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Dear Bishops , We are young Christians, from various countries of the European continent. We come from various social and ecclesial realities. But we find our communion in Christ. After these important days spent together with you, we want, first of all, to thank you for having wished to give a voice to 35 young people at this 10th Symposium. But even more so, we feel it is our duty to thank all of you for your constant willingness to give us your ear not only in the plenary discussions, but also in each occasion that represented the day-to-day experience during this Symposium. A simple meal eaten together, a shared prayer, or an informal conversation, became occasions for deep and stimulating personal encounters that enabled us to grasp how deeply we are united in our journey in search of the Way, the Truth and the Life. At the end of this Symposium we may affirm with sincerity that it was a valuable opportunity for us to overcome every possible distance that seemed to us to have been interposed between us and you. We have created a climate of friendship and open, constructive and lively dialogue. We cannot therefore take our leave without sharing with you the fruits of our reflections. We wish to assure you: that we will not hesitate to say “yes” to God who calls us to rediscover the Christian roots of Europe in our daily life; that we wish to continue the dialogue with you in order to place it at the service of our dioceses and communities; that we will therefore work at your side in helping to build the Church together; that we will bear witness to the experience of communion we have shared during these days to everyone we meet; that we will contribute to the building of a more human and Christian “common European home” (We have begun to draft a document that we will seek to share with our communities. We wish to prepare it for the plenary session of the CCEE in October.) To be able to achieve all this, we feel we must also express our needs. We feel: the need to regularly meet with you to share the joys and the difficulties, and to walk together with you in our experience of Christian life; the need for greater opportunities for Christian formation and education, so that we can also share more responsibilities in our communities; the need for you to encourage us to live our vocation and responsibility in the economic, political and social field in the contexts in which we live; the wish to live with you in the same spirit that animated the first Christian communities; the need for you to teach us to pray, to pray with us and for us, and help us rediscover and experience the true sense of the liturgy; the desire to conform our life to the newness of the Gospel in reference to the heritage of the Sacred Tradition of the Church; the desire to have occasions for meeting together (conferences, synods, simposia…) to be able to continue the dialogue begun at this Symposium; the need to find in you a spiritual guide who is not only a teacher but a witness who may accompany us to the personal meeting with Christ. We wish to thank God for enabling us to meet each other and entrust to Him our journey together. PUT OUT INTO THE DEEP! (Lk 5:4) Rome, 28 April 2002 The Young Delegates present at the 10th Symposium of European Bishops
