Today’s Catholic youth

by Editor · July 17, 2013

On July 23 the world�s Catholic youth will begin to gather in great numbers in Rio de Janeiro for the 14th international World Youth Day (WYD) � and many others back home will join them, in spirit and in prayer.

A young woman raises her arms during a Mass April 12 to mark the start of the 100-day countdown to World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro. World Youth Day 2013, an annual international Catholic event, runs from July 23 to 28 in Rio de Janeiro. The words on the woman’s t-shirt has the name of Pope Francis as “Francisco,” as he is known in the Spanish-speaking world. CNS photo/Ricardo Moraes, Reuters)

This year�s event will have the extra momentum of a new pope presiding over it. Providence arranged it that the new pope, just a few months after his election, should on his first foreign papal trip return to his home continent to meet with the world�s youth.

There are echoes in this of Pope Benedict XVI, whose first papal journey also was to a WYD, in his homeland of Germany.

An added poignancy is that WYD�s �founder� and patron, Bl John Paul II, is now standing on the cusp of formal inclusion in the College of Saints.

WYD was an innovation of Pope John Paul, who in the mid-1980s saw the potential for motivating and empowering young Catholics in their faith by staging an international Catholic youth festival, to be held on a regular basis in different locations throughout the world.

It was during one of them, in Denver exactly 20 years ago, that the terminology of the New Evangelisation first gained public currency.

Past WYDs have seen octogenarian popes command enthusiastic, cheering audiences bigger than any rock act could draw. The papal Mass at WYD 1995 in Manila drew a record five million young people; the vigil in Madrid in 2011 drew an estimated two million.

With its crowds of hundreds of thousands, even millions, WYD is a show of the Church�s vibrancy, a way of building a Catholic identity and of showcasing Christian values.

The secular world of the West invariably receives a shock to its preconceived notion of the Catholic Church as irrelevant to young people or society in general. The public celebration of the Catholic faith, especially by members of the demographic which is supposed to be the most detached from the Church, confounds those who insist that religion is a matter best relegated to the private domain.

For the participants WYD is a time for spiritual growth through catechism and the experience of fellowship with other young Catholics from around the world. Many will return to provide leadership in parochial and diocesan youth initiatives, and in other structures available to them.

Indeed, there is no good reason why young Catholics should not form part of a parish�s or diocese�s lay leadership, or why there should not be a seat for a youth representative on pastoral councils.

Of course, youths need on-going formation. This should take the form less of imposing doctrines on them � though proper instruction in the teachings of the Church forms part of good catechesis�and more of helping them establish and maintain a relationship with Christ.

Arguably, youths are best equipped to form their peers. If this is indeed so, then it is essential that youth leaders are well trained to evangelise and catechise other youth. This is already happening in some parishes. Present plans to set up a formal youth leadership academy must be strongly supported.

At the same time, we must acknowledge that even our best efforts notwithstanding, many young Catholics will fall away from the Church. It is, therefore, important that the Church does not close the door on them, and they not on the Church. Even as they move away from the Church, we must aim to impress upon them a positive attitude towards Catholicism.

Even those who abandon the Church should feel welcome to regard it as a home to which they may exercise the option of returning at a later stage in life.

We must beware of putting too great an emphasis on measuring the success of our catecheses and evangelisation on the numbers of youths who remain active in the faith. The big question is how many of those who fall away might one day return.

Indeed, our greater concern must be to maintain the numbers in the 35-50 age group � those Catholics who will form the base of the Church for the next three or four decades.

Most of that cohort today are from the generation at whom the first few WYDs were aimed. And as their hair grows greyer and their girths wider, they will have to be replenished by the newer generations of WYD Catholics � and eventually by those who this month attend WYD in Rio, in person or in spirit.