Addresses and Statements

Address To Student Leaders, Sydney Catholic Schools

21 Nov 2018

ADDRESS TO STUDENT LEADERS, SYDNEY CATHOLIC SCHOOLS
St Mary’s Cathedral Hall

A very warm welcome to our forum for the student leaders in the systemic and congregational schools. I thank Mr Anthony Cleary, Michael Kelleher, Glen Thompson, and other education leaders and staff for this initiative. I especially welcome our student leaders for the year ahead, since you represent the 90,000 students in Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Sydney and, I hope, many of you will in due course also represent our Church in the wider society.

Last month I was with the Holy Father in Rome alongside 300 young people, youth ministers and bishops from around the world, for the month-long Synod on “Young People, the Faith and Vocational Discernment”. The investment of time and resources was a tribute to how seriously the pastors of the Church take the challenge of drawing young people closer to Christ and his Church, and helping them respond to the challenges of the day. I would like to share a bit of that experience with you today.

There was one young man – a youth minister – from Western Sydney and three Aussie bishops amongst those at the Synod. To better inform ourselves and the wider Church, we surveyed young people from all over Australia, inviting them to tell us about the things that really matter to them. We also conducted listening sessions and forums during the ACYF and exit polls. We gathered information in other ways too.

The conclusions of our researchers were that high among the concerns of young Australians today are:

  • mental health issues (including anxiety and depression)
  • the search for sexual, ethnic or spiritual identity
  • educational, employment and housing future
  • forming and sustaining good relationships, avoiding loneliness and finding a community of real support
  • the direction of our politics, culture and Church on issues of life and love, justice and mercy
  • being a person of faith in an increasingly secular environment.

At the synod young people spoke with enthusiasm about their love of God, creation, humanity. The bishops listened and responded with the call to know the God of love who is Christ. But, of course, different young people have different concerns or emphases. One of my big learnings at the Synod was how different are the concerns of young people and their pastors in some other parts of the world to those in our part of the world. And as a Church we need to hear them all if possible. And that’s what this forum is about, so I encourage you, when it comes time for discussion, not to be afraid to speak your mind.

But why a Synod on Youth? Well, ever since the Second Vatican Council there have been Synods of Bishops at least every three years. The topics of those meetings read like a list of the Church’s biggest challenges and opportunities in modernity. We’ve had synods on word and sacrament: Strengthening the Catholic faith (1967), the Word of God (2008), Penance (1983) and the Eucharist (2005). We’ve had synods on particular missionary concerns: Justice (1971), Evangelization (1974), Catechesis (1977), the New Evangelisation (2012), and the Family (2014 and 2015). We’ve had synods on vocations: the Laity (1987), Families (1980), Priests (1971), Seminarians (1990), Religious (1994) and Bishops (2001). Well, this time the Church looked for counsel on the situation, aspirations and needs of youth, and Pope Francis framed the discussion by giving us the theme “Young People, Faith and Vocational Discernment”.

Well, I don’t think I need to tell you guys about young people! But I’d like to say a few words about faith and vocational discernment.

During the Synod, one bishop suggested that four questions frame the jigsaw of faith: Who is God? Why, if there is a God, is there evil? What has God done about it? What can I do about it? Just as you start a jigsaw puzzle with the corners and go from there, so too, he argued, these questions must be answered before all else. Once this frame is put in place, we can start fitting our own pieces, as well as identify pieces that do not fit our puzzle.

What’s interesting about these four questions is that in providing the framework for our spiritual life, they each touch upon our personal vocation: the What should I do with my life, Where should I invest myself, How can I make of me the best possible me, sort of questions. If I answer yes or no or maybe or I hope so to the Is there a God? question, then questions will follow about what God wants for me and how would I know. If I think the answer to the Why is there evil? question is something to do with human freedom and divine providence and even afterlife, then my exploring what to do with my life takes on a new seriousness. If I think the answer to the What has God done about it? question in Jesus Christ (and his word, sacraments, Church), then my vocational quest will have somehow to connect with what Jesus has said and done and is still saying to and doing in my life. And the more I ponder the What can I do about it? question – what can I do about good and evil in this world, at least in my corner of it – in myself, my relationships, my communities – the more it will be clear that some jigsaw pieces fit better than others. In the end some combinations of jigsaw pieces make for better pictures than others, some possible autobiographies are a better read than others, some versions of me are more noble, interesting, dare I say saintly, than others.

Vocational discernment, then, is not just about whether I should be a priest or nun, a spouse or parent – though these options cannot be ignored – but about our whole life, including the little and medium-sized choices, even now, and what they say about me, do to me, predispose me to be and do next. So vocations are about more than a job, a tidy little income earner, something to keep us busy: they are about purpose, meaning, the sense I make of my life, the consistent thread – that is, my faith. The word vocation means calling, so it’s not so much something that I choose but something that chooses me. It’s the best answer I can give to the question of how and where and why I will lead and serve in the future.

In cultivating your relationship with God and others now, you will be cultivating grace, those pieces given to the jigsaw of your life as opportunities, openings, magnifiers of your efforts. And in cultivating habits of service of God and others now, you will be cultivating character, the pieces you bring to the jigsaw. The Bible, the Mass and Reconciliation, taking counsel from wise people, regular engagement in works of justice and mercy, even (perhaps especially) when you think you are too busy – these are opportunities for the pieces to fall into place.

And so from the 2018 Synod of Bishops on Youth I say to each one of you: we the Bishops of the Church have heard your hopes and concerns; we are excited by your gifts and aspirations; we sympathise with your difficulties and want to help. We are sorry for the times Church people have let you down; but Christ never lets us down. So never give up on Christ who never gives up on you! Never give up on the Church who with Christ’s help you can make more faithful! Never give up on the world that with Christ and the Church you can make a better place!

When you’re lost and need direction, know that the young Jesus is the eternal Way for you! When you are confused and need sound teaching, know that the young Jesus is the eternal Truth for you! When you are searching for the vocation that will most fulfil you, know that the young Jesus is eternal Life for you!