FR Dennis has been following World Youth Day (WYD) through the lens of Bishop Terry Curtin who has been a regular post on FaceBook.
His photos and captions have accompanied a group of pilgrims from Rome, Assisi to Krakow (Poland) where the main events of WYD will be held. The so-called “Days in the Dioceses” have already concluded, where pilgrims stay with local families, and meet together in smaller groups for prayer and sharing.
No doubt WYD is a flourish of Catholic culture and young people from participating nations. The last WYD held in Australia was Sydney 2008. According to the Australian Catholic Bishop’s Conference, this event re-shaped Catholic Youth Ministry in Australia.
This was reiterated by Bishop Mark Edwards who, at a meeting of 3000 young Australian Catholics, in Krakow, stated: “The years of preparation leading up to WYD 2018 and its events have changed the landscape of youth ministry leaving a lasting impression on the Church. Local youth ministries have grown and diversified. The number of youth ministers has increased with diocesan support structures.”
Speaking during a press conference after the gathering, Malcolm Hart, Director of the Australian Catholic Bishop’s Office for Youth, said: “The Year of Youth utilises the anniversary of WYD08 to highlight the impact a concerted effort and focus on young people can have in the life of the Church. The Australian Bishops have established a three year cycle of events to support and sustain youth ministry into the future. This includes: Support and participation in WYD; the engagement of a new generation of young Catholics through the Australian Catholic Youth Festival (held in Adelaide this year), and increased training and formation of those working with young people through the Australian Catholic Youth Ministry Convention.”.
I do not doubt that more emphasis is being placed on youth in the Church. Look at the vast amounts of money invested in Catholic education and its bureaucracy? Equally, chancelleries in most dioceses are ballooning with new offices and portfolios. However, for now, as a clerical trooper trying to work at the grassroots, the story is somewhat less rosy and less well resourced.
Not that I think more money will make a difference. We are not dealing with enthusiasm which, in any case, might be passing.
We are dealing with an entrenched secular atmosphere of life where people are interested in building their lives around personal happiness and satisfaction that they feel is best achieved through the building-blocks of materialism, massaged by money and possessions.
This is not a judgement because, in and of themselves this personal success is not necessarily negative. However, it frames the minds and thinking of young people as it did not in earlier times when religion was publicly valued and engaged with life.
I am fully supportive of WYD and I have been praying for its success in Poland. However, as with WYD08, I have not personally seen much evidence of its longer term pastoral and ecclesiastical