Need for an integrated process

Basic models and foundational experiences
1 December 2010

English-speaking Group

Varghese, Patrick, Augustine, Srimal, Lijo, Tessa

Here are the main points made by the Indian/Sri Lankan group in our Wednesday morning discussion. They are presented here in point form.

• Often the youngsters don’t find very many models among the adults.  So much of talk is being done, but very little of actualization in practice.  This creates a frustration in many of our youngsters. 

• There is an increasing need to treat spirituality, not just as something for two or three days or months, but an integrated process that takes them throughout their whole life. In this journey the youth need a constant help and encouragement from the adults. They expect real witnesses much more than just the teachings and theories. This calls for a real effort from the part of the adults. 

• The young find the traditional prayers, sacraments and rituals meaningless as these things make little of influence in their lives.  Much of it remains as an abstract idea. The role of the Catholic church in communicating the Gospel Message to the youth of today needs to be stressed. It has to evaluate and find out where they have failed in communicating the message of Christ and also it has to propose innovative ways of offering the gospel message to the youth. 

• There is another phenomenon that is taking shape today in the form of travelling groups, which go from one place to another, carrying just a photo camera and a shoulder bag. They spend days and days on taking photos going from place to place.  Later on getting back to their own places they write their journals and make a reflection on all that they have come across during their journey.  Now, can we call it a spirituality? What is it that these youngsters looking for? 

• What is needed today is a creative thinking. We need to keep in mind the important Christian religious identity linked to the four dimensions – communitarian, ethical, cultural and emotional. We will have to start from their daily life experiences and derive a spirituality out of these experiences and need to be convinced of the spirituality model which we are proposing to the youth.

Submitted by Sr Tessa George
Photos  by Joe Boenzi