New Wave Faithful

I recently found this website for young adults.  I was disappointed that it lumped all young people together without taking into account culture.   I guess they figure since it is about “youth culture” that is good enough. There did not seem to be an awareness to the fact that half of the Catholic Church in the US is Hispanic and those Hispanics are largely young (the median age is 26) and bilingual.  No links, no articles, no mention.   I felt like this was the “one size fits all” approach that our bishops have warned against in Youth Ministry. 

Yes there is assimilation to US culture by Hispanic young people, but there is also a very different world view and faith life.  I am sure they could have included websites for Hispanic youth, or African American youths, at least a link ¿que no? Spirit & Song has some great music in Spanish that may speak to the faith of many young people in the US.  (Interestingly, I did find one tune in French, Ca ‘Cest Bon for all you cajun youth.)

The US Bishops have committed to giving the Church a voice in Spanish, this is not just about language, but about culture as well.  The New Evangelization is about evangelization of culture and culture as a means of evangelization.  In order for young adult and youth ministry to be relevant to the church, it needs to begin taking this into account.   

Just as my own interpretation of the website… why are the “minorities” so close together in the website picture (above) and the anglos kind of keeping their distance?  Oh well, at least we get to be in the picture. c/s