I often see youngsters standing in the Church premises during the Mass rather than entering the Church. I feel this is mainly because the parishioners, especially the youth, find the homily too long and tiring, or not well prepared or not inspiring enough. Another reason could be that priests in general do not interact with the young people. Because of this, the youth finds it difficult to open up and take any further initiative. Today’s youth is also reluctant in taking an initiative because they hardly see an effort being made from the other end.
Sometimes, the priests also do not understand the critical situations and fail to respond with compassion. I remember once an incident where a young man came to the Presbytery to arrange for the funeral of his father. It was around 12:30 in the afternoon and the parish priest was having his lunch. On seeing the man at that time of the day, he got very angry and chased him away. I was wondering: Couldn’t the priest listen to the man and ask him to wait, rather than shout at him and send him away? I feel we lost a young man to the Church because of such a behavior.
Andrea Peter
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