Listening and the sharing of hopes: that, in short, is the attitude that the Church of France has assumed in recent years to respond to the needs and to the requests of youth today, torn “between enthusiasm and fear”. As far as the youth apostolate is concerned, reference is made to two documents that summarize analyses and proposals fur the future: “Proposing the faith to the young” published in 1996 and the report of the second national session of the youth apostolate published in 2000. “What the Church in France strives to do explain those responsible for the Church’s pastoral care of the youth is to propose to the young places of encounter that may also become places of hope, where ways of seeking a meaning to their life may be found”. For several years now the French Church has in fact been trying to reinforce communities, groups, movements and associations for the young “in which the enjoyment of being together can truly be experienced and in which life can be re-read in the light of the Gospel”. “Young people they point out have a need to experience joy in their lives: joy is a difficult word to propose, especially when television every day is bombarding us with scenes of war, suffering, and the human plight of millions of people. Yet the wish to live and the wish to live happily is not dead”. French youth, like their European contemporaries, are at once “full of enthusiasm and generosity but also constrained to live in a society that is difficult not only for them but also for adults”: “A society wracked by injustice, violence, inequality and insecurity. They are therefore simultaneously full of hope for the future but also full of fear for a society inured to such failures as unemployment and broken homes”. The French Church believes that young people especially have a need for “credible witnesses”, for someone who “may give them the means of better understanding the world in which they live” and “be able seriously to share ideas and convictions with them”. Among the many initiatives taken at the diocesan and national level there is also the portal dedicated to youth promoted by the French Bishops’ Conference at the address www.inxl6.cef.fr and updated by a team of 15 young people aged from 23 to 26. It’s a website full of links, in-depth analysis and news, which also comprises a discussion forum on various themes.
