What is Accompaniment? 21
of belief, “faith has become private rather than communal” (Final Document
of the Synod of Bishops on Young People, Faith and Vocational Discernment, 7).
Isolation can lead a person to practice their faith privately without account-
ability or support. In the secular world, isolation is also a growing problem.
Because of the influence of platforms such as social media, friendship has
been redefined to apply to quick and instant online interactions. Because
human beings were created to be social, extreme and extended isolation
can lead to desolation in the human heart. This desolation can result in
questions about a person’s purpose, identity, and the value of their life to the
community.
Wounded relationships in families
The Church envisions families who thrive in their love for one another
and their communities. The family is the “cell” of society, the first place
in which accompaniment takes place. It is the “domestic church” where
children and parents and grandparents accompany one another through the
joys and challenges of life:
The family is the first and fundamental school of social living: as a
community of love, it finds in self-giving the law that guides it and
makes it grow. (Familiaris Consortio, 37)
There is the possible reality of discord which may affect each fami-
ly differently. Difficulties may cause the process of accompaniment within
the family to be weakened. When a child’s most essential social order--his
or her family--is fractured in a serious way, his or her understanding of
accompaniment may become warped. Irregular parent situations, abuse in
the family, infidelity, homelessness, serious illness, poverty and death of a
parent or child are all situations that challenge the family’s ability to accom-
pany one another in the life of faith.
Social Media
The proliferation of social media has transformed the human person’s
understanding of connection and conflict. Positively, social media gives ac-
cess to new information and communities in a way not previously possible.
It has the power to connect families, foster communication among new
friends, unite communities for causes of justice, inform through news and