AMERICA/MEXICO - Women, the poor and young: the main challenges of the Mexican Church

Mexico City (Agenzia Fides) - Violence that continues to increase, the lack of job opportunities and the urgent need to improve education, the key to any change, represent the main challenges that the Church has to face.
Mgr. Franco Coppola, Apostolic Nuncio in Mexico, in an interview with Fides highlighted thepoints to be taken into consideration in order to be able to face them in the Mexican context. "First of all, women and their role, often marginal, in the Church. St. John Paul II, in the apostolic letter Mulieris Dignitatem, states that it is necessary to understand the authentic role of the service of women in the Church, without confusing it with servitude.
"Young people - he continues - are another key point. The Holy Father shows his concern for their future, which often lacks the presence of God. Our young people feel invisible and little considered by the adult world and this leads them to have no confidence towards the future. Suicide rates recorded in recent years or the abuse of drugs are clear indicators. It is more urgent than ever to create more spaces where young people can express themselves so that they feel part of a community that needs them".
"A third key point is the poor, continues the Nuncio. There is indifference and impassivity on behalf of society towards the poor. The Pope exhorts us to make them feel the love that breaks solitude, but above all, he invites us not to close our eyes to marginalization, oppression, misery, ignorance, lack of work".
Among the other challenges that the Mexican Church must face, Mgr. Coppola highlights the formation in Seminaries, clericalism, the reform of youth ministry in the vocational sense and the reform of catechesis.
"Seminaries need suitable formators, true mentors, companions, models and guides, who form the heart of the aspirants to mission so as to be witnesses of the resurrection of Jesus", explains the Nuncio. "Formation must be oriented towards personal growth and make people aware that they are called to take care, serve and sanctify the People of God. Today's priests must be ready to answer questions".
"An imperative of the Pope is to eradicate the clericalism of the Church. Lay people should be seen as collaborators who participate in the decision-making process to build a domestic Church. The antidote to clericalism is the 'synodality' which involves walking together (laity, priests and bishops), consulting and listening to the whole People of God, contemplating it in equality and unity, in communion, collaboration and co-responsibility in all ecclesial contexts ", explains Mgr. Coppola.
With regard to youth ministry, the Nuncio adds that "the young person should be accompanied to discover his vocation to the encounter with God, in conjugal love or in consecrated life and in his own professionalism at the service of humanity". And he concludes by saying that "catechesis must be experiential, a true accompaniment in the experience of God, not a schooled catechesis where only an indoctrination or a teaching of knowledge is received". (PM/AP) (Agenzia Fides, 3/6/2019)

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