{"id":284340,"date":"2016-08-18T07:30:00","date_gmt":"2016-08-18T12:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/?p=284340"},"modified":"2016-08-21T00:13:32","modified_gmt":"2016-08-21T05:13:32","slug":"diversity-ministry-part-ii-age","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2016\/08\/diversity-ministry-part-ii-age\/","title":{"rendered":"Diversity in Ministry Part II – Age"},"content":{"rendered":"

In <\/span>part 1<\/span><\/a> of this series, I began a conversation about the need for intentional diversity in ministry. I explored the ways in which we could encourage people of different gifts and talents to join forces to more effectively serve the Lord.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Diversity is a word that is being used often today in various contexts, but I will continue to focus on only a few areas where we can work to improve our ministry in America.<\/span><\/p>\n

What kind of Diversity?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\"lightstock_257457_medium_cris_a\"Ministries in America could benefit from a greater and intentional diversity of age of target audiences. I\u2019m aware that this could present a daunting challenge ahead of parishes because many ministries are built around segregation of ages. This is most notable in religious education that often mimics the scholastic grouping of grades by age, but it\u2019s seen throughout the parish in oth<\/span>er ways as well.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m not advocating for an outright revolution in formation for children, but it\u2019s worth looking at how we can learn from the <\/span>Montessori<\/span><\/a> method that mixes ages. The mixture isn’t very drastic, but it allows for children to be younger and older than other kids as they go through the program to live in different relation to students as they grow.\u00a0<\/span>Studies<\/span><\/a> have shown that there are many benefits for children to have a mixture of younger and older children around them to develop relational skills later in life.<\/span><\/p>\n

Beyond the educational structures for catechetics, we have many ways to segregate groups based on age (i.e. young adults and seniors). We do have a natural tendency to associate with people that share similar experiences, and this happens most often through age. This is natural and should be allowed to happen organically, but if systems only allow parishioners to attend activities with their own age, then their experience of the Church is lacking.<\/span><\/p>\n

A parish that embraces a wide diversity of ages can thrive in the shared experiences of community. Each age group has plenty to learn and benefit from the others. These same benefits are more obvious in the domestic church, but the parish is its own community of families that will flourish from a fusion of parishioners from all groups.<\/span><\/p>\n

Family Ministry<\/h3>\n

One of the biggest struggles with religious education today is that a large portion of Catholic families depend almost entirely on the short time in class to get children educated about the faith and Jesus. No matter how impressive a religious education or youth ministry can be, it will always be a difficult battle if the family is not reinforcing what is taught.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Icon of the Holy Family<\/p><\/div>\n

Unfortunately, a large part of our families see the parish as the ultimate source of catechesis without extra supplementation at home. There are many reasons while this is likely happening, and Lindsay explored some in her post <\/span>How Bad Catechesis Happened and How to Fix It (Review of Msgr. Charles Pope<\/a>)<\/span>. One of the biggest takeaways is that many of today\u2019s Catholic parents are simply not formed or feel equipped enough to take on \u00a0the task of catechizing their own children. This is a serious issue that can be blamed on many factors, but either way, it\u2019s a situation we cannot leave as is.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThus the little domestic Church, like the greater Church, needs to be constantly and intensely evangelized: hence its duty regarding permanent education in the faith\u2026the family, like the Church, ought to be a place where the Gospel is transmitted and from which the Gospel radiates\u2026the future of evangelization depends in great part on the Church of the home\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n