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.”
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I think that, instead of singing hymns, we would have more success getting the congregation to participate if we brought soccer balls to Mass and kicked them up and down the aisles. And the parishes wouldn’t need to pay for a pipe organ and its maintenance, or any other keyboard or instrument, or a cantor or a music minister!
Sadly, I’m actually serious about this.
I am a pianist/organist who has played all my life since childhood in Protestant churches and in several Catholic parishes in my hometown. When I moved to a new Big City after my husband passed away, I assumed that these “City Folks” would be great singers and musicians, but they’re aren’t, and neither are the suburb or rural folks.
I don’t think anyone sings anymore except when they sing along with their popular music.
I think getting Catholics in the congregation to “sing out!” is like trying to train cats! (I love cats and have a cat of my own.) Protestants at least try to warble along with their Praise and Worship team, but many of them don’t sing, either.
And even the large Catholic churches have tiny choirs (and very few men!) compared to the numbers of people sitting in the pews! Shouldn’t a parish that has several thousand members have at least a hundred people singing the choir!
Catholic friends tell me, “I sing!” But do they, really? I LOVE TO SING, and often, people, especially the children, in my parish turn around to stare at me when I am singing in a full voice, on pitch, and often singing the alto part (which isn’t written in our “missalette” hymns–grrr!!!! None of the parts are written out. Apparently, the hymnals, with four-part music scores, are too expensive and I’ve also heard that they’re “too heavy”. Sigh.
Once (just once), I heard a gentleman behind me singing the melody in a beautiful baritone voice, and after Mass, I told him he was a good singer. He sighed and told me, “This parish used to have a schola that all us schoolboys were part of, and we sang Gregorian chant and Latin, as well as the hymns in parts, and we loved singing. But now…” and he sighed again.
I wasn’t surprised. Once in my home parish, when my husband was still alive, and our daughters were home from college, all four of us sang the Mass hymns, and we sang all the parts (for those Catholics who don’t know what “parts” are–soprano, alto, tenor, bass)–and all the people in front of us turned around and stared at us!
Sadly, my current 150-year-old church nave has absolutely perfect acoustics. What a shame that the congregation doesn’t sing! It especially grieves me when I see the children just standing there. Their parents don’t even open the missalette to read the words of the hymn and show them to their children but just seem to be waiting until the hymn is over and they can sit down again.
When my daughters were growing up, I used to have them stand on the pews, and I would hold the hymnals open for them when they were too small to hold them and sing to THEM (as well as to God!) during the hymns so that they would learn the melody and the words. Since I was one of the pianists, I would have the schedule of hymns in advance and would often teach them to my daughters at home so they would know them on Sunday.
Both of my daughters were good singers because I TAUGHT them to sing and taught them the hymns, beginning with singing to them when they were babies, teaching them fun children’s songs when they were toddlers, keeping them away from pop and country music until they were older, and teaching them other music skills as they grew up. One of my daughters makes her living as a stage manager–she got her first job as stage manager of a professional ballet company because she knew how to read music! My other daughter is in a medical career, but she cantors at her large parish, and still plays piano, violin, and guitar just to relax!
My grandson, who will turn 4 soon, has already “written” 2 songs (ha ha!) and he often sings in a very loud monotone, but he’s getting there! He definitely loves music!
Amazing how many adults don’t know how to read music these days! And it’s even more amazing that kids can play soccer, but can’t read music, sing in a head voice, or have never sung in a choir because THEIR PARISH SCHOOL DOESN’T OFFER MUSIC!!!, and if they did, the children would choose a sports elective instead of a music elective.
No WONDER Hollywood and much of the professional entertainment world is so atheistic these days! (There are notable exceptions.)
I really hope that this music ignorance and avoidance will change in Catholic parishes as more Protestants convert to Catholicism (like my family did). It’s a shame that we have to drive into the city to the Basilica to hear good music–but even then, the congregation doesn’t sing. I don’t think they know how to sing. I don’t think many Catholics know how to sing. It’s really sad, considering that Paul and Silas sang hymns when they were imprisoned in chains, and that as the Early Church martyrs were marched into the arena, they sang hymns. I guess we’ll kick that soccer ball around on our way to the lions.
Latin Mass scholas are still in operation . I used to sing in one and we have an all male schola at our local Latin Mass down the road.
You’re blessed!
We are blessed here indeed Mrs. Sharon.
If our TLM community can leave the conspiracy narratives alone and just focus on Our Lord and the Mass we’ll be great shape. I love the music but had to take a break from some of the craziness.
People who feel demeaned and disregarded by the shepherds can start listening to some weird stuff. Hopefully our new pope will make the TLM more widely available and things will get back to normal.
When you force people to worship in bunkers is it any wonder when they adopt a bunker mentality?
