Spiritual Forum
Please note this event has passed. It took place on Thursday, November 8, 2018, at the Basilica of Saint Mary, Minneapolis.
Discussion Question:
What can our parishes and larger Catholic community do to better attract, engage, and retain Millennial and post-Millennial Catholics?
Video
To view a longer 22-minute version of the panel discussion, click here. To download an accompanying discussion guide, click here.
Photo Gallery
Click the photo above to view the full event gallery.
Catholic Spirit Article
Community an answer to the millennial crisis, panel says at Basilica
By: Matthew Davis
Five millennials in Los Angeles gathered for dinner in 2010 to discuss their lives after the loss of loved ones. Later known as “The Dinner Party,” it grew into a movement across the U.S. in an effort to do grief support a new way. St. Mary’s Press president and CEO John Vitek described it as an example of the spiritual search of religiously unaffiliated millennials during a Nov. 8 forum.
“So they began this thing where they invited others their age who experienced a sense of loss, [but] have no religious affiliation where that’s being reconciled,” Vitek said of The Dinner Party. “And they … came together out of their suffering and sorrow over a meal with a bottle of wine to heal one another.”
Vitek described this as “religious identity reconstructed.” “As we de-construct our religious identity that’s tied to this traditional institution, we reconstruct a new religious identity,” he said.
Vitek spoke as one of four panelists as the Giving Insights forum on engaging and retaining millennials and post-millennials in the life of the Church. More than 100 people attended the forum, which was organized by the Catholic Community Foundation, at the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis.
Moderator & Panelists
Moderator
Jeffrey Kaster, Ed.D.
Director Youth in Theology and Ministry & adjunct theology faculty
Saint John’s University School of Theology and Seminary
Panelist
John M. Vitek
President & CEO
St. Mary’s Press
Co-authored CARA report Going, Going, Gone: The Dynamics of Disaffiliation in Young Catholics
Panelist
John Poitevent
Director of Facilitation
Parish Catalyst
Panelist
Nataleigh Waters, M.A.
Student Programs Coordinator
Anselm House at the University of Minnesota
Panelist
Jennifer Tacheny, M.A.
Co-Director, Young Adult Spirituality
Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet and Consociates