I mentioned in a recent column the concern that attendance at Sunday Mass is, in many places, increasingly characterized by older faithful. This observation was repeated to me in a recent conversation at one of my parish visits.

The concern expressed was the same: where are our young people? Why are fewer and fewer of them coming to Mass?

And we can take that a step further. Where are so many of our young families? Why are not just individuals but also families not joining us before the Lord?

As we begin a new school year, it’s a good time to ask ourselves, what more can we do to form our young people in the love for and practice of the faith?

And as a related question, what are we doing now that is not helpful in strengthening the faith of our children? That’s an important question for all Catholic parents to ask, whether their children take advantage of our excellent Catholic schools or whether they are part of the parish religious education program.

Young people today face the tremendous challenge of living in an increasingly and aggressively secular moment. As is true for all of us, our young people are bombarded in the media by the presentation of values, of what is cool, that constantly involve a rejection of God and a questioning of priorities and wisdom that are simply deemed “traditional.”

The pop music they listen to is heavily sexualized and the values of family, marriage and sacrifice are not culturally reinforced.

The effort to secularize society and our young people is aided by the growing impersonalization of our society. Computers, tablets, smart phones and Bluetooth are all innovations at which we rightly marvel. They all have good purposes.

But increasingly, they drive all of us, but especially our young people, to a sort of isolated existence, even in the physical presence of others. Constant texting, Internet postings of routine activities, earphones as I select my music or watch my movie to the exclusion of those around me, all of these come at a cost. And that cost is interacting with others.

For young people, that cost is often interacting with their family, their parents and with Jesus Christ.
Of course there are loads of other factors, but these seem to me to be frequently observable. So what might parents, and all of us, do to strengthen the faith of our children?

Once again, we need to concentrate on getting back to basics. The role of parents and the family in the faith of our young people is crucial.

Pope Francis has reminded us time and again that our personal witness is the greatest attraction to the faith for others. Nowhere is that more true than in the setting of the family. So first and foremost, parents need to make their own faith a visible priority before their children.

Of course that means parents attending Sunday Mass and offering prayer before meals. But even more, those actions must be heartfelt and emphasized. If the “rituals” of faith are simply that, rituals, our children receive a subtle message that religion really isn’t all that important.

On the other hand, if family attendance at Mass, parents and children, from the earliest days is a positive never miss part of life, that value builds in the conscience of a young person.

But faith is an experience of life, not just Sunday morning. That means that it must be discussed, in real and on-going conversations between parents and children. Other family prayers should be a part of that.

And how about participation in the life of the parish? Anything from attending and volunteering at the parish festival to bringing the kids to take part in parish charitable activities keep our young people in contact with others committed to the faith and make our beliefs to be something that they know is lived out in this challenging world.

What it comes down to is this.

Everyone, including our young people, must ultimately choose freely to accept Christ and His Church, or to turn and walk away.

But if we provide the support, the enthusiasm and the loving witness to the good that is our Catholic faith, our young people will come and they will stay. And the values that we will have helped them to embrace will serve them in this life and as the gateway to the eternal joy that Jesus has promised us.