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Specific suggestions for using Growing Faith young adults and campus ministry and with couples preparing for marriage or for the baptism of their child... Coordinating marriage preparation and preparation for the baptism of one’s child with young adult ministry is a powerful approach.

Organizing for young adults and campus ministry

• Keep someone in the parish, paid staff or volunteer, in the practice of knowing these folks and maintaining communication with them.

• If you have a junior college, vocational training school, college, or other school of higher learning in your parish, and it does not have an organized campus ministry program, treat your approach to the students there as campus ministry.

• Coordinating marriage preparation and preparation for the baptism of one’s child with young adult ministry is a powerful approach.

Some characteristics of this group

• There are few common denominators after high school.

• Some marry quickly and start families. Others remain single for many years.

• Some do not obtain any further education after high school, or perhaps did not complete high school itself. Others attend schools for many years.

• Some are very connected to the parish. Others are very disconnected and even distrustful of institutions.

• Some in this group have a mistrust of institutions, including the church. They see institutions as serving mainly those who run them.

• Almost everyone in this group has grown up in an age of pluralism. Diversity is everywhere today, even in the smallest towns. And this has also led to people being able to see most situations and religious claims as one among many.

• This means that, rather than seeing religious belief as absolute truth, it is seen as simply a viewpoint.

• Other competing religious beliefs are seen to have value and richness, and even deep validity.

• Figurative and mythical religious language and categories often play poorly among folks in this group.

• Finally this group tends to seek spirituality. There is a strong sense of an inner life which many want to develop, but without strong religious affiliation.

The Invitation

• If we invite folks in this age group to join a parish and sign up for an education program, we might miss the mark. We must have a variety of approaches ready to address the variety of needs expressed in this age group.

• If we offer them help on their spiritual journey and share with them the deep insights of the Catholic faith, we will persuade by the power of our argument rather than by insistence and demands.

The Gathering

• The gatherings for folks this age may be electronic at first. Develop your parish web site to meet their needs and use e-mail heavily as you stay in touch with them. If your youth faith formation process is effective, that will also help feed formation during these years of life.

• These might include on-line chat rooms, booklet reading clubs, and similar gatherings… leading to a desire for in-person assemblies.

• Gatherings which already occur might include those for marriage or baptism preparation. Make the most of these gatherings by offering Growing Faith as a resource and teaching tool.

The Welcome

• Welcome the folks in this age group to come in as far as they can, and to say as long as they want. Keep it simple. It might be too much to begin by speaking of lifelong commitments to the church or even to Christ. Instead, offer them a chance to connect with each other, a chance to talk about how faith fits into their lives.

The Process

• Follow the session plans for each booklet in Part Three of the Facilitator’s Guide, but don’t be a slave to them. Allow the conversation to go where it does naturally.

• One way to honor every question or challenge while at the same time moving ahead so that the entire text can be presented, is to keep a running list of issues and questions on a paper chart. This allows you to table certain issues until later in the Growing Faith process. Not every question will be appropriate to every booklet’s contents.

Afterward

• Urge the young adults of the parish to have and to keep these Growing Faith booklets as their own. Encourage them to return to the text between sessions, to read and re-read these teachings.

• Stay in touch as often as you can between gatherings, using whatever means you have: phone, e-mail, web sites, personal visits.

• Invite them to invite their friends to the next gathering.

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