24 April" "
“The bishops ought to spend more time with the young, accompanying them in prayer, in listening to the Word of God, in involvement in the parish community and in the movements and associations”, said Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, archbishop of Westminster and vice-president off the Council of the Episcopal Conferences of Europe (CCEE), on presenting the work of the Symposium of the European bishops dedicated to youth, which opened in Rome on 24 April. “What matters said the cardinal is that the Church should learn to understand the life-style of the young in order to be closer to them”. Today, according to the president of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, we live in the “society of ‘pick and mix'”, of experiences, emotions, values. But what young people ask above all is “protection and shelter”. Therefore, suggests the cardinal, “what is needed for the religious life of the young is to promote their personal meeting with Christ”, a meeting that may take place within a community, and with the help of associations and movements. “The new movements pointed out the archbishop of Westminster are signs of life and of spirit. They give an impulse to the dioceses and to the parishes so that they too may acquire their spirit of spiritual renewal”. From the viewpoint of the ecumenical dialogue with the Anglican Church, the cardinal did not conceal some difficulties: “Ecumenical dialogue he said is an endless process but perhaps, after the impetus given by Vatican Council II, we have reached a period of respite. We must resume the process, not forgetting that alongside doctrinal ecumenism, we must also promote spiritual ecumenism”. The Pope, pointed out Card. O’Connor, is “the one bishop who may call all Christians to come together” and to give new enthusiasm to overcome the difficulties that still divide us.
