NEWTON, Mass. — Esteban Galindo is, whether he knows it or not, an increasing rarity: a young adult who regularly attends Catholic mass.
“I grew up Catholic, and it was just very deeply instilled in me,” he said. “And I think faith and religion is a very central part of who I am today. So I still go to mass on my own.”
Monday, Galindo and companion Ana Maria Carvajal attended midday mass at Mary Immaculate of Lourdes.
Carvajal said it’s important for children and teens to come to mass so that they develop a moral backbone.
“If we don’t teach the young ones, then you are in trouble,” said Carvajal. “So we welcome people to see what happens in the church.”
What’s happening in the church is rather distressing. While overall numbers of Catholics are up worldwide, since 1970, weekly mass attendance in the United States is down 70 percent. And it’s primarily young people who have lost interest in Catholicism. Between 1955 and 2017, Gallup found the number of mass attendees aged 20 to 29 fell 66 percent.
That’s compared to more than a 40 percent attendance drop for those 30 to 49.
The loss of young parishioners is just one of the issues Boston’s new Archbishop will be dealing with. Providence Bishop Richard Henning, who replaces the retiring Sean O’Malley, says his first year in office will be about “visiting, listening and learning.”
[ ‘It’s bittersweet’: Faith leaders react after Pope Francis accepts Cardinal O’Malley’s resignation ]
What Henning may learn is that an increasing number of Americans are turned off by Catholicism’s stands on sociopolitical issues, such as abortion and same-sex marriage (both of which the church opposes).
Some women also see the church as androcentrically condescending.
Dr. Thomas Groome, Professor of Theology at Boston College, said the dark days of the child sex scandals have left their mark on Catholicism in Boston, but that Sean O’Malley did much to guide the church through its most turbulent time. He thinks the answer to attracting young people back is to focus on the highly idealistic core mission of the church.
“I think we have to foreground our best values,” Groome said. “I was hungry, you gave me to eat..I was thirsty, you gave me to drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me. This is central to our faith. The works of mercy, the works of compassion, the works of justice... the works of social justice.”
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