By Eileen Connelly, OSU

ARCHDIOCESE — The Archdiocesan Pastoral Council (APC) met on Sept. 6 at the Athenaeum of Ohio-Mount St. Mary’s Seminary Bartlett Pastoral Center.

The primary focus of the meeting was a presentation to Archbishop Daniel E. Pilarczyk and council members by Sean Reynolds, director of the archdiocesan Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry. Reynolds shared the results of The National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR), with the group.

The NSYR was conducted by Dr. Christian Smith and colleagues from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University from 2001 to 2005 and included randomly selected phone interviews with 3,370 English- and Spanish-speaking young people between the ages of 13 and 17. The Catholic population featured in the study included 816 participants, with 86 percent attending public schools, nine percent in Catholic schools and five percent in other schools or home schooled.

The study determined that, in spite of the numerous programs, initiatives and guidance that Catholic parishes and schools provide, Catholic young people consistently scored lower on most measures of religiosity — five to 25 percent lower than their conservative, mainline and African-American Protestant peers.

Reynolds has a presentation titled "Will our Kids Have Faith?" he gives by invitation to parish groups, schools and parents throughout the archdiocese. He called the research in the study "both challenging and groundbreaking. It challenges many of our assumptions and suggests fresh, new directions for raising our young people in their faith," Reynolds said.

Among the general findings of the NSYR that Reynolds shared are that highly religiously teenagers appear to be doing better in life than less religious teens and the single most important influence on the religious and spiritual lives of adolescents is their parents.

The study found that Catholic youth, even those who attend church, are often inarticulate about their beliefs. Reynolds noted several factors suggested by the NSYR that affect young people’s understanding and practice of their faith, including Catholic upward mobility and mainstream inculturation that have undermined the vitality of the church, a lack of institutional commitment at the parish and diocesan levels in the religious formation of young people and the relative religious laxity of their parents.

"Parents need to take decisive action to integrate faith formation, prayer, Christian service and Sunday worship as a regular, non-negotiable component of family life," Reynolds said.

The meeting also included the formation of a committee to facilitate the nomination of new APC members to replace those who terms of service are coming to an end. In addition, Archbishop Pilarcyzk reported on the institution of an archdiocese-wide payroll service for all parishes to ensure the process is handled in a professional and consistent manner. He also noted that Richard Kelly has been appointed as chief financial officer for the archdiocese and will be present at a future APC meeting.