The marginalization of teens in the religious context of the U.S. Catholic high school.
Introduction
The U.S. Catholic high school setting is centered on the experience of the developing adolescent, and yet its religious elements are made of dominating adult-centered concerns and traditions that marginalize both adolescents who self-identify as Catholic and teens who identify with other cultural and religious traditions. Therefore, the adolescents in these institutions constitute a marginalized population. In this paper, I define and examine the conditions of the temporary, encapsulated marginality of teens within the Catholic high school religion experiences.
The body of research about United States adolescents is extensive, but very few studies have researched the religious experience of teenagers (Smith, Faris, Denton, & Regnerus, 2003). Therefore, this paper relies on information from reviews of the few research studies, on articles based on anecdotal evidence, and on my experience as a high school teacher at a Catholic school. From this data, I suggest reasons for and concerns about adapting Catholic traditions to engage marginalized adolescents.
My interest in this subject comes from my experience as a non-Catholic teacher at a Jesuit Catholic high school in Seattle, Washington. My experience includes my involvement volunteering in community service, mentorship and participation in retreat preparation, as well as attendance and participation in weekly, special, and all-school liturgies. Though I have participated at many levels of ministry, I am still non-Catholic; therefore I am still ignorant of much of the culture. Knowing my limitations, then, I am in a unique position to look objectively at the subject of teen marginalization in the Catholic high school. In the final part of this paper, I examine the practices employed at Seattle Preparatory School to include students as participants and leaders in liturgical and retreat experiences, thereby reducing the religious marginalization of adolescents.
Teenagers' experience of encapsulated marginality in Catholic religious expressions
Encapsulated marginality refers to the condition of a person or population that is isolated within the culture that surrounds and holds power over that person or population. The isolation and powerlessness leads to several negative experienced realities, including alienation, a feeling of being "never at home," difficulty in decision making, self-absorption, and feeling troubled by ambiguity (de Luna, 2004). The psychosocial developmental progress of adolescents and the adult-prioritized liturgical tradition collude to create the reasons and exacerbating conditions for the reality of adolescent marginalization in religious experience. In each of the following four sections, both adolescent development and adult choices are shown to be causative factors to produce the negative experiences named above.
Alienation
Alienation almost seems to be a natural condition for teenagers, and it is commonly depicted in our stories and popular media (Smith et al., 2003). The developmental stage of adolescence is characterized by rebellion and emerging independence. Rebellion against the family, school, or other community can include rebellion against participation in a common religious tradition. The rejection of the tradition, however, does not mean that the teen is rejecting his or her religious identity. "Although the majority of teens claim that they identify with the traditions of organized religion, mounting data suggests that actual participation is much less widespread" (Clark, 2002). A lack of religious involvement in school- or parish-sponsored events and liturgies fills an adolescent's need to hold his or her root traditions at arm's length.
For the non-Catholic teen, the alienation felt while in a school-sponsored Catholic liturgy can be intense. There are parts of the ritual that go unexplained: the rising and sitting at specific times, the spoken responses, and the "crossing" of different parts of the body at different times. The teen that does not know the appropriate postures feels singled out and denied membership in the group: the teen is alienated because of his or her lack of education in the rules of the dominant culture.
There are consequences that relate to rebellion and alienation in the Catholic school environment. Students face disciplinary action for failure to attend required liturgies and retreats. An adult who requires the rebellious Catholic teen to attend all-school liturgies reinforces the teen's perceived need to rebel. The adult decision to exclude non-Catholics from the Eucharist table can be perceived to be a personal exclusion, deepening the divide. Similarly, an adult who denies the non-Catholic teen opportunity to express his or her faith in a way of the teen's choosing is maintaining that teen's alienation, even though there may be valid reasons for that denial.
As a result of alienation, teens often feel that they cannot be "at home" in religious settings (de Luna, 2004). Adolescents feel a sense of enforced displacement, an objective reality of not belonging. There is a lack of a recognizable reference group for teenagers: there is no religious culture that is controlled and maintained by teenagers, no center to which they can refer for strength and solidarity. Teens do not tend to identify with the adult community, and are not encouraged to do so. Instead of being included, mentored, and educated about the meaning of the rituals, "teens are kept at the edges of parish liturgical life… we deem our youth at times not ready to make the decisions that more ‘skilled' professionals should make" (Haas, 2003). Adults hold power over the teenagers, and the adults form a closed society to which the adolescents cannot belong.
