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‘Millennial’ journal challenges a generation

Katie Scott | Catholic Herald

Robert Christian, co-founder of the online journal “Millennial,” is pictured with his wife, Sarah, and their children, Avery, 2, and Bobby, 8 months, outside the family’s Rockville, Md., home. Launched with a fellow Catholic, the journal aims to amplify the voices of a younger Catholic generation.

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Generalizations abound about millennials – arguably the new
year’s trendiest demographic to scrutinize. They are
tech-savvy and self-centered, ambitious and idealistic.
According to the Pew Research Center, millennials (roughly
those ages 19-35) are the largest living generation and the
most racially diverse in American history. They also are
linked by social media, laden with debt and relatively
unattached to organized religion and politics.

By choosing to embrace organized religion, millennial
Catholics set themselves apart not only from their peers but
from their fellow faithful, according to 32-year-old Robert
Christian, co-founder and editor of a Catholic online
publication that bears his demographic’s name.

“At a time when there was a distinctly Catholic culture,
individuals identified as Catholic whether or not they
attended Mass regularly,” Christian said. But in the 1960s
and ’70s that culture evaporated. Now many young Catholics
“have made a deliberative choice to be Catholics, either as
converts or reverts,” and thus espouse a devout and orthodox
faith, he said.

However, reflecting their non-Catholic counterparts,
millennial Catholics often are more progressive on topics of
economic and social justice than their parents and
grandparents, said Christian. And this historically
incongruous pairing has lacked an outlet.

Enter “Millennial: Young Catholics, An Ancient Faith, A New
Century,” a journal and blog that features millennial writers
and eschews a Catholicism forced to fit neatly into left- or
right-leaning ideological camps.

“If you are an across-the-board liberal, there are plenty of
forums, both secular and Catholic, for a millennial writer to
publish their thoughts, and the same is true if you are a
doctrinaire conservative,” Christian said. “But if you are a
pro-life progressive or a social justice conservative, your
opportunities are limited.

“‘Millennial’ provides a forum for these voices – for
Catholics who believe in Catholic moral and social teaching
and who want to reshape their parties by making them more
consistently committed to the common good, social justice and
the protection of human life and dignity.”

Christian launched “Millennial” in 2013 with Christopher
Hale, a fellow young Catholic whom he met at Holy Trinity
Church in Washington. Funded by Catholics in Alliance for the
Common Good, a nonprofit promoting Catholic social teaching
in the public square, and private donations, the publication
runs interviews, story roundups from the Web, book reviews
and “quotes of the day.”

“Millennial” mixes intellectual rigor with crisp writing and
nuanced reflection. Recent content includes an interview with
John Gehring, author of The Francis Effect: A Radical
Pope’s Challenge to the American Catholic Church
, and an
essay by Christian entitled “A Church for the Broken.”
Another post highlights Pope Francis’ World Day of Peace
message Jan. 1.

The publication defines millennials with a Catholic twist –
as those born during the pontificate of St. John Paul II
(1978-2005). Its writers roughly fit that definition, but
their backgrounds vary.

“My single best talent is to evaluate talent, and our
collection of writers is amazing,” said Christian. “My No. 1
criteria is to find the most talented people who are orthodox
and committed to church teaching on the sanctity of human
life and social justice,” he said, adding that they “could be
left, right, centrist.”

“Some writers take on certain intellectual debates, some
speak to the heart and some speak to experience,” Christian
said. “We aim for a diverse mix. If one piece is too
theologically intellectual, I hope the next will give a
reader what they need.”

The journal and blog address topics like poverty and
immigration but are not afraid to grapple with questions
about and struggles with the faith. “We want to reflect the
real lived experience of Catholic millennials,” Christian
said.

Christian is especially proud of the publication’s treatment
of abortion. “By framing it as a matter of social justice and
human rights, I think we can really connect with millennials
and are helping to provide the right framework for the future
of the pro-life movement,” he said. And by committing “to a
comprehensive approach to abortion – legal protection for
unborn lives combined with adequate support for mothers and
families (and) improving the adoption process – we can show
not only that it is possible to be pro-life and pro-women,
but that the two are bound together.”

“Millennial” has a strong presence on social media, with more
than 6,000 Facebook fans and nearly 3,000 followers on
Twitter. “Social media drives a lot of people to our site and
is critical to what we do,” said Christian.

He said one of the luxuries of a donation-supported online
publication is that they can run stories that don’t get as
many hits but that are “very important,” he said, such as
pieces on the
Central African Republic.
A quote of the day likewise may
not always bring many people to the website, but it can
spread on social media, often getting hundreds of shares and
reaching tens of thousands of people. “Even if people know us
just through that quote, if that sparks something in them, if
they have a bit of a realization,” that’s a success,
Christian said.

Christian lives in Rockville, Md., with his wife, Sarah – who
copy edits “Millennial” – and their two young children. Like
many millennial parents, both he and his wife struggle to
balance careers with family life and the desire to make a
positive impact through their work.

Christian said he thinks the church does a wonderful job
ministering to young adults, but that parishes could improve
their outreach to millennial parents, who are increasingly
isolated. “We live in a mobile society, disconnected from
family and friends who traditionally provided a support
network,” he said.

For his part, Christian hopes to offer a sincere and
thought-provoking cyber-community for millennial Catholics.

“I want … those Catholics fighting for social justice
and people fighting the pro-life fight, for them to feel
affirmed and part of a community,” said Christian. “And I
want people who are decent Catholics to read and learn more
about the faith and grow stronger in it. And for the fallen
away, if we pull them closer, that is my hope.”

Find out more

millennialjournal.com

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