Severance: Integrating Young Adults into Parish Life
After years of trial and error in Catholic young adult ministry, one particular pitfall stands out: the "island ministry." It’s a common trap. When a parish notices a lack of young faces in the pews, there is often a desperate eagerness to start anything, no matter how detached it might be from the wider community.
While that eagerness comes from a good place, it often creates long-term issues. We feel the need to carve out a hand-crafted, separate space just for young adults, thinking that’s the only way to keep them. But that is far from the truth.
In the show Severance, the characters work on a "severed" floor, physically and mentally cut off from the world above and even from other departments in their own building. They sit in sterile cubicles, performing tasks they don't fully understand, totally isolated from the "outies" who live the rest of their lives.
Too often, we treat young adult ministry like that severed floor. We create a basement culture where the young adults are partitioned off into their own cubicle of the parish. They have their own entrance, their own schedule, and their own social circle, but they have no idea what is happening on the other floors of the parish. This disconnection is a slow poison; it makes the ministry feel like a temporary assignment rather than a lifelong vocation within a family.
Young adults crave community, and that desire isn't purely age-restricted. While they certainly want peers, they also want the "whole family" experience. They are looking for the spiritual aunts, uncles, and grandparents of the faith, not just a room full of cousins. The identity of your parish should be a bridge to these young adults, not an obstacle.
If we want young adults to eventually become young families within our community, they need to grow within the parish, not just adjacent to it. Here are three practical ways to move from an isolated, "severed" ministry to an integrated community.
1. Connect to Sunday Worship
It is a strange irony that many young adult ministries successfully reach people who never actually step foot in that parish on Sunday. If there is no encouragement for the person attending a Thursday night small group to show up for the 10:00 AM Mass, we are missing the mark.
Integration starts with the liturgy. Challenge your group to attend the same Mass together. Look for one another in the pews. Foster a culture of peer-to-peer invitation where the "event" isn't just a social hour, but the Eucharist itself.
2. Respect the Parish Calendar
Division often starts with the schedule. When young adult leadership plans events, they must be aware of the broader parish life. If the ministry is hosting a social at the exact same time the parish is offering a Penance Service or a night of Adoration, it sends a message that the young adult group is a separate entity.
By aligning with the parish schedule, you teach young adults that they are part of a larger rhythm. Instead of competing with parish-wide sacramental opportunities, the ministry should be the vehicle that brings young adults to them.
3. Create a Culture of Personal Service
We often think of service as a "group project"—twenty young adults showing up once a quarter to paint a fence. While that has its place, it doesn't necessarily reinforce healthy stewardship.
A far more powerful witness is seeing a young adult in every ministry. The goal is for each person to reach a point where they share their unique gifts intentionally. This requires the parish to be brave; it means lectors, music ministries, and outreach teams must be genuinely open to new faces and a new generation. The young adult ministry is where they are nourished; the parish is where they serve.
These three points aren't a comprehensive fix, but they are a foundation. When a ministry is integrated, it allows young adults to embody the specific charism of their parish in a fresh way. Over time, the parish gains confidence in its future, and young adults will know that they have a home in the Catholic Church.
