By Thea Jarvis, Staff Writer

ATLANTA--Millions of “Generation X” Catholics attending U.S. colleges and universities are ripe for the rich heritage of the Catholic Church, according to participants at the third National Catholic Campus Ministry Convention held Jan. 4 through 8.

Celebrating the 10th anniversary of the American bishops’ pastoral on campus ministry, “Empowered By the Spirit,” over 400 lay men and women, student leaders, Religious brothers, sisters and priests met at the Atlanta Hilton to learn how to reach a generation often characterized as isolated from traditional social constructs and institutions.

The cultural sub-group demographers dub “twenty-somethings,” the “MTV” or “lost” generation -- 41 million young adults born between 1967 and 1976 -- is searching for spiritual roots and symbols, said one keynote speaker, Sister Mary Johnson, S.N.D.de N., associate professor of sociology and religious studies at Emmanuel College in Boston.

The nation’s estimated 10 million Catholics between the ages of 19 and 30 are “a potential treasure trove” for the Church, Sister Johnson said, arguing that the assets the Church has to offer are precisely what this generation is seeking.

Facing “a phenomenal culture of death” in a society that includes AIDS, drugs, suicide, crime and abuse, young people need the spiritual security and hope the Church can offer.

To attract students, Catholic campus ministry centers must be “places of invitation, warmth and welcome,” said Sister Johnson, a member of the research team for Wade Clark Roof’s recently published books, A Generation of Seekers.

As living models of community, campus centers should offer students the opportunity to explore the fullness of Catholic intellectual tradition, including the writings of Thomas Merton and Dorothy Day, papal teachings on social justice and the work of Catholic activists like Caesar Chavez.

“We have to go out and meet them” in a spirit of hospitality and intellectual energy,” Sister Johnson said. “We can’t expect them to come to us.”

At one of over 40 workshops offered during the convention, Andrea Williams, a Purdue University doctoral candidate, said her research suggests Catholics 18 to 33 are less traditional and less likely to know the theological content of their faith than the baby boomer generation.

“Many say they are embarrassed about this” lack of knowledge, Ms. Williams said. “They know how uninformed they are.”

Ms. Williams and her research team studied approximately 50 Catholics in the 18 to 33-year-age range from five dioceses in Indiana.

She observed that this generation practices “a theology of being nice,” emphasizing being good persons rather than good Catholics. They recognize an all-loving, all forgiving God who wants Christians to be kind to others.

Many accept basic Catholic traditions, but disagree with specific teachings such as that on birth control, and often do not embrace Catholic practices such as weekly Mass.

Overall Ms. Williams found post-Vatican II Catholics “don’t see being Catholic as being special or the Catholic identity as one in which they can take pride.”

On the other hand, she said, those studied express pride in the rich history of the Church and their connection to this ancestry. Additionally they believed in the actual presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

Maureen Masterson, a member of the campus ministry team for the diocese of Cleveland, agreed that campus ministry centers can be places where students “legitimize Christianity as a human experience,” learning to understand Catholicism as a spiritual reality rather than dogma alone.

At 23, with a theology degree from Wheeling Jesuit College in West Virginia, Ms. Masterson readily relates to students’ spiritual conflicts and confusion.

“We don’t feel part of anything,” she said, including the Church. Growing up with the “Jesus loves me” theology that replaced the Baltimore Catechism left a gap in basic Church teachings she and others are still trying to make up.

This generation’s search for community and an end to isolation can be expedited by the Church’s efforts to address their needs, not as pre-adults waiting for spiritual adulthood, but as contributing Catholics in their own right, Ms. Masterson said.

Brother Bob Warren, FMS, a campus minister who helped establish 12-Step recovery groups at Texas A&M and Laredo Community College in Laredo, Tex., has seen Generation X’s spiritual hunger first-hand.

What began as one meeting with two members nine years ago has grown to 40 on-campus meetings a week, with close to 1,000 practicing members of different 12-Step fellowships.

“The vast majority of my work is chemical recovery work,” Brother Warren said. “It’s the number one issue facing campus ministry today.”

Despite the urgent needs of campus populations, most Catholic campus ministry centers around the country have been battling budgetary cutbacks and a low-priority status on diocesan agendas.

“Campus ministry programs nationwide are being downsized,” said Don McCrabb, executive director of the Catholic Campus Ministry association (CCMA), with headquarters in Dayton, Ohio. “We are significantly understaffed.”

CCMA figures indicate that in 1985 there were over 2,000 Catholic campus ministers in the U.S. Today the number has dropped to 1,800, which translates to one campus minister for every 2,700 Catholic students.

On the 10th anniversary of the bishops’ pastoral, which affirmed the importance of campus ministry and the need to reach the student population, such news is not encouraging to campus ministers trying to go the extra mile.

“The issue is not whether the pastoral is a good one. The issue is whether the Church as a whole is going to support campus ministry,” said Father Edward Branch, campus minister at the Atlanta University (AU) Complex and a member of the convention planning committee.

The full-time Catholic presence at AU is relatively recent, so funding for his ministry can only grow, Father Branch said, adding that his situation is atypical of most campus ministers who wrestle with budget cutbacks.

He sees the need for consensus among campus ministers in north and middle Georgia. Each serves his own local community within the Archdiocese of Atlanta, Father Branch said, but there is no convening as a body, where experiences can be shared and a common vision developed.

Though the challenges facing campus ministers are considerable, most conventioneers said they wouldn’t think of trading their jobs for more fiscally rewarding opportunities.

“I love it. It’s like a hidden secret,” said Michele Miller, campus minister at George Mason University in Virginia, where Catholics comprise 35 percent of the 23,000 student population. “It’s where I’ve experienced true Church.”

Patrick McGervey, full-time on the Cleveland diocesan team and father of three children under five, said he finds campus ministry more rewarding than his former job as a theology teacher.

“I’d really like to be doing it for a long time,” McGervey said. “I see a potential here. There’s a lot that can be done with it.”

McGervey’s associate, Ms. Masterson, said the diocesan team approach has value because resources can be pooled and “you don’t have to re-invent the wheel” each time a program is needed.

She has found her work to be “more profound, more inspirational than I ever expected.”

“Generation X has a thirst for communal idealism,” Ms. Masterson said. “What is needed now for these students is Catholicism.”