Month: October 2018

Vatican City, Oct 5, 2018 / 11:01 am (CNA).-  
The synod of bishops on young people, the faith, and vocational discernment is being held at the Vatican Oct. 3-28.

CNA plans to provide a brief daily summary of the sessions, provided by the synodal fathers from Poland.

Please find below the Polish fathers’ summary of the Oct. 5 session:

Preparation for life in marriage, the father’s role in the family, young immigrants, and the testimony of the life of young people are the topics on the synod’s second day, during which representatives of different countries and continents spoke, exchanging their experiences.

Some of the young people evoked life in broken families. “Therefore, attention was paid to preparing for marriage, for example, pre-marital catecheses that exist in Poland. These catecheses should take into consideration the cultural context because the number of marriages of people from different cultures and religions is increasing,” said Auxiliary Bishop Marian Florczyk of Kielce.

“During the discussion, the opinion was also expressed that the man’s role has been lost. In the past, a man grew to be a father, to fulfill his tasks. The father’s example most strongly draws children to the faith, observed one of the speakers,” Bishop Florczyk emphasized.

Another topic was the issue of immigrants, in a broad sense. “If the Church herself in Europe is struggling with problems, what help should be given to the newcomers?” Attention was paid to the condition of immigrants and of those who receive them. “The religious condition of the latter is unfortunately poor,” said Bishop Florczyk.

Attention was also paid to young people evangelizing their peers through the example of their lives. “The point is for young believers to lead other young people to Jesus Christ because He is the one who shapes their life. The Church is, indeed, a community that characterizes itself by faith in Jesus Christ, that lives by this faith,” highlighted Bishop Florczyk.

“The issues raised show, on the one hand, all the wealth and opportunities, such as good liturgy, but also threats, such as sects that exist in some countries,” said Auxiliary Bishop Marek Solarczyk of Warszawa-Praga.

The discussions also focused on the impact of social media on the lives of young people.

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Vatican City, Oct 5, 2018 / 10:26 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Archbishop Anthony Fisher of Sydney apologized to young people on behalf of Church leaders in a speech at the Synod of Bishops Friday.

“For the failure of too many bishops and others to respond appropriately when abuse was identified, and to do all in their power to keep you safe; and for the damage thus done to the Church’s credibility and to your trust: I apologize,” Fisher said Oct. 5, while speaking in the Vatican’s synod hall in the presence of Pope Francis and more than 200 bishops.

Youth delegates auditing the 2018 Synod of Bishops were also present in the synod hall in a historic first.

The archbishop’s apology extended beyond the Church’s mishandling of sex abuse to address catechetical and pastoral failures, apologizing on behalf of priests for “poor preaching, catechesis or spiritual direction that fails to convert.”

Fischer offered an apology to young Catholics “for when we’ve sold you short not encouraging you to live heroically your baptismal call to holiness and the paschal path to life through self-renunciation.”

“For the times when you were searching for your sexual, ethnic or spiritual identity, and needed a moral compass, but found Church people unsympathetic or ambiguous: I apologize,” he said during the fifteenth ordinary general session of the Synod of Bishops, which is treating young people, the faith, and vocational discernment.

The archbishop told CNA that greater transparency is needed in the Church, particularly with the handling of sex abuse cases.

“We have to be absolutely honest about this. We have to own up to the times that we have failed,” he said, “That means we have to investigate it properly, get outsiders with some objectivity to help us to investigate it, get to the truth of the matter and own up to that.”

The Catholic Church in Australia recently accepted the majority of recommendations offered by a five-year government inquiry examining sex abuse in Australian schools, churches, and sports clubs by Australia’s Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Australia’s bishops also worked with the government to set up a program to financially compensate victims this summer.

One of the lessons Fisher recommends to bishops facing similar inquiries into the Church’s past sexual abuse cover-up in other parts of the world is to “be ashamed, be humiliated, and be purified in the process.”

“Through humiliation comes humility, through being ashamed comes repentance and greater holiness,” he explained.

The full text of Archbishop Fisher’s intervention is below:

Today in your presence, Holy Father, and amidst my brother bishops, I want to say sorry to young people for all the ways we’ve failed them.

For the shameful deeds of some priests, religious and lay people, perpetrated upon you or other young people just like you, and the terrible damage that has done; and for the failure of too many bishops and others to respond appropriately when abuse was identified, and to do all in their power to keep you safe; and for the damage thus done to the Church’s credibility and to your trust (IL 59 and 66): I apologize.

For the times Catholic families, parishes and schools have failed to introduce you to the person of Jesus Christ, his saving word, and his plan for your life; and for the times we’ve seemed to you unwelcoming, distant or harsh, or have not demonstrated the sheer joy of being Christians; and for the times when you were searching for your sexual, ethnic or spiritual identity, and needed a moral compass, but found Church people unsympathetic or ambiguous: I apologize.

