An article in the Church Times suggests that there will be a religious revival among young people, as a reaction against today’s secular culture. And this is no wishful thinking, but based on the perceptions of Revd Paul Zulehner, professor emeritus of Pastoral Theology at the University of Vienna, who spoke to the Church Times after an event within the Roman Catholic Church’s Jubilee of Youth, which has attracted a million young people.
“We’re clearly witnessing a protest against mainstream secularisation, as groups of youngsters yearn for re-spiritualisation or re-enchantment”, he said. “Many are looking for meaning beyond material success, when such perceptions have become enfeebled in our pluralistic societies.”
But it is not straight forward: “Far from being a simple regeneration, this is a complex process — Churches and religious movements are both gaining and losing young people……What we’re witnessing are rivulets of religiosity, rather than any great flood — but these small streams have the capacity to grow.”
Read the Church Times article here.
Picture above: Pilgrims entering the St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican in procession for the Jubilee of Youth, by Ficho Knez. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.