Odyssey Catholics
These stories appear in the Dec. 28, 2007 issue of National Catholic Reporter.
Odyssey Catholics: Young and restless, tenuously connected to their faith
By GREG RUEHLMANN
Justin Brandon has been weighing his options. The 25-year-old San Francisco resident recently applied to Stanford’s highly competitive MBA program, but even if admitted, he isn’t sure he wants to leave his job at Better World Books, the promising dot-com where he has coordinated online marketing since June.
Brandon isn’t used to feeling so content about a job. In the three years since he graduated from the University of Notre Dame, he has done extended volunteer work in Puerto Rico, served as a video production assistant at Notre Dame, shot documentary films in Ghana and Haiti, and worked as a search quality technician for Google in Silicon Valley.
“Every year,” he said, “part of me wants to move cities or switch jobs.”
Brandon and his restless ventures represent a generational trend among some young college-educated men and women who are free to choose flux over stability. Some social scientists have dubbed these post-college years the “odyssey years” -- a nomadic period when young adults move from one job to another, from one city to the next, delaying marriage, children and permanent career tracks longer than previous generations. Spiritually, they tend to be seekers, a characteristic that applies even to many with deep roots in a traditional religion such as Catholicism and no great desire to venture too far from the fold.
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Studies put Millennials under the microscope
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Many Millennials claim parish membership; few attend
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EDITORIAL: An odyssey toward meaning
We humans appear to be hard-wired from our time in the Garden of Eden with a desire to impart labels. Perhaps having run out of flora and fauna to tag, we’ve turned to naming generations. From the Boomers to the Xers to the Nexters to the Millennials, we seem, at least in the United States, intent on creating categories for each new wave of humanity that arrives.
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Perhaps, the object of our
Perhaps, the object of our attention should not be the young people, but rather the circumstances in which they find themselves. It is not the nature of young people that changes, but the opportunities available to them that does.
Life is a personal "odyssey"
Life is a personal "odyssey" for everyone. We have all received insights of certitude carried forward from the past, but, everything in the present is changing and requires the choosing of new paths. Reason and faith together equip us individually to reconcile past certitudes with present uncertainties and the unknowability of the future. Maybe our youngsters have a better sense about reality than we oldsters. If that is true, then everything we oldsters have said and done isn't all bad even if imperfect.
Uncompromised trust is the faithful objective and true guide for every person in her/his journey through life. Believe that uncompromised trust is possible and necessary, and, be uncompromising in your trustworthiness and trust in who you are. We are revealed in the response of others to us. Let us discover our true selves in the mirror of the reflection of others.
The article on Millenial
The article on Millenial Catholics is certainly perceptive.
I'm a 25-year-old Catholic from London UK, married (to another Catholic) and haven't jumped around jobs. Faith, expressed throught the Catholic Church, is at the centre of our lives.
I can see why some opt for 'the odyssey' lifestyle but am surprised that such a talented generation fall for this illusion as a way of living.
This is due, I believe to a false notion of freedom:
To be really free is not about simply 'doing what you want' it's actually about 'doing what is right' and sometimes 'doing what you don't want to do' Only then can we be really free.
The monastic tradition could also inform our generation:
Setting down roots and living with faithful perserverance. It may seem unglamorous but it's the only way that can bring peace and stability to restless souls.
I believe that if our generation settle down roots with a new undestanding of freedom, combined with our great talents, we can really change the world - rather than just drift around in it.