A country strongly rooted in religious faith but one in which young people “tend to live their own faith outside the Church”. Moreover, “ever stronger criticism is being mounted” against the ecclesial institutions, “due to a certain ‘bureaucratization’ of the Church and its ever closer ‘resemblance’ with other institutions of society”. This is the picture that emerges from some socio-religious surveys recently conducted in Croatia, in particular on the world of youth. Young people in Croatia nonetheless express their faith in the Church, thanks especially to her active involvement in society, especially in the social field. But what the young await from the Church is the witness of an authentic faith. Their criticism of her becomes more audible when they speak of the lack of coherence between what the Church preaches and what she does, of a moral teaching unsuited to contemporary man, of boring and outmoded liturgical rites, of hypocrisy and the enrichment of some churchmen. For this reason the catechetical journey proposed to the young has as its aim the integration of faith with life. This takes place through formative moments such as the liturgical life and prayer; spiritual guidance; charitable and social commitment; the spiritual richness of popular devotion, which needs to be rediscovered and not allowed to relapse into mere folklore. The most suitable places for the realization of the religious journey of the young are the family, the parish community, the oratory, the associations, the spiritual movements, the various groups of volunteer service. Work with the young must therefore become more a form of diakonia; it must offer them solidarity and “personal service”. The Church must keep watch over young people as they grow up. It must respect the first pedagogical rule: that of meeting them where they are currently to be found and walking at their side. The Church’s mission to the young does not mean the recruitment of “young Christian militants” but the motivation and formation of young people to direct their own lives towards Christ.