Difficulty with authentic decision-making
Isolated within a culture, the adolescent still has a developmental need to belong and to be valued within the alienating community. This need to belong, in the absence of power, leads to loose boundary control. Loose boundary control refers to the teenager's inability to distinguish between him or herself and the community or power-holder. The needs felt by the self are interpreted as the needs of the community; conversely, the needs expressed by a power-holder for the community are internalized to be seen as the needs of the self. The teen does not have firm enough boundaries to understand the difference between the needs expressed by the adult and his or her own needs, and so is not strong enough to resist. The need to belong encourages the teen to agree with the perceived power-holder, whether or not the teen is interested in doing so. If the power-holder is a well-intentioned adult who is attempting to ask for the young person's input about a proposed change to be made in the liturgy, the teen will probably agree with whatever the adult suggests. Agreement with a power-holder while experiencing the condition of loose boundary control does not lead to authentic decision-making.
In some cases, adolescents are asked to plan and participate in a liturgy. This seems an ideal solution: the adult-run liturgy isn't "reaching" teens, so let's let the teenagers run it. However, simply handing the reins over to the teens does not work: the teen's need to belong will still cloud the judgments he or she is asked to make. A teen required to make a hard decision for a group is often paralyzed to inaction because of his or her need to balance the perceived positive and negative consequences of those decisions. Complicating the difficulty is the teen's awareness of his or her lack of experience and information. The teen will often defer to adult direction because of these difficulties: he or she does not want responsibility for a decision that turns out badly, and feels insecure about his or her ability to make the decision correctly.
More often, adolescents are not given the opportunity to make decisions about community liturgies. Adults are wary of the judgment and level of expertise the adolescents possess; as Haas (2003) writes, "we deem our youth at times not ready to make the decisions that more ‘skilled' professionals should make." So the readings are selected and edited by adults; the homilist addresses adult needs and priorities from an adult perspective. Because the concerns of the adults are not the same as the concerns of the teenagers, the teens are left without liturgical experience that is perceived by them to be meaningful.
Self-absorption of teens
In the absence of a trusted reference group or source of external guidance, adolescents are left with only the lens of the self to evaluate every situation (de Luna, 2004). The teen tends to believe, then, that everything bad that happens is because of him or her. This is a degree of self-centeredness that can make any external experience or perception of experience into a personal issue. For example: a teen acting as a lector mistakes the order of mass and delivers a reading at the wrong moment. On realizing the mistake, the adolescent perceives the mistake to be reflecting an internal, personal flaw, and feels ashamed. Teens will often avoid public risks – such as ministry – after they have had a negative experience.
Adults do not always recognize that teenagers will wound themselves with harsh judgments. Instead of making time for teens to debrief their ministry experiences, providing support and other-centered perspective, adults may reinforce the sense of personal error by voicing their own negative judgment of the experience. The adult's judgment can be beneficial, formative, and even legally required, but should be examined in the context of the adolescent's self-judgment.
Ambiguity in teens' experience of religious expression
Catholic high school students do not necessarily understand the deep symbolism and meaning in the particulars of the liturgical celebrations. Many received catechesis as instruction instead of as understanding: they know the responses, the postures, and the prayers, but do not know their purposes, histories, and theological implications. The teens' lack of understanding leads to ambiguity about the rules adults associate with the rites. Adults have given definitions and assigned meaning to experiences the teens have not yet felt; adolescents have no referent for the experiences onto which adults put meaning.
An example of the ambiguity the teens experience is in the vague nature of scriptural readings and their interpretations. After they are read the biblical passages for the day's liturgy, students are usually given an adult interpretation of the meaning of those stories. In the Catholic high school, the adult attempts to interpret the meaning so that it will have relevance to the teenagers, or so that it will instruct the teenagers according to an adult-perceived teenager need. The adult finds meaning in the relation of the passages to adult experiences: for example, marriage, child rearing, and responsibility for the life of the family. Though the adolescent may have had powerful experiences, they are not necessarily felt in the same way by the adult, or assigned the same meaning. Even though the adult was once a teenager, he or she no longer experiences those same conditions, and so cannot authentically interpret and communicate the relevance of the scripture to the adolescent. The adolescent is left to reinterpret the adult (and therefore foreign) interpretation of the biblical passage.
Why should adults work to change this adolescent experience?
If teenagers constitute an encapsulated marginalized population within the United States' Catholic churches, they are by definition disjoined from the culture that created the marginalization. The adolescents lose investment in the community that has disenfranchised them, their alienation leads to ignorance of the relevance of the church and its message, and the number of stewards for the future church is diminished. This is the scenario that is driving schools and parishes to seek more connection with their youth; this is the scenario that works against the good of the institutional church and the good of the faithful.
