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SFP VOICES JULY/AUGUST 2009
Vol. V, No. 6 © |
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The Community of Life and Young Adults
“I wonder, what can we learn from young adults about the Community of life?”
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"Radiant Light" by Meganne Forbes. Used with permission. |
In 1990, Archbishop Oscar Romero rephrased the thought of Irenaeus of Lyons stating: “The glory of God is the life and liberation of the impoverished people.” He would certainly say today that the life and liberation of the poor depend on the life and liberation of the earth and the respect of the rights of all human beings.
The Chinese philosopher Chiang Tsai maintains that, “The sky is my father and the earth is my mother. Even a small creature like myself is welcomed by them. For this reason, in everything that makes up the universe, I see my own body. All human beings are my brothers and sisters and all things are my companions.” This kind of statement stems from faith in life and love for the universe.
If all spiritual traditions remind humanity of the divine presence in all beings and state that the encounter with the deity takes place in communion with nature, we still have to deal with the challenge of how and in what direction we can develop this Eco-spirituality.
We may understand spirituality as “the meaning that can be given to life.” But how could life have meaning unless it were found in relationship with others? The first place where God encounters human beings is the other – the “other” intended not just as the other human being but every living being and creation itself.
Our era has been defined by Bauman (a well-known European sociologist), as the era of “liquid” society. In a world where different cultures are constantly dealing with one another, a universal model as a point of reference no longer exists. No longer is there a specific end toward which we go, nor a definition of the ultimate and irrevocable (1).
| “ ‘Being’ Community of life with youth means to announce the dream of a different society, a more communitarian and humanizing one . . .” |
This diversity and plurality is typical of young adults who are probably its most genuine expression. I wonder, what can we learn from young adults about the Community of life? In a vision of the universe that is no longer hierarchical and vertical, but circular, in what language, and in what ways are there to “be” Community of life among and with young adults? In this “liquid post-modernity,” where everything is in constant movement, young adults create their identity through “open” spaces, which are made of dialogue, flexibility, and are ever-changing. Being with young adults, or on their side, means to welcome the challenge of remaining in constant movement. We are asked to constantly question ourselves and have an attitude of greater fluidity and adaptability.
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The recent scientific discoveries present the whole universe as a series of parts that are intimately connected and interdependent. The “era of networking” also teaches us that within a structured network the sense of belonging is essential. Networks are really based on trust, on sharing common interests and inclusive relationships (2). I was struck by the story of Andrea, a 21 year old young man, who died last year after an illness that confined him to a hospital bed for months. Hundreds of Andrea’s friends attended his funeral. After the ceremony, many young attendees went to get a tattoo with the letter “A” to show that Andrea had made a permanent mark on their lives.
“Being” Community of life with young adults calls us to offer spaces for “connecting” where each individual is welcomed because she/he is important. This prompts us to create networks where relationships are valued, where the experiences and gifts of each member are essential threads, connected in deep and mutual communion. “Being” Community of life with youth means to announce the dream of a different society, a more communitarian and humanizing one, one that is more just and based on fraternal relations.
This dream invites us to remain ready to relate and to dialogue, offering values that can be shared, and which are meaningful not only for the life of the individual but also and above all, for the community. This dream challenges us to offer ourselves without asking anything in return, on the side of young adults, and from there to rethink how we can announce the Good News of God who is Community of life.
These are just a few challenges to which young adults call us, and we realize that if we remain open to them the doors to the present and the future become wide open. Happy journey!!
Sr. Gianna Giovannangeli, sfp
Congregational Councilor – Italian Area
2. Cf. Rifkin, Il sogno europeo, [The European Dream] 188-199.
“You are Christ’s disciples today:”
Reflections on Youth and Young Adults
Sister Maria Klosterman, SFP
 A great group of volunteers! |
As I check the desk clock sitting here before me, I realize how fast time is flying, and that very soon I will join the volunteers at St. Francis Kitchen in Over-the-Rhine. Each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday we gather there to help serve dinner for the many hungry people. The volunteers who come to help differ greatly, but all are generous, smiling, and willing to help others – and this includes the very special teens and young adults from various high schools and colleges. Many of them continue to volunteer long after their schools’ requirements are met!
Pope Benedict XVI, in his address to the youth of New York City, said “You are Christ’s disciples today… Show the world the reason for the hope that resonates within you. Tell others about the truth that sets you free.” And these young volunteers do exactly that! Moreover, in helping others, they find satisfaction and meaning and purpose - all the things young people are seeking today. YES! Far too many people today, inappropriately 'box' young persons in, saying that:
- They do not want to be around their parents or other adults.
- They are interested in spirituality, but not in the Church.
- They are not interested in knowing more about Catholicism, so it’s more effective to concentrate on building community through social events.
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While these statements may be true of some, they may not be true of others. However, Robert McCarty, author of The Young Catholic Church: Roots and Wings, identifies certain patterns among today’s young people. In the past we thought it ‘normal’ for young people to leave the church for a while, only to return after they marry and have children. This assumption is no longer valid. Today's young adults are “church-shoppers,” looking for a faith community where they feel welcome. They are searching for an authentic experience of God, and a religion that helps them understand life with its joys and sufferings: a faith that makes sense, that provides direction and meaning, and that challenges them. And they want to be connected with others of any age who are seeking the same things.
