WYD, "a work of art"” “

The German Church is characterised by multiplicity: mainly Catholic parishes, diaspora, dioceses without faithful. Bishop FRANZ-JOSEF BODE of Osnabrück and chairman of the Commission of youth ministry of the German Episcopal Conference, speaks to us about German youth and the approaching WYD (Cologne, 1-5 August 2005). WORKING WITH THE YOUNG. “In working with the young I’m struck by their search for success in their life, relationships, and also their fear: of the future, of their prospects in life. But I’m also struck by their search for the meaning of life, the question whether God exists. And the reply to such questions must be individual, mediated not by anonymous institutions, but by persons with a face, who can show them the significance of Christianity and of faith. Many young people are seeking God, though without necessarily going to church or inserting themselves in the Church as an institution. This is a serious problem because the participation of Germans in the mass is not very high (15-18%)”. WYD CROSS. “The World Youth Day Cross has passed through many countries and has been seen by countless people: through this Cross, Christ too, the Crucified Lord, acquires a different, more human value: this exerts an appeal even on those not closely connected with the Church”. RETURN TO REFLECTION. “In Germany, people are seeking a new attitude to life: they are wondering whether they ought to change, develop new habits and lifestyles, a new relation between generations. There’s a return to reflection; people no longer confine their thoughts to the day in hand. That does not automatically mean a development of spirituality, but at least people understand that there’s time not just for consuming and having; it seems to me that the age of pure secularism, a completely secularised society, is a thing of the past. Whether this search for fixed points, spirituality, religion, even the esoteric, can be translated into a meeting with the Church, remains to be seen. But now with the WYD, and everything that surrounds it, we have the chance to offer something so that young people can experience the Church in a different way, believe they are incorporated in a larger community and not in a purely individualistic way. We have the opportunity to show something of the Church that goes beyond the purely individualistic image of faith”. FAITH AND INDIFFERENCE. “Many people, and not only the young, are unable to answer the question ‘What do I lack without faith?’. They no longer recognise that faith is an aid to life. And if the young are not set an example by their parents – who perhaps tell them to go to mass, or take the sacraments, but don’t show them why – God becomes a person of no importance: whether He exists or not becomes a matter of indifference. People don’t doubt the existence of God, but God is somehow irrelevant, has no importance for their own life. That’s why it’s important for the Church, and not just the youth ministry, to demonstrate that faith is able to do something in our life, that it enables us to cope more effectively with certain problems in our life: it’s not something automatic”. YOUTH AND EUROPE. “On the one hand, there are young people absorbed in their values, in their worlds, who don’t have any interest in Germany, politics, society, still less in Europe. But the other side of the coin is represented by the many young people, even non-practising, who are willing to participate in WYD as volunteers. They reject politics, but are keen to commit themselves to peace, justice and the conservation of the creation: with WYD these young people can be introduced to other worlds. I believe that the meeting in Cologne is coming just at the right time to coincide with EU enlargement, because we are expecting large numbers of youngsters from Eastern Europe. Their interest is great and this is an occasion to promote European thought. I would like to cite one example: for the feast of Corpus Domini, Catholic schools in Bremen, a strongly secularised city, have organized a festivity open to everyone, in which a mass will be celebrated. The young have chosen European unity as their slogan: ‘Promoting unity in Europe’. They are small signs that show that, after all, the young are engaging with the major issues of our time. And we want to take account of all this in what I call the WYD ‘work of art'”.