But there is hope: while many teens "are searching for an ‘authentic faith' that they find lacking in the adult church" (Smith, et al., 2003), 40,000 teens involved in Catholic youth ministry were finding an "authentic" ritual in the old format: the Mass. At the low-boredom final liturgy of the 1997 National Catholic Youth Conference, "the central motif seemed to be involvement, as youth were invited to sing, dance, clap, and generally get into it. [One teen remarked,] Make it more like this, instead of just sitting down listening to the old guy speak. This is fun" (Allen, 1997).
But bringing teens to church is not about entertainment. David Haas writes, "To desire liturgical music that inspires us at a deep level is not a sign of entertainment-seeking but of longing for life-giving transformation" (2003). There are reasons for adult's priorities concerning the content and constructs of Catholic liturgies. There are also reasons not to "sell out" to popular youth culture. It may be difficult for adults to trust adolescent theology, as expressed in liturgy; it may be difficult for adults to find their spiritual values there (Haas, 2003). However, when teenagers are encouraged to express their emerging faith, it is powerful and real. As one adult writes about the faith of youth, "I simply think the gifts of faith and fantasy they bring to us are often beautiful and wise in their simplicity. To me, these are the bread and wine; and I am always thankful to receive them" (Kozol, J. as cited by Kazemek, 2002).
More than two-thirds of North American 12th graders "report that their religious beliefs are similar to those of their parents" (Smith, et al., 2003). The marginalization that adolescents experience because of youth is temporary: the teens will become adults. As future adults, the 14% of our population that is between the ages of 10 and 19 are potentially the next stewards of their various religious traditions (Smith, et al.). However, they are "not the church of the future, but the church of today" (Allen, 1997): one-third of adolescents rate their faith to be "very important," and one-third rate it to be "pretty important" to them (Smith, et al.). If so many teens are self-identifying as religious, and yet are not being included in the planning and execution of the rituals of their faiths, they are being excluded from the very institution that they are expected to later maintain.
The concerns of adults (e.g., Allen's "restoring Tridentine observances") are not the same as the concerns of their offspring ("energetic and involving liturgies"), but both desires spring from the same source: the need to express one's faith, experience, and worship in community with others (1997). Adults do not need to sacrifice theological content for youth entertainment, but must also appreciate that theological content is only appreciated after a need for it is experienced.
Case study: What Seattle Preparatory School does to reduce adolescent marginality
Seattle Preparatory School, a Jesuit-sponsored high school in Seattle, Washington, strives to create an environment of religious and ethnic inclusion among its 652 students. 75% of the student body is identified to be Catholic, and 25% non-Catholic. Inclusion of each student was a stated goal of the school's former, interim president, Fr. Paul Fitterer, SJ. He wrote, "We want to make people feel that they're welcome and wanted and important… We want the young person to feel ‘I belong'" (2002). Seattle Preparatory School has reduced the encapsulated marginality of teens through the actions of several ministries. The primary actions and the ministries that carry out those actions are described in the sections below.
Model, allow, and require decision making
The community ministry department, led by Jeanie Robinson, consists of 5 part-time faculty and staff members. Together, the team runs 13 overnight retreats, weekly student-led optional liturgies, daily optional Eucharist services, the baccalaureate mass, an all-school day of service, some assemblies, and 5 all-school masses. The team meets weekly, in much the same format as the peer ministry group. The teens are very aware of the group working dynamic that is modeled for them, and seek participation in the events led by the ministry team.
In all of the ministry events, student participation is solicited; more importantly, however, the involvement and investment of the students is solicited. For example, groups from around the school, including sports teams and classes, "sponsor" the weekly liturgies. These groups meet with an adult community minister who provides the framework of the liturgy. The readings are pre-selected according to liturgical guidelines, but students choose among themselves for the homilists, lectors, and Eucharistic ministers. Music is provided by the music ministry choir and band, which is made up of students with a few faculty members. The resulting liturgies are entirely teen-centered; the roles are filled by teens and the interpretation is from an authentically adolescent perspective. Following the prepared homilies (usually two students reflect,) the microphone is open to any member of the community who wishes to share his or her insight. The community is enriched and strengthened by this model of the Catholic mass: the students have had decision-making modeled for them, they have been allowed to make decisions and required to take risks (Feduccia, 2003).
Explain, educate, and consider
The religion department curriculum and the retreat program run by Seattle Preparatory School help students to develop their faith identity, either as a Catholic or as a non-Catholic, but with a distinctly Catholic bias. In the religion classes, students study world religions, Catholic tradition, Christology, religion-based service, and personal spirituality.
Seniors in the (12th grade) "faith in action" class are involved in the planning and execution of some all-school service events and liturgies. These students who have shown interest in ministry are given an opportunity for leadership. In the context of the class, students learn the importance of the separate rites that make up the mass, plans and participates in a liturgy, and is supported in the exploration of the theological meanings. Through acting and reflecting on their experiences and actions, students' faiths and relationships with the Catholic Church grow stronger.
