Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Madrid (Agenzia Fides) - The Youth Mission organised by the archdiocese of Madrid together with its two suffragan dioceses Getafe and Alcalá de Henares, is nearing its conclusion. The Mission will have its culminating moment in a pilgrimage to Rome on 9 August to make a profession of faith at the tombs of Saints Peter and Paul and to meet Pope Benedict XVI. Rev Gonzalo Pérez-Boccherini Stampa, Youth Delegate for the diocese of Getafe told Fides something about the Mission.
Who thought of the mission and why?
The archdiocese of Madrid and its suffragans Getafe and Alcalá de Henares have a rich religious patrimony and deeply rooted popular piety, but young people today need to deepen their faith and to be able to share it with others or it will be lost. Aware of this the three bishops agreed to organise a Youth Mission as a moment of communion of all the institutions, in a new way. The initiative has proved providential in this year when in Spain secular aggressiveness has been very active. This is the first time the archdiocese of Madrid organises something of this size and with so much participation.
What have been the main activities in this year of Mission?
The Mission was launched in Piazza d’Oriente, 11-12 November with night-time Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament in the Cathedral and a solemn Mass on the Sunday morning. The Mission will close in a few weeks time with a meeting with the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI when we will offer him the Creed we have proclaimed all through the year. Our three dioceses will make a pilgrimage to Rome in August.
Then there has been activity at the level of each diocese. As the diocese of Getafe we made missionary pilgrimages to Guadalupe, to place the fruits of the mission in the hands of Our Lady and to Javier, the birth place of the patron saint of Missions, Saint Francis Xavier. We also held a Diocesan Youth Day during which 700 youngsters recognised Jesus Christ as the source and destination of all missionary activity. Speakers included personages of diocesan and national life to give youth pastoral a solid formative and dogmatic basis. The Day included open air concerts, out door Masses, visits to homes, schools, other public events where young people meet. Since many do not come to church, we went out to look for them.
Did the young people respond?
Generally yes. Many young people were disheartened but when they heard about this great endeavour, they were enthusiastic and they have lived it with hope, aware that they are participants in a great mission. In many communities, many young people have come to realise the meaning of the Christian vocation and that evangelisation today depends also on them. With regard to how many heard the good news I cannot say: we do not know when the fruits will mature. But we can say that it was clear that the young people listened to the Good News as something they were longing to hear.
Why did you decide to close the mission in Rome?
I would recall that the mission has had three stages: a pre-mission a year of consultation and preparation, a second year of mission which will conclude in Rome, and then we have the year of post-mission, to ponder on what happened and to then start to proclaim Christ integrating what has been experienced into daily life. Rome will be an important intermission. We are coming to Rome to be confirmed in our faith by praying at the tomb of St Peter and meeting the Successor of Peter, Pope Benedict XVI. In Rome our young people will encounter the universal Church and this is an important aspect. Thirdly it will be a meeting with the history of the Church, especially important today, since Christians tend to forget their roots and the modern world seems to have forgotten its origins, its history, its past.
What is your overall assessment of this Youth Mission?
Firstly I would say that the Mission has helped our young people realise that evangelisation depends on the grade of communion and this is a need of the Church and of the mandate of Jesus Christ and it is also necessity in our globalised world. Secondly it was an experience that although the announcement is one, the announcement of Jesus Christ, there exists a variety of charisma and ways of mission. We considered that which unites us and we completed ourselves in what separates us although it does not put us against one another. Thirdly I think the Mission has made us aware of the main problem in this world: love is missing, Christ is missing. We realised that we cannot look at our little difficulties in the Church, which consume our time and energy, when the world is bleeding without God, it is bleeding in poverty and misery because it does not know God. I would say then that the Youth Mission has been a return to the essential, to the newness of the Faith, the newness of God. Our intention was not so much to do new things, but to make new the things that we do and live. It has been a call to unity and to realise that we are proud to belong to the Catholic Church. (RG) (Agenzia Fides 13/7/2007; righe 74, parole 970)
