Forming the Faith Community
Young adults are encouraged to
invite, empower, and enable themselves and
others to participate in the life of the
Church through worship, community life, small faith communities, evangelizing efforts, committees,
ministries, and in Catholic movements and
organizations.
Young people in their late teens, twenties,
and thirties have been an active segment of
church life. Your participation is
constructive and is needed in order for the young adult
community to thrive and grow strong. Young
adults can become active in their faith
community by:
- Being considerate of the spiritual needs and
concerns of young adults who are
single and those who are married or married with children.
- Seeking specific training and orientation needed
to serve on young adult committees and on the pastoral council.
- Developing activities and materials
that specifically target young adults' developmental needs, especially
prayer groups and small Christian communities that place value on dialogue
and share communal experiences.
- Making use of community meetings and surveys to identify the concerns of young adults. Ask
the collaboration of other young adults to talk with and invite their
friends and co-workers.
- Welcome and involve young adults in the
planning of church events.
- Provide opportunities for recent
college graduates or vacationing students to reconnect with the parish.
Ask students who are home for the summer to assist as liturgical ministers,
work with the youth program, be a summer catechist, or visit the sick or
elderly. Host a gathering for new graduates and parishioners to learn more
about becoming active within the life of the community.
Life Giving Prayer and Worship
Liturgy is a key concern of young
adults and is a primary meeting point with the Church. The quality of
church life is often reflected in the prayerfulness and quality of its liturgy, which can be a connecting point
between faith and life. One challenge to that connection is the need for the
community to respect the diverse language traditions, spirituality, and piety of
its many ethnic groups. The key ingredients to good liturgy are a welcoming community, celebrating in one's language, good music, and
engaging homilies.
Young adults can become involved in liturgy and worship by:
- Encouraging homilists to address a wide
range of life's issues.
- Becoming a liturgical minister and attending the necessary trainings.
- Addressing the needs and life experiences of young
adults when preparing prayers.
- Extending a special invitation to men
and women in their late teens, twenties, and thirties to participate in
prayer and reflection groups.
- Remembering that worship in most
parishes is intergenerational, gathering in single persons, students, and
married couples with or without children.
For more
information on becoming liturgical ministers, extraordinary ministers, etc.
contact the Office for Liturgy and Spirituality at 858-490-8290. |