In case you missed the Bustedhalo.com talk on Summer Spirituality. The Q&A at the end (around the one-hour mark) was a especially fun.
Summer Spirituality
The latest from america
A leading figure in academic Catholic feminism after the Second Vatican Council, Anne E. Carr was also a renowned scholar and an inspiration to generations of theologians.
At the time of his appointment as prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops in 2023, then-Cardinal Robert Prevost described in an interview one change he would like to see in the bishop selection process: greater involvement of lay people.
Bishops from the conferences of Africa, Asia, and Latin America produced a joint document calling for climate justice ahead of the U.N. climate conference in November.
“One of the things I find most appealing about the award-winning writer and poet Mary Karr is her forthright, almost brutal, honesty.”
As for explaining the absence of young adults at mass, I think there were contradictions in your two part comment:
You say that Catholic churches are losing this group because they do not provide personalized service/welcome, that the music is bad, that individual needs are not met. However, you then go on to decry the fact that the "it's all about me" attitude of the young adult (or baby boomer, for that matter) is the real root of this problem.
I think your second instinct is the correct one; however, the problem is not fixed by adopting to the individualized, self-help syle consumer culture as the Evangelicals do (and most post-Vatican 2 masses do). It is addressed by being uniquely Catholic - with focus on the sacrifice of the mass, on chant, on the mission of the Church. I attend a latin mass and there is a preponderence of young adult males (and females) present who are exiled from the bad aesthetics and stripped alters of the new mass.
Here is an interesting take on the two approaches (church as a cruise ship vs. battle ship):
http://vimeo.com/1986489
PS - people get heated when discussing liberal vs. traditional because there are important philosophical differences between the two (and this difference is not about mere politics) - i.e. the Progressive ideology of human "progress"/ perfectablity and focus on individualism goes directly against the Church's traditional understanding of human nature...(one proven correct by history again and again)
"Progressivism sought the replacement of “local knowledge” with “expertise”; its central emphasis was upon “growth” in every form (you can’t read a page of John Dewey without recognizing the emphasis upon “growth”); and, it was impatient with invocations of human falleness, sinfulness, and iniquity, instead preferring to re-describe human failings in therapeutic terms and recommending various therapies for their cure."
http://www.frontporchrepublic.com/2010/06/progressivism-vs-conservatism/
This is off topic but since I believe you said you were from Philadelphia, here is a different kind of spirituality, Philadelphia style. Thought you might enjoy it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zmwRitYO3w