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Although the theology and tradition of her family’s church still resonate with her, and it is there that she will observe Ash Wednesday and Holy Week, Traquair has discovered a trend confounding many denominations, particularly mainline Protestant churches.

At St. Philip’s in the Hills, she has no peers.

“There are no people between 18 and 35 in the Episcopal Church, and I want Christian peers,� said Traquair, an AP human geography and government teacher at University High School. “I can’t find that at the Episcopal Church.�

But she can’t leave completely — long-practiced traditions such as Ash Wednesday and Lent mean too much.

There is too much history there.

“I like the ritual and the ceremony of it, that I am going through the same motions and saying the same prayers and doing the exact same things people have been doing for centuries,� Traquair said.

Like others in Roman Catholic and mainline Protestant traditions, Traquair will have ashes streaked across her forehead Wednesday as a “physical reminder and marker of internal faith,� she said.

Traditionally, ashes remind the Christian believer of man’s mortality and the need for repentance before God. As the season of Lent begins, Christians fast in preparation for Easter, this year on Sunday, March 27.

The Rev. Canon Megan Traquair of the Episcopal Diocese of Arizona — Hannah Traquair’s mother — puts it this way.

“Ash Wednesday is one of my favorite days of the year,� she said. “It is the day when we clear out all of those things that separate us from God, and we speak honestly to God and ourselves about where our lives are. That’s what the Lenten season is about.�

Despite its progressive stance on social justice issues, the Episcopal Church, like other Christian denominations, is struggling with aging populations as young people increasingly identify as secular or spiritual, but not religious.

At St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church, 602 N. Wilmot Road, the 10:15 a.m. service is chanted or sung, and incense is burned, making it the highest Episcopal church service in Tucson. Almost no millennials attend, said Joel Williams, of the parish’s vestry and an attendee of the church since 1979. And in Tucson, the young people who do come often leave after college in search of a job.

The congregation is not alone.

Last year, the Episcopal Church released a 2014 study about its growth and decline. The study revealed that seniors 65 and older make up 31 percent of the Episcopal Church and just 14 percent of the American public. Conversely, young adults between the ages of 20 and 34 comprise 10 percent of the church and 21 percent of the general population.

Hannah Traquair, though she treasures the traditions, notes that Episcopal congregations can feel “kind of stuck in the past� — especially for a young person.

“The organ is a wonderful instrument that belongs in a museum,� she said, laughing. “We are a generation that has grown up listening to music on our iPods and Walkmans, and we are immersed with music that we like at every moment.�

The Rev. Katie McCallister, the assistant rector for children, youth and families at St. Alban’s Episcopal Church, 3738 N. Old Sabino Canyon Road, believes that the problem is not the departure of young adults, but the church’s uncertainty about what to do with those who stay even after a parental mandate to attend disappears.

The Episcopal Diocese of Arizona has nine congregations in the Tucson area, including the Episcopal Campus Ministry at the University of Arizona. The Rev. Traquair said Tucson congregations have about 5,700 members.

Only St. Alban’s, St. Philip’s and Grace St. Paul’s Episcopal churches are listed as Tucson churches with teen ministry programs. McCallister, 28, said others have volunteer-run groups, but those are the parishes with paid staff positions focused on youth.

And when it comes to young adults, the parishes generally connect students to the Rev. Benjamin Garren at the UA congregation instead of running a parish program. Garren, the chaplain, estimates that he has about 15 active students.

At the Campus Christian Center at the UA on Wednesday, the Episcopal Campus Ministry will worship with Presbyterian, Methodist and Evangelical Lutheran groups, as they often do for “major fast days and festival days,� Garren said.

But to keep young adults involved, it’s not enough to provide a space for worship, he added. They also need a place to build relationships and work through doubts.

The group’s Wednesday night Thirsty (a)Theology at Gentle Ben’s does both, as students mull over controversial topics with the chaplain.

“The heart of Anglican spirituality is this idea that the heart and our minds need to be moving toward a wedded experience, a holistic experience,� Garren, 34, said.

And the liturgical calendar creates an opportunity to bridge that gap between ancient tradition and modern experiences.

For example, Stuart Salvatierra, the 31-year-old director of youth ministries at St. Philip’s in the Hills, 4440 N. Campbell Ave., is putting together a devotional blog for his students to follow during the Lenten season in an effort to better explain liturgical vocabulary — a topic that doesn’t always excite the average young person.

David Christy, a 21-year-old youth leader and acolyte coordinator at Grace St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 2331 E. Adams St., finds meaning in liturgical worship because of its consistency and longevity.

As a computer science major at the UA, his academic field changes so quickly they don’t use textbooks. Church is not like that for him.

“Just based on conversations around the topic (with peers), I think many other people have this idea that they want to be grounded in something more than the age of the iPhone,� said Christy, who grew up in the Episcopal Church but sampled evangelical churches as a teen.

Liturgical tradition — whether in the form of ashes on a forehead or a goblet of wine and loaf of bread — offers a tangible representation of faith.

And sometimes, it’s a bit messy.

“We’re not always the best people,� Garren said. “And millennials want a worship space that recognizes the fullness of everything and the dirtiness and the griminess … and the beauty in the midst of the griminess.�

Contact reporter Johanna Willett at jwillett@tucson.com or 573-4357. On Twitter: @JohannaWillett