{"id":2256,"date":"2013-02-09T23:02:00","date_gmt":"2013-02-09T23:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/pope-wants-to-form-youth-in-catholic-identity-scholar-reflects\/"},"modified":"2013-02-09T23:02:00","modified_gmt":"2013-02-09T23:02:00","slug":"pope-wants-to-form-youth-in-catholic-identity-scholar-reflects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/02\/pope-wants-to-form-youth-in-catholic-identity-scholar-reflects\/","title":{"rendered":"Pope wants to form youth in Catholic identity, scholar reflects"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Lander, Wyo., Feb 9, 2013 \/ 04:02 pm (CNA<\/a>).- A professor at Wyoming Catholic College reflected on Pope Benedict's recent address to the Pontifical Council for Culture, saying it showed his desire that we \u201cre-connect with our Catholic heritage.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\u201cYoung people are not being properly formed in a way that connects them with the larger history, tradition, and identity from which they've come,\u201d Dr. Peter Kwasniewski, a professor of theology and philosophy at Wyoming Catholic College told CNA Feb. 8.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cSo, they're kind of set free into a floating void, where as Pope Benedict puts it, if they do live their faith at all, they live it in a privatistic and emotional way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tThe pontiff's Nov. 7 address to the Council's plenary assembly stressed the challenges facing young people, while also noting the hope placed in them by the Church.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cThe Church has confidence in the young\u201d and needs their lively participation, he insisted, while also underscoring the threat of youth being pushed to the margins of society by unemployment and the crisis in education.<\/p>\n

\tKwasniewski said the \u201clanguage here of a cultural landscape that's increasingly fragmented and in continuous rapid evolution and\u2026the educational emergency\u201d was the most striking feature of the Pope's address.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cOne of the main themes of his whole pontificate has been to urge people to rediscover, recover, and re-connect with our Catholic heritage, tradition, and identity, in every respect. As regards liturgy especially, but also as regards theology, catechesis, architecture, our sacred music\u2026everything that makes us distinctively Catholic, and that come from our 2000 year inheritance.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\u201cAnd he sees this as not just a nice thing, like an ornament or a decoration, but as really, vitally important for human identity.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tAware of the \u201cproblematic situations\u201d facing youth, the Pope nevertheless reaffirmed \u201cthat the Church looks to their condition and their cultures as essential and inescapable\u201d for its ministry.<\/p>\n

\tHe expressed concern over trends of \u201cspectacularization of private life and a narcissistic selfishness,\u201d but also said the church \u201chopes in young people and in their energy. She needs their vitality in order to continue living the mission entrusted to her by Christ with renewed enthusiasm.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tKwasniewski said the vitality of youth is drawn by \u201ca sort of magnetism\u201d of the traditional Roman rite, which has \u201can inherent dignity, beauty, and power.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tYouth, he said, \u201cwill be attracted to anything beautiful, and that's a revolt against the meaningless utilitarianism of our times, where everything is stripped of its personal meaning.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tThe professor sees hope in young people who are sickened by the utilitarianism of modern culture, yet \u201cwouldn't\u00a0 really be able to put their finger on the problem, which is that they've been reduced to ciphers, numbers, workers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tPope Benedict told the Pontifical Council members that he hopes their discussions will contribute to \u201cthe Church's work in the lives of young people, which is a complex and articulated reality\u201d that can no longer be understood using old paradigms.<\/p>\n

\tKwasniewski added, \u201cI think what Pope Benedict is saying is absolutely, and obviously true. But what I've seen is that when you actually implement the proposals and remedies of Pope Benedict, it works extremely well.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\u201cThe youth do love it, they thrive, it gives them a sense of belonging, and meaning and direction, which is exactly what the Pope says is needed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tHe echoed Pope Benedict's call to overcome the educational crisis through a vibrant Catholicism.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cTo reach the youth, you have to be radically, visibly, strikingly, and beautifully Catholic, because they need something different from the secular culture that is not answering their deepest needs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n<\/a>\n<\/div>\n

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