::Monday, August 15, 2005::
YOUTH POWER
.. The 2005 World Youth Day will commence this week in Cologne, Germany. Some 800,000 young people from all over the globe are expected to attend, way below the millions that gathered to see Pope John Paul II. Some Ratzinger detractors are already blaming this low turnout on Pope Benedict, an unfair criticism at best. The last one in Toronto had a much lower number but no one faulted JPII for that. A fair argument can be made about the youth's waning interest in the Catholic Church. They see it as being run by old men who are so out of touch with the problems of the modern world. This is by no means a tacit approval of the vagaries of youth especially in Western countries. It is, however, an indictment of the failure of the Church to speak in language the young can understand and relate to.
The Church increasingly stands in the way of people having a personal encounter with Christ with its extreme emphasis on absolute dogma and central authority. The Church needs to reach out to everyone, sinner or saint in order to spread the Gospel. It needs to consider that Grace emanates from a loving God who is mystery - in the sense that we can never fully grasp at once God's will and provenance. Sometimes light slips through and we can get a glimpse of God anywhere where light can penetrate. The church hierarchy cannot prevent this light from shining on everyone. That would be the ultimate heresy - determining who can or cannot receive grace. That right is reserved for God and God alone.
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