Participant Experiences at a Charismatic Catholic Youth Rally: What Happens When Participant Socialization and Organizer Intentions Do Not Match?

Abstract

Adolescent religion is increasingly well researched but the youth rallies staged by many Christian groups remain understudied. This article adds to our understanding of these rallies through a case study of a large Catholic youth rally in Toronto. We identify the reported religious experiences of rally participants and compare them with the goals of the rally's organizers. We find a partial mismatch between the organizers’ intentions and the participants’ reported experiences, which we attribute to a mismatch between the borrowed evangelical approaches used by the rally organizers and the participants’ Catholic religious socialization. We conclude with possible implications for practitioners.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

An earlier version of this material was presented at the 2011 annual meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion and the Religious Research Association, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The authors thank participants in that session, and the anonymous reviewers for this journal, for their helpful comments.

Notes

The charismatic ethos of the rally was primarily evident in an emphasis on the active role of the Holy Spirit and an informal, expressive style of worship involving raised hands, clapping, and so on.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Kevin N. Flatt

Kevin N. Flatt is Associate Professor of History at Redeemer University College, Ancaster, Ontario, Canada. His work centers on the history and sociology of Christianity in modern Western societies, with a focus on Canada.

D. Millard Haskell

D. Millard Haskell is Associate Professor of Religion and Culture at Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. His teaching and research focuses on religion in Canada, media in Canada, and religion and media in Canada. E-mail: [email protected] and [email protected]