Katie McEvoy and Bill Unanue in the Catholic campus
ministry office at Hofstra University.
(CNS photo/Gregory A. Shemitz)
Summary
This Essential will help you consider the elements beyond programs and events for young adults and help you become conscious of all the ways we welcome (or fail to welcome) young adults to our communities.
Introduction
A new young adult minister was instructed by his pastor to get more young adults to come to mass on Sunday. The young adult minister suggested that before they focused their efforts on attracting young adults to mass, the parish had some work to do. They needed to work with their preachers to be sure that the homilies spoke to people in their 20s and 30s, not just to the middle-age and older crowd. They needed to improve their music program, both the quality and variety of the music. The parish needed to be sure that young adults would be welcomed by the ministers of hospitality and that at least some of the lectors and Eucharistic ministers should be under the age of 40 so that when young adults did show up, they would see peers actively engaged in the life of the parish.
As you get serious about developing a ministry to young adults there are elements beyond the ministry that don’t necessarily have to happen before you take action on anything else, but are worth paying attention to along the way because they’ll make everything else you do more effective.