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McCarty says that, “In their hunger for the holy they exhibit openness to transcendence. In their hunger for justice, they are open to service. In their hunger for connection, they are looking for a spiritual home. For us to be effective in “passing on the faith... we must first respond to these hungers.” Young people today struggle with being believers and belongers. Many are deeply spiritual, are religious, and connected to faith communities. They understand spirituality in terms of mystery, beauty, compassion, inclusivity, and justice. However, they often perceive 'religion' as being all about harsh judgments, abstract doctrine and rules, along with boring, meaningless rituals. McCarty believes that “Catholicism is most effective when it provides a context and a language for naming and celebrating their experience of God, serves as a conduit for the Jesus experience and provides a sacramental community – a spiritual home. This suggests several 'strategies' that could be quite effective.
Ask young persons - and actively listen when they answer - about where they experience God, where they pray best, where they feel joy and sorrow, for God is present there!
In Conversion, Discernment, Mission; Creating a Vocation Culture in North America, the authors note that there is always danger in stereotyping a whole generation. Today’s young adults, individually and collectively, deserve neither canonization nor condemnation, but respect and understanding. We need to engage young adults in a respectful dialogue in which their own insights, experiences, and spirituality are allowed to surface and be confronted with those of the Catholic tradition. Respect and understanding provide a solid basis for any eventual invitation to consider a call to discipleship and mission, and more specifically, to ordained ministry or consecrated life.
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The Mother Frances Adolescents Group: Our New Youth Ministry in Goiânia
“Now is the time for Generating Hope in the community of Life”
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In 2009, according to the hopes of our Chapter Direction, we decided to begin a new ministry with the teenagers at our Frances Schervier Formation Center. With them, we created the name/acronym of Grupo MAFRA (Mother Frances Adolescents’ Group - Grupo de Adolescentes Madre Francisca).
Working with these sixteen pre-teens and teens (ages ten through fourteen) is exciting! They are full of vitality, eager to make friends, and are looking for an ideal. They long for an assessment of their personal values, for adventure and freedom. They desire tenderness and stability, understanding and independence. They yearn to be heard and to communicate with others. They want to be noticed by those with whom they wish to share their lives. They need an appreciation for their small deeds. They wish to manifest their affection and to pray in common, to receive spiritual and emotional formation and they feel the need to be loved.
"Through evangelization, education
and participation in their daily experiences, we learn with these adolescents during our encounters." |
Being Community of Life with Young Adults . . .
Through evangelization, education and participation in their daily experiences, we learn with these adolescents during our encounters. We discuss many topics, including the Brazilian Bishops’ Fraternity Campaign to help the poor, issues of sexuality and family life. Through watching educational films, organizing outings, role playing and special celebrations, we have been encouraging family support by inviting relatives to participate in some activities.
It is rewarding to move out of our comfortable habits to meet their needs. Since much creativity is necessary to respond to these challenges, as mentors we search for the treasure of our secret abilities. The MAFRA Group helps us come to know each other and to become well known among young people in our neighborhood.
Throughout this decade, youth ministry has become a focus of the Church. Holy Father Benedict XVI recently called on young people: “I encourage you to discover in the Cross the infinite measure of Christ's love,” as a reminder that it is “. . . in the Crucified Christ God's power and wisdom are manifested in us.” (Papal Address- April 6, 2009 to the young people of Spain receiving the Cross for World Youth Day 2011).
The Many Challenges
Youth ministry is a great challenge since secularism today tends to encourage young people to cast God aside and value material things. Facing this challenge sheds a new light on our service to the Church in the hope that, led by the Holy Spirit, we may help build the Church we yearn to become.
Young people today are in great need of tenderness. This quality has become taboo in our material society since human relationships lack warmth and understanding. In addition the media favors pathological ways of communicating. The more gadgets we use to connect, the more distant from each other we seem to be. As we become more isolated by our individualism, the thirstier we become for affection and solidarity.
Many young people also feel the need to use drugs and alcohol to avoid their inner loneliness. In this rapidly changing world, they feel the need for stability. They seek a point of reference and search for relationships that will reflect a gratifying image of themselves. In the past, these dynamics belonged to adolescence. Today, according to specialists, many young adults do not establish a stable identity until they reach the age of 35.
Giving our Gifts in this Ministry
We need to acquire specific abilities to minister to young adults. The relational involvement required for our interaction with young people is quite deep. First, we must keep our hearts open and be willing to allow their hearts to feel touched. Only after this may we offer to them Jesus Christ.
"The relational involvement required for our interaction with young people is quite deep." |
Now is the time for generating hope in the community of life. By creating with the poor and suffering humanity a new capacity to look beyond our limitations, our purpose as the MAFRA Group is to open the possibility for transformation and to sail on against the tide. This will make us witnesses of God’s love without shying away from being happy and welcoming the Lord to take a center place in our lives.
