ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Thursday, Apr. 24 2008

Young Catholics meet a man who understands them
By Colleen Carroll Campbell

There was an unusual intimacy in Pope Benedict XVI's remarks to the 25,000
cheering young pilgrims who converged for last week's papal youth rally in New
York. Appearing happy and at home with his young listeners, Benedict spoke to
them as too few of their elders do: He spoke as one who understands them from
the inside.

This is important to young Catholics, whose affection for the pope and
attraction to traditional Catholic teachings and devotions often is dismissed
as naiveté or rigidity. At 81, Benedict understands a fundamental truth about
fervent young Catholics that many of their middle-aged elders miss: Their
enthusiasm for the faith is not about rejecting the world. It is about
embracing a radical commitment to God that inspires them to influence the world
with Gospel values.

"Sometimes," Benedict confided to his young audience, "we are looked upon as
people who speak only of prohibitions. Nothing could be further from the truth!
Authentic Christian discipleship is marked by a sense of wonder." That wonder
permeated the New York youth rally as it has permeated World Youth Day
gatherings for more than two decades. The youthful crowds turn out for
Benedict, as they did for Pope John Paul II, for the same reason that young
Catholics across America are rediscovering the rosary and Eucharistic
adoration, forming reading groups to study the early church fathers and the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, joining Catholic lay movements and religious
orders that stress fidelity to church teachings, launching Bible studies and
chastity clubs on secular campuses and working to bolster religious education
programs at Catholic parishes.

They are hungry for God. They are seeking transcendent truth and reliable moral
guidance. And a growing number of them have come to believe that they can find
both in an unreserved embrace of their Catholic faith and its most demanding
moral teachings.

As I discovered while interviewing hundreds of these young adults for my book,
"The New Faithful: Why Young Adults Are Embracing Christian Orthodoxy," most of
them are not products of a religious ghetto or fundamentalists seeking refuge
from a world they fear or loathe. Many are highly educated and worldly-wise.
They have had broad exposure to the pluralism, materialism and secularism that
characterize our culture today. And that exposure, rather than squelching their
religious impulses, has intensified them.

Interviewees frequently told me that in the process of encountering a vast
array of conflicting worldviews, they began to ask questions about life's
meaning that led them to examine traditional religion for answers. Others
described an "early mid-life crisis" that left them searching for more than
money or worldly success. Still others spoke of an emptiness that engulfed them
in the midst of a promiscuous party lifestyle — a lifestyle that left them
unsatisfied and yearning for God. In their embrace of an orthodox,
countercultural faith, they found not an escape from world but a lens through
which to view it and a vision with which to transform it.

These highly committed young believers are a minority in their generation, as
the anemic Mass attendance rates of young Catholics attest. Yet their
grass-roots movement has become a driving force for church renewal.

Benedict acknowledged this repeatedly last week, as he urged young Catholics to
continue their joyful witness to the faith. "You are Christ's disciples today,"
he told them. "Shine his light upon this great city and beyond. Show the world
the reason for the hope that resonates within you."

Through their jubilant public prayer, the young Catholics gathered in New York
did just that, buoyed by the words of a man who understands them more
intimately than most.

Colleen Carroll Campbell is an author, television and radio host and St.
Louis-based fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. Her website is
www.colleen-campbell.com.