| Foster Catholic Education
of Youth, Organize Effective Adult Catechesis On Saturday, 26 November, Holy Father spoke in the Vatican's
Consistory Hall to a first group of Bishops from Poland in Rome for their
ad limina visit. The following is a translation of the Pope's
Address for the occasion, given in Polish.
Praised be Jesus Christ!
I warmly welcome you, dear Brothers in the episcopal ministry. I am
pleased to be able to receive you during your visit ad limina
Apostolorum.
I listened attentively to your reports on the life of the Church in the
Dioceses for which you are responsible. I thank you for your daily efforts
as Pastors of the Lord's flock, enlivening with your apostolic authority
the pastoral ministry of priests, the fulfilment of the charisms of
religious communities and the spiritual development of the lay faithful.
I give thanks to God for every fruit produced by this common journey
towards the Father's house, in Christ's footsteps and in the light and
power of the Holy Spirit. Your presence here is a sign of the spiritual
bond of the Church in Poland with the Apostolic See and with the Successor
of St. Peter.
I remember with emotion the great prayer with which the Poles
accompanied John Paul II throughout his Pontificate and particularly on
the days of his passing to the glory of the Lord. I am grateful that I can
count on the same prayerful support. It is a gift I deeply appreciate and
continuously seek.
Education of youth
During our conversations we touched on many topics. For today, I have
chosen from among them the question of Christian education. Indeed, it is
one of the most fundamental tasks that comprise a permanent part of the
saving mission of the Church and of our episcopal service.
In his Apostolic Exhortation Eccelesia in Europa, John Paul II
strongly urged the Church on our Continent to devote ever greater
attention to the education of young people in the faith (cf. n.61).
We know that here it is not only a matter of didactics, of perfecting
methods or transmitting knowledge, but also has to do with an education
based on the direct, personal encounter with the person, on witness — that
is, on the authentic transmission of faith, hope and charity and the
values that directly derive from these —
from one person to another.
Thus, it is an authentic meeting with another person who should first
be listened to and understood. John Paul II was a perfect model for us of
this encounter with the person.
The faithful and fruitful fulfilment of the mission of education before
which the Church stands today requires an adequate evaluation of the
situation of the young, who are the object of this mission in our day. In
the first place it is necessary to look at their family background, for
the family remains the fundamental cradle of the formation of the human
person.
I am aware that financial problems, the unemployment indicators that
remain high and the anxiety to guarantee material existence affect the way
of life of many Polish families. It is impossible to form truly authentic
attitudes without taking into account these problems which young people
also encounter.
Furthermore, it is essential to see the many positive phenomena that
support and help education in the faith. Young people who show a profound
sensitivity to the needs of others, especially the poor, the sick, the
lonely and the disabled, are very numerous. Thus, they undertake various
projects to bring aid to the needy.
There is also a genuine interest in matters of faith and religion, the
need to be with others in organized and informal groups, and the strong
desire for an experience of God. The participation of so many young Poles
in spiritual retreats and in the European Youth Meetings or World Youth
Days is proof of this. All these things are a good basis for the pastoral
concern of young people's spiritual development.
Education in the faith must first of all consist in developing all that
is good in the human being. The development of voluntary service, inspired by
the Gospel spirit, is a great opportunity for education. It might be
worthwhile creating Caritas youth groups in parishes or schools. In
the Church's educational initiatives, it would also be appropriate respond
to interest in matters of faith, favoring any initiative that serves to
help children and young people to develop the taste for prayer.
Spiritual exercises, particularly those made in total silence: retreat
days for different groups and also systematically organized schools of
prayer in parishes afford opportunity for this, and spiritual retreats at
school in the period of Advent or Lent are a magnificent opportunity. It
is also necessary to make every effort to establish centres for spiritual
retreats and other places of prayer and recollection, so that without
concern for the material cost, they may effectively become centres of
spiritual formation, accessible to all those who see a more profound
contact with God.
