Fr. Rossano Sala Advocates for Church Attentive to Youth

Fr. Rossano Sala Advocates for a Church Attentive to the Young^Featured

(ANS – Madrid – March 13) - The School of Theology of Salamanca, Spain, celebrated the feast of St. Thomas Aquinas with a Mass presided over by Bishop Jesus Garcia Burillo of Avila and an address by Fr. Rossano Sala, SDB, special secretary of the 15th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops. Fr. Sala’s topic was “Youth of the Church and hopes of the young: what can we expect from the next synod?”

Fr. Sala presented his conference “starting from the Church’s commitment to collaborating toward the joy of the young, rather than trying to take possession of their faith.”

On secularization in the European context, the Salesian priest referred to pastoral care understood as the link between the recipients of the message and the action of God through his Church. He continued by identifying four aspects that characterize our times: spiritual nostalgia, because “the search for the meaning of life on a spiritual level is alive, and faith can be an authentic response to this nostalgia”; a paralysis in the decision-making process, since “it seems that we can make only decisions of minor import”; the uncertainty facing what is or is not true, “for which only contemplation can survive the communications bombardment”; and disenchantment with institutions “from which nothing more is expected than the preservation of individual rights.”

“Many young people ask nothing of the Church,” Fr. Sala explained, except “that they be left in peace and not be disturbed.” He also referred to young people’s opinion of the Church: “an institution that should shine for its honesty.”

Another critical point is “the passivity of the young in the Church because they often feel used and not appreciated.” Likewise, they criticize “the Church’s inability to follow the rhythm of the contemporary world.” Young people ask for a Church that listens and pays attention, “that moves from humiliation to humility, from individualism to communion, and from exteriority to interiority; a less institutional and more relational Church, where one listens without judging.”

The special secretary for the Synod on Youth also thinks that a presence on social networks is important. He concluded his speech by emphasizing that a challenge for the Church is “the need to acquire a renewed, youthful dynamism.”