🙂
I am guessing the younger generations are generally not trained in music well. (Schools in our area have cut those programs so administrators can be hired and the IT departments can be upgraded). I know I am not well trained. As a child, I was partially hard of hearing due to allergies. I remember being given a pitch test in elementary school. I did not receive a good score, and consequently was not invited into (or allowed into) the elementary’s school music program, which meant I didn’t take band or orchestra in Junior high or high school.
I can read standard music notation in both treble, clef, and alto clef (due to private piano and guitar instruction), but if you asked me to sing without the actual notes being played, I could not do that.
A month ago I strained my vocal chords and soft palate trying to do a Good Friday chant with the parish. Our parish is most elderly, and the voices are not strong. A gentleman in the parish reminds of this every now and then. He, of course, is well trained musically with a very good voice.
I agree with you that many students bypass music electives in schools (both public and parochial schools, and also home schools), often so that they can concentrate on the much-touted STEM courses and their guarantee of a high-paying job, and of course, on sports (with the hope of their parents that their child will earn a college scholarship if they are good in their sport(s).
It’s a shame that “money” is the motivation behind interest in STEM subjects.
Home-schooled students generally are either placed in music lessons or local choirs by parents, or the parents teach the music, which can work well if the parent is musical, but badly if the parent has no idea what they are doing. Many homeschool co-ops hire a music teacher, but even in home schools, if there are “electives,” many of the children select either STEM classes or Physical Education classes, not music.
I can understand the lack of requirement for music education in high school, but there is absolutely no excuse, IMO, especially in Catholic and other Christian schools (Protestant) for not having music (and other arts) taught in elementary school from Kindergarten through at least the 5th grade, and ideally, into Middle School as the boys (and girls, too, to a lesser extent) experience puberty and the “change” in their voices.
What we are seeing in churches, IMO, is the result of no music education, or inadequate music education. E.g., in several of the schools in my former city, the schoolchildren were learning to sing “Hip Hop” music and rap music, and bypassing the traditional music education that teaches them how to read a music score and how to sing in parts (usually only 2 parts in 5th through 8th grades in part because most of the boys have unchanged voices or are beginning to experience the awkwardness of voice change).
Thankfully, there are areas of the U.S. that still value music education and offer various music opportunities in the community. E.g., in my hometown, there is a Music Academy where many children and teens (especially those who are home-schooled) learn to sing and also play various musical instruments. Also, there are local community choirs that children and/or teens can join. The problem with these is that they generally cost a lot of money, which means that many children and teens do not have the financial resources to access these sources of music education. There are scholarships available, but these are not abundant, and are generally awarded to promising students, not just children and teens who want to sing in a choir. Sometimes churches offer children’s and teen choirs–African American churches generally do this with great success, and speaking of that, has anyone noticed how many talented musical superstars are African American in the U.S.–and most of them will tell fans that they got their musical start in CHURCH!?
We are short-changing our children and teens by not offering children’s and teens choirs in our parishes–thank goodness, some parishes still give children and teens the opportunity to sing in a choir at the Masses, but many don’t. I am not a certified music teacher, but I’ve had a lot of experience with children and music and have also written children’s songs (not published). I’m also a very good accompanist (piano). There are a lot of people in churches and parishes who are capable of leading a children’s or even teen choir, even if the singers just sing in unison.
My personal opinion is that without children’s and teen choirs, we will continue to see Mass music decline in quality and participation. Some people mistakenly blame the “banal” or “heretical” songs in the missalettes, and although I agree that we need to take a serious look at our missalettes and eliminate quite a few of the hymns that have questionable words or awkward tunes (with large intervals which are difficult to sin), but the silence that occurs in the congregation during the Mass hymns has more to do with lack of ability to read a musical line and sing on pitch in a head voice (not an octave below the score that makes the singing “growly”!)–skills that most children and teens (and adults, too!) are generally capable of doing with a little instruction. Of course, although I hate to suggest it, but I also think many adults believe that the Mass music just slows the Mass down and prevents them from enjoying their Sunday off work, hence their willingness to attend a Mass that has no music at all.
Shame on us for neglecting the praise of our God in our singing and playing of musical instruments during Mass! Psalm 150–maybe it should become a “Project” for Catholic parishes in the U.S.A!
I’ve sung in choirs all my life and have never sung the Regina Coeli.
You can bet I’ve looked it up now!
Singing the Regina Caeli is like experiencing a bit of Heaven. The tone, the Latin, and knowing it’s honoring the Queen of Heaven adds that special ‘umph’ to it. Plus, the Regina Caeli takes the place of the Angelus during the Easter Season.
The Regina Coeli (Caeli?) takes the place of the Angelus during the Easter season? Didn’t know that either.
Still so much to learn, so little time!