January 2, 2007
Theology on Tap coming soon!“Why aren’t there more young adults in our parishes?” This is a multi-faceted question that begs for a multi-faceted answer. More simply, we as “Church” need to reach out to young people who already work as leaders in business, the medical field, in education and who are young parents themselves. These are people who are struggling to live lives of value in a world whose values point to every direction but the person of Jesus Christ. As Church, we are called to support these young people in their journey.
We are embarking on the beginning of a third generation after Vatican Council Two, and have not catechized well in the last two generations: we have not been able to help young people understand and embrace their Catholic faith and identity. When a person cannot understand his or her identity with a particular group, much less articulate that identity, then it would be natural to seek ones’ identity elsewhere, individually or with others. This might be one reason why young people do not come to many of our churches.
Listed below are some of the questions from the website of the Archdiocese of Chicago, which I have heard from young adults in the Diocese of San Jose.
Are there people around who share my values?
The bars are good, but is there anything else?
How do you meet good people once you've moved here?
What does it mean to be a person of faith today?
Is there any decent worship around?
Where can I give some of my time or talent?
(From the Young Adult Ministry- Archdiocese of Chicago-http://www.yamchicago.org/who-main.html).
As a response to this phenomenon, we have partnered with RENEW International in offering a portal as a first step reaching out to young adults and welcoming them back to their Catholic roots. This portal is known as Theology on Tap. For young people who identify themselves as Catholics but admit to not knowing what “Catholic” is, walking in the front door of a church may not be the easiest thing to do or something that comes to mind to someone who is baptized but not catechized in their faith. A more comfortable way of learning about their Catholic faith is with their peers, during a meal, in conversation with a speaker knowledgeable in the Catholic faith, where questions can be asked anonymously.
Theology on Tap, has been around for a generation, begun by Fr. John Cusick in the Archdiocese of Chicago. The Silicon Valley Young Adults from St. Cyprian parish began hosting the first in a two year series of TOT events at Scruffy Murphy’s Restaurant and Pub in Sunnyvale in January 2005.
In 2003, Fr. Cusick approached RENEW International to formally oversee, standardize and uphold the integrity of this ministry which has sprung up all over the country and throughout the world. RENEW agreed and as of January 1, 2007, all Theology on Tap programs and processes will be supported through this new partnership. The feedback I have heard from those who have participated in the Theology on Tap events is that there is little or no follow-up for these young people.
Through RENEW-Theology on Tap, Young Adults who wish to go deeper into their faith will be assisted to form and lead small faith sharing communities in their parishes. The dream for RENEW-Theology on Tap is for Young Adults to enter into the life and mission of the parish as passionate disciples of Jesus Christ and to share this passion in the world.
RENEW-Theology on Tap has developed training for parish leaders to understand the characteristics and needs of this deeply spiritual generation who long for the concrete religiosity of a faith community. We were young adults once, but the experiences and characteristics that have marked us as belonging to a particular generation, is not the same as theirs, and it behooves us to be aware of these characteristics and those of every generation that comes after this one. Soon it will be the task of this young generation to understand the generation emerging on the heel of their footsteps.
We are planning to hold additional training for parish leaders which are invaluable whether or not parishes are planning to incorporate the RENEW-Theology On Tap process.
The TOT slam is just around the corner, so named by Darlene Tenes, Coordinator for Theology on Tap. Darlene has coordinated the Theology on Tap sessions that have been sponsored by the Diocese of San Jose this past fall, launched a special website devoted to Theology on Tap in the Silicon Valley
http://totsiliconvalley.com, coordinated several locations for Theology on Tap, lined up publicity and marketing for the events, and referred many new speakers for the Speaker’s Bureau.
Deanery Two parishes, under the leadership of their dean, Fr. Larry Percell, have
offered their full support to the Deanery Two Young Adult Leadership Group. They
will be kicking off their TOT events on the following Sundays at 7:30 pm:
1/28, 2/11, 2/25, and 3/11.
Location is being worked out and details will be coming soon.
St. Cyprian’s will host their TOT events on Sundays, 7:30 pm:
2/18, 2/25, 3/18, 3/25 at Scruffy Murphy’s Restaurant and Pub, 187 S. Murphy Ave., Sunnyvale.
Topics are being worked out and details coming soon.
In Deanery 7, Fr. Jojo Page is the contact for the Young Adult group at St. Catherine in Morgan Hill and planning Theology on Tap events for the month of March in Lent. Dates and location will be announced.
In Deanery 5, we will be seeing some Theology on Tap action for Lent as well. Details on the way.
The Diocese of San Jose Young Adult Leadership Board will oversee and resource Young Adult Ministry in the Diocese of San Jose, including Theology On Tap, Justice Action, and Worship for Young Adults which they have stated as their areas priority.
They met for the first time as a board on December 14. Two actions agreed upon by the board are 1) that there is a member from each deanery at the monthly board meetings, and 2) that a website for Young Adult Ministry in the Diocese of San Jose be launched for the New Year. Regarding the first action, we need a representative from only one deanery which will happen in the next month with the names of the board published in the daily bulletin soon after. Regarding the second action, the website for Young Adult Ministry has been launched as of January 1, 2007:
http://sitekreator.com/faith777/This site can also be accessed through the
www.dsj.org site, on the Youth and Young Adult Page.
For more information regarding Young Adult Ministry in the Diocese of San Jose, please contact your local young adult parish leaders or Sandy Velasco Scott at 408-983-0135, scott@dsj.org.
