The Problem with many of our communities for Young People

I am truly fortunate to come from a parish where there is a strong sense of community among the Youths and Young Adults. Most if not all of our young people who come back to be part of the community after receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation are seeking for a relationship with our triune God, and they do have a sense of love for God in their hearts, there's no denial of that. However, I've heard this said about my community by many friends who are not from my parish. "Your community is low-key protestant." 

I used to think that the ones who said such things about my community were (for lack of a better term) somewhat jealous of us. It's not in every parish where the priests put so much of an emphasis on providing a space for their young people to call home, to the point that they employ two full-time youth coordinators. Not every parish provides the youths with a room to hang around in Church, or a youth chaplain who cares to go the extra mile to make himself available for the youths when they need someone to talk to. Not many parishes have a culture of their young adults having spiritual conversations with the younger ones on a regular basis. In fact, because of the absence of such things in a good number of parishes, many of our young people seek community outside of their parish, such as at OYP, or at CSC. It was (and still is) clear to me that my community is a strong one, and that my parish has done a good job at allowing our young people to have a space to call home. 

However, no longer do I deny it when others accuse us of being low-key protestant. In fact, I dare say that this is a problem which exists in majority of our communities for young Catholics in Singapore. Sure, we have a strong emphasis on giving our young people a place to call home, and sure, we do have a love for God in our hearts and seek to nourish this. But that doesn't mean that what exists is sufficient. All of our communities for young people still have a long way to go. 

One example would be on how many communities have a strong emphasis on Praise & Worship as a form of prayer. And rightly so, of course. I can't imagine a community for young people where Praise & Worship is not allowed. It is a beautiful form of prayer. However, we put so much of an emphasis on it, that it's the only form of communal prayer that seems to get majority of the community to come. Attendance for sessions which provide opportunities to pray with other forms of prayer such as Eucharistic Adoration, the Divine Office, or even the celebration of the Eucharist, usually don't seem to rally so high an attendance, as a good Praise & Worship session. Even formation sessions don't seem to rally as many people. 

As much as I love Praise & Worship, I can't help but notice that intentions may be misplaced here. Surely nothing could be more important than the celebration of the Eucharist? If we can make time for Praise & Worship, why can't we make time for the Official Public Prayer of the Church? 

Another example would be on how during Camps and Retreats, most of the time, the sessions focus on people sharing about their own encounters with the Lord. We focus on giving the participants a chance to have that encounter with the Lord, especially during the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and the Outpouring of the Holy Spirit. And of course, rightly so. However, we focus so much on that, that we hardly cease the opportunity to catechise our young people in the teachings of the faith. I can't remember the last time I was a participant in a retreat, where it was at least mentioned why we should confess our sins to a priest, or why the Mass is the source and summit of our faith. 

In fact, a lot of the time, the only forms of prayer we actually experience at such retreats are the Mass, Praise & Worship, and perhaps Eucharistic Adoration, and the bulk of the time spent in prayer during the retreat would be during Praise & Worship sessions. Hardly any communities for young people pray the Liturgy of the Hours during their retreats. Not many communities give people time to be by themselves during retreats to simply reflect, sit with the Lord and listen to the Lord. It's quite unheard of for a retreat to give their participants opportunities to experience different forms of prayer, so as to nourish their individual walks with the Lord when the retreat comes to a close, such as the Examen, Lectio Divina, Contemplative Prayer, and the list goes on. In a way, a lot of retreats aim at giving our young people a spiritual high. And that's what they base their faith on. When the high dies down, our young people are lost again, and long for another good Praise & Worship Session, or another retreat. 

In a way, it all boils down to this. We focus so much on giving people a personal encounter with the Lord, and rightly so. But we often do this at the expense of the teachings of the Church and the traditions of our faith. In fact, a lot of the time, we compromise on what Mother Church says in order to be pastoral to our young people. And because of this, our youths grow up thinking that the faith which we profess is all about "Me and My Sweet Jesus". 

The Faith which we profess is never about us, and it is not solely about our personal relationships with the Lord. The teachings of the faith need to come hand in hand with our relationships with God. If we do not form our young people in the teachings of the faith, there is a very real danger that the faith would make little sense to them. There is a risk that they would see no harm in going over to the other denominations when challenged by their protestant friends, simply because they don't know what the Catholic Church actually stands for. 

At the end of the day, many of us want our young people to stay in Church, and rightly so. But how many of us want to go further to challenge our young people to be the Church?