Thesis Statement: Toward a More Egalitarian Church
One of the most important questions that any religion must ask of itself is how it will appeal to each new generation, for a religion that cannot enlist the children of its members to follow on in its teachings will become a dead religion, no matter how true its doctrine may be. Some faiths û such as the Shakers û have staked their institutional lives on being able to recruit entirely new generations simply by the power of their doctrine and liturgy and have failed to do so in part because their vows of celibacy forbade them access to the most natural body of followers that most generations have û the children of the members.
So how may the Catholic Church find a way to involve young people more closely in the formal practices of the church? What is the role of young people to be in the church of the third millennium? In some ways, their role will be what it always was, for one of the greatest strengths of the church has always been its ability to provide theological and liturgical continuity and has always been able to introduce children successfully to its teachings, rituals and beliefs. And yet the role of young people in the church must also change to reflect broad changes in society that have been and shall continue to be reflected in the church itself.
The most important way that the role of young people will change in the future is that they must be help the church become more egalitarian. They must also participate in the shift to a church that is far more dependent upon laity than it has traditionally been û a shift that will also bring about a more egalitarian practice of faith. Justification as well as guidance for this shift to a less hierarchical church can be found in a variety of Catholic writings, from the most recent version of the Catechism to examinations of historical demographic shifts to analyses of the continuing differences between American Catholic...