This is the principal “problem” of youth, but also its great adventure. It is the time to answer the fundamental human questions. Who am I? Where do I fit? What useful work can I do? How should I live? To what great cause should I devote my life? The task of the old — parents, teachers, preachers, coaches — is to point to where those answers might be found.
Those of us who work full-time with young adults know that even the highly privileged Canadian university student is at something of a loss in answering these questions. The Internet gives you plenty of data, but little wisdom. The seductive world of social media provides hundreds of friends, but little actual friendship. The modern university, devoted to endlessly celebrating the sheer magnificence of each individual student, is rather silent about who she really is, and what she ought to do. Talented young people have an almost infinite array of options, but a mission in life is hard to find. Consequently, without a strong identity and mission, so many young people feel very much alone.
London and Madrid were dramatically drawn alternatives to the problem of being alone. On one hand there were young people who embraced a framework in which destructive violence united them in a demonstration of power. On the other were those who embraced a framework that demands something arduous of them in service to others.
The pilgrims in Madrid were given a special catechism, to which Pope Benedict wrote an introduction.
“I invite you: study this catechism,” he wrote. “This catechism was not written to please you. It will not make life easy for you, because it demands of you a new life.”
Youth culture offers a great deal aimed precisely at pleasing, even indulging, the young. But what the young need is a more sturdy framework than one assembled from their own appetites and immature ideas. There is plenty of bad news from Europe this summer; the good news is that its oldest framework, the Christian gospel lived fully, is still on offer, and has not lost its power to attract the young.
From Father Raymond J. de Souza's column, "Giving the young something to believe in" (National Post, August 25, 2011).
This morning's homily included an extended, fiery denunciation of Youcat (which evidently was not written to please this priest either). Fr says he called up the publisher and warned without mincing words what would happen to them in the afterlife if they don't repent (he didn't mention if he applied this also to the Holy Father. I put my head down on the pew in front of me for the duration of his comments on this subject). He also asserted an ongoing need for Russia to be consecrated to Our Lady. Finally, that students at the local university dress like hookers (some, yes, sadly) and the university should be burned to the ground like Sodom and Gomorrah (What if there are 10 righteous students?). Fr says he doesn't like having to talk like this, but as a priest he's obliged to!
I host Ignatius book fairs at the university parish and I plan to sell Youcat at the next one. And, for that matter, "Fatima For Today". If you don't have a book about dressing modestly, think about it!
Posted by: Elizabeth D | Sunday, August 28, 2011 at 08:24 PM
Where is the Wisdom in these words, "The sins of the flesh are bad, but they are the least bad of all sins..." in response to the question, "Why is the production and consumption of pornography a sin against charity", which can be found on page 224 of the YOUCAT.
Posted by: Nancy D. | Monday, August 29, 2011 at 10:00 AM
The Holy Father knows there Is no wisdom to be found in the statement, "The sins of the flesh are bad, but they are the least bad of all sins..." which is why I do not believe that The Holy Father approved of the final edition of the YOUCAT, to begin with.
Posted by: Nancy D. | Monday, August 29, 2011 at 10:08 AM
As an update about this anti-Youcat homily, I notified the rector of the church where this occurred and he was unhappy to hear that and I think he is looking into it.
Posted by: Elizabeth D | Tuesday, August 30, 2011 at 08:12 AM
The quote Nancy is referring very selectively to is a sidebar quote in YOUCAT. Here's the full quote:
"If anyone thinks that Christians regard unchastity as the supreme vice, he is quite wrong. The sins of the flesh are bad, but they are the least bad of all sins … For there are two things inside me, competing with the human self which I must try to become. They are the Animal self, and the Diabolical self. The Diabolical self is the worse of the two. That is why a cold, self-righteous prig who goes regularly to church may be far nearer to hell than a prostitute. But, of course, it is better to be neither." — C.S. Lewis
It is a quote from Lewis's work, Mere Christianity.
Posted by: John Herreid | Tuesday, August 30, 2011 at 10:05 AM