Considering what the Church could do to reach university students, and reflecting on my own experience of being involved in and leading student groups, it occurred to me that the example and attitudes of the Church are as important as any practical support that might be given. Drawing on this understanding, I have outlined three key reflections to represent the things I believe the Church can do and why they meet a need in the current student population.
University students are beset with choice, with swathes of societies and experiences to pick from including joining a multitude of sports teams. Choosing to continue to practice a faith as a student requires conviction, and a knowledge of why growing deeper in relationship with God is of value in the modern (or even post-modern) world. To navigate this, a student requires an understanding and an ability to articulate why their faith is of importance to them and what it might offer their peers. The answer to this is to mirror their human formation with their studies, and to allow their faith to draw them into a deeper understanding of their degree material rather than seeing the process of studying and the culture of university as incompatible to a life with God. To have a ‘thinking’ faith embraced and modelled, both pre-university and at university, are important to seeing years of study as an opportunity to develop a depth of understanding about what living a life of faith entails.
When supporting Catholic students, the first thing is to encourage the young people you know to find a faith-filled community at university. If there is a Catholic Society, encourage them to go and contribute, inspiring them to build student groups worthy of the God we worship. Like all societies at universities, the organisation of Catholic students can be erratic and impulsive rather than measured and scheduled, in the way a term at school or a project timeline in the workplace can be. Supporting individual students and group initiatives can be difficult due to these challenges and the fissile nature of a university campus, meaning there is a tendency for projects to fall flat and lose momentum. However, as a product of the same environment, if a movement captures students’ imagination, it can have a huge impact in a short space of time. It has also become clear to me during my time at university that the current student society leaders are also the future leaders in the Church, given the education they are receiving. They are opting to lead in a Church context during a time when they are free of parental oversight, indicating a commitment to carrying faith into their adult years. The investment in students and their communities needs not to be seen as a short term project but instead as a long term strategy regarding the Church we are leaving for the next generation of Catholics.
Young people have felt the brunt of the breakdown of the support structures in the formation of the Catholic life, with most notably Christian messaging and language being swapped out for hedonistic self-help advice in their formation. This has been signified by the shift from the most important person in your life being God, to the most important person in your life being you – seen first in popular culture, but also at risk of bleeding into Catholic young adult formation. The notion that there is nothing outside of yourself is a dangerous and damaging message to give to self-conscious, anxiety wracked teenagers with access to social media, which is a world in which everything is about what you look like physically and socially to society. The need for the parental security of unconditional love and support is less commonly being reflected in families, communities and organisations, and therefore young people are looking for places to feel safe and secure. The time of pandemic has accelerated this shift, with students reporting high levels of loneliness, anxiety, and stress, which have been reflected in higher levels of mental health diagnoses. This is also evidenced by political shifts seen in the creation of safe spaces and the glorification of self-realisation being encouraged, even at the cost of relationship with others and ultimately with God. The Church and its Sacraments are the ultimate guide to a holy and fulfilled life, acting in response to supreme authority and the Lord of all. The need for authority can be sought and discovered by submitting our lives in obedience to the will of God and, in return, receiving all that He has for us – the source and summit of this being the Eucharist. We continue to respect the authority of this by acknowledging the transformational power it has in today’s world. Where authority is genuine, true, and treated as such, it is a beautiful response to the broken state of institutions and acts as a reinstatement of family structure, allowing young people to flourish with an understanding of who they are as loved and cherished children of God.
- Ben Plimmer is a founding trustee of the Catholic Student Network and can be contacted at ben@catholicstudentnetwork.com
.png)