Mike Hayes suggests different ways a parish can reach out and welcome young adults who are already attending church. One way is to include them in parish “blessings”:
Blessings: Instead of just blessings for 50th Wedding Anniversaries or Mother’s and Father’s Day, perhaps having blessings of “sending forth” for college students or even young adults who are going through transitions — those moving into the parish, those moving out, engaged couples, first anniversaries, and the birth of the first child (perhaps baptism at Sunday mass). Get creative! A parish in Boston invited all Boston Marathon runners to church and blessed them at mass the night before the race and provided their “carb up” pasta supper. Another invited a local volunteer community from Americorps and blessed them and their work.
Read more about becoming a young adult friendly parish in the Essentials section of Young Adult Ministry in a Box.
