Priest urges church to do a better job in reaching its young adults

Published: 2005-06-03

ORLANDO, Fla. (CNS) -- Catholic youths and young adults feel they have no place in the church, and the church needs to figure out why, according to a Chicago priest who works in young adult ministry. "Most active Catholics are much older and, somewhere in there, young adults have been lost," said Father John Cusick, director of young adult ministry for the Archdiocese of Chicago and co-founder of Theology on Tap. He made the comments in a May 26 talk in Orlando during the Catholic Media Convocation, a joint meeting of the Catholic Press Association and the Catholic Academy for Communication Arts Professionals. The numbers speak for themselves, he said, noting the dropping Mass attendance among Catholics ages 19 to 40, and many in that age group choose to marry outside the church, raise their children without religion and omit faith from their daily lives.

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