ADVANCING THE NEW EVANGELIZATION
Evangelization
and Youth Culture
Winning the World for the Sacred Heart of Jesus
Gordy DeMarais
R
ecently, I had the opportunity to be involved in a comprehensive study
of the ‘landscape’ of Catholic campus ministry across the United States.
The study affirmed what many of us know already. Things are not well.
Simply put, we are losing the next generation of Catholics. Fewer than ten
percent of Catholic students on college campuses attend regular Sunday
Mass (defined as at least once a month). Only four percent are involved
with any kind of campus ministry program or event outside of Sunday Mass.
Fewer than two percent still receive the sacrament of Reconciliation. And
for those students who are active and involved, their struggles are signifi-
cant. A majority are fighting to live faithful Christian lives in the midst of an environment
that is highly secular and relativistic—even hostile to faith. Many students who are active in
their faith are experiencing significant struggles and challenges: loneliness, anxiety, addiction
to media and gaming, sexual immorality and pornography, and hopelessness about the future.
We all know people close to us who have
been raised in faithful Catholic families who
have left the practice of the faith. It breaks
our heart. We can be tempted to give into
discouragement and hopelessness, but this
is not the way of the disciple. Jesus’ whole
life was directed towards bringing the sav-
ing mercy and love of the Father to those
who are lost, and he commissions us to do
the same. Our Lord’s response to the crisis
of faith, so apparent in our world today, is
to pour out the gift and power of the Holy
Spirit in great abundance and reawaken his
Church to her deepest identity and essential
mission. She exists to evangelize. Saint John
Paul II, recognizing the signs of the times,
exhorted all Christian faithful to engage this
missionary call. “I sense that the moment
has come to commit all of the Church’s en-
ergy to a New Evangelization” (Mission of
the Redeemer #3). There are people, indeed
whole cultures, where Christian believing
and living was once vibrant and common,
but is now diminished because of the re-
lentless and pervasive winds of secularism.
The new evangelization is a response to this
crisis of faith and recognizes these places
as a ‘new mission field’ to which the Gos-
pel needs to be proclaimed with renewed
fervor and new methods. And in this mis-
sion field, the evangelization of our young
people is a most urgent priority.
Over the last forty years I have had the
great privilege and responsibility of lead-
ing evangelization initiatives directed to-
wards young people. Right in the middle
of this ever-growing crisis of faith, I have
witnessed a tremendous reawakening of
faith in the lives of countless young men
and women. Young people are hungry for
the Gospel. This should not surprise us. It’s
the way every human being is made. St. Pe-
ter proclaims this truth, “Lord, everyone is
searching for you.” Young people are no ex-
ception. They long to be known and loved
unconditionally and deeply. They yearn to
find meaning and purpose in life. Here are
hearts eager and ready for the Gospel. The
changing landscape of the Church and the
culture, however, requires us to seek out
new ways to reach them with that Good
News for which their hearts long. “I invite
everyone to be bold and creative in this
task of rethinking the goals, structures,
styles, and methods of evangelization”
(Evangelii Gaudium).
The Holy Father is telling us that status
quo is not going to cut it. We need deep and
comprehensive solutions if we are going to
be effective and fruitful in evangelizing and
forming young people to be mature Chris-
tian disciples. When facing a crisis such as
we are, we can be tempted to look for the
quick fix, the silver bullet, the latest fad,
anything to get us out of our current predic-
ament. But there are no short cuts when our
task requires that we build a whole counter
culture centered on the Lord and his ways.
We need to move from an event and activity
centric approach to ministering to our youth
to one that is relationship centered and pro-
cess oriented. We need to engage young
people relationally, call them to life-chang-
ing and integral conversion, form them to be
mature disciples, and envision, equip, and
send them on a life-long mission. All of this
needs to take place in the context of ‘trans-
formational community.’
Gordy DeMarais is president & founder of Saint
Paul’s Outreach in St. Paul, Minnesota.
shms.edu
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