Holistic faith formation: A strategy to minimize youth exit from the church in light of Familiaris Consortio in Kibuye-Makindye Parish.

Abstract

The youth are very important in the life of the Catholic Church in Kibuye-Makindye parish and their roles are indispensable but many of them are leaving the Church. This is attributed to the challenges faced by the three institutions to which holistic faith formation is entrusted; Catholic families, Catholic founded schools and the Catholic Church. Families are challenged by many issues among which include; abandonment of parental obligations by leaving a lot of duties to other people and institutions, like; schools and the Church which also for some reasons are not in position to help the youth grow in faith. Moral conduct and values are also within the multiplicity of different world views, and thus the young people are lost in diversity of ideas and are left to discover a lot by themselves. Families lack suitable atmospheres to promote common activities like prayers, collective meals and social gatherings which make the children to grow up in a strange environment that is unfriendly for spiritual development. Majority of the Parents take their young ones to boarding schools at a very tender age; these innocent little boys and girls do not only live a lonely life, but also internally they feel isolated and misplaced. Schools also have very many heavy programs of which keeping an individual eye contact on one’s son or daughter is not a priority; since they deal with large numbers of children so as to maximize profits. Some parents, aware of the fact that the Church is teacher and mother, have delegated their duties to priests and religious men and women especially when it comes to imparting the faith. These are aware of their mission and render the best they can in forming the young ones in faith, doctrine and morals. But this does not mean that parents should become on lookers as men and women of God struggle. Priests and schools though trusted they never completely substitute parental obligation. Though the youths are exiting the Catholic Church at a high rate, it is never late for them to be helped. To address this, faith forming institutions should come up to address various challenges, as they promote inter-institutional collaboration so as to maximize their efforts. As a way of dealing with the issues at hand the researcher methodologically used a case study design specifically looking at Kibuye-Makindye parish and a sample size of 253 respondents. The field findings where generalized to apply to the entire parish. These findings are obtained through sampling techniques which include; interviews, questionnaires, observation and focused group discussions. Among the instruments for data collection include; data collection sheets, recorders and senses of sight and hearing. The data was analyzed by use of frequency tables and discourse analysis of dialogue. From the findings it was affirmed that a good number of the youth is leaving the Catholic Church and different reasons are laid down to account for this exodus. The core institutions also to groom the young ones in faith are overwhelmed and incapacitated by so many limitation; schools are becoming business minded, the Church is much affected by modernity and it operates in the multiplicity of ideas and the family has completely lost connection with the youth. The conclusions clearly put it that the youth leave the Church because of the majorly the two-fold causes, that is in relation to the loopholes in the triangle of faith formation and in relation to the youths due to individual reasons. It is categorically stated that holistic faith formation is a strategy that is called for if the youth are to be helped to cling on the Catholic faith.