Introduction
In 2010 the Regional Bible Commission of the
CBCMSB came up with the idea of conducting a survey to ascertain the Bible
reading habits of committed Catholic youth. The target group would be youth and
young adults who were involved in church activities to a greater degree than
just casual participation.
Questionnaires in Bahasa Malaysia and English
were made available for download from the RBC blog (http://rbc-cbcmsb.blogspot.com/2011/02/rbc-cbcmsb-blog.html). Sibu Diocese made use of their
own Mandarin translation.
Not all dioceses provided returns while one
batch of results was misplaced. The results from 4 dioceses (Kuching, Kuala
Lumpur, Brunei and Sandakan) were collated and some general points can be
noted. One set of observations concerns the manner in which the results were
acquired. The other refers to the preliminary conclusions from the data at
hand.
Mode of conduct of
survey
A prerequisite for a reliable survey is that
the raw data entries (i.e. actual completed survey forms) are returned to the
person doing the analysis. This was not done. Instead data summaries were
provided so in three cases, the number of participants could not be clearly
established. It is also unclear whether participants were “committed Catholic
youth” as had been originally intended.
In future, clear instructions should be given
to diocesan RBC members responsible for conducting the survey as to the modus
operandi covering these points. Furthermore, it is recommended that
participants be instructed on how the forms should be filled to avoid
incomplete data entries which compromise the survey validity.
General observations
from the data at hand
Notwithstanding the issues mentioned above,
some attempt was made to group the findings such as they are to see what the
general trends might be. With this caveat, we can make the following
observations.
1.
An
overwhelming majority of Catholic youth don’t read the Bible regularly. This
figure seems above 90 %.
2.
Their
reasons for not doing so are, in the order of importance:
a. Lack of awareness of importance of
Bible reading (38/120)
b. Insufficient time to do so due to
other pressing life issues, no role models (29/120)
c. Poor time management, distractions
and clash with lifestyle choices (23/120)
d. Boring and uninteresting (17/120)
e. Difficult to understand, don’t know
how to read Bible (14/120)
3.
When
they do read the Bible, why do they do so?
a. Learn about Jesus, about God and his
plan for us (23/124)
b. Help to grow spiritually in faith
(22/124)
c. Source of guidance and teaching life
examples (15/124)
d. It brings with it peace, comfort and
calmness of heart (15/124)
4.
What
suggestions do they have for RBC which might assist young people to read the
Bible more?
a. Present Bible in attractive format
(48/97) broken down as follows:
i.
Concerts,
quizzes, dramas, music, comics (35/97).
ii.
Youth
Bible versions: pictorial, more graphics (7/97)
iii.
Internet,
Facebook, web based interactive study sessions (6/97)
b. Regular Bible sharing led by
younger, experienced facilitators on flexible schedule (18/97)
c. Awareness campaign promoting
importance of Bible and Bible Study in existing meetings (17/97)
Provisional Conclusions
The data indicates our youth don’t read the
Bible nor attend Bible Study regularly. On the one hand they seem to find the
Bible abstract and difficult while many are not clearly aware of its importance.
Paradoxically when they do read it, they find the Bible a source of spiritual
inspiration and aid for growth in faith. They suggest the Bible be packaged
more attractively to suit younger people and that Bible Study should be led by
peers using flexible schedules. There seems room for conducting an outreach
aimed at promoting Bible reading and sharing among younger Catholics in our
region.
