Vatican City, Mar 20, 2018 / 04:00 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Young people from around the world have begun a meeting at the Vatican by voicing their hopes and expectations from the Church regarding the challenges they face and the questions life poses.
Specifically, they have said they want to know they are taken seriously, and they want the Church to talk to them about difficult issues, among them same-sex marriage, euthanasia and the role of women in the Church.
The young people are delegates to a special pre-synod meeting of youth, which is taking place March 19-24 and has drawn some 300 representatives from around the world to talk about key themes ahead October’s Synod of Bishops on “Young People, Faith and the Discernment of Vocation.”
CNA spoke with several young participants at the pre-synod meeting, hailing from Japan, Australia, Mexico, Iraq and the United States.
They spoke about issues important in their countries of origin, including persecution, the refugee crisis, suicide and drugs.
Australia
For 22-year-old Angelas Markas, a Chaldean Catholic living in Australia, youth need to “move forward, we need to be brave in addressing topics like same-sex marriage, euthanasia, sexuality – what does it mean to embrace our sexuality as Catholics, and the role of women – how important are we, how empowered are we?”
Markas was one of five young people to give testimonies in front of Pope Francis during the March 19 opening session.
In her speech, she highlighted, among other things, her life as part of the Iraqi Chaldean diaspora, her work with indigenous communities in Australia, and her hope that the Church would engage with young people on important issues, especially the role of women, who she said “need to feel our sense of empowerment.”
In comments to CNA, Markas said these are all the topics she wants to discuss during the event, and voiced hope that the stories and experiences she shares “will be embraced.”
On the role of women, Markas said she believes they are already “embraced and empowered” in the Church, but thinks this sense of empowerment should be “more obvious.”
She also spoke of the tragedy of clerical abuse — which has plagued Australia for years and tarnished public perception of the Church — saying that while it is a problem, she trusts the Church “is going to find her path in this.”
“We are a Church of hope, if we aren’t a Church of hope, how are we really going to grow from this?” she said. “We are the witnesses of the Resurrection, so we have to have hope that this will all heal and we have to work toward it.”
Markas also voiced appreciation for Pope Francis’ appeals on behalf of migrants and refugees, which hold special significance for her because of her own heritage. The Pope, she said, “is so great in that he always addresses the littleness, the smallness of the youth from wherever we come from.”
“He’s doing such a brilliant job,” she said. Recalling a brief handshake with Francis after giving her speech, Markas said she was still in disbelief: “I can’t believe I shook his hand and kissed his cheeks, I’m not going to wash my face! It was brilliant.”
Francis has a dynamic way of engaging the youth, she said, noting that many young people still crave connection with the Church, especially those who lack hope or who have experienced suffering or loss.
She challenged the Church to listen and engage more with young people, calling for a “transformation” of approach. This isn’t something that will happen immediately, she said, “but we are meeting this culture that desires to be connected and we need to address it in a more universal and listening way.”
The pre-synod gathering, she said, “is the perfect example” of how this connection and listening can take place. “It’s a real change, it’s not something that is delusional or a fantasy. Young people want to feel a sense of value and purpose, they want to hear and understand and be able to understand.”
Iraq
Shaker Youhanan Zaytouna, a 24-year-old seminarian from Iraq, told journalists March 20 that one of the biggest challenges the local Church faces is that many young people are leaving the country, opting to move abroad due to the threat of extremist violence and the country’s ongoing political instability.
This presents a unique challenge for the future of the country, he said, explaining that “it’s very hard to tell the Church to not allow youth to leave Iraq.” Security is a big problem, he said, because one can ask the youth to stay, but there’s no guarantee that they won’t be killed later.
A Chaldean Catholic studying in Rome, Zaytouna said the Church has a big role to play in encouraging youth to stay in Iraq and helping provide the conditions for them to stay. However, “the problem is that the government needs to initiate this step.”
Iraqi youth are being welcomed into other countries, but many want to return, he said. “[And] if the government isn’t helping the heart, if they aren’t providing that security, how can these youth return?” he said, adding that finding work is also a problem for many young families.
The seminarian also voiced concern over the fact that many young people, from various religions, are becoming either atheist or agnostic, calling it “a [big] a problem” for the future that will have to be addressed.
He also touched on the topic of vocations, saying the Church “must commit herself more to listening…and not only, but to learn to accompany.”
Noting that he is still a young seminarian himself, Zaytouna said better accompaniment is needed, because “if the bishop doesn’t accompany us, if the priests don’t accompany us, or someone else, how can I stay on this path?”