Among, the various forms of prayer the Liturgy deserves a special
place. In Poland, many young people take an active part in Holy Mass on
Sundays. It is necessary to redouble efforts so that the concern of
priests for the appropriate celebration of the Liturgy, for the beauty of
its words, gestures and music, may increasingly he the legible sign of the
saving Mysterium that is fulfilled in them.
It is also necessary for youth to be integrated into liturgical action
through active participation in the preparation of the Liturgy, through
their involvement in Liturgies of the Word, in altar service or in the
context of music. They will then feel that they are part of the mystery
that introduces them into the world of God, and at the same time direct
them to the world of people attracted by Christ's love.
In the past 30 years, many young people have been formed along these
lines in the environment of the activities of the "oasis" movement known
as "Light and Life". This movement's spirituality focuses on the encounter
with God in Sacred Scripture and in the Eucharist: hence, it is deeply
bound to the parish and to liturgical life.
Dear Brothers in the Episcopate, I beg you to back this movement as one
that is particularly effective in the work of education in the faith, but
without, of course, neglecting the other movements.
I know that during your last ad limina visit, John Paul II urged
you to ensure that Catholic Action, together with the Catholic Association
of Young People, was reborn in Poland. This task has been carried out at
the structural level.
You should spare no effort, however, to ensure that Catholic Action and
the Catholic Association of Young People have an increasingly transparent
and mature programme and work out their own spiritual profile.
Collaboration with family, laity
The formation of the young generation is a task incumbent on parents,
on the Church and on the State. Therefore, with respect for their
appropriate autonomy, the Church must collaborate very closely with
schools, universities and other lay institutions concerned with the
education of youth.
Thanks to changes that occurred in 1989 and all their consequences;
this collaboration has acquired new dimensions. The Polish Directory of
Catechesis and the Basic Programme for Catechesis have been compiled, and
in some centres in Poland programmes and textbooks for teaching religion
have been published. Although it is true that this programmatic pluralism
can be useful to evangelization and religious education in schools and
parishes, it is also worth considering whether the variety of programmes
and textbooks might make it difficult for students to acquire a systematic
and orderly religious knowledge.
As for the teaching of religion and catechesis in schools, these
subjects cannot be reduced to the dimension of "religionology" or of the
sciences of religion, even if that was expected in certain milieus. The
teaching of religion at school, carried out by clerical and lay teachers
and sustained by the testimony of believing teachers, must keep its
authentic evangelical dimension of the transmission and witness of faith.
Adult catechesis
I would like to express my appreciation to you for having undertaken
the task of parish catechesis, which completes the teaching of religion at
school. This is usually catechesis for children and young people who are
preparing to receive the sacraments of Christian initiation. It must not,
however, be limited to these groups. It means, in particular, ensuring
that young people who study outside the context of their own parishes
participate actively in parish life.
The collaboration of parents and other lay people in the task of
education requires personal training and a continuous deepening of
religious knowledge, spirituality and the correction of attitudes on the
basis of the Gospel and the Magisterium. Therefore, I fervently urge you
Bishops to redouble your efforts to organize adult catechesis wherever it
is lacking, and to support the contexts that already undertake this type
of teaching.
Such catechesis must be based on Scripture and on the Magisterium. in
carrying it out, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the Compendium of
the Social Doctrine of the Church or the recently published Compendium of
the Catechism of the Catholic Church can prove helpful.
The abundant Magisterium of my venerable Predecessor, John Paul II, may
be particularly helpful in the
catechesis of adults. In his numerous pilgrimages to Poland he left a rich
patrimony of the wisdom that stems from faith,
which it seems has not yet been entirely assimilated. In this context, how
can we fail to remember his Encyclicals, Exhortations, Letter's and the
many other Interventions that constitute an inexhaustible source of
Christian wisdom?
Care for universities
The increasing number of young people who choose to go to senior
high schools that offer diplomas and those who enrol for university
studies challenges the Pastors of the Church in Poland to seek ever new
forms of university ministry.
After years without freedom, the Church has been able to establish new
universities and theological faculties of her own in Poland, most of which
are now part of the State university system. Many well-known and expert
theologians are employed in the theological faculties. Their research work
based on Revelation is the proposal of the truth that God is Love, that
the world is his gift, that human beings are not only masters of the
created world but are also called to a new world in the Kingdom of God.
