CONFIRMATION has become almost "like a passing out parade" for young people, according to a Church of Ireland priest, the Rev Doris Clements. She was addressing the West of Ireland Theological Association at the weekend.
They seek something spiritual elsewhere," she said, noting how the young were "deeply into" the Third World for instance, and invariably "to the forefront" of fund raising efforts for it.
She spoke of the isolation and loneliness involved in ministering to 2,200 Church of Ireland members in the west of Ireland. She herself ministers to a group of parishes in the Killala/Ballina area of Co Mayo.
An "unbelieveable" workload had rectors covering up to eight parishes, she said. It was also proving very difficult to keep young people interested in the church.
Mrs Nuala Bourke, from Castlebar, Co Mayo, said all her (adult) children "disagreed profoundly with the (Roman Catholic) church, on predictable ground". Raised in a very traditional orthodox manner, when they did attend Mass now "they are invariably disappointed". The "very maleness of it", freaked one of her daughters out, she said, to loud and spontaneous applause from the audience.
Some of her other children complained about the lack of participation by the congregation at Mass, as well as "the poor standard of homilies", which either angered them or left them cold. The church was not facing up to these problems, she said. They were being "fudged", although the situation was "extremely urgent".
She wondered how it was that now, "with all our caution, our young people live such different lives to us". Were she to rear her family again, she might place less emphasis on rules and regulations, and have more respect for their intelligence, allowing them find their own God, she said.
It had been a salutary experience for her as a parent, through the ongoing "skirmishes" with her children when they were younger, to realise that seeing things in black and white could be construed as intolerance, and to learn that shades of grey represented "not weakness but wisdom".
Thomas O'Connor, a Leaving Certificate student from St Mary's College, Ballisodare, Co Sligo, told the seminar he did not attend Mass often, and that only one of his friends did so regularly.
He believed "in most things", and prayed "when things were bad". He did not know if it worked, but it made him "feel good". He felt sorry for the Pop and thought "his time is done"
The Pope was the same age as his grandmother, he said, "and I wouldn't put her in charge of the church". He did not know how the church could now reach young people. That "would be a hard job".