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 The challenge of evangelizing our youth in the new century will require
a deeper understanding of their needs today. Sadly, our youth, as in
past generations, must deal with racism, a culture of violence, and
sexual exploitation. They are searching for ways to cope. It is our duty
as adult men and women of faith to present them with mechanisms to help
them cope in such a complex society. The good news is that religion is
deeply rooted in the Black American experience, which means that our
youth often view the church as a way to deal with stressful situations
such as racism, inequalities, poverty, violence, rejection and substance
abuse. Religious practices provide youth with a system of understanding
and explaining life events that are otherwise unexplainable to immature
or underdeveloped minds.
Therefore, if the church offers many benefits to the spiritual and
developmental growth of our youth. The question then becomes, how do we
communicate our values to them? How do we keep them in our parishes, and
away from the wolves that would lead them astray? We have abandoned our
youth to the care of the local community centers, and the "mega"
churches with their large gyms. How can we compete with the many after
school activities, private clubs and public recreational sports? Perhaps
the reason why they are there is because many of our Catholic parishes
have failed to provide the same resources and activities. It is time
that we as Black Catholics stop allowing others to raise our children,
and instilling in them values that are contrary to the teachings of our
faith.
During the late 1950's, evangelization efforts of Black Catholics
included the presence of gymnasiums and organized sports teams.
Traditional Black Catholic churches had Scout troops, art programs and
other creative activities that were provided by priests and religious
brothers and sisters. Additionally, lay adults willing to work with our
youth were plentiful. Parish programs were well structured, age
appropriate and gender specific. Today, parishes seem to barely pay for
the insurance needed to cover such activities. It seems that the
church's efforts to protect children is having a direct effect on the
recruitment of adult volunteers willing to work with youth. They find
the training and screening process too difficult, bureaucratic and
intimidating.
Because of the recent scandals within the church, and the reality that
we live in an imperfect world, we all agree that everything reasonable
must be done to protect the innocence of our children from predators. We
within the Black Catholic community should not allow these obstacles to
stand in our way. We must continue to provide the services and
ministries Christ demands for us, for he did not say, "do not hinder the
little children, but let them come unto me." (Mt.19:14).
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