NORTH JERSEY —Young North Jersey Catholics feel out of touch with their churches, and a majority of parishioners want to see more women in church leadership, a survey said.
Also, many Catholics in the area also want the church to be more welcoming to LGBTQ+ people, immigrants, those who have been divorced and remarried, and people with disabilities.
“Participants expressed an overwhelming desire to reach out and welcome all to the parish, regardless of age, cultural background, state in life, sexual identity, economic or legal status,” the Archdiocese of Newark said in a survey released last week.
Pope Francis I asked all churches worldwide to hold discussions with their communities, ahead of a Synod (assembly) in Rome next October.
Churches talked with more than 15,000 Catholics in local listening and dialogue sessions for Francis’s effort to “forge a way forward for the twenty-first century.” The archdiocese serves 1.3 million Catholics in Bergen, Essex, Hudson, and Union counties.
North Jersey Catholics said they want their churches to keep promoting social outreach, build vibrant communities for their members, and “do a better job at welcoming all people,” the survey found.
Connecting with youth, marginalized communities
In particular, Hispanic Catholics “expressed particular concerns” about groups of people “on the margins” of parish life; including young people; undocumented people who “are afraid to get involved in other activities,” non-practicing Catholics, and those who’ve distanced themselves from the Catholic Church.
This sentiment was echoed by other Catholics in North Jersey, who want the church to do a better job of those who feel unwelcome, including the LGBTQ+ community, undocumented immigrants, and people with disabilities.
Pope Francis has expressed a more conciliatory tone about LGBTQ+ people than any of his predecessors, though the Church’s stance remains that same-sex acts are not sacred. Pope Francis supports civil unions but not marriage for same-sex couples. The Archdiocese of Newark has a chapter of Courage International, a group for people “experiencing same-sex attractions” that asks its members to be chaste.
The Archdiocese holds “inclusive family Masses” for people with disabilities, which began again last fall. The Archdiocese also launched a “Vine and Branches campaign” last October to welcome people back to Mass as most COVID-19 restrictions lifted.
Surveyed people also said they want to better engage young people in parish life and areas of ministry.
“People are happy with, and see the value of, robust ministries and activities currently in place to serve parishioners and in social service and justice areas, including communion to sick and homebound, soup kitchen and food pantry support, liturgical and catechetical ministries and more,” the Archdiocese said. “At the same time, participants believe that there is an urgent need for ministries to be opened up to include younger people, especially by personally inviting them to participate.”
The COVID-19 pandemic forced churches to cancel or limit in-person services, and find new ways to connect with their communities.
“The pandemic has disrupted the pastoral rhythm of parish communities, and it is a big factor in how the parishes have been, or have not been, reaching out,” the Archdiocese said.
Youth participants in parishes and schools asked for help dealing with mental health issues, and teens “spoke about the need for acceptance by the Church and their parishes, the feeling that they are not listened to, their struggles with mental health and social issues, and a deeper desire to know Christ.”
“They see the Church as exclusive, not welcoming, and rule-oriented rather than following the teachings of Christ as expressed in his words and actions,” the Archdiocese said. “On the other hand, many appreciated their parish as a source of family gathering and tradition (especially through sacraments) and parish youth groups, service opportunities, and activities.”
Catholic doctrine ‘out of sync with modern times’
The Archdiocese said that among English-speaking Catholics, participants expressed that some church doctrine is “out of sync with modern times, especially regarding divorce, annulment, birth control and conception, IVF, LGBTQ issues and the ordination of women as deacons and priests.” Some others “believe that Church doctrine should be changed,” the study said.
“Participants stated that they often felt that the Church (especially bishops) gives mixed messages regarding these issues, and this leads to confusion,” the Archdiocese said. “Many suggested, that the catechism should be updated to reflect changes in doctrine and regulations that no longer apply in today’s world.”
There was no mention in the survey of parishioners’ views on abortion; Cardinal Tobin said abortion “represents a failure to recognize the sanctity of human life” following the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
“We join with Pope Francis in noting that ‘it is troubling to see how simple and convenient it has become for some to deny the existence of a human life as a solution to problems that can and must be solved for both the mother and her unborn child,'” Tobin said in June.
The Archdiocese protested the detention of immigrant children and families in 2019. Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin, the Archbishop of Newark, has also been a vocal supporter of immigrant rights.
The role of laity and women in the Church
Some laypeople (those not ordained) said they wanted more of a voice in parish decision-making; younger laity said they feel as if there is no room for them in parish discussions.
Laypeople also expressed their concern for a declining number of ordained people, and wanted to have more opportunities to participate in parish business.
Also, participants from more than 90 percent of parishes “expressed a strong desire to see a greater role for women in Church leadership on every level,” and said they were frustrated that women aren’t able to be ordained as priests of deacons in the Catholic Church. This was especially true for younger Catholics.
“Younger generations may find this situation to be unacceptable,” the archdiocese said. “Some expressed privately that they don’t know how to answer the questions asked by their children as to why women are not ordained. They believe that the Church is out of touch today.”
But, Catholics of all ages felt that the fact women cannot be ordained showed inequality and “a lack of respect for the dignity of women.”
Read the full survey here.
Survey participants included parishioners, families with children, parents, students, teachers, and other people, the archdiocese said. Those surveyed also included people at social centers, in LGBT groups, in churches, and the elderly or homebound. The Archdiocese conducted more than 700 in-person and online listening sessions throughout Bergen, Essex, Hudson, and Union counties.
The Diocese of Newark was established in 1853 and originally included the entire state; it was elevated to an Archdiocese in 1937. New Jersey has four other Catholic diocese based in Trenton, Camden, Paterson, and Metuchen. Each of these dioceses released similar reports that aligned with what Archdiocese of Newark parishioners said, as NorthJersey.com reported.
The Catholic Church’s last major revision of its doctrine was the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s, called by Pope John XXIII in an effort to “update” the church for the 20th century.
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