The current youth apostolate of the Czech Republic needs to be seen in the light of the more recent decades in the country’s history, characterized by a Communist regime that “tried systematically to educate in atheism”, even though “the spirit of the young instinctively resisted this pressure”. After the “fall of the wall” (1989), the Church “reacted promptly” in the sphere of the youth apostolate, launching various experiments such as the diocesan youth centres, given the task of coordinating youth activities. Numerous “Centres of youth life” were also opened; these are homes characterized by the presence of a group of young people with a priest. The dioceses cooperate closely together through frequent contacts and bimonthly meetings. Apart from its appreciation for the WYD, the Czech Episcopal Conference emphasizes the positive role played by the movements and the new communities which contribute to diffusing the values of the Gospel. Now the greatest challenge is posed not by Marxist atheism, in the process of dissolving, but by the indifferentism typical of Europe and North America which – stresses the Czech Episcopal Conference – “does not deny God but acts and lives as if He did not exist”. Traditional Christianity may not be sufficient to transmit to the young an adequate notion of what may be meant by the Christian life. All the environments (family, parish, world of work, etc.) are therefore called to respond to the need for a proclamation of the Gospel that must adopt new approaches: among them, a “systematic long-term programme for the education of youth in the various environments, their involvement in the formative environments in such a way as to turn them into active witnesses, and the understanding of the new youth “languages”. One approach that the Episcopal Conference particularly emphasizes is that of forming young people to become “witnesses” to their contemporaries, basing themselves on living and welcoming formative communities. Without ignoring pilot and frontier experiments such as “street evangelization” or the “care for young people at risk”, the major commitment must therefore consist in promoting vital communities capable of attracting the young at the basic level where people live and where the young themselves may truly feel at home.
