I HAVE read with interest the coverage of World Youth Day pilgrimage in recent editions of The Catholic Leader.
I also attended an evening at the McAuley Campus of Australian Catholic University where the young pilgrims reflected on their experience with Archbishop Bathersby and Fr Morgan Batt.
My own reflections on what I have heard and read about the pilgrimage and through conversations with some of the young people who participated is a sense of sadness similar to that expressed by Br Damien Price (CL 1/10/00).
As noted by Br Damien much of the pilgrimage seemed to reflect a spirituality that failed to engage young people with the pain of our planet and the pain of humanity. The reflections on the evening at ACU expressed a very individualised religious faith. I came away from the evening saddened that neither of our local Church leaders mentioned justice as an integral focus of the Jubilee we celebrate in such a pilgrimage.
My hope is that the experiences of rough travel and uncomfortable accommodation may open our young pilgrims’ eyes to the injustice inflicted on so many homeless and unemployed young people here in Brisbane. The wonder and awe of walking in the footsteps of Jesus in the Holy land should awaken in pilgrims a wonder and awe for the integrity of all creation which “is charged with the grandeur of God” (Gerard Manly Hopkins).
The experience of being with 2 million young people from every continent should fire the hearts of our young pilgrims with a passion to work for the liberation of their peers from situations of exploitation and disadvantage.
There is a real challenge to us who are “elders” of the archdiocese to welcome these young pilgrims back and offer them opportunities to engage their faith with the needs of young people at risk both within and beyond our parish boundaries. This will require a bold and adventurous shift in our current model of parish youth ministry which I suggest has become parochial and timid.
TONY ROBERTSON South Brisbane, Qld