At times parents try to prevent children from pursuing consecrated vocations, he said, noting there are cultural pressures that make it difficult to accept or follow such callings. However, he said there have also been times when formators pressure someone discerning, telling them they are not cut out for religious life.
Those discerning need to be encouraged and accompanied, Zaytouna said, explaining that “listening comes first; learn to listen, accompaniment comes and then the discernment.”
Japan
Also participating in the pre-synod meeting is Yoshikazu Tsumuraya, a Japanese Buddhist from Fukushima who currently lives in Rome and works with the Japanese Buddhist Lay Movement. Before coming to Rome, he taught in a Buddhist seminary.
In comments to CNA, Tsumuraya said his organization has strong ties with the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, and was invited to participate in the meeting as a representative of the Buddhist community.
“When I received this invitation, I was really happy, because having a knowledge of Christianity, it pushed me to get to know Christian youth,” Tsumuraya said, explaining that he has worked with a lot of Christians and is very committed to interreligious dialogue.
Tsumuraya said he came primarily to listen and understand the different realities of youth from around the world.
In the case of Japan, he said the major challenges for youth are a widespread competitive and consumerist mentality, as well as the immense cultural pressure to be successful. And if youth don’t give into this way of thinking, they might feel estranged from their peers or that they don’t fit in, Tsumuraya said.
In cases when this happens, young people react in a variety of ways, he said, explaining that one big problem is that youth who feel that they don’t quite fit in “are no longer able to go to school,” due to the stigma they face, “so they stay home closed in their rooms.”
Other major problems for Japanese youth are premature death due to “excessive work,” he said, as well as suicide, which is a common phenomenon among teenagers in the country.
Tsumuraya voiced appreciation for Pope Francis’ frequent references to the problem of teen and young adult suicide, which “is not just a Japanese problem, but it’s a global problem.”
“So thinking about this phenomena which affects the whole world, we must face it, above all in knowing the reality, then to think about how to accompany youth to avoid this terrible [phenomena],” he said.
The Americas
Nicholas Lopez, a 27-year-old campus minister from Dallas, Texas, is also participating in the meeting as one of three representatives from the United States.
Lopez gave his testimony during the opening session, pointing to various challenges young people have faced during his experience working with youth on campus.
In comments to CNA, Lopez said the major topics he wants to bring to the table during the pre-synod meeting are “the concerns of the Hispanic Americans in the United States, and the solidarity between us and them.”
The topic is particularly timely in the U.S. as concerns continue to mount over President Donald Trump’s strict immigration policies. Many, including a high number of college students whose parents are immigrants, have voiced fear about deportation.
In addition to issues affecting the Hispanic community, Lopez said he also plans to discuss mental health issues, the higher education system in the United States and “the way young people are impacted on college campuses.”
Also participating in the meeting is 25-year-old Corina Fiore Mortola Rodriguez of Mexico. She came with a large group of other youth from Latin America, which is one of the youngest and most Catholic continents in the world.
In comments to CNA, Mortola Rodriguez said the message she wants the Church to hear this week is that young people like herself are “valid interlocutors,” and they need to be listened to and helped to go deeper in finding solutions to the problems they face, such as drugs, violence, poverty and unemployment.
Pointing to Pope Francis’ visit to Mexico in 2016, she said his encouragement to youth and his appeals to avoid hopelessness and the allure of gangs was “a call not of tension, but to action.”
Her reflection echoed the Pope’s March 19 opening speech, in which he told youth they need to approach problems with a “head, heart, hands” mentality. The call to “think, feel and act,” Mortola Rodriguez said, is also a call to be “unified” and to make concrete resolutions in confronting the problems they face.
As an example, Mortola Rodriguez said she helps lead a theater workshop for incarcerated youth in Mexico, which has helped them to “heal the wounds that have caused through the crime they committed.”
“[Through us] they can heal this pain that they have in order to be able to return to society and find a new form of work,” because healing is essential for a person’s reintegration into society, she said.
Speaking of the contribution of the Latin American Church, Mortola Rodriguez said one thing she hopes her continent can offer the universal Church is “joy,” because Latin Americans are “ known for our joy.”
“I think youth should be more joyful,” she said, and noted how there are many young people who reflect what Pope Francis says when he talks about youth who seem old because they have lost their joy and happiness.
Another topic Mortola Rodriguez said she wants to discuss is vocation, because many people think of their vocations as only the choice of a state of life.
