In late
March a week-long meeting held at the Vatican that involved young people from
all over the world reached its end. The meeting was held as a precursor to the
upcoming synod on “Young
People, the Faith, and the Discernment of Vocation.” The intent was to
inspire young people to give their honest criticisms and suggestions for moving
the Church forward and becoming a better community.
In the
document, released March 24, here are the youths’ views
“Today’s
young people are longing for an authentic Church. We want to say, especially to
the hierarchy of the Church, that they should be a transparent, welcoming,
honest, inviting, communicative, accessible, joyful and interactive community”
says the document.
“Young
people look for a sense of self by seeking communities that are supportive,
uplifting, authentic and accessible,” the document starts off. It continues
saying: “The Church oftentimes appears as too severe and is often associated
with excessive moralism . . . We need a Church that is welcoming and merciful,
which appreciates its roots and patrimony and which loves everyone, even those
who are not following the perceived standards.”
So— these
300 people with limited experience of
the world who are to represent a global community desire authenticity from the
Church, and yet ask that she become less severe and less focused on “excessive
moralism?” In other words, they want the Church to become more adaptive and
up-to-date (inauthentic?).
Authenticity
presupposes staying true to the Teaching of the Church. As I have argued in
these pages, modernists label this as being, in the words of the delegates, too
severe.
The
Catholic faith derives meaning of life from God. Reality and Truth exist apart
from our senses and our individual existence because God exists outside of us
and apart from us regardless of our existence. To be authentic requires a
rejection of the influences and pressures of the material world and follow God,
Christ Jesus, and His Church.
Modernism is a problematic philosophy to define. It’s has a long
history, is complex, perplexing, and so tortuous that it’s tough to believe
anyone in his or her right mind would desire such. Yet, the belief remains
dangerous heretical, and to be defined as concisely as possible, as it has infested
the world and produced such desires as the ones listed in “Young People, the
Faith, and the Discernment of Vocation.” I have
attempted no less.
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