For when we’ve sold you short not encouraging you to live heroically your baptismal call to holiness and the paschal path to life through self-renunciation; or when we’ve provided too little youth ministry or other support, so you’ve found living as a young person of faith and ideals lonely in a secular, often cynical world; or when unbeautiful or unwelcoming liturgies have failed to inspire or include you, and when you’ve been denied the Church’s treasury of examination of conscience, reconciliation, adoration, pilgrimages, penances and devotions: I apologize.

For poor preaching, catechesis or spiritual direction that fails to convert, and for lack of imagination or enthusiasm for that new evangelization to which the recent popes have called us; and for our failures to demonstrate God’s mercy, as Pope Francis has insisted we must, and to involve you in campaigns for Christ-centred justice and in works of mercy; and for families, dioceses and religious orders that with a contraceptive mentality have given up on generating new vocations and so have not nurtured yours: I apologize.

To any young person we have let down in these or other ways: from the bottom of my heart I apologize to you. And to the Lord I pray: Kyrie eleison.

But I say to young people also: never give up on Jesus because of our failures. Never give up on the Church that you can help make more faithful. Never give up on the world that, with Christ and the Church’s help, you can make a better place.

In Jesus Christ, the Ancient of Days is made young – for you. The Creator of this beautiful universe comes close to your life to save you. He calls you to ‘come, follow’ him and become his young disciple. He sends you out as a missionary to our world. You can be a hero, for nothing is so exciting as the adventure of the Gospel!

So: when you are lost and need direction, know that the young Jesus is the eternal Way for you!  When you are confused and need sound teaching, know that the young Jesus is the eternal Truth for you! When you are searching for the vocation that will most fulfil you, know that the young Jesus is eternal Life for you!

In the presence of the Holy Father and amidst my brother bishops, I recommit myself to young people and to drawing them closer to Christ who is always there for them.

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Vatican City, Oct 5, 2018 / 07:46 am (CNA/EWTN News).- A young U.S. Catholic participating in the 2018 Synod of Bishops said he hopes the Vatican meeting is a starting point for implementing change within the local dioceses and for raising the importance of positive Catholic role models.

For whatever reason young people may leave the Church, “the need is for positive examples of the faith,” Jonathan Lewis told CNA Oct. 5.

“I see the need for us to have in each of our parish communities – it can’t just be one parish in each diocese, it has to be in every community – relationships of love, friendship, and mentorship to walk with young people at every step of faith.”

Lewis, 32, is an auditor to the synod – one of 34 young adults appointed by Pope Francis to participate in a meeting of bishops from around the world, discussing young adults, the faith, and vocational discernment.

Lewis has worked for the Archdiocese of Washington for six years, first as the director of evangelization and young adult ministries and now as assistant secretary for pastoral ministry and social concerns.

Prior to his work in D.C., Lewis worked in parish ministry, doing religious education, youth ministry, and young adult ministry in the dioceses of Wilmington and Kansas City, and the Archdiocese of San Francisco.

A native of Kansas, he studied at Catholic University of America and holds a master’s degree in theology from the University of Notre Dame. He is married, and he and his wife are expecting their first child.

As an auditor for the Vatican’s synod on young people, faith, and vocational discernment, Lewis is listening in on the general congregations, will give one four-minute speech called an intervention, and will join in the working groups of the latter part of the assembly.

Lewis said he sees the youth synod as an opportunity to “revive the Church by focusing on the young voices of committed Catholics,” and by going out as missionaries to reach young people who do not practice the faith, but who often still have “a strong spiritual sense and desire to make a difference in our world.”

About the many concerns people have voiced regarding the synod, among them that it will be a lot of show, but have little real-world impact, Lewis said there is no way “a month-long meeting or one document, can include each of the perspectives of young people worldwide.”

However, he thinks the meeting, which he said has so far had a positive atmosphere inside the hall, “can certainly begin a discussion.”

“Whatever the final document is, [I hope] it will be a beginning point for the Church to implement a priority of young people,” he said.

Lewis explained that his intervention – the short speech he will offer during the meeting – will be focused on the need for strong mentorship-type relationships for young people.

Whatever you call it, whether discipleship mentorship, spiritual mentors, spiritual advisors, or spiritual direction, “today we need to cultivate relationships of spiritual friendship in the life of our parishes,” he said.

In his experience, and he believes the experience of many Catholics, long-term commitment to the faith and to the Church is correlated to the number and quality of relationships with faith mentors one has had throughout their life, whether parents, a catechist, pastor, or teacher.

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