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“I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning.” “I am writing to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one” (1John 2:13/14). 1. The 10th Symposium of European Bishops on the theme “Youth of Europe in the process of change. Laboratory of the faith”(Rome, 24-28 April 2002) was for all of us, Pastors and young participants, an event rich in grace and brotherly communion. a. The aim of the meeting was to identify together with the young new opportunities and ways of evangelization and inculturation of the faith in our Continent, so that all the countries of Europe, by regenerating their own Christian roots, may construct together a ‘common home’ from East to West, founded on faith in Christ and on the promotion of the true dignity and freedom of each person. b. Europe has been experiencing in recent decades a profound change that invests cultural and religious customs, values and traditions. The young in the first place show themselves alert to this transformation and participants in it. That’s why we wished to tackle this complex reality, with the same positive and enriching vision as the young, by starting out from their problems, hopes and challenges to the Church, Christian society and the society in which they live. The method of the “laboratory” characterized the Symposium. Bishops, young Catholics and young representatives of the other Christian confessions listened to each other, spoke to each other, prayed together, and renewed together their commitment to proclaim the Gospel in the diversity of their roles and responsibilities. We have reached the conviction that under the action of the Holy Spirit this journey has already begun and that the young are in some sense its advance-guard, the “sentinels of the morning” who herald its promising start. c. We have been inspired and supported by the Duc in altum, that the Holy Father wished to re-consign to us in the audience in which he repeated his appeal to us to be conscious of the often lacerating problems that afflict our Continent, but also trustful in the presence of He who is the Living One and who walks with us in history. To John Paul II, stalwart evangelizer of the European continent, we express all our gratitude and creative fidelity. 2. Animated by the Spirit, and considering this time as the time that God has granted to us to live the joy of the Gospel and bear witness to it to others, we have conducted a many-sided process of exploration and exchange of experiences. a- A wise ‘reading’ of the youth condition in Europe today in the widest context of postmodernity requires as a priority the need to arouse personalized meetings with Jesus, as he who gives to man the chance to rediscover his identity in the measure of God himself, to experience the indispensable support of communities of faith, friendship and charity, and have at his disposal pastors capable of welcome, of listening, of teaching and of guiding. b- This leads to planning specific formative proposals that, by taking into account the different youth terrain, are translated not into vague discourses but into personalized and hence differentiated itineraries that are evangelically authentic in telling young people the truth of the Gospel without reductions, and often ‘counter-current’, but at the same time attentive to rendering transparent the style of Jesus himself, aimed at enabling us to grasp the mystery of the paternity of God in daily life. c- Unfortunately it happens that the Church, the natural place for this meeting with Christ, is felt by many young people as remote, alien, little credible and incapable of speaking to man of our time. There is a strong need for Christian communities (parishes, religious institutions, movements, other ecclesial associations) in which profound and genuine human relations are experienced; communities rich in communion and friendship, but also capable of making a proposal of faith higher in goal, more demanding in quality, and deeper in spirituality, while maintaining the message closely linked with people’s experience and with the more radical yearnings of the human heart. The young should not be just be the beneficiaries of the proclamation, but also feel the vocation to become themselves protagonists of the mission to the young and to each other person. Their contribution should be recognized today as a necessary and irreplaceable good for the evangelization of Europe. d- We wish to mention lastly with inward satisfaction other important aspects of enrichment that sprang from the Symposium: the many and various experiences of communication of the gospel to the young and with the young in Europe and in the world; the ecumenical dimension with the participation of members of the Christian communities; the attention to the painful situation in the African Continent; the climate of communion, prayer, and exchange of gifts. It was a true ecclesial experience that had its centre in the daily Eucharist, a cordial expression in the informal conversations, and a significant resonance in the visits to Roman communities, hospitable and generous according to their tradition. 3. From the Symposium emerged particular common points that we propose as motives for further reflection and practical commitment. a- The new frontier of evangelization in Europe passes through a new missionary awareness with the courage and the creativity of concrete initiatives. We are convinced of contributing in a decisive manner to religious freedom, cornerstone of the civilization of our continent, to the forms of hospitality and respect due to each person, by testifying our meeting with the Word of Life, Christ the Lord and giving reason for the hope that is in us (cf. 1Pt 3:15). Conscious of this, we have identified some privileged spheres of the missionary effort, the sure way to holiness: – only a wholly missionary community may render credible and significant the witness of the Gospel in society; that’s why missionary formation becomes the criterion of the Christian’s very identity – we learn to become missionaries ‘by conducting mission’ in practice in our own environment of life (work, study, free time…), intervening as Christians in the cultural, economic, social and political decisions, now of European extension, with the indispensable competence and action – God asks us for the courage to face up to important Christian truths either ignored or not well expressed, such as Christian initiation and the sacrament of confirmation, the true and liberating understanding of Christian sexuality and chastity, the educational role of the family, the grace of the sacrament of reconciliation and forgiveness…. – Christian formation needs to be taught in the school of Jesus through diversified itineraries (laboratories of the faith), by meeting the person where he exists, in despair, in apparent indifference, in the search for answers, or in the joy of the experience of faith… – we are insistently called to realize a new image of a credible and liveable Christian community, characterized by the courage of truth, the forgiveness of our enemies, ecumenical dialogue, gratuitous self-giving in the most demanding vocations (such as the priesthood and the consecrated life), service to the poor and to the weak, the defence of life from the very first moment of its natural conception, and the commitment to justice, peace and the safeguard of the creation. b- “Evangelizing the young and letting oneself be evangelized by them” becomes a reciprocity that corresponds to a Church as communion to which Vatican II calls us. The providence of God today calls the Churches of Europe to consider young Christians not only as a specific sector or object of youth apostolate, but to recognize them and receive them as a gift of Christ to his Church in all her mission, ‘reading’ situations and problems with them and realizing programmes and initiatives with them. That means making a change for the better, a real pastoral conversion. So helping them in their formation, establishing with them forms of listening, dialogue, meeting, and planning is to fulfil God’s will. c- Lastly as Bishops we feel ourselves challenged by everything the young people present at the Symposium said to us and asked of us. The young wish bishops and priests to consider them not only as a hope for the future, but as a present and actual resource of the Church, on which to rely here and now. The young ask them to find the specific time to meet them and dialogue with them, also making use of the form of correspondence, sharing together problems, aspirations, experiences, with the heart and with the mind, proposing the Gospel with clarity and at the same time helping them to enact it in their lives. They ask lastly that they be the first witnesses of the Gospel and of the goodness of Jesus, full of faith and hope in Him. Rome, 28 April 2002
