A key moment for me in the past few years was sitting in a dusty auditorium full of year 11 students during a school mission week. We were watching a short video featuring a popular American author and preacher, hearing him describe his relationship with his child as an extended metaphor for God’s love. It was a clip that I had seen many times, yet it still managed to convey a profound message for me each time I viewed it. I was convinced that this input would be a turning point for the students in their week.

As I looked around the room, I was quickly forced to adjust my expectations. Some of the year group were plainly uninterested in the presentation, while others looked bemused, wondering what this man’s son had to do with anything in their lives. There were some who seemed to listen politely, perhaps understanding but not necessarily demonstrating any reaction to the story. And there were a few who quietly shed tears - moved by the positive example of dedicated fatherhood, lacking in their own lives, rather than drawing the parallel with God’s love.

The mission was a great experience overall, full of enthusiasm and genuine spiritual searching, but something about this session in particular gnawed away at me after the week had finished. I realised there was a tangible disconnect in this session between where I thought they were, and where they actually were. Their worldview obviously couldn’t access faith in a way that had been meaningful for me.

Why do others not think like me?

I reflected that it can be tempting for me in my ministry as a youth worker– as it can be for each of us in whatever we undertake – to expect others to share my vocabulary, to care about the things I care about, and to view things from my perspective. It’s this tendency that makes me not able to comprehend why others in my parish don’t want to participate in the style of liturgy I prefer, or fail to understand why some would prefer to be part of a social justice initiative, rather than my faith-sharing group. And beyond life in the parish, it’s the part of me that presumes that I know what will be most helpful for others without taking the time to get to know them and their needs first. Following on from this a few of us involved in full time youth ministry began to discuss how we might go about increasing our understanding of young Catholics in England and Wales. We decided it would be good to gather some statistical evidence about the kind of young people we were – or hoped to be – working with. Recognising the importance of an independent and reliable research methodology, we raised funds from a variety of organisations, trusts and agencies including the Celebrate conference and commissioned a specialist agency to undertake this research.

What do young Catholics in England and Wales today believe?

This investigated the lives, opinions, beliefs and spirituality of young Catholics in England and Wales. It surveyed 1,000 young people aged between 11 and 25, as well as conducting a small number of face-to-face interviews and group discussions. Through filling in an online survey, the participants were able to share their experiences of social issues, stresses and concerns openly, as well as demonstrating some of what it meant for them to be part of the Catholic world. In the past months, our research team have been working with the raw data gathered, examining trends and identifying similarities between different age groups, genders, social groups and levels of faith practice. The volume of information means that the group will be taking a full year to shape the research into the most practical and useful complete report. A shortened summary, however, was shared at the Catholic Youth Ministry Federation Gathering that took place at the end of February at the Friends Meeting House in London.

Complex understanding of Catholic identity

For me, one of the most exciting aspects of this examination of the lives and faith of young Catholics has been to recognise the complex and multi-layered way that young people themselves view their Catholic identity. For some time, our tendency has been to label one group as ‘Mass-goers’ and others as ‘Lapsed’ (or perhaps ‘churched’ / ‘unchurched’ if you prefer.) What the research demonstrates is that there are young people who may not even call themselves Catholic who hold mainstream Catholic beliefs and practices more deeply than some who overtly identify themselves as Catholics. There are some who live a kind of ‘projected’ Catholic existence, readily affirming the importance of liturgy, core Catholic beliefs, the sacraments and prayer whilst never engaging in these areas themselves. Many demonstrate a disconnect with traditional Catholic language to describe spirituality, and most simply want ‘to be happy’ as one of their life aims. As we began sifting through this multi-layered jigsaw of self-definition, the research group began to pull out common themes to develop a ‘diagram’ to help us locate the different ‘types’ of young Catholic.

Looking at each of the four groupings (see diagram below) allowed us to begin thinking about where some of these young people might lie in their responses to the gospel message and Catholic teaching. All of those who took part in the research would fall somewhere within the largest circle, which simply requires that they identify, or might be identified as Catholic. For some this might be all that being Catholic means to them. For the majority, however, they would also positively affirm some of the other statements in the overlapping circles. For example, a teenage lad who was keen to affirm that “seeing others unknown to me as my brothers and sisters is important to me” but didn’t recognise the other two statements within the circles as important (position 1) may well call himself Catholic, using this as his inspiration to make a difference in the world around him whilst rejecting the formal structure of the Church and the language of personal spirituality. Meanwhile, a young woman who finds it important both to see herself as a child of God, and to be part of the practicing Catholic community (positions 2 and 3) may be quite confident about her beliefs and active within Church circles, but may be quite unaffected by the pain and suffering she sees in the world around her.

Where do we fit in?

Although this analysis was designed to help us identify a wide ranging and flexible set of opinions and experiences amongst young Catholics, I realized it could also be useful for all of us, both in identifying where we are and by giving us a framework to help understand other Catholics who might not share our world view. I believe, as Catholics, we all can be located somewhere within this diagram. To assist you in this, you might find it helpful to think about the following questions:
- Where do you lie?
- What elements of your faith do you feel most passionately about? - And which other type of person within the spectrum might you find it difficult to understand or empathise with?
- Would you even use the same basic faith language as this person?
- Which parts of the diagram would be most comfortable with the name ‘Jesus’, while others prefer ‘Christ’ or ‘Our Lord’?

For me, this diagram is a helpful way of reflecting why sometimes I struggle to share Christ’s message most effectively - perhaps because I’m not thinking carefully enough about what words to use, or what motivations to tap into. It’s also helpful because it keeps me on my toes! If my goal is to imitate Christ most closely, I should be aspiring to embrace all of the emphases in the diagram within my personal, social and spiritual life. The diagram challenges each of us in areas where we may have become lazy, indifferent, or just plain tired in our Christian journey. For some of us, this might mean taking active steps to care for others in need. For others, it’s about taking the next step in our personal relationship with God, or a deepening of our sacrificial commitment to our local parish community.

Our research leaves me with profound challenges about how effectively I am reaching such a diverse spectrum of young people, harnessing their own language, priorities and worldview while helping them to grow and embrace a fuller dimension of their Christian calling. Above all, what it has confirmed to me is that in order to fulfil God’s plans for the young people of his Church, I need to take up the daily challenge to examine the world from another’s perspective.

For more information about the research mentioned, please visit the Catholic Youth Ministry Federation (CYMFed) website at www.cymfed.org

Matthew Van Duyvenbode is Youth Worker for Outreach at NYMO – the youth office of Northampton Diocese. You can find out more about NYMO by visiting www.nymo.org