By Fr. Soroj Mullick, SDB,
An oriented model plan is put before the dioceses with the above selected objectives directed towards a pointed focus and with the conviction that they can be improved, towards empowerment of youth, intercultural and intergenerational dialogue, peace and harmony. There is certain demand to make Youth Pastoral Plan (YPP) more organic, especially in the reaffirmation of the same urgencies expressed by the CBCI and the Bishops of Asia as well (cf. EA 21, 22, 30, 31, 47).
The following proposal, therefore, is not an experiment on the field, but a selective choice for the encoded tentative plan which needs to be adapted according to place and context. Based on the concerned YPP and implicitly translating the Synod document on Youth, and of the human sciences into action, it tries to point towards integration as an element central to the pedagogy of faith just in virtue of the fact that it is an objective end for each authentic faith journey.
Vocational discernment, accompaniment through patient listening, digitization, technological development, demographics, global warming, migration and sexuality being themes dear to the present Catholic Church, they will have to be given priority by the national youth policy in keeping with the Indian context. The YPP in the coming five-year period has to be in continuity with the previous five-year (if exists any), at the same time, it will consider the priorities indicated by the Church in India in general, by listening and accompanying the youth.
It is in the light of the universal Church that we want to animate the Youth. The previous YPP of the Church in India (1996) had already defined well the figure, structures at the national, diocesan and parish levels and the duty of those directly involved in Youth Ministry (Youth delegate/director/council). Here instead we wish to proceed further to state that they will:
• Animate the apostolic activity of the diocese/region in its various forms, always in fidelity to Church priority and with the needs of young people in mind;
• Offer guidance and accompaniment, so that in every diocese/province true “educating communities” may be formed, which, in the spirit of dialogue, harmony and peace, will promote the integral formation of youth through vocational discernment in a way which will enable them to become apostles in the Church and in society.
With reference to the Five-year Plan, we have come to identify the Youth Ministry’s (YM) focuses of attention. In this Five-year period we will consider some vital aspects that emerged in recent synod document on youth (YS) and proposals given by the CBCI:
• To listen to young people and consider them ‘stakeholders’ in the Church;
• To learn the art of forming the youth, seek employment and empower them;
• To be confronted by the challenges coming from the young in this digital world and their situations especially the poor youth;
• To recognise that young people are the ‘present’ and ‘future’ of the Church and of the society and work ‘with’ them;
• Accompaniment and encounter with the young as an experience of communion in the Synodal Church (YS 118).
In keeping with the Five Year Plan we shall consider seriously the report on the life of the young in the Church, the evaluation of the YM after its five year term and dialogue with young people of other faith in view of the mission to establish the Kingdom of peace and harmony.
To be continued…
Fr. Soroj Mullick, SDB is a Salesian priest from the Kolkata Province. He has a Licentiate in Catechetics and a Doctorate (Christian Education) from UPS, Italy. He has number of years of teaching experience in college and in the formation of future priests. Besides, he has written number of research papers and articles, and has 25 years of Ministry in India and abroad as Educator, Formator, Retreat Preacher, Editor and engaged in School, Parish Catechetical & Youth Ministry. He is now an assistant priest in Bandel Basilica, rendering pastoral and catechetical ministry to the parishioners and to the pilgrims. He can be contacted at [email protected].