“But no. The vocation is a call, a call today, to the present, to be active, to be happy and to do concrete actions that benefit my society,” she said, and voiced her desire to fight against social evils such as human trafficking, and to fight to “stop the things that harm us.”
[…]
Pope Francis wants to canonize Martini who was -is- a Modernist.
After a decade of verbal and emotional abuse spewing garbage like the heretical innovations of the late Cardinal Martini, I bet most of the Curia subjected to this humorless hammering went straight out afterward to get a martini.
Alas, about being “rigid,” PROGRESSIVISM IS THE DEEPEST RUT OF ALL.
About which, Ratzinger offered this about the ideological theologians:
“Monocracy, the sole rule of one person, is always dangerous. Even when the person in question acts out of great ethical responsibility, he can stray into unilateral positions and become RIGID [!] [….] Theology is interpretation […]When it no longer interprets but, so to speak, lays hands on the substance of the faith and alters it [!] by inventing a new text for itself [!], it ceases to be theology” (The Nature and Mission of Theology, Ignatius, 1995).
What we have with the blessing of gay couples (rather than individual persons) is nothing less than a GALILEO MOMENT! How different history might have been (!), and now again seems doomed to become in the future!
Consider this remark from a still-inquisitive astronomer of Galileo’s day, Fr. Grienberger, SJ:
“If Galileo had only known how to retain the favor of the Jesuits [!], he would have stood in renown before the world, he would have been spared all his misfortunes, and he could have written what he pleased about everything, even about the motion of the earth” (in Giorgio de Santillana, “The Crime of Galileo,” [1955], “The Problem of the False Injunction”; p. 290 with footnote: a confidential admission documented in one of Galileo’s letters).
So much for today’s hybrid “Jesuit spirituality.”) How simple, instead, to just bless persons as individuals rather than now as couplings.
But, good company…Galileo “walking together” WITH Strickland, Burke, Muller, the bishops of Malawi, Zambia and Kazakhstan, and others who are at least cautious as in the United States, and the peasant laity just as in the troubled days following Nicaea, when some 80 percent of the bishops woke to find themselves Arians.
This poor man is a fount of confusion. I don’t think Bergoglio knows the definition of ideology or the reality of sin. There is no “forward” – there is only Christ crucified and resurrected and he will return again on day.
Bilbo setting out on the road that goes ever on. At the Gilded Hall of Blessings His Holiness appears an effigy. “Let us remain vigilant against rigid ideological positions that often, under the guise of good intentions, separate us from reality and prevent us from moving forward. We are called instead to set out and journey following the light that always desires to lead us on, at times along unexplored paths and new roads”. Heartened by Tucho the Wizard. The game is up. A surprise only that it occurs so soon. No more hedging or double talk now. Saruman [played by the late Card Carlo Maria Martini of St Gallen fame wizardry] will suffer no laggards.
Humor if only to lighten the tragedy of what may be the beginning of the end at a time when we celebrate the end and the beginning, “the end of this year of grace and the beginning of the next, setting us once again on the path that will make present Christ in all of the mysteries of His Redemption” (Sisters of Carmel). Ye faint-hearted, take courage and fear not. Behold, our God will come and save us (Communion verse, 3rd Sunday of Advent).
All rigidities are equal, but some rigidities are more equal than others.
Judging from a long career of watching gamesmanship among secular politicians, part of me senses that for this name-calling ecclesial game (with love eclipsing truth), the wheels are starting to come off. Maybe overreach from Fernandez is an ironic gift from the chaotic workings of the real Holy Spirit.
I’ve concluded he’s rigidly committed to two things. Achieving recognition in the Guinness Book of Records for the number of times in a row he can create aphorisms for “moving forward”, wherever the magical land of forward happens to be, while continuously insulting those who do not “move forward”, and his second commitment is to continue as a low-faith, if any, narcissistic ideologue while calling faithful non-ideological Catholics faithless narcissistic ideologues without any awareness of irony and never be called out for it to his face. Actually, there is evidence in this latest disaster, in paragraph 25, that he considers God to be a narcissistic ideologue as well, given that Catholics believe, that is, as Catholics know, the moral order comes from our creator and is not a contrivance of narcissistic and authoritarian elitism as this document insists.
The Bergoglian Papacy will go down in history as known, not for its love of Christ and the salvation of souls, but for its Weaponized Ambiguity. For this, Christ Himself told us, He will spit them out of His mouth.
