The Church in the 21st Century Center Student Voices Project Synod Report Executive Summary Student Voices Project Background Between the fall of 2020 and the spring of 2022, Boston College’s Church in the 21st Century Center surveyed high school and college-aged students across the nation to better understand young people’s faith formation. Through short online surveys and focus groups, the Center engaged with nearly 550 undergraduate and graduate students at Boston College and an additional 1,000+ high school-aged students from 26 high schools in 14 states. This document provides a summary of the Project’s findings, which were submitted to the Vatican as part of the Synod on Synodality. Example Survey Questions What has been your best experience in the Church? What has been your worst experience in the Church? If you could tell Pope Francis one thing, what would it be? What nourishes you in life? What do you want from the Church? Where do you see God working in your life? What do you want to see in the future Church? Major Findings Among College-Aged Respondents 1. Students desire a sense of community on campus to enrich their faith; 2. Students are interested in faith and are willing to engage with questions of faith outside of Mass; 3. Students find that Boston College’s core curriculum and distinctive academic programs facilitate fruitful engagement with questions of faith; and 4. Students believe that hospitality is a crucial factor in increasing Mass attendance and engagement with related programs. Notably absent from these findings are great preoccupations with the social, moral, and political issues that typically accompany surveys about young people’s faith. This is not because students did not mention these issues or note that they were the impetus for feelings of exclusion. Instead, the college-aged data revealed that most college-aged respondents were principally interested in learning about the Catholic tradition before discussing other derivative issues. Moreover, the absence of these typical findings in the first Student Voices Project report can be attributed to the fact that, generally speaking, students lack a robust understanding of their faith, leading them to be apathetic about religious practice and participation in the life of the Church. Major Findings Among High School-Aged Respondents 1. Students want to develop a greater understanding of their faith and a sense of meaning in practicing it; 2. Students desire a sense of community to enrich their faith; and 3. Students desire greater engagement with school, parish, and Church leaders, especially around pressing social issues.
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