Pope thanks artists for showing ‘path of beauty’ during pandemic

Vatican City, Oct 8, 2018 / 04:01 pm (CNA).-  
The synod of bishops on young people, the faith, and vocational discernment is being held at the Vatican Oct. 3-28.

CNA plans to provide a brief daily summary of the sessions, provided by the synodal fathers from Poland.

Please find below the Polish fathers’ summary of the Oct. 8 session:

A compass for the Instrumentum Laboris, the irreplaceable role of both father and mother in the family, tasks of Catholic schools, and the importance of memory – these are some of the issues raised in language groups during the synod on Monday.

October 8 was entirely devoted to working in language groups.

“We tried to center our attention on the first part of the Instrumentum Laboris. We have found that this text needs a compass, that is, an orientation, that would give meaning to the whole. This compass could be the passage in the Gospel of John about the young man who brings five loaves and two fishes (Jn 6:9–13). The little that he has with him is distributed by Jesus and nourishes many people. This would indicate that every young person has something to offer not only to the Church but also to the world, simply because he or she exists and has gifts to share,” said Archbishop Stanisław Gądecki of Poznań, President of the Polish Bishops’ Conference.

Another topic was the attention to the fact that both the father and the mother are responsible for the family and share the duty of education in the family. “Not mother or father separately, but mother and father together, thus avoiding the phenomenons of paternalism or matriarchy, linked to the different situations on different continents. In the African context, it is the mother who bears the main responsible for the family’s life, whereas in other places in the world the father alone makes the decisions,” noted Archbishop Gądecki.

The third issue that the bishops talked about, and which was missing in the working document, is the ‘memory’, that Pope Francis often speaks about. “You have to give value to the memory. Young people tend to run towards the future, to diminish the value of the present, so they should be taught to appreciate memory,” emphasized Archbishop Gądecki.

The bishops also drew attention to the question of the Catholic schools, emphasizing the common good they create. “Catholic schools do not work for themselves, they are not only for Catholics, but they serve the common good. In this sense, they are worthy of state support, because they fill gaps that the state cannot fill,” said Archbishop Gądecki.

On Tuesday, October 9, the results of the group discussions will be presented in the Synod Aula.

[…]

Vatican City, Oct 17, 2018 / 06:00 pm (CNA).- Smartphone apps and Skype have transformed the way at least one synod bishop conducts his pastoral ministry with young people.

Bishop David Bartimej Tencer of Reykjavík said Wednesday that digital technologies help him to overcome the geographical challenges that come from shepherding a diocese spread over 40,000 square miles in Iceland.

“The church is moving forward thanks to the digital world,” Bishop Tencer said at a Vatican press conference Oct. 17.

Bishops have discussed how the Church can better extend missionary outreach and pastoral care to young people online during the 2018 Synod of Bishops, which is focused on young people, the faith, and vocational discernment.

“‘Digital pastoral care’ —  how the church can be active in the world of social media,” was an important conversation topic in the synod hall Wednesday, according to Paolo Ruffini, head of the Vatican Dicastery for Communications.

This included “being a missionary in the digital world,” he said.

Bishop Tencer, who has used Skype to catechise his diocese, said that in his experience, the “contact was very real with these kids.”

The Reykjavík bishop also said that the young people responded positively to his Android app Bible challenges.

“I said, ‘You know, guys, next week, you all have to download using your Android phone or whatever,” continued Bishop Tencer, “and they all downloaded it.”

“Then I asked the kids, ‘Find in the Bible where God is whistling to the bees,” the bishop went on. “My kids found this, no problem.”

Bishop Tencer said he was surprised to find that conversations surrounding technology in the synod hall have been very positive, despite the fact that the average age of the synod fathers is above 60.

The internet is “a neutral medium,” Tencer concluded.

Prior to the 2018 synod, youth around the globe submitted 150,000 online surveys answering questions regarding morality, faith and life. These responses were analyzed by an Italian university using an algorithm.

The discussion of technology in the youth synod’s Instrumentum Laboris included both enthusiasm for technology’s potential, as well as caution for its unintended consequences.

“Technology can be detrimental to human dignity if not used with conscience and caution and if human dignity is not at the center of its usage,” the document says, making particular reference to the fields of bioethics and artificial intelligence.

The pre-synod document also warns against the “isolation, laziness, desolation and boredom” that can come from young people’s obsessive consumption of media, in addition to the long-term risks of a “loss of creativity” and concentration.

“While technology has, for some, augmented our relationships, for many others it has taken the form of an addiction, becoming a replacement for human relationship and even God.”

[…]

Pope Francis gave a special message to Chinese Catholics at the end of his Mass in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia on Sept. 3, 2023. / Vatican Media

Aboard the papal plane, Sep 4, 2023 / 09:00 am (CNA).
Pope Francis revealed the existence of a joint Chin… […]