Youth and Young Adults:
Generating Compassion and Hope
Jules Marie Diouf, Pastoral Worker with Franciscan Youth
Keur Mbaye Fall, Senegal
To reflect on youth and young adults according to the theme proposed by the direction of the General Chapter is not easy. We need to ask ourselves: “What is youth and what one can really do with and for youth?”
According to Ludivine Bantigny and Ivan Jablonka*, “Youth is at the same time an age of life – and therefore a stage of the biological cycle, a vector of progress or of contestation, a group of people and a demographic cohort – and a generation. It represents an intellectually and politically decisive moment, the moment where the awareness of the contemporaneousness intervenes.” Every young individual passes through this moment of his/her biological cycle, which generally lasts from 18 to 35 years.
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This stage of life is significantly precarious and marked by the awareness and the natural quest for significance and direction. It is essential for the religious, moral psychological, intellectual, political future of the young and for their effective integration into society. Youth is a time of questioning with no obvious answers, when the young face by themselves the injustices and the differences that life brings daily. Young people are fragile and may leave an open door to ill-disposed people who corrupt and divert them from the essential to the unessential: from faith to money, materialism, drugs and sex.
Youth are experiencing a crisis of values and a loss of reference; they seem to struggle to find new horizons to give meaning to their existence. The direction of the General Chapter urges us to sympathize and give young people hope. However, how do we give them this hope?
- Generating compassion among youth. We need to be with them and suffer with them. No generation is easy, but the goal pursued is worth a try: to heal wounds and to save souls. In order to realize this, we must have an expression filled with love. We must put ourselves in their shoes so that we can feel what they endure: a growing uncertainty about their future. Let us listen to them and move toward them and inquire about their situations and daily concerns. Let us be indulgent toward them and understand that they perceive reality in a different way. Let us not quickly judge them and avoid disappointing them. Let us organize some meetings to allow them to share their worries. It will be a way to free themselves from the burdens that crush them, to lessen their moral, psychological, social and economic sufferings.
- The foundation of all life is hope. We live because we hope. What must we hope for? The best probably! Let us tell youth that “God still exists” and that God did not die (as was announced by Nietzsche, the German philosopher) and try to find with them solutions to their problems and help them toward their life projects. In Senegal, we could sensitize youth to the risks that hover over them when they decide to embark on unsteady voyages on pirogues (small, light weight, flat-bottomed fishing boats) to go to Europe. We can show them that it is possible to live happily while staying at home and living within the available means. Let us reverence the quest of the spiritual good, which is the only path that leads to happiness.
In this way, from now until 2013, we will be able to achieve some positive results concerning youth ministry.
*Youth Compels: a History of the Young in France, 19-20th Centuries [Paris, PUF, “Le nœud gordien” , janvier 2009]
A Journey of Education to Solidarity
“It is beautiful to savor our closeness, smiles and the small gestures that express how an encounter among us is possible, in spite of our differences!”
 A group of youth at Porta San Giacomo |
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Porta San Giacomo and Casa Nazareth Communities – Padua
What happens when many minds come together and take seriously the challenge placed before them by an international workshop on young adult ministry? What happens is that the desire to reach young people with the charism of Mother Frances becomes urgent. This generates an idea still being shaped: the inspiration to create what we call a “Solidarity Packet!”
This project was born in Padua, from a meeting of the Sisters from Casa Nazareth and Porta San Giacomo, who bring their experience of service to the poor (particularly immigrants) to open a positive and creative dialogue with young people. The “Solidarity Packet” requires months of meetings, exchange and suggestions. These may or may not all be possible to “do.” However, this is a precious opportunity to meet and discover the riches of each one of us and share ideas. Everything flows into a journey of Education to Solidarity.
We realize that the hot topic of immigration is already part of our daily lives -- for those people who deal with it -- and for every Italian citizen. With excitement and a bit of concern, we decided to launch this idea in two Parishes in Padua, where we meet with about fifty young adults.
“To talk about encountering others, we seek Jesus’ help, |
This journey evolves into three educational moments. It leaves ample space for discussion and expression of the experience of young adults in relation to immigrants. We construct every single meeting utilizing various methods and instruments and aim at involving young people to make them an active part of the journey. With amazement we see their prejudices and stereotypes concerning immigrants emerge. Along with this, we see their strong desire to meet them, and their ability to discuss and express their own opinion in an open atmosphere. There is a readiness to recognize the rights of each human being.
To talk about encountering others, we seek Jesus’ help, who walked with the two disciples of Emmaus. The one who appears to be a foreigner, a marginalized and labeled individual, reveals how we need to approach, walk with, listen to and share the pain to the end. This generates compassion and a new hope, a rebirth in faith and joy, that cannot be contained, but only announced!
We complete this journey by suggesting times for sharing and service in our ministries: Bread for the Poor, the Respect Life Center, and Porta San Giacomo. These are simple opportunities of encounter between the people we serve daily and with some of the young adults that we know. It is beautiful to savor our closeness, smiles and the small gestures that express how an encounter among us is possible, in spite of our differences! It is really worthwhile to continue with this adventure!
Copyright 2009 Franciscan Sisters of the Poor