Create reference groups
Support within the marginalized community, necessary for the health of a marginalized population, is provided from several sources (de Luna, 2004). Peer ministry, an group students may opt into, is made of students in 9th, 10th, and 11th grades who choose to spend their time in the service of others. This group becomes an authentic reference group as students outside the group turn to the ministry for support. Peer ministry motivates such causes such as "hygiene socks" for the homeless, the Christmas "giving tree," and Habitat for Humanity trips. The team also participates in all-school liturgies as Eucharistic ministers, lectors, and set-up crew. The group is moderated by Brian Mack, a religion teacher and member of the community ministry team. Mr. Mack is an advocate for the teens' involvement in the liturgies, and makes certain each student is adequately trained. "Check-ins" during the peer ministry meeting time ensure that students have time to share, build community, and reflect on their ministry with others.
Mentor, coach, and debrief students
"The greatest act of ministry we can do with young people is to empower them to be full, conscious and active participants in the liturgy" (Feduccia, 2003). Music ministry provides a choir and instrumental musicians for weekly and all-school liturgies. The director of the ministry, J. P. Villanueva, opens the choir and band to the entire community, saying that Jesus will take all the good notes and all the bad ones – the important thing is to show up. Singing in the choir and playing in the band have opened the liturgical experience to several of the students involved, most of whom would not otherwise have been invested in the Catholic mass. Some members of music ministry are Catholic and some are non-Catholic. All are welcome, creating inclusion, "letting gifts emerge among our students as the Spirit leads" (Haas, 2003).
In another example of the mentoring of teens, The Kairos retreat is led by 12th graders who made the retreat the previous year. These seniors are trained for leadership by the adult directors of the retreat. The teens' grueling preparation consists of several weeks of meetings, writing an intensely personal, transformative "talk," and learning ministry skills such as group facilitation. The teens choose adults in the community to be mentors as they prepare their talks, which they will give during the retreat. More adults join the retreat preparations later, and are participants in the small groups the students will lead. On the four-day retreat, the retreatants come to understand that the senior students are truly the leaders of the retreat experience. The seniors experience the support, mentorship, and coaching of the adults throughout the experience; following the retreat, the seniors uniformly express a deepened relationship with G-d and their faith tradition.
Lessons: What should be kept? What should be changed?
"A good teen liturgy is a good liturgy" (Villanueva, J.P., personal communication, 2004). Adult fears of inappropriate music, disconnected theology, and popular culture contaminating the religious tradition should be allayed. Adolescents involved in ministry are striving toward the same liturgical goal as the adults: to create a ritual "filled with G-d's passion and message" (Haas, 2003). Keep expecting a good, engaging, Spirit-filled liturgy.
But how can it happen? If teens are allowed to be more involved in liturgical experiences, they will be more receptive to learning and appreciating theology, because they will be trying to apply it. Adult support (that includes teens as full members of the community while respecting the loose boundary control, self-absorption, and alienation inherent in the adolescent condition) can help teenagers bridge the gaps in their theological understandings. Keep the theological content and rich symbolism of the mass, and encourage teens to bring and share their perspectives on the meaning.
If adolescents are not supported enough to be involved, if they are excluded, or if they are an encapsulated marginalized population, adults cut themselves and the Church off from the teenagers. Keep reminding adults that their religious purpose is not only personal spiritual growth, but also the formation of the spiritual identity of the youth.
References
Allen, J. L. (1997). Teens seek more ‘youth friendly' liturgies. National Catholic reporter, 34(7), 3.
Clark, L. S. (2002). U.S. adolescent religious identity, the media, and the "funky" side of religion. Journal of communication, 52(4), 794-811.
de Luna, A. (February 14, 2004). PowerPoint slides presented in Seattle University's class STMM 560: Ministry in a Multicultural Context.
Feduccia, R. (2003). The liturgy. Retrieved February 14, 2004 from St. Mary's Press website: http://www.smp.org/resourcepage.cfm?Article=407
Fitterer, SJ, P. (2002). Seattle preparatory School: who are we? Brochure from the "Sharing the Spirit: conversations with the president" series of 4 school-community mailings.
Haas, D. (2003). Liturgy, prayer, music, and formation. Retrieved February 14, 2004 from St. Mary's Press website: http://www.smp.org/resourcepage.cfm?Article=69
Kazemek, F. E. (2002). I know lots of people have those thoughts, they just do. Journal of adolescent & adult literacy, 45:5, 378-380.
Smith, C., Faris, R., Denton, M. L., & Regnerus, M. (2003). Mapping American adolescent subjective religiosity and attitudes of alienation toward religion: a research report. Sociology of religion, 64:1, 111-133.