Being spiritual and religious

The final document on young people, composed by young adults themselves at the invitation of Pope Francis for the 2018 Synod of Bishops, says: “Lots of young people, having lost trust in institutions, have become disaffiliated with organized religion and would not see themselves as ‘religious.’ However, young people are open to the spiritual.”

Perhaps even longer before this document was published, I have been thinking about the expression “spiritual but not religious.” Part of this has to do with my identity as a pastoral minister and Catholic priest. I was initially inclined to see such phrases as reflecting the perennial bogeymen of our contemporary era: individualism, relativism, consumerism and so on.

It appeared to be a sign that an increasing number of people – especially young people – were rejecting a tradition and institution I care about so deeply. At the same time, I was also looking at the sociological reports and the self-identification of increasing numbers of people in my pastoral ministry. Young people began leading me toward a much different, even more optimistic perspective.

For too long, pastors and parents have dwelt on the ostensible rejection of “the religious,” that second part of the self-identifying phrase, which portends bad things for traditional institutions of religious belonging. To many people, it is seen as the only important data point in the phrase, overshadowing what is, in my estimation much more significant.

What if we focused first on the embrace of one’s identity as “spiritual?” What if our starting point in thinking about what it means to be a person in communion with God, oneself and the world was not reduced to external expressions of institutional belonging, but instead began with attention to humans’ inherent capacity for God?

In the tradition of St. Augustine, spirituality is another way of describing the intrinsic desire or passion we have been created with for the divine. Hence, spirituality is not about serenely picking or rationally choosing certain spiritual activities like going to church, praying or meditating, reading spiritual books or setting off on some explicit spiritual quest. It is far more basic than that.

All humans have a yearning for relationship with God, but not everyone finds that traditional forms of institutional belonging supports, deepens or sustains a spiritual life of prayer and action in keeping with God’s revelation in Jesus Christ. Sadly, infuriatingly even, sometimes the institution actually creates impediments to authentic living of faith and relationship with God.

I still have hope that Catholicism generally and the various spiritual traditions within it can offer resources for meaning-making and religious belonging for contemporary women and men. That so many young adults continue to recognize a spiritual dimension in their lives is a hopeful sign that they are also seeking the language and frameworks that religious traditions can provide.

So perhaps the expression “I am spiritual, but not religious” is neither as threatening nor as bad as many people think it is. In fact, it may be a great sign of possibility and hope. The key will be for those in the church to meet them where they are and walk together with them. Maybe then, embracing the “religious” part won’t seem like such a challenge for the next generation.