Transcription Video Fr Roderick Editie NL 13 April 2006-04-14

 

 

Male presenter:             For years the churches had been suffering from decreasing numbers of visitors. The youth had no more interest in God. But, that’s changing.

Female presenter:         Yes, you could say that Jesus Christ is being marketed very well. We have made a list of the 5 most popular ways to market Jesus under the young:

  1. Number uno, the Christian disco. No obscene pop song-lyrics about sex and gangsters, but very decent reli-pop (ed.: religious pop music) to dance on.

4.   And then, the Christian holiday. Young people who do missionary-work in poor countries.

  1. Or reading Christian magazines.

2.   Popular for a long time, but still growing: the Christian festivals like the ‘EO Jongeren Dag and the ‘Flevofestival’.

  1. And the most popular means of getting Jesus to younger people are the Christian Youth-churches. In 2000 there was not even one Youth-Church, now there are 92. The biggest Youth Church is in Zwolle with the hip name ‘God Fashion’. The monthly gatherings draw some 1500 youngsters.

Male presenter:             Believing is again made possible and is even almost to be called ‘hip’.

Fr Roderick:                 Good morning, good afternoon, good evening or good night. This is the Daily Breakfast and I’m Father Roderick. We’re still in the Holy Week, just a few days away from Easter.

                                    *in Dutch* I have in total, to all the programs that I make, about 15,000 to 20,000 listeners.

Female voice-over        Thousands of people who listen to what a priest has got to say.

 

*Sound from the Vatican (Viva Papa?)*

Female voice-over        Or a million young people who are waiting to get a glimpse of the new Pope last year in Cologne. It doesn’t seem to be of this age, cause weren’t the benches in church dreadfully empty? Weren’t it especially the young people who abandoned faith? But it seems that this age has ended.

Fr Roderick                  I think that God is hip all over again and that it’s really possible in this time. It is quite striking, because there was a time when I was younger, it was shameful to go the church and you wouldn’t let other people know.

Female voice-over        That his religious broadcasts via the Internet are this popular with young people, is something that Vonhögen understands.

Fr Roderick                  In my podcast I have been able to reach young people for whom religion is something that can distinguish you from others, that you’re not like all the others. It is something of you, that which defines you, something you chose for yourself. And I think this is a world apart from how it used to be when you wanted to be part of everyone else.

Female voice-over        God as an idol. That’s something the guys of Ava T-shirts have cleverly made use of. 

Guy showing t-shirts     The best one is this one. That’s this one for ladies and girls: ‘I love boys who love Jesus.’ That’s pretty clear actually what the meaning of that text is.

Female voice-over        The boys aren’t millionaires yet, but the shirts, caps and hats sell well.

Guy selling t-shirts         You are not sent to church anymore as in the old days and I think that young people made a really conscious choice and that if youngsters make this conscious choice, they want to do something with it.

Female voice-over        And that young people have found God again, is also noticed at the EO. The ‘EO Jongeren Dag’, a yearly recurring event is getting too small for its audience.

Guy from EO                It’s already sold out, faster than ever. That also signals that it exists under young people and that they are looking for God.

Female voice-over        And to give all these young believers a spot where they can sit at the ‘EO Jongeren Dag’, the organization is going to try to move the stage backwards, so that all the ‘souls’ will fit in.