As far as I’m concerned, Bergoglio has forfeited any and all moral authority to exercise the Petrine ministry
Frankly, I’m getting tired of Pope Francis’ rigidity.
Accurate Roman Catholic theology is the product of prayerful reflection upon Sacred Scripture, the Apostolic Tradition and the perennial Magisterium. It is nothing less than a support for freedom for the individual and entirely liberating.
Fiducia Supplicans is a clear exhibition of rigidity. Its citations are primarily Bergoglian — 65% of the 31 provided in the document. Divine Revelation ceased with the death of St. John the Evangelist. There are no biblical references provided. From whence does this new teaching emerge?
Rigid ideological perspective is the product of a mind unconformed to the Truth.
The poetic dissonance employed as a defense of this document and its erroneous content is simply disturbing.
We read here the Pope’s attempt to establish a defense for Fiducia Supplicans: “The real, central difference [between “progressives” and conservatives] is between lovers and those who have lost that initial passion. That is the difference. Only those who love can fare forward….” emerges from the Chair of St. Peter?
We reason as Catholics, not as adolescents.
Franklin Graham provided a rebuke today to the Vatican. It is a moment in the history of Catholicism that will not soon be forgotten.
With this document Pope Francis undermines not only Divine Revelation and moral theology, but the entire spectrum of Roman Catholic reasoning. Is this what he intends? Whether or not, it he and his righthand man have accomplished it – at least in the short term.
James, Yes, but try as he may, no way does Francis undermine “Divine Revelation and the entire spectrum of Roman Catholic reasoning.”
Francis has ATTEMPTED to undermine Roman Catholic reasoning and Divine Revelation. Francis’ actions in fact demonstrate only that has has major deficits of intellect, faith and reason. He has acted unjustly toward Christ and toward those who love Christ. Francis’ actions manifest a great, progressively increasing rigidity and inability to Love the Savior.
Meanwhile, the Savior/Judge awaits Francis. As pope, Francis has openly, brazenly, yet inconspicuously(?) revealed himself as small-minded, uncharitable, unjust. Francis has, progressively and with great rigidity, failed in the job The Word Made Flesh graciously allows him to hold for a few more days, weeks, months or years [God forbid.]: “Feed my sheep, feed my lambs. Strengthen thy brothers.”
Pope Francis warned the Roman Curia on Thursday that “rigid ideological positions” can be an obstacle to “moving forward.”
True, Francis, but morally bankrupt progressive ideologies do that also, in case you weren’t clear about that.
Right on, dear ‘Athanasius’.
The present incumbent of The Chair of St Peter has * directional confusion! *
His ministry is to help Catholics: “Move upwards!”, to be more spiritual & less worldly; not to “Move forward” with the world, in defiance of The Holy Spirit.
Rigid ideological positions
Rigid ideological positions
Rigid ideological positions
Rigid ideological positions
Rigid ideological positions
….Ten years later…
Rigid ideological positions
After a decade, I am starting to think that the Pope wants us to not have
Rigid ideological positions
Umm…
Pope Clichémeister is creatively uncreative.
Taking one step forward and two steps backward cannot be our way of proceeding. Rigidity in thought, word, and action prevents ongoingness and togetherness. Life is a dynamic movement forward.
What gobbledygook!
Since I can’t ask Francis, I’ll ask you. Where is the magical land of forward? Does forwardist thinking mean doing more things that used to be thought of as evil, as per God’s endowed truth, will now become good? I know Francis believes morality can change. Do You as well? Does
God need to shape up, change His mind, and follow along? This is something else Francis believes, do you as well? Could Hitler and Stalin, or perhaps Charles Manson have been right after all? Will being a murderer or a rapist become a new form of prophesy in some distant future after some “rethinking” about morality? Tell us. Backwardists need to know. Have mercy on poor backwardists who believe such things that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
“Life is a dynamic movement forward.” Quo vadis?
“Life is like stepping onto a boat which is about to sail out to sea and sink.” – Shunryu Suzuki
This pontificate has long since sailed out and sunk.
Rather than a dichotomy between conservatives and progressives, he seems to be setting up a dichotomy between those whose reason is ruled by their passion, and those whose passion is ruled by their reason.
Vacuous poetics worthy only of the Bergoglian school.
Bergoglio’s refusal to perceive his own “rigid ideology” is a terrifying sign of spiritual blindness.
https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/pope-francis-same-sex-couples-catholic/2023/12/20/id/1146680/
“Pope Francis’ Christmas gift to the church was finally confirming that he is a heretic and quite likely an antipope,” wrote X user Nathaniel Eliason, whose bio describes him as Catholic. “He must be opposed completely now, and any bishop who doesn’t is complicit.”
