Fewer congregants, almost no young people

lot of people don’t care for organized religion.”

Carpenter said that when young people do come, it’s often to please their older family members rather than from an internal drive to be part of the church. She said that even the most involved members of the community — those who attend every week, who come to coffee hour, who teach Sunday school — even their kids aren’t coming.

“I see elderly congregants, people 87 years old struggling, but making it to church every morning,” Carpenter said. “But I don’t see their children. I don’t see their grandchildren.”

“It doesn’t matter if you took your kids every day or not at all,” she said.

The lack of young people presents a problem for these places of worship.

Shaaray Shalom is unable to hold their Hebrew school; St. James United doesn’t have enough people to sustain the children’s choir, or the kid-centric interactive moments during service; Our Lady of Lourdes is worried that with the lack of young people to replace older congregants, in the future they may have to shut down extra programs entirely.

“The people coming to mass now are probably averaging 65 and older,” Stachacz said. “And they’re the ones who are giving to the parishes. Once that group dies, we won’t have an income we can work with to provide programs and the comforts of the church, a weekly and daily basis of worship and programs.”

“That is a problem. And it will be more of a problem, I think, especially in the next 5 to 10 years,” he added.

While the churches and synagogues are suffering from the lack of young people, Carpenter, Litkofsky, and Stachacz said that young people are also suffering from not attending worship services.

“They’re missing spiritual nourishment,” Stachacz said. “They’re missing being a part of a parish community.”

“When you’re here, you realize what you’re missing,” Litkofsky said. He added that it’s helpful to have a support system of organized religion, especially during difficult times. “It’s a great way to make friends, and they don’t see that. All the people that are members here know each other.”

Our Lady of Lourdes in Malverne does not have enough young people to replace the older generation of congregants.

“You have to have something to believe in.”