Books on young adult Catholics offer hopeful look at Church’s future
By Vicki Lopez-Kaley

What’s the future of the Catholic Church in the U.S.? Are the treasures of Catholic prayer and worship and theology (including Catholic social teaching) put into practice or even understood by most Catholics? Will misinformation, uninspiring liturgy, discouraged clergy, scandal and division from within lead youths elsewhere? How can we draw and nurture the faith of young adults to lead the Church and transform a world in need of the Gospel in word and action? These questions are addressed to varying degrees in three books of interest to parish ministers and people in the pew.

In “Seeds of Hope: Young Adults and the Catholic Church in the United States,” theologian Tim Muldoon asks what kind of Church we are inviting our young people to join. With honesty and a love for the Church, he holds great hope that we can address their concerns and build a Church that can transform the world.

U.S. Catholics and parish leaders will find many challenges to our comfortable worship, attitudes and lifestyle if we take Muldoon’s theological insights and sociological research to heart. For example, he challenges theologians and others to put aside divisive differences and promote a theology that can transform people’s daily lives; he exhorts liturgists to educate people in the pew to use our religious imagination and embody the kingdom of God every Sunday; he addresses the hunger of young adults for education, for spirituality and a personal and social conscience that make sense in today’s culture; he challenges us all to accept the discipline of religion as a means to transform our lives and the world.

Ecumenism, moral authority, sexuality and ethnic inclusiveness get his attention as he challenges the church to believe that what Jesus taught is true: We are his presence in the world. He includes thought-provoking references to the rise of the Third World church, to Hispanic Catholics and to the cultural and religious changes in Africa and Asia. Most of all, Muldoon’s overview of Catholic theology and sociological commentary can help us readjust our priorities to build up the body of Christ within the Church and in the world.

Chris Cuddy and Peter Ericksen, editors of “I Choose God: Stories from Young Catholics,” give us 21 stories written by young adults about their dramatic journeys of faith filled with confusion about faith and morals.

Readers will be saddened by stories of drugs, alcohol, exploitative relationships, abortion, pornography, grief, divorce and the serious temptations that afflict youths in our affluent culture. By the grace of the Holy Spirit and the presence of well-formed Catholic youths and mentors, these thoughtful writers each find a spiritual home in the Catholic Church.

This short volume is interesting reading to parents of young adults, pastors and young adult ministers, and leaders of the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults in parish or campus ministry settings. The writers repeatedly give high praise for their experiences with World Youth Day, youth rallies, pastorally gifted Catholic youth ministers and college theology professors.

As a believer in effective parish life and campus ministry, I hope that space limits and the backgrounds of the editors themselves led them to leave out stories about inspiring and challenging Catholic parishes with successful liturgy, community life, education and young adult ministries as well as service opportunities. Few stories mention effective campus ministry at Newman centers and Catholic colleges around the country, or the involvement of committed young adults in the Church’s Catholic social ministry experiences through service trips and volunteer groups.

In “Catholic and Loving It,” Sabitha Narendran and Andrew Salzmann describe a hunger for tradition as an issue for young adults. Narendran and Salzmann present a useful and readable volume for any Catholic who wants to rediscover some of the rich devotions that have been part of Catholic piety for generations.

In one user-friendly volume, they include seasonal prayers and practices, traditions for the home, practices and prayers related to Mary and the saints, and much more. Their book offers a lot to new Catholics, young families, catechists or older Catholics who want to renew in their lives the rhythm of days and seasons. The authors do not clearly differentiate, however, which practices are most central to Catholic life, (such as Advent and Lent, sacramental celebrations and feasts) and which can become shallow and even superstitious if given too much value in daily life (such as indulgences).

With a careful eye for a balanced theology, readers of this book will find practical suggestions for reclaiming many prayerful Catholic traditions. Hopefully, they seek to learn more about our rich spiritual tradition.

Vicki Lopez-Kaley has 22 years of experience as a catechetical leader. She is the mother of two young adults and works as a freelance writer and teacher in spirituality and nutrition in Quincy, Ill.