THE UPCOMING SYNOD ON YOUTH

Pope Francis has called a Synod on “Young People, Faith and Vocational Discernment”.

At this gathering, leaders will discuss how the Church can assist young people in living their faith “through a series of choices that find expression in the states of life.”

Pope Francis wants the Church to encourage young people in realizing their vocation to holiness as lifelong adult Catholics by learning how to discern God’s will in their daily lives.

All this is well and good -- in theory.

But, the reality of life among young people today is totally different than it once was.  

Young people do not mature and take personal responsibility for themselves as they once did.

And it seems everyone -- including the Church -- is eager and anxious to provide all kinds of reasons for this phenomenon. 

Sadly, all those reasons appear to suggest that young people in today’s world take longer to mature because delaying the responsibilities of adulthood are less a choice now and “more the hand these poor youngsters have been dealt” by society.

In other words, young people are victims!

In the context of the Synod, here is what the theme is beginning to sound like:  young adults in their crucial period of life are searching for belonging, identity and mission. Without mentors to teach them or a peer community to belong to, young adults often view the Church as irrelevant and look outside of it for meaning.

And so, it appears that already a pastoral approach to addressing this crisis is beginning to emerge even before the Synod has called its first meeting.

Here is a list of proposals to the Synod being touted by youth ministers in the United States.

First, listening sessions to ascertain the needs and interests of young adults through one-on-one conversations or listening sessions.

Really?

More listening sessions?

Really?

Doesn’t practical experience have anything of value to offer?  

Is it all that difficult for the Church to realize and confront the fact that young people today are encouraged not to take personal responsibility for their lives by parents who provide every means support, excuse every failing, and protect their offspring by warding off all the rightful consequences of their irresponsible or selfish behavior?

Listening sessions for young people to whine about how life is so difficult isn’t going to help them. 

On the contrary, young people need to be told and they need to listen to the reality that life is indeed tough and requires clear and committed moral choices which lead to a fulfilling successful future.

Another proposal to the Synod will be to invite young adults to represent key leadership areas of parish life.

Key leadership positions within the parish?

On the basis of what?  

Knowledge?  Expertise?  Experience?  

Oh, I missed it, just on the basis of their age!  

That’s it. 

Just another way of coddling to the subtle demands of young people who feel somehow neglected and overlooked.  

Nonsense!

Once and for all, the Church needs to reject such pandering and assure young people that until such a time that they have shown they are capable of accepting the demands and burden of leadership, leadership positions will rightly be denied them.

Finally, the touchstone of all worthless suggestions is being proposed to the Synodal Fathers, that is, to offer small groups as young adult or intergenerational formation.

Small groups?

I would have hoped this nonsense had ended long ago with tie-dye tee shirts and lava lamps.  What drivel!

Sadly, the Church has failed to respond to the reality of emerging adulthood in modern society. 

The fact is that the last touch point for most Catholics is the Sacrament of Confirmation around age 13.  From then on few, if any, young Catholics have any real contact with the Church until they seek to marry, if then.


There has been little or no practical outreach to parents and families designed to encourage fidelity to the practice of the Faith by every person within the home.

If the Synod on young people is to be effective and significant, then Church leaders need to understand that moral and spiritual formation is a lifetime process, dependent upon parents who establish a clear Catholic identity within their families by way of attendance at Mass and frequent reception of the Sacraments.

No program, no gimmick, no initiative directed at an age group can ever substitute for the influence which parents and family members have upon the formation and maturity of young people.

Until the Church clearly enunciates this fundamental reality and bases every initiative it undertakes in recognition and support of this fact, all the Synod, meetings, small groups and listening sessions will be meaningless and fruitless.

The Synod on young people is a tremendous opportunity for the Church to address its future.

That opportunity will be wasted if the Synodal Fathers welcome and encourage the useless proposals being laid at their doorstep right now.