The
Churchinthe21stCenturyCenter StudentVoicesProjectSynodReportExecutiveSummary
StudentVoicesProjectBackground
Between the fall of 2020 and the spring of 2022, Boston College’s Church in the 21st Century Center surveyed high school and college-aged students across the nation to better understand young people’s faith formation. Through short online surveys andfocusgroups,the Center engaged with nearly 550 undergraduate andgraduatestudentsatBostonCollegeandan additional1,000+highschool-agedstudentsfrom26highschoolsin14states. This document provides a summary of the Project’s findings, which were submitted to theVaticanaspartoftheSynodonSynodality.
ExampleSurveyQuestions
WhathasbeenyourbestexperienceintheChurch?Whathasbeenyourworstexperience in the Church?IfyoucouldtellPopeFrancisonething,whatwoulditbe?Whatnourishesyouin life? What do you want from the Church? Where do you see God working in yourlife?Whatdo youwanttoseeinthefutureChurch?
MajorFindingsAmongCollege-AgedRespondents
1. Studentsdesireasenseofcommunityoncampustoenrichtheirfaith;
2. Students are interested in faith and are willing to engage with questions of faith outside of Mass;
3. Students find that Boston College’s core curriculum and distinctive academic programs facilitatefruitfulengagementwithquestionsoffaith;and
4. Students believe that hospitality is a crucial factor in increasing Mass attendance and engagementwithrelatedprograms.
Notably absent from these findings are great preoccupations with the social, moral, and political issues that typically accompany surveys about young people’s faith Thisisnotbecause students did not mention these issues or note that they were the impetus for feelings of exclusion. Instead, the college-aged data revealed that most college-aged respondents were principally interested in learning about the Catholic tradition before discussingotherderivative issues. Moreover, the absence of these typical findings in the first StudentVoicesProjectreport can be attributed to the fact that, generally speaking, students lack a robust understanding of their faith, leading them to be apathetic about religious practice and participation in the life of theChurch.
MajorFindingsAmongHighSchool-AgedRespondents
1. Students want to develop a greater understanding of their faith and asenseofmeaningin practicingit;
2 Studentsdesireasenseofcommunitytoenrichtheirfaith;and
3. Students desire greater engagement with school, parish, and Church leaders, especially aroundpressingsocialissues.
Though also evident in the college-ageddata,highschool-agedstudentsmorefrequently emphasized concerns and hopes related to the inclusion of historically marginalized groups in the Church. Between both sets of data, students similarly emphasized that they want to know what the Church teaches and whyitshouldmatterintheirlives.Moreover,studentsexpresseda strong desire to discuss difficult issues, rather than simply receive Church teaching passively. These data led the Center to conclude that, in young people’s eyes: The Church must demonstrate greater interest in and capacity for exercising its teaching function in a pastorally responsiveway
WhereDoWeGoNow?
Boston College has already begun the process of incorporating its students’ responses into ongoing strategic planning efforts, related to both curriculum and student life. In light of theProject’sfindings,wesuggestthat:
1. Catholic high schools, colleges, and universities interested in ‘taking the pulse’ of their students’ faith consider engaging students with the Project’s model of short, digitally-accessiblesurveysandfocusgroups(bothin-personandvirtual).
2. Catholic parishes and other non-academic institutions consider how the Student Voices ProjectmodelcanbeusedasatoolforsustainingPopeFrancis’s“listeningChurch.”
3. Local bishops and national bishops’ conferences consider how young people can be more regularlyengagedinstrategicdecision-makingandreflectionontheChurch’sfuture.
If embraced locally, regionally, and nationally, creating forums to listen to and engage with young people can offer valuable insights for the Church’s ministry. This has been the most important finding of the Student Voices Project: young people have hopes, dreams, anddesires for the future Church, and they are willing to share them if Church leaders and their fellow Catholicsexpressawillingnesstolisten.
Questions?InterestedinLearningMore?
To access the full-length report that was submitted to the Synod on Synodality (which includes data-informed recommendations for best practices), please visit bc.edu/futurechurch. If you are interested in learning more about the Student Voices Project or would like tousethe Project at your institution, please contact the Project’s co-director, Dennis Wieboldt, at wieboldt@bc.edu.
If you would like to learn more about the Church in the 21st CenturyCenteroritswork, pleasecontactchurch21@bc.eduortheCenter’sdirector,KarenKiefer,atkaren.kiefer@bc.edu.
