholics in England and Wales today
Report on youth, faith and vocational discernment in England and Wales: https://www.cpo.org.uk/product.aspx?prod=V5569BT (sadly this doesn’t come as free download!)
Faith & Action resources:
Tearfund - More people praying in lockdown: https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2020/1-may/news/uk/more-people-praying-during-lockdown-survey-suggests Food poverty - get involved: https://www.trusselltrust.org/get-involved/church-support/
The Bible project – For formation beyond sacramental preparation
"Christ is Alive” 6 part video mini-series by the Southwark Youth Service- This short mini-series of 6x 2min videos was produced before the lockdown alongside 6th form students. The young people discuss some of the key themes from ‘Christus Vivit’. The videos and resources are offered to help young people reflect and pray, using journaling and through Lectio Divina: www.youtube.com/southwarkcatholicyouthservice
For Families:
Comic book bible: https://amzn.to/2yvzAkT
Set up a whatsapp group for Parents of children taking part in sacramental preparation
Questions posed by participants to think about:
What can we learn from other practices (e.g: Church of England) and apply it to our new context, when our doors open again?
How can youth teams (those not furloughed) use this time to form and accompany a wider group of young people? e.g. an offer to school chaplains to join a peer ministry team in a informal Q&A about the current situation
For more details on our next conversations and to register please visit: millionminutes.org/conversations