The Challenge and the Change
Youth, Church in the New Millennium

The Lapsed Youth Questionnaire

We asked those youth who had left the Catholic Church these questions:
A. What they did not like about the Catholic Church;
B. What they like about their new church;
C. Why did they leave the Catholic Church;
D. Why did they join their new church.

We put A and C together to examine their ‘Leaving’;
Then B and D to examine their 'Joining’.

Next we looked at A+C > B+D to further clarify their reasons for their ‘Exit’.
Finally at B+D > A+C to grasp their reasons for their ‘Entry’.

The Practising Youth Questionnaire

We asked those youth who had remained in the Catholic Church these questions:
A. What the youth suggest the Rev Father should do to discourage the youth from leaving the Catholic Church.
B. What the youth themselves should do to avoid leaving the Catholic Church?

The Priests’ Questionnaire

We asked those priests working in parishes
A) What do the priests do (or think should be done) in the parish to retain the youth in the Catholic Church under:                              a) worship,
b) Church activities,
c) Social/recreational activities
d) Any other comments

The Parents’ Questionnaire

We asked parents of youths in the parishes these questions:
What parents do (or think should be done) to encourage their youth to remain in the Catholic Church under:                                       a) your home,
b) with their friends.
c) in their school,
d) any other comments

HEARTS ON FIRE

JESUS THE KEY TO THE BIBLE

The Purpose of this Bible Survey is to seek an indication of the actual level of knowledge about the Bible 'as a unit' among Catholic youth in a Nigerian urban setting.

The Setting was the Marian Shrines of the Archdioces of Lagos and Ibadan in southwest Nigeria.

The Sample was limited to those practising Catholics in the age group of 10 to 24 years of age.

The Generalisation of the findings should reflect these factors:

(a) the entire sample is urban, Lagos and Ibadan;

(b) the survey covers the more active Catholic youth;

(c) the principle of "If they do this in the green wood, what will they do in the dry" may be used to extend the findings to those Catholic youth who have 'left' the Church and also to those are thinking about leaving the Church.

I hope that a detailed study of these findings, together with a careful generalisation of them, will assist our parish personnel in building on the highlighted areas of strengths in the Bible knowledge of our Catholic youth and in targeting areas of need for closer pastoral care.

We focused on five main areas in this review of the foregoing statistics, namely, areas of Clear Strength, Strength, Confusion, Weakness, and Clear Weakness.

a. A Clear Strength is indicated by a score of 90% or above.

b. A Strength has a ‘correct’ score between 80% to 89%,
i.e. at least four times the score of the ‘incorrect’ answer.
c. A Confusion has a ‘correct’ score between 60% and 79%,
i.e. between a Strength and a Weakness.
d. A Weakness has a ‘correct’ score between 50% and 59%,
i.e. between a Confusion and a Clear Weakness,
e.g. not knowing 4 of the 10 Commandments.
e. A Clear Weakness is an ‘incorrect’ score of less than 50%,
i.e. more than half of the answers are the incorrect ones.

Overall Grading

We calculate the percentage of correct replies for each section using the above grading system.
This is how the overall grades for each of the sub-topics were:-
A. The Nature of the Bible - 78% = a Confusion;
B. The Setting for the Bible - 53% = a Weakness;
C. The Structure of the Bible - 69% = a Confusion;
D. The People of the Bible - 64% = a Confusion;
E. The Church in the Bible - 62% = a Confusion;
F. Personal Use of the Bible - 56% = a Weakness.

There were no ‘Clear Strengths’ and no “Strengths” in the Overall Grading of the replies from our more active Catholic youth!!!

Pastoral Implication: Our more active Catholic youth have a healthy understanding of the main idea in the Bible as a whole and the Gospels in particular. Sadly they are weak in the areas frequently quoted by the fundamentalist churches, namely the Old Testament and the Acts.

1. Geography of the Bible (Qs 1, 2, 3, 4) - 62% - a Weakness;
2. History of the Bible (Qs 5, 6, 7, 8) - 43% - a Clear Weakness.
Pastoral Implication: Our more active Catholic youth are quite weak on the time and place framework which underpins a deeper appreciation of the Bible. A section on this might be a valuable addition to the Bible Study programme in the parish.

1. The Books of the Bible (Qs 1, 2, 4) - 76% - a Confusion
2. Types of Writing in the Bible (Qs 3, 5) - 62% - a Confusion
Pastoral Implication: Our more active Catholic youth clearly follow the Protestant version of the Bible. This is probably greatly influenced by the acceptance of the RSV as the textbook for the study of Bible Knowledge in the Secondary Schools. Also, the Psalms are sometimes published with the New Testament, e.g. the Gideon version. A section on the variety of types of writing in the Bible in the parish’s Bible Study work would probably enrich an appreciation of the beauty of the Bible and thereby promote greater respect for it.

1. Jesus (Q2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13) – 64% - a Confusion;
2. Other people (Q1, 3, 4) – 63% - a Confusion.
Pastoral Implication: Our more active Catholic youth are weak about the facts of Jesus’ life. This may be due to treating Him as God to the extent of becoming somewhat vague about His humanity. Maybe we take such basic knowledge too much for granted in our Catechesis and homilies.

1. Authority and truth (Q 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8) – 50% - a Weakness;
2. Nature of the Church ( Q 3, 5, 12) – 73% - a Confusion,
3. Holy Tradition ( Q 9, 10, 11 ) – 60% - a Confusion.
Pastoral Implication: This level of vagueness about the Church and the Bible is probably a major element that contributes highly to the drifting of our youth to the non-Catholic churches. A shallow and superficial knowledge of the facts about the Church leads to the attitude ‘one Church is as good as another’.

Scores such as these, 50% for the Church’s authority, 73% for the nature of the Church and 60% for Holy Tradition, should send warning signals to us about the level of knowledge among our more active Catholic youth about this topic. This clear weakness leaves our Catholic youth wide-open to the attacks by their fundamentalist peers who confine all religious discussion to the Bible alone. Therefore this is an area in urgent need of pastoral attention.

1. Use of the Bible (Q 2, 3, 4, )- 56% - a Weakness.
Pastoral Implication: This score point to a clear need for a solid and ongoing programme of Bible Study and Bible Praying among our youth.