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Youth survey

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Mental health issues, questions surrounding identity and living out their faith in a secular world were some of the key concerns raised by young Catholics who took part in a national survey last year.

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The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference initiated a survey of people aged 16 to 29 as part of international preparations for the Synod of Bishops on Young People, the Faith and Vocational Discernment that will be held in Rome in October.

More than 15,000 people, including 1003 from the Adelaide Archdiocese, participated to make it the largest survey of young Catholics ever conducted.

In announcing the release of the survey findings, Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP, the Bishops’ Delegate for Youth, said the results highlighted some of the key concerns of young Catholics. They included mental health issues, questions around identity – ethnic, spiritual and sexual; loneliness; relationships and friendships; the direction of society, politics and the Church; and living out their faith in a secular world.

“These are big issues that affect us all and they are all things about which the Church cares deeply and on which it has much to say,” Archbishop Fisher said.

“Even amidst the challenges raised in the survey, there is cause for great hope. For millennials, there has never been a more important time to rededicate themselves to the message and life of Jesus Christ. If ever we needed new ‘John the baptists’ to call people to repent and believe, to offer some really Good News amidst all the bad, and to point people to Christ, it is right now.

“Never in history have young people been more necessary.”

To access the ACBC youth survey go to www.catholic.org.au/youthsurvey

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