Beauty, Brotherhood and the Battle for Young Men
Dr. George Weigel on why friendship, liturgy and time still matter
CALGARY, Alberta — In a cultural moment marked by noise, loneliness and confusion, the most credible evangelizers of young men remain other men who live their faith visibly, patiently and well, author and Catholic commentator Dr. George Weigel said during a wide-ranging conversation on the Heroic Hotline.
Weigel, who has met the last three popes and written extensively on culture, faith and the legacy of St. John Paul II, joined host Sean Lynn to reflect on the challenges and opportunities facing the Church as it seeks to reach young men across North America.
“I don’t think there’s any one formula for this,” Weigel said. “Young men today are a disturbed group of people. The world of instant commentary by ignorant people — social media nonsense and internet craziness — is a real obstacle to evangelization.”
Darkness, Screens and Loneliness
Weigel warned that much of the online world forms young men in isolation rather than communion.
“That world of social media and the internet is a pretty dark place,” he said. “It’s a very lonely world. It’s guys sitting in their mother’s basement looking at screens. That’s not a humane way of living.”
Against that backdrop, Weigel argued that evangelization must invite young men into real relationships.
“To invite young men into real friendship, real fellowship — Eucharistic fellowship, ecclesial fellowship — is really inviting them out of darkness into light,” he said. “And that is often best done by other men.”
Campus ministries that operate peer-to-peer, he added, play a critical role.
“The best evangelizers of young men are other young men, or young priests, or youngish priests, who can provide an example of true manliness,” Weigel said. “Masculinity informed by personal friendship with the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Beauty That Attracts
Lynn pointed to concrete examples from parishes in Canada where reverent liturgy, sacred music and visible male service are drawing young professionals back to the Church.
“What’s attracting them is the beauty of the Mass,” Lynn said. “A longer Mass, a traditional choir that sings extremely well, young university-age men serving at the altar. It’s resonating.”
Weigel said that observation aligns with what he has seen on university campuses.
“A former student of mine who’s a chaplain brings 25 or 30 young people into the Church every Easter Vigil,” Weigel said. “Someone asked him, ‘What’s the secret?’ And he said, ‘Time. You have to be available. You have to engage young people one-on-one.’”
He added that young men are often drawn to communities that know who they are and what they’re doing.
“When I was younger, you wanted to be part of a team,” he said. “And to be on what is manifestly a winning team can be attractive, especially in a world of loneliness.”
A Cultural Vacuum
The conversation also touched on the political and cultural shifts among young men, including rising anger, confusion and reactionary movements.
“There may be a moment where people are fed up with being told how awful they are,” Weigel said. “But our task is to fill that vacuum with good content — not with crazy stuff.”
He warned that distorted responses can easily slide into racism, antisemitism or authoritarian temptations.
“The answer to the authoritarianism of the nanny state is not the authoritarianism of king whomever,” Weigel said. “It’s the renewal of democracy itself.”
For Catholic ministries, he added, that means forming men who are grounded in truth rather than grievance.
Time, Tools and Tangibility
While personal presence is essential, Weigel acknowledged that today’s Church has access to powerful evangelization tools.
“We have good audiovisual material today that wasn’t available 20 or 30 years ago,” he said, citing major Catholic video series and formation platforms. “If you invite people over to watch the first one, they’re going to want to see the next nine.”
At the same time, Weigel emphasized the value of physical books in a digital age.
“Letters to a Young Catholic is something you can actually take in your hand,” he said. “You can read a bit at a time. You don’t have to have an instant reaction. That can be a relief in the culture a lot of young people are living in today.”
Hope for Renewal
Despite the challenges, Weigel expressed cautious optimism about the future of the Church in Canada and beyond.
“Things are going on,” he said, pointing to diocesan renewal efforts and growing lay-led movements. “It’s going to be associations and initiatives like yours that turn things around.”
He acknowledged areas of deep decline, particularly in historically Catholic regions, but said the solution lies in renewed evangelical fervor.
“That’s a lack of evangelical fervor,” Weigel said. “And it can be recovered.”
‘As Good As It Gets’
As the conversation concluded, Lynn asked Weigel to offer a final word to the men reached by Heroic Men.
“There is nothing more satisfying in this life than bringing others into a relationship of friendship with the incarnate Son of God,” Weigel said. “To meet the Lord Jesus is to meet the truth about God and the truth about us — who we are, what we’re called to be, what our eternal destiny is.”
“To introduce others to that friendship,” he added, “is as good as it gets in this life.”
Episode Core Beats & Narrative Arc (Compressed)
Young men are lonely, overstimulated and formed by screens more than relationships. The internet offers noise, not meaning.
The Church’s most credible answer is not programs alone, but men who live joyful, grounded Catholic masculinity in visible community.
Beauty — especially reverent liturgy and sacred music — still attracts. So does clarity, commitment and a sense of belonging to something real.
Time matters. One-on-one presence matters. Brotherhood matters.
In a culture reacting to confusion with anger or extremes, Catholic men are called to fill the vacuum with truth, friendship and hope.
Helping another man encounter Christ is not a side mission — it is the most satisfying work a man can do.