Combating unemployment and improving opportunities for training and prospects for life: these are the objectives of “Work Opportunities”, a new youth fund instituted by the Bishop of Augsburg Walter Mixa and presented in the Bavarian city in recent days. With 3 million euros available, operating in synergy between diocese, ecclesiastical associations and parishes, the aim is to respond to the serious problem of youth unemployment. Presenting the project, Bishop Mixa pointed out the fundamental significance of human work for the dignity of the person. “Work is one of the characteristics that differentiate the human being from God’s other creatures. According to Christian principles, work is also a characteristic of the person who operates in society together with other persons, thus helping to give life a social dimension, said Bishop Mixa, who also recalled the principles of St. Benedict that forged European culture. “For this reason, unemployment is one of the great scourges of mankind, and declaring a young person unsuitable or unable to be trained, for whatever reason, sensibly limits his/her prospects in life”, he added. Mixa emphasized that the diocesan project is a model “that cannot, nor does it wish to, substitute the funding measures and educational and training programmes of the State. Rather, it wishes to integrate them by exploiting the specific strengths of the Church’s institutions”. The project – which will be officially launched between September and October – provides that for a duration of six months, young people who fail to find professional openings, or job opportunities, in spite of state support, may accede first of all to basic social formation and subsequently introduced to a regular professional life in particular parishes and ecclesiastical institutions. This first phase is followed by the search proper for a training course or job through the chamber of commerce or the association of craft trades.
