U.S. bishops vote to prioritize evangelizing the unaffiliated, disaffiliated, and youth

BALTIMORE – Out of the U.S. Bishops’ Conference 2024 fall general assembly comes a new mission directive to guide the conference’s work from 2025-2028, which places an emphasis on reaching the religiously unaffiliated, the disaffiliated, and young people.

The new mission directive, which was overwhelmingly approved on Nov. 13 in a 225-7 vote, states: “Responding even more deeply to the call to proclaim the Gospel and form Missionary Disciples, the Committees and Staff of the USCCB will prioritize the work of the Conference to help equip bishops, clergy, religious, and the laity in evangelizing those who are religiously unaffiliated or disaffiliated from the Church, with special focus on young adults and the youth.”

The concept of a singular mission directive to guide the conference is new. For the 2021-2024 cycle, the bishops adopted a strategic plan that outlined five strategic priorities: Evangelization, life and dignity of the human person, protect and heal God’s children, vocations, and pandemic recovery.

The new mission directive, which presents a more singular focus, was presented by Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City, the Secretary of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, during the Nov. 12 public session. There, Coakley told his fellow bishops that the directive doesn’t replace the work that is mandated by each USCCB committee, but instead “asks that each committee find new and creative ways in which it can dedicate time and effort to address the mission directive.”

“This proposed mission directive directs the work and resources of the conference, requiring each committee to prioritize ways in which it can help aid bishops, priests, and laity in evangelizing the disaffiliated,” Coakley explained.

The directive comes at a time when bishops nationwide have called attention to the need to reach these groups in recent years, and especially the opportunity that exists to evangelize the so-called “nones” – generally those who describe themselves as atheist, agnostic, or ‘nothing in particular’ when it comes to their religious affiliation, according to the Pew Research Center.

An October 2023 Pew survey found that 28 percent of American adults fall into this category. A follow-up survey in January, however, found that about 70 percent of “nones” do believe in God or a higher power, and almost half of them (48 percent) describe themselves as spiritual. That reality led American Church leaders to prioritize evangelization efforts to reach them, especially in light of the Synod of Bishops on Synodality and National Eucharistic Revival initiative.

“You want to tap into what that spirituality is, and you certainly don’t want to write off people who have a belief in God or some higher power and who understand something beyond science that’s the truth that only faith can comprehend,” Archbishop Charles Thompson of Indianapolis told Crux in January. “So how do we help the ‘nones’ and anyone else tap into that faith that’s already there, that sense of spirituality that’s already there, and accompany them?”

In his presentation, Coakley said reaching out to these groups is a part of the synodal process.

“This new approach follows the process of listening and discernment called for in synodality and resonates with the Holy Father’s call to seek out the voice of those on the peripheries,” Coakley said. “Certainly, of paramount pastoral concern are those who are disaffiliated, or unaffiliated with the Church, especially the young.”

Coakley said the directive can take shape in many different forms. For example, he highlighted that one of the key issues among the young and disaffiliated is the environment, and so under the new directive USCCB committees should work on the environment, and develop new initiatives to raise awareness of the Church’s efforts on those fronts. He said the same logic can be applied to outreach to the poor, and other issues of justice that these groups care deeply about, and where the Church has a great presence.

Commenting on the directive on Nov. 12, Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City in Kansas argued that pro-life issues really need to be a point of emphasis in addressing the disaffiliated, unaffiliated, and young people. He noted that it’s “very disturbing” the way many view issues of life, particularly abortion.

“I really think as much as we work so hard at this we need to take up our game a notch higher and do something not exactly like the Eucharistic revival, but something very pointed on this because we know that a large group of our people are not accepting a core moral teaching of the Church,” Coakley said.

Speaking after Naumann, Cardinal Seán O’Malley, the archbishop emeritus of Boston, said that another thing that would help the American Church reach these groups is the area of safeguarding – making sure parents are convinced that they’re “very, very concerned” about the safety of their children. He also highlighted the importance of women issues, and making women feel as though they’re a part of the Church, as well as issues of racism and bigotry that are also very important, especially to young people.

Bishop Robert Brennan of Brooklyn, who takes over as chairman of the USCCB Committee on Cultural Diversity when the conference’s 2024 fall general assembly concludes on Nov. 15, told Crux that he is pleased with the mission directive, and knows it will factor into his work.

“We’ll have all of those needs really at the heart of the priorities we set on a smaller level,” Brennan said.