[spineeupsenry]

Dear Fr. David,

Thank you for your post. When we moved to Atlanta, we "chose" to join the parish that was the nearest, despite the fact that other parishes were seen as more friendly, and especially more convert friendly. In fact, members of the same jurisdiction told us before we moved not to join the particular parish in question! And others in the same city in which we live refer to it as "snooty." But my wife insisted that we not parish shop, and I think she was right. It is a relatively large parish, and an immovable object, which is good for me. My tendency is to want to change things rather than accept things the way they are.

With that said, we had an interesting sermon by a young teenager last Sunday. The occasion was the St. John Chrysostom oratorical contest. Two of the speakers gave us the typical, conventional paean to liberal political icons, Martin Luther King, Ghandi, and Nelson Mandella. But the third talked about the fact that 60 per cent of our teenagers drift away from the faith when they go to college and she said that this is a problem that we need to address. Actually, my thought was that a 40% retention rate was pretty astounding! Astoundingly good, in fact, if that statistic is anywhere near accurate. But much can be done to connect young people with the spiritually transforming power of our faith that we are not doing. I hate to be a one trick pony, but I fear that our seminary system does not adequately prepare clergy for the need to connect with peoples' hearts, especially young people, in a way that will glue them to the Church.