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Preparations are now in full swing for the new World Youth Day to be held in Germany (Cologne, 16-21 August 2005). We publish a statement by Matthias Kopp, spokesman of WYD 2005: a reflection that is in part concerned, but certainly not pessimistic, and that takes as its starting point the German situation and is then enlarged to other European countries. “The young have a need for guidance. In Germany it is often asked who is giving this guidance today. It’s no secret: the Church in our country be it Catholic or Evangelic tries to offer such guidance, but her voice is often unheeded. Even schools, as long-term guarantors of the formation of the person, are in crisis and accused of abdicating their role. To this is added growing secularisation. The pressure to exclude the Church from the social dimension is very strong, while faith is diminishing in the new German Länder [in former East Germany] and even in the regions which by tradition are most linked to Catholic or Protestant faith. The findings of a recent survey conducted in Germany, in which Germans were asked in what institution they still placed great trust, are sobering. Asked to choose between 17 different institutions, the interviewees put the Church in penultimate place. Despite this, the German Catholic Church feels a sense of responsibility and continues to transmit guidance for life in the light of the faith. At the beginning of the 21st century this obligation has indeed been further enhanced and reinvigorated, taking its cue from the person who has particularly assumed this mission towards the new generations: John Paul II. It’s the Pope who has called the young “the real secret of the Church”, “constructors of a new civilization of love and of justice”. That’s the message he intends to transmit to the 20th World Youth Day (WYD) in Germany. To the young he holds out the challenge of participating in the construction of the Church and being living stones of a single building to give a great sign of hope to German society and to the whole world. Not by chance does the Pope speak of “leaven of society”: he confidently expects the young to become constructors of the civilization of love. In an age in which, in Germany too, the Church is no longer the fundamental guiding criterion for the new generations, at a time when the media and materialism predominate, and complexity reigns, a strong signal is awaited: a confession of faith, a “yes” to life that is not afraid to swim against the tide, if necessary. From this point of view, ever more young people are seeking in the Church for “something important and attractive”, something to which it is worth dedicating their life. Probably, in this regard, the Church has difficulty is making herself understood, and that’s why it’s essential she learn the language of the new generations; the Church needs to place herself on the same wavelength if she is to grow and help the world to grow in truth and in peace. World Youth Day serves just for this: to show the youthful face of the Church, the face of Christ that is not dissolved in time, to dare an effective communication of the faith, and to show that the young of the world and young Germans are preparing for the 20th WYD just as they are preparing for the construction of the new civilization of love and justice.
