27 April" "
“The young are the sign of the eternal youthfulness of the Church. They represent its renewal and its drive”. So said the archbishop of Kisangani (Congo), Msgr. Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya, in his address to the 10th Symposium of European bishops in Rome. “The young and the Church march forward together said the archbishop, who is also president of SECAM . In Africa our Church is in some sense the image of the young. Even though devoid of long traditions, youth and Church turn their youthfulness to account by walking together and distinguishing themselves by creativity and inventiveness under the action of the Holy Spirit”. In Pasinya’s view, two main ideas should characterize the dialogue between Church and youth: first, the idea of the “Church as the family of God that takes care of her children; and second, that of the ‘Lectio divina’ of the signs of the time, which the whole community must undertake in all its pastoral dimension”. So “a laboratory of faith for the young and with the young” is possible if it is based on a “reflection of faith and on a reading of the signs of the times contained in the events of their life, seeking to discern their profound significance in the biblical revelation”. “Only in this way concluded the archbishop can hope be given to the young generations, like those in Africa, whose lives have been blighted and whose future is uncertain”.
