Future of the Church depends on YOUTH (Speaking out!) Young People Taking Leadership
Cover Image: This is just the gathering in Washington D.C. alone. There were "March for our Lives" rallies in 800 cities around the world from London to Berlin to Sydney. Young people are behaving like adults and too many adults are behaving like children. Martin Luther King's nine-year-old granddaughter led the crowd in cheering: "I have a dream: enough is enough!"
Rene Reid, CCRI director
Students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, U.S.A. have begun a global revolution.
Note: This is a message just received from Rene Reid, the Director of Catholic Church Reform International(CCRI) USA. The central message she conveys is what Pope Francis exorted the Youth of the World on Palm Sunday, to speak out, to shout, to make a mess if they so wish, to make the silent majority in the Church and the world, who keep quiet and promote war, terrorism and divisions based on class, caste, colour, country and creed to perpetuate for themselves, the elderly folks, especially in positions of power to protect and promote their comfortable way of positions in seats of power.
The youth of the world should play a leadership role to change this detestable state of affairs. Francis is constantly setting an example by speaking up daily on various burning issues of the world, in various countries. You readers can and must speak out against what is going wrong in your country, your state, your community, your locality, whether in Church or Society.
So all of you who read this, please make it a point to speak up and thus light a lamp to spread the PEACE OF THE RISEN LORD to every one of your neighbors. That is the bare minimum we all must do to spread the GOOD WORD of Jesus, the WORD BECAME FLESH AND DWELT AMONG US, and set an example of humble, simple life of the lowly placed, THE CATTLE CLASS from his birth in a Cattleshed to Calvary’s top. james kottoor, ccv, editor.
In the wake of this global movement, and coming on the heels of a meeting of 300 youth from various religions and cultural backgrounds who met with the pope, in his Palm Sunday message in St. Peter's Square, Pope Francis urged young people to keep shouting and not allow the older generations to silence their voices or anesthetize their idealism.
This summary of the pre-synod meeting with young people was written by a team based on the input of all the participants from 20 different language groups and 6 from social media. They told the Vatican that they want a more transparent and authentic church. Their message will be delivered to the Bishops who gather for the Synod on Youth scheduled to be held in October later this year.
Future of the Church Depends on All of Us
So much of our Christian social justice values overlap with our political values today. Young people are standing up and speaking out. All of us need to listen to these vibrant and deeply committed voices and give them a platform to join all people of goodwill towards building a more just and caring society. The future of our families, our communities, our nations, and our world depends on all of us. Together we must change the way we govern ourselves. Together we can bring peace to our war-torn world. Together we can create a Church that is truly open, inclusive, and welcoming to all. We join with Pope Francis in asking you, young people, to inspire us saying: "It is up to you not to keep quiet. Even if others keep quiet, if we older people and leaders, some corrupt, keep quiet, if the whole world keeps quiet and loses its joy, I ask you: Will you cry out?"
We invite you to "cry out" and make your voices heard on our Facebook page. Go there now and let tell us what is on your mind.
We acknowledge that our organization is mostly comprised of older members of the Catholic community. But we assure you, our younger sisters and brothers, that we want to hear your voices. Please share with us your thoughts, your perspectives, your ideas and your aspirations for our Church and our world.
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