Relazioni dei Circoli minori sulla prima parte dell’“Instrumentum laboris”

Questa mattina, nel corso della 5 a Congregazione generale della XV Assemblea Generale Ordinaria del Sinodo dei Vescovi sui giovani, sono state presentate in Aula le Relazioni dei 14 Circoli minori che nei giorni scorsi si sono riuniti per riflettere sulla prima parte dell’Instrumentum Laboris, alla luce dei contributi emersi nel corso del dibattito svolto nelle precedenti Congregazioni generali. Pubblichiamo di seguito i testi delle Relazioni dei 14 Circoli minori:

Relatio – Circulus Anglicus A

In beginning our work, our Group reflected on the mood and tone of Part One especially in light of Paragraph 3. This Paragraph explains that “in this first step, we should focus on grasping concrete realities: social sciences provide an essential contribution . Relationship is clearly the key to encounter utenlandske kvinner for ГҐ gifte seg med amerikanske menn with youth. We have offered a “modus” to Paragraph 3 which suggests deepening the process of “recognizing; Interpreting; choosing” to include, as Evangelium Gaudium puts it: “not only recognizing and discerning spirits, but also – and this is decisive – choosing movements of the spirit of good and rejecting those of the spirit of evil” (EG 51). Our Group recommends that quotations from young people in the Aula and at the Pre-Synod would help to bring any final synod document to life, as well as providing examples of thriving “peer to peer”youth movements in various parts of the world.

We considered that the various sections on the digital world might be brought together to allow a more thorough reflection on this topic, including its potential for mission and new evangelization. We suggested that such a reflection might include a treatment of the compulsive attraction of ‘screen culture‘ including cinema, mini-series and video gaming. We raised concerns about the exploitation of young people online, including the harvesting of their data, identity theft and scams. It must of course be recognized, as the young people at the Pre-Synod put it, that Technology, and especially Social Media is now understood as a permanent part of the life and identity of young people. They open up online educational opportunities, and also new possibilities for the exchange of information, ideals, values and common interests, which “have potential to unite people across geographical distances like never before”.

We noted that a proclamation of chastity,as achievable and good for our young people, is missing from the document. Our Group believes that the Church is called to respond to the desire of many young people for stable reference points, moorings or stepping stones to help them navigate their way through the often contradictory messages being hurled at them from every direction. From the riches of her teaching, including from her “treasure trove” of social doctrine, the Church can offer them reasons for living and hoping. She does this best with young people by avoidinga moralistic or polemical approach – as if we had all the “ready- made” answers – but instead accompanying young people in a climate of joy and adventure of discovery. At the Pre-Synod, young people told us that they do not wish to be “mere spectators” in society, but “active participants”.

Our listening and attention to them must therefore not be passive, but one which engages them in the process of “synodality”, both locally and at all levels in the Church. We were inspired by Briana, the young woman from America who spoke to us in the Aula, to reflect on our own experiences of being young – for some of us that was a little longer ago than others! For many of us the joyful witness of respected and trusted priests in our youth had helped to inspire our vocation. However, the context for vocational discernment has changed utterly. Our Group suggests that the issue of child sexual abuse in the Church cannot be skimmed over tangentially in a few short sentences. The shattered trust, the trauma and lifelong suffering of survivors; the catastrophic failures in case management; the continued silence and denial by some of these awful crimes and sins – these issues cry out to be named openly by the Synod.