28 April" "
Getting youngsters uninvolved in the Church and in the various religious confessions to paint graffiti or murales that represent episodes in the life of Jesus: that’s the project “Kreuzweg Graffiti” now being conducted in Germany jointly by the AFJ (Arbeitstelle für Jugend – Catholic office for youth) – the agency based in Düsseldorf that deals with problems of youth on behalf of the German Episcopal Conference – and by the Arbeitsgemeinschaft der evangelischen Jugend in Hanover – the similar institution run by the Council of the Evangelic Churches in Germany. The project, which is aimed at involving youngsters who have dropped out of the Church, was presented by Michael Kühn, AFJ director, at the plenary session of the 10th Symposium of the European bishops which ended in Rome on 28 April. At the present time no less than 120 youth groups are involved in the project. It is being developed in four phases: introducing and explaining the theme; accompanying the teenagers in the course of the experience; overseeing its expression; and the realization of the experience itself. “The secret of life according to Michael Kühn is finding a response to the needs of the faith. The gap that exists between faith and life needs to be closed; and a bridge built to the world of the young”. The choice of graffiti as a means of artistic expression, explains Kühn, derives from the fact that they “still represent a sign of life for the young who have few if any contacts with the Church. It’s also a way of drawing their attention and a form of modern expression they can identify with”. “The result is that the young succeed in expressing the reality of their existence and at the same time proclaiming their faith”. “Expressions of shared experiences are its result”: for example, “when the young were asked represents moments of the Passion they represented the face of Jesus with the face of a coloured man”; “they intuitively grasped Jesus and expressed him in their own way”.
