RECENTLY I attended World Youth Day in Rome.
I attended this gathering as an older adult accompanying a group of about 40 young adults in the age group of 18-28. All in all I found the experience to be quite a powerful one in my own life. The approach of the young adults I was with to the many difficulties experienced on the pilgrimage was for me inspirational. Their prayerfulness, their humour, their sense of sacrament, their appreciation of the Eucharist and their ability to appreciate and build community were all wonderful reminders to me of the jewel the youth of our Church are for us all.
However, if I was to be asked what was the overriding feeling that I came away from the World Youth Day with it would be that of sadness. I felt sad for several reasons. Firstly while I readily acknowledge and appreciate the role of the Universal Pastor to challenge and inform our youth, I was very disappointed at the almost total lack of opportunity for our youth to truly share their own story with their fellow youth.
In almost every gathering that I attended the youth were addressed by cardinals and archbishops. If there is one thing that 25 years in youth ministry has taught me it would be the power of youth ministering to their fellow youth. I feel a most wonderful and powerful opportunity was missed.
In Rome something like 2.1 million youth of the world gathered! Wow! That is a powerful witness and opportunity.
The thing that made me most sad at World Youth Day was the fact that in all the addresses of Pope John Paul II and the many other cardinals and archbishops the key issues that appear to be central to the concerns of our youth and indeed our world were not even mentioned.
Not once did I hear the issue of our fragile environment mentioned! There was no mention of pollution, of the destruction of rainforests or of species, nor of the greed and economic rationalism that is leaving for the first time the future of our planet in doubt! Not once did I hear the words “social justice” mentioned. Was East Timor in crisis in 1999 and 2000? Are there global conflicts based on greed, racism and nationalism all over our war-torn planet? One would not think so if you attended World Youth Day 2000.
The Catholic Church had the perfect opportunity to share with its youth its concerns about globalisation, about the arms race, about torture, about landmines, about environmental devastation, about the servient role and position of women in the Church and in most world societies and so much more! Instead 2.1 million youth were reminded that the Church is our spiritual home, that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that we are called to be evangelisers of our world, that the Eucharist is central to our lives and that we are to be people of prayer.
As I sat and listened to these things I said within myself, “Yes, yes, yes, yes… !” I could not disagree with any of them! But! There is so much more! So many of the troubles within our world today are the very result of a closed, fortress mentality that sees these truths as an end in themselves.
I came home sad! I was thinking of the spiritual atomic bomb that could have exploded for the well-being of all humankind and for all of our planet had our youth been challenged around the issues I have named above. Imagine the power unleashed within our world if 2.1 million youth returned to their homes fired up with challenges for we older ones about what we are doing to the earth and to each other!
Imagine the kind of world we could have if our youth were able to critique the selfishness of our global economy and our individual role in this selfishness and lead us to choices that would heal the earth and millions upon it! Imagine the power of our faith communities if our youth were to find them to be the place where they experienced community and meaning!
In my many dealings with young adults I rarely find them angry at the Church. In 99 per cent of cases they just do not care about it! The Church has almost zero credibility in the issues that really matter to them. I see a Church so concerned about how wide the Roman collars on newly ordained priests are while its youth are elsewhere seeking meaning and purpose and a future for the planet as a home for their children!
BR DAMIEN PRICE CFC Indooroopilly, Qld
