Notes - Sons and Daughters of the Light
Sons and Daughters of the Light: A Pastoral Plan for Ministry with Young Adults
November 12, 1996, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
- John Paul II, Homily at Sunday Mass, World Youth Day 1993, Denver.
- Message of the Holy Father at the World Youth Day Mass in Luenta Park on Sunday, January 15, 1995.
- James D. Davidson, The Catholic Pluralism Project (West
Lafayette, Ind.: Purdue University, 1995). In this study those born
after 1961 (post-Vatican II cohort), 33 percent attend Mass regularly
compared with 40 percent for Vatican II cohort and 64 percent for
pre-Vatican II cohort. Of the post-Vatican II group, 73 percent also
believe that one can be a good Catholic without going to Mass.
- Andrea S. Williams and James D. Davidson, "Catholic Conceptions of Faith: A Generational Analysis" in Sociology of Religion: A Quarterly Review (December 6, 1995). Research based on the above-named study.
- National Conference of Catholic Bishops, National Pastoral Plan for Hispanic Ministry (Washington, D.C.: United States Catholic Conference, 1987), no. 12.
- Center for Marriage and Family, Marriage Preparation in the Catholic Church: Getting It Right (Omaha, Neb.: Creighton University, 1995), pp. 35-36.
- William Strauss and Neil Howe, Generations: The History of America's Future: 1584–2069
(New York: Morrow Publishers, 1991). They define a generation as a
cohort whose length approximates the span of a phase of life and whose
boundaries are fixed by peer personality. As such, in 1995, Generation
X, born between 1961 and 1981 accounted for 30 percent of the total U.S.
population. This is approximately 79.4 million people. Since 1980,
there have been more Xers than baby boomers.
- Paul VI, Evangelii Nuntiandi (1975), no. 72.
- Within this pastoral plan we use the term "young adult" to
denote those in their late teens, who are out of high school, and people
in their twenties and thirties. More significant than age, the young
adult years are best described through the various developmental tasks
undertaken. It is important to note that within many of the ethnic and
multicultural communities of the United States the word youth or jovenes
is used also to identify those in their late teens and mid-twenties. A
"youth" could be anyone from approximately age 15 to age 25, or until
marriage. This is especially true for the Hispanic, Asian, and some
African American communities, as well as the understanding in Europe.
Aware-ness and sensitivity to these differences in interpretation is
important to effective pastoral ministry.
- National Pastoral Plan for Hispanic Ministry, p. 11.
- M. Carolyn Clark, Handbook of Young Adult Religious Education, Harley Atkinson, ed. (Birmingham, Ala.: 1995), pp. 214-215.
- Robert Havinghurst pioneered the notion of "developmental task"
at various stages of development. The work of developmentalists such as
Erik Erikson, Jean Piaget, Lawrence Kohlberg, Carol Gilligan, William
Perry, and Kenneth Keniston has been used in identifying the ten
developmental tasks used in the Ministry with Youth Adults Project Resource Book (1995), developed by the Center for Ministry Development and St. John Eudes Center.
- Taken from an article by Fr. Ron Bagley, CJM, in the Ministry with Young Adults—A National Catholic Initiative, Design Conference Resource Binder (Naugatuck, Conn., 1995), section 1.
- National Conference of Catholic Bishops, Here I Am, Send Me:
A Conference Response to the Evangelization of African Americans and
the "National Black Catholic Pastoral Plan" (Washington, D.C.: United States Catholic Conference, 1989), p. 3.
- Carmen Cervantes, Hispanic Young People and the Church's Pastoral Response, vol. 1 (Winona, Minn.: St. Mary's Press, 1994), p. 86.
- Here I Am, Send Me . . ., p. 4.
- Trenton R. Ferro, Handbook of Young Adult Religious Education, p. 337.
- Ibid.
- For a fuller discussion of the meaning of work, see John Paul II, On Human Work.
- Here I Am, Send Me . . ., p. 12.
- National Pastoral Plan for Hispanic Ministry, no. 16.
- Sharon Parks, The Critical Years: The Young Adult Search for a Faith to Live By (San Francisco, 1986), p. 82.
- Studies by James Fowler, Sharon Parks, John Westerhoff, and
Charles McCullough identify several stages of faith that individuals
move through during their developmental years of life.
- John Paul II, Christifideles Laici (1989), no. 16.
- John Paul II, Homily at Vigil Mass, World Youth Day 1995, Manila.
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 1878.
- National Conference of Catholic Bishops, Called and Gifted for the Third Millennium (Washington, D.C.: United States Catholic Conference, 1995), p. 8.
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 1879.
- Rite of Baptism for Children, nos. 4, 10.
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 951.
- Vatican Council II, Gaudium et Spes, no. 1.
- Called and Gifted for the Third Millennium, p. 24.
- Ibid., p. 20.
- Christifideles Laici, no. 15.
- Pontifical Council for the Family, Preparation for the Sacrament of Marriage (Vatican City, 1996), no. 1.
- Center for Marriage and Family, Marriage Preparation in the Catholic Church: Getting It Right
(Omaha, Neb.: Creighton University, 1995). A national study that
involved over 1,200 randomly selected individuals which reached several
relevant conclusions about marriage preparation. Two-thirds of the
respondents (married between one and seven years) agreed that it was a
valuable experience. One-third said they found it even more helpful than
they had expected it would be. There is also a strong correlation
between people's expectations of how helpful marriage preparation would
be and their actual rating of its helpfulness.
- John Paul II, Familiaris Consortio (1981), no. 66.
- Marriage Preparation in the Catholic Church: Getting It Right, p. 24.
- Ibid., p. 25.
- Ibid., p. 32.
- Preparation for the Sacrament of Marriage, no. 16.
- Marriage Preparation in the Catholic Church: Getting It Right, p. 45.
- A Letter to College Students from the Catholic Bishops of the United States, p. 1.
- Ibid., p. 4.
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