Does rigid ideological positions include Peronism? Just asking!
More gobbledygook mumbo-jumbo socialist
leftist nonsense from the not-the pope…
This is SO typical – he comes up with crazy ideas like blessing same-sex couples and when people object, he immediately characterizes them as having “rigid ideological positions” or some such nonsensical accusation, thereby putting those who disagree with him – and there are MANY of us – in a bad light.
Plus ca change, plus la meme.
After the sex abuse crisis in which the John Jay study reported that 80% of the reported abuse cases were homosexual acts between priests and post-pubescent boys (ephebophilia), we now have come to this, blessing for gays. Jesus came to find and gather the lost sheep of Israel. Francis is hell-bent on perniciously dividing and scattering his flock. I’ll keep my eyes on Jesus, rigidly so.
I have completely had it with Pope Francis.
All popes are infallible…..until they aren’t.
Said Brother Brian, infallibly…
The inattentive reader will miss the clever evasiveness of the recent Declaration—sidestepping the rigorous infallibility requirements, and much like the faithy sola Scriptura Martin Luther who edited the Letter of James to omit the word “works,” and this only after he relented to include James in his version of Scripture.
About the narrow requirements, the Catholic convert (!) John Newman shined a more damning light that Brother Brian when he (Newman) looked further back than very recent history:
“What have excommunication and interdict to do with infallibility? Was St. Peter infallible on that occasion at Antioch when St. Paul withstood him? Was St. Victor infallible when he separated from his communion the Asiatic Churches? Or Liberius when in like manner he excommunicated Athanasius? And, to come to later times, was Gregory XIII, when he had a medal struck in honour of the Bartholomew massacre? Or Paul IV in his conduct towards Elizabeth? Or Sixtus V when he blessed the Armada? Or Urban VIII when he persecuted Galileo? No Catholic ever pretends that these Popes were infallible in these acts” (from a Letter to the Duke of Norfolk [1876], in Vincent Blehl (ed.), The Essential Newman [New York: Mentor Omega, 1963]. 269).
But, thank you brother Brian for yet another predictable tutorial.
But also worthy of pause…It’s almost as if Luther’s false dualism between faith and works is being aped today in the false dualism between love and truth (or “backwardists”). Makes me wonder about Hinduism and whether James Martin is the reincarnation of namesake Martin Luther?
You have no idea what you are talking about. Get a brain.
Olson’s sieve must have developed a tear or gone missing. How else would you have gotten in??
Fundamentalist Brian chiming in again, directing his Oedipal rage at the pope. Nothing new here folks 🙄
“The real, central difference is between lovers and those who have lost that initial passion. That is the difference. Only those who love can fare forward.”
Pace this man’s warped understanding of love, the difference is between those who live by the truth and those who live by lies.
Right? Caritas in Veritate wasn’t that long ago. Only those who believe the truth know which way forward is.
Few among the faithful pay him much mind anymore, except to roll their eyes and wave him off in disgust. When will the cardinals, who have pledged to defend the faith with their own blood, have the spine to rise up? No, they all sit there panting like a bunch of lapdogs waiting to be petted. They won’t even risk their careers, let alone their blood and lives for the faith. All decked out in red, these cowards should be draped in yellow.
Brilliantly put, jpfhays!
Moving forward is a relative term. Forward toward where? The language does not reflect Biblical language or teaching. Christ’s messages are clear – He doesn’t speak vaguely. “Moving forward” is something one puts on a bumper sticker in election year.
With humility, dare one say that the Pope is so rigid to as not being able acknowledge his own rigidity? There should be a concentration on what allows the flourishing of Christ’s love amidst humanity. Tall order, I know. Sin gets in the way. Good old selfish and arrogant sin.
Roughly 130 years from Galileo’s death to the suppression of the Jesuits. Perhaps it was better for him the way it actually went, he stayed to the Will of God.
If I worked in the Curia I’d avoid the annual papal Christmas meeting with Francis like the plague. I’d even schedule a root canal without anesthesia to avoid his annual gripe session with the people he’s chosen who are supposed to be his collaborators. This “rigidity” shtick got old fast long ago: the only “rigid” person around Rome seems to be Francis and his syncophants who demand the rigidity of Gumby (exc. when it comes to their “pastoral developments”).