I exhort you, dear Brothers in the Episcopate, to support ecclesial scientific is milieus, to supervise the teaching and development of
both clerical and lay personnel and to provide for them on an adequate material
basis.
Worlds of culture, mass media
The Church's contribution to the educational process is also expressed
in cultural initiatives. At the UNESCO headquarters in Paris, John Paul II
said: "Culture is a specific way of man's 'existing' and of 'being'.... Culture is
that through which man, as man, becomes more man.... Man, and only man, is
the 'protagonist' or 'architect' of culture..., expresses himself in it
and finds his own balance in it" (Address to UNESCO, Paris, 2 June 1980, nn.
6, 7; L'Osservatore Romano English edition, 23 June 1980, p. 9).
Poland inherited from previous generations a rich cultural patrimony
based on Christian values. With this patrimony it has joined the European
Union. As Poland faces a process of secularization and the abandonment of
Christian values which is gaining momentum, it must not lose this
patrimony.
On the contrary, the negative attitudes and threats to Christian
culture that can also be seen in Poland are an appeal to the Church to
make a further effort for a constant evangelization of culture. This means
imbuing the categories of thought with the content and values, criteria,
evaluations and norms of the human behaviour of the Gospel, in both
individual and social dimensions.
Today, the mass media have a special role in the world of culture. It
is known that not only do they inform people but they also form the minds
of those they address. They can therefore be an invaluable means of
evangelization.
People of the Church, especially lay Christians, are called to promote
Gospel values in an even greater outreach through the press, radio,
television and internet. An important task of the Pastors of the Church,
however, is not only concern for the professional training of mass media
operators but also for their spiritual, human or ethical formation.
I encourage you, dear Brothers in the Episcopate, to establish a
positive contact with journalistic circles and with other media operators.
It might be appropriate to organize a special sector of pastoral care for
them.
I would also like to entrust to your special care, dear Brothers, the
question of setting up and using Catholic radio and television
broadcasting stations, local, regional and national, in the task of the
evangelization of culture. They can carry out valuable work for the new
evangelization and the dissemination of the Church's social teaching.
Let them proclaim the truth about God, sensitizing the contemporary
world to the patrimony of Christian values; their principal purpose should
be to bring people close to Christ, to build the community of the Church
in the spirit of the search for truth, love, justice and peace, with
respect for autonomy in the political arena. In every case it will be only
right, since they carry out a pastoral activity, that they have open and
trusting relations with the Bishops because of their responsibility in
this area.
It is impossible not to mention the national, diocesan and parish
Catholic press which makes an enormous contribution to spreading the
culture of truth, goodness and beauty. Concern for the development of the
Catholic press means not only raising it to a higher standard, but also
extending the radius of its action. Therefore, those in charge should take
care to give it a high profile, worthy of the Catholic cultural tradition
of Poland.
At the end of this reflection and as a conclusion, I would like to
recall the words of the Second Vatican Council which taught in the
Declaration Gravissimum Educationis: "All Christians — that is, all
those who, having been reborn in water and the Holy Spirit, have become a
new creature, are called and in fact are children of God — have a right to
a Christian education. Such an education not only develops the maturity of
the human person... but is especially directed towards ensuring that those
who have been baptized, as they are gradually introduced to a knowledge of
the mystery of salvation, become daily more appreciative of the gift of
faith.... Accordingly, the Sacred Synod directs the attention of pastors
of souls to their very grave obligation to do all in their power to ensure
that this Christian education is enjoyed by all the faithful and
especially by the young, who are the hope of the Church" (n. 2).
This exhortation is ever timely and is perhaps even more demanding
today in the face of new challenges that stem from current social
phenomena. I express the hope that the light of the Holy Spirit will
accompany you who are present here and all the Polish Bishops in its
persevering implementation.
May God's Blessing sustain you and your Dioceses in the work of the
formation of human minds and hearts. May God assist you!
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