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S i d e b a r
Why Young Catholics Leave
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This Rock
Volume 16, Number 3
 March 2005 
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Many young Catholics cease being active soon after confirmation, the time typically matched by a decline in parental authority, the development of personal faith, and the movement toward independence. For parents struggling to instill the faith in their children, here are a few useful points to consider:
- During late adolescence and early twenties, many young people—while still claiming to be Catholic—participate less in Church activities, especially in the Sunday Mass.
- There is a growing trend away from an institutional conception of religion to an individual notion of faith. This is particularly true for those born in the last thirty years.
- Many Catholic men and women speak of not feeling welcomed in parish communities, while others speak of needing, but not finding, the Church’s help with serious moral and economic questions.
Fortunately, the trend begins to reverse during the thirties when changes in lifestyle, maturity, recognition of mortality, and the fuller development of a spiritual life bring about a return to the faith. Such Catholics are then susceptible, of course, to the same pressures that impel older adults to become inactive, but the greater likelihood is that once they return to the Church they remain active members both for themselves and for the sake of their children.
What this trend tells Catholics is that the key to preventing inactivity is fostering a genuinely Catholic upbringing that involves parents, pastors, and all the faithful in a parish. Sociologists, for example, find that those young people who attend Mass regularly have a heightened sense of personal religious belief and a deeper appreciation of prayer. Even more, active Catholic youth express far fewer feelings of alienation and less resistance to institutionalized religion.
Still, for those parents who watch their children depart from the practice of their Catholic faith, the experience can be traumatic and can engender a great deal of guilt. Bishop Michael Saltarelli offers this advice:
"I know how painful it can be for you when your children stop practicing their faith. You wonder where you went wrong, what you failed to emphasize, what you failed to explain. Instead of dwelling on what went wrong, take that energy and apply it to your prayer life" ("How to Reach Inactive Catholics").
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