Young adults need strong prayer life

I read with interest Therese Borchard’s opinion piece on why young adults leave the Catholic church (CR, April 17). She disagreed with several explanations, did not offer one of her own but concluded that we should “… be ourselves and stop worrying if we win or lose. Then the right people will come.”

This is dangerous thinking. We do not need the referenced Pew Forum poll to tell us that the Catholic church is losing many young adults. We need prayerful consideration as to how to reawaken faith in young adults and for that matter to all who no longer participate in the Mass and the sacraments. A vibrant faith that impacts one’s actions must be passed on to each generation. How intimate and life-giving is our faith if our witness does not bring our children to Jesus?

I believe we are emphasizing well the social Gospel and encouraging our young adults to give of themselves in many worthwhile charities. However, I believe we are losing them because we do not train them well in a prayer life. To face the challenges of living a counter-cultural Christian life in today’s world, we all need to have intimacy with God and to be before him and hear him.

Just as a good priest needs a daily prayer life to sustain himself, a young adult living in the world must learn the secret of “abiding in the vine.”

If they do not, their faith withers and dries up, and maybe we see them only for a wedding, baptism or funeral. How sad.

Catholic Review

The Catholic Review is the official publication of the Archdiocese of Baltimore.