As I open up the resources for this year’s upcoming faith formation, I am looking back at the changes that have taken place in the span of just 20 years. In 1999 I was getting ready to share my faith with one of four classes filled with 7th grade students who met each week. I was being mentored by some veteran catechist who had been giving up their Monday or Tuesday nights for years. We were each armed with actual textbooks to teach a lesson every week and if you were brave, you brought the cart of Bibles to your room. Occasionally, we would come across a resource and photocopy it, in black and white.
The pre-teens we were mentoring, were growing up in an almost Catholic Bubble. Their peers were a bunch of familiar faces from church. Their parents hung out with friends from Church and it was a time that it was relatively safe to admit, you were Catholic. If you looked on their nightstand or near their bed, there was likely a religious item or even a Bible or prayer resource on display.
But, that was 20 years ago. Every poll from Pew Research will tell you of a decline, not only in Catholicism, but all religion. I like to think the change in direction St. Aidan took three years ago, to a family faith formation approach is the solution. However, it is just one part of the solution. While we have gone from black and white copies and texts to digital media and parent participation, we still have much more to do.
Consider this, in 1999 St. Aidan had almost 500 high school students. Today we have only 164 and next year, 20 less. Each of us, no matter who we are, are, by our baptism, called to witness the Good News. Have you ever invited someone to St. Aidan? When was the last time you shared a story of God working in your life? How is your own prayer life? Make a commitment to improve one thing this week to deepen your relationship with Christ and see if the results have you being a witness by the end of the week.
Paul Pyrkosz
Coordinator of Youth Ministry
The pre-teens we were mentoring, were growing up in an almost Catholic Bubble. Their peers were a bunch of familiar faces from church. Their parents hung out with friends from Church and it was a time that it was relatively safe to admit, you were Catholic. If you looked on their nightstand or near their bed, there was likely a religious item or even a Bible or prayer resource on display.
But, that was 20 years ago. Every poll from Pew Research will tell you of a decline, not only in Catholicism, but all religion. I like to think the change in direction St. Aidan took three years ago, to a family faith formation approach is the solution. However, it is just one part of the solution. While we have gone from black and white copies and texts to digital media and parent participation, we still have much more to do.
Consider this, in 1999 St. Aidan had almost 500 high school students. Today we have only 164 and next year, 20 less. Each of us, no matter who we are, are, by our baptism, called to witness the Good News. Have you ever invited someone to St. Aidan? When was the last time you shared a story of God working in your life? How is your own prayer life? Make a commitment to improve one thing this week to deepen your relationship with Christ and see if the results have you being a witness by the end of the week.
Paul Pyrkosz
Coordinator of Youth Ministry
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