A Different Approach to Approaching Millennials

Student Voices blogger Samuel Klee recently wrote a thoughtful little reflection called “Argue Papal Style.” In it, Klee suggested that we look to recent popes for a cue on how to conduct ecumenical dialogue without straying into relativism or intolerance.

Reading Klee’s piece recalled to me another area in which we would do well to imitate the recent popes.

As a significant sector of the blogosphere continues to debate the growing gap between Millennials and their faith, one means of closing that gap rarely seems to come up: enfranchisement.

People like to talk about why Millennials don’t realize they need the Church; why Millennials mistakenly think they can find God outside of ecclesial communities; how Millennials are replacing God with other goods, without knowing it.

Pope Francis took a very different approach throughout World Youth Day. Rather than persuading the youth that they need the Church, he simply emphasized that the Church needs them.

Perhaps this approach, which John Paul II embodied so beautifully, explains why three million (mostly young) people gathered in Rio this July?

Enfranchisement. Vulnerability. Dependence.

An approach worth taking more seriously.