THE LIVING WORD
Reading Scripture from the Heart of the Church
The Synod on Young People
A Call to Missionary Discipleship for the Sake of the World
Dr. Daniel Keating
P
ope Francis called together a Synod of Bishops from around the world
to wrestle with questions surrounding “Young People, the Faith, and
Vocational Discernment.” The synod met against the backdrop of an
international sex-abuse crisis that—like storm clouds—swirls around the bishops
as they gathered to address the challenges of speaking to young people today.
The Working Document for the Synod
(the Instrumentum Laboris, IL) offers extend-
ed commentary on the situation of young
people today and calls the Church to recog-
nize the times and respond with faith-filled
discernment to the needs of the world’s
youth. There are many topics in the Work-
ing Document that the bishops are asked to
engage. I will draw attention to three top-
ics that I believe are critical if the Church
is going to speak to and evangelize young
people in the middle of the crisis we face.
First, despite the many challenges and
obstacles that young people face today, we
need the courage and conviction to call
young people to follow Jesus wholehearted-
ly as disciples, and the confidence to enlist
them quickly in communicating the joy of
the Gospel to their peers. “The destination
of Jesus’ call is disclosed only when we fol-
low Christ, which is dialogue and relation-
ship with the Master” (IL, 92). The devastat-
ing failures coming to light in the Church
could produce a spirit of defeat or a with-
drawal from engagement with our culture.
Instead, we need a humble and bold return
to the core of the Gospel message: our times
need the life of Jesus more than ever.
Second, the Working Document high-
lights a growing distrust by young people
of institutions and brand identities: many
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young people no longer trust the Church
or identify with her mission. Here there is
need for personal accompaniment, and es-
pecially for real faith communities where
young people can find a home. We can
meet the general trend away from institu-
tional identification by laboring to build—
with the young people themselves—living
and concrete experiences of Catholic life,
often through smaller communities where
trust can be established. Past strategies
won’t suffice: “This truth must be testified
to and practiced” (IL, 55). Young people—
and older adults—need to see and experi-
ence their faith lived out concretely. From
these living communities, young people
can then go out and witness to Christ in
the world.
Finally, the Working Document con-
cludes on just the right note: the call to
holiness. Scandals and failures point to
the need for all of us to pursue the fruits
of repentance and a life of genuine holi-
ness. Citing Lumen Gentium, the Working
Document for the Synod draws our at-
tention to the centrality of holiness: “The
concise and unifying hallmark of Christian
life is holiness, because ‘the Lord Jesus, the
divine Teacher and Model of all perfection,
preached holiness of life to each and every
one of His disciples of every condition. He
Sacred Heart Major Seminary | Mosaic | Fall 2018
Himself stands as the author and consum-
mator of this holiness of life’” (IL, 212).
I recall with fondness twelve years of
Catholic school, including four reward-
ing years in a Jesuit high school. We were
learning the rudiments of our faith in the
1970s, a season of wide experimentation
and much confusion. It was a difficult time
for holding onto one’s faith—like learning
to waterski in a windstorm—and many of
my fellow students had abandoned their
faith by early adulthood. But there were a
handful of faculty members—Jesuits and
lay teachers alike—who stood out as bea-
cons for us. They communicated a sense of
holiness: they were generous, welcoming,
clear and unabashed in their faith. I remain
grateful to them to this day for their witness
of holiness.
If we in the Church are hoping to reach
young people, to communicate the faith
to them, and to call them into their vari-
ous vocations, we need to invite them to
take their place as missionary disciples in
a concrete community of faithful disciples
where a life of holiness and mercy is be-
ing pursued. The world around us deeply
needs this witness.
Dr. Daniel Keating is professor of theology at
Sacred Heart.