Rob Colquhoun

Reflections on ‘Vanished Youth and the Church in Australia from a youth perspective.

James McCarthy, Archdiocese of Sydney

 A seminarian talks about youth and the Church in Sydney.

May 2, 2006 – Speech for the Pontifical Academy for Social Sciences.


I have listened and reflected, over the past few days, on the wide variety of research and discussion papers on the topic of youth. The various themes considered at this conference, which are also found in the contemporary life in Australia, seem to have played a significant role in the selection of Sydney to host WYD 2008. I will attempt in a broad way to highlight some of the background to the Church in Australia, the current situation confronting young Catholics, and some achievable goals for evangelisation in the Church in Australian.


During the plenary session we have discussed the primary role of the family in educating and forming young people in the Faith. Much of family life in Australia seems to be negative. A majority of parents seem to give the moral and religious formation of their children a low priority. Many sadly believe that wealth and prosperity are the biggest contributors to happiness and communicate this message to their children. Many Catholic parents have embraced the widespread indifferentism towards religion in Australia; resulting in sporadic Mass attendance, and casual attention to implementing the teachings of the Church in their daily lives. It is in this context that parents do not assist in effectively passing-on or simply being witnesses-to the Faith to their children.


The frequent distancing of young people from their parents during their teenage years, not just concerning faith, but in all aspects of life, can lead to some adolescents maturing without significant input from their parents and other adults. Consequently, in these formative years many young people are strongly influenced by their adolescent peer-groups, resulting in a situation where they frequently are unable to escape their adolescent state until their late 20s. Many adolescents in Australia become part of friendship-groups or cliques. Some extreme behaviour by such groups is externally manifested, by unusual forms of fashion, body piercing and tattoos. Young people, as always, want to be part of something, to be accepted and to feel that they have friends with similar interests.


This concept of ‘belonging’ should be utilised by the Church to evangelise young people. Historically, the Church in Australia has attempted to build communities, societies and general Catholic culture outside of the liturgical setting. Youth participation in the faith, and to some extent participation of all the faithful, has been reduced to in the last 20 or 30 years to weekly Mass attendance. However, the offering of a complete vision, through an integrated Catholic way of life, through formation and through the establishment of what some have coined a “Catholic sub-culture”, was highly successful in forming and expanding several generations of young Catholics in the knowledge and practice of their Faith. Present experience is that without such supports, young people will become quickly disinterested and uninvolved in the life of the Church.


The news is not all bad! Many young Australians are open to faith, and when committed, they are truly the treasures of the Church. The youth are not the source of the problems, but can be the resource for solving the problems, as many have stated during the conference. Unlike the situation in Africa, as discussed by Prof Zulu, where a committed Catholic may separate the Church’s spiritual vision with its “practical” vision, many committed young Catholics in Australia show initiative and try to integrate the Church’s teaching into their lives. In fact, they want to see their Church and life in Christ expand and deepen.


One such example of the initiative of the committed youth of Australia is found in the original bid for World Youth Day for Australia, which is worth recalling and examining.


Three days after Archbishop Pell was installed as Archbishop of Sydney in May 2001, he was presented with a petition (of which I was a member of the organising committee) with over 10,000 signatures requesting Archbishop Pell to support an application to the Holy See by young Australian Catholics for Sydney to host WYD subsequent to the Toronto 2002 WYD. Archbishop Pell indicated that a submission by the youth organisers could be made and a youth representative should be prepared to go to Rome to support the proposal. Archbishop Pell also informed us that he was aware that other cities were being considered. A detailed submission was prepared and forwarded to Rome and there were subsequent meetings with Cardinal Stafford, then President of the Pontifical Council for the Laity and committee members about the Sydney WYD bid.


Certain features of this original bid should be highlighted. As Cardinal Stafford remarked to a committee member, the Sydney bid was unique in the history of WYD. The bid represented the initiative and aspirations of young Catholic Australians and was not, as an initiative, the proposal of the Australian hierarchy, although this bid had at least Archbishop Pell’s implicit approval. In other words, the Sydney WYD bid was ‘bottom up’ not ‘top down’.


Further, this submission was uniquely written by, and from the point of view of, young Catholic Australians. The ‘John Paul II generation’ in Australia felt sufficiently confident to address the Holy Father directly in the expectation that they would be listened to with openness and not ignored. As we know, the late Holy Father decided on Cologne as the venue for WYD after Toronto. However, Sydney was designated last year by Pope Benedict as the venue for WYD 2008 following submissions by Cardinal Pell and the Australian Bishops Conference.


It is noteworthy that the Church in Australia is a well-established part of society and we receive significant political and mainstream support for many of our programs and initiatives. Unlike the situation in the US, where it would be seen as seriously problematic, the State and Federal governments in Australia, with bipartisan support, find no problem, and actually believe it economically sound, to provide billions of dollars of funding annually to the Church for our far-reaching primary and secondary school system. In addition, it was announced last month that our Federal government will provide 20 million dollars of cash support for WYD 2008, while the State government has pledged to do whatever it takes to make the event successful.


What was even more important for the youth organising committee in 2001, was that WYD needed to be held in Australia. For the young people in Australia, WYD would be the great opportunity for the New Evangelisation in Oceania and would allow the Church to reach out to the younger generation in a completely different way.


To understand the background to the bid of 2001, it needs to be placed in the context of the wider Australian Church at that time. In 1998, there were the momentous Ad Limina visits of the Australian bishops with the Roman dicasteries. Led by the then Cardinal Ratzinger, there was an in-depth and critical analysis of the state of the Church in Australia and its future progress. This led to the famous Statement of Conclusions of December 1998 in which it was acknowledged by the Australian Bishops that there was a crisis of Faith in Australia. In various aspects this crisis was manifested by the rise in the number of people with no religion (16-17%) and a dramatic decline in regular Church attendance (for Australian Catholics, from 60% in the 1960’s to about 17% in the late 1990’s) While I was at University we estimated that the number of practising Catholics on campus was about 5%, and in absolute terms this was less than the number of active Evangelicals on campus.


Moreover the renowned tolerance of Australians has led to an indifference about truth and an openness to all opinions and positions, resulting in a loss of confidence in the ability to know the truth and to have Faith in God. At the same time, traditional Christian anthropology has faded and has been replaced by an extreme individualism and a concept of conscience, which elevates the individual to an absolute, and has developed a new level of moral relativism.


The Statement of Conclusions caused widespread dismay in sections of the Australian Church and there was extensive media debate about why Rome was being so critical of the Australian Church and whether the Australian bishops deserved to be regarded as ineffective.


The young Catholics on the WYD organising committee in 2001 had read the Statement of Conclusions and wondered “what the fuss was about”, as Australians say. It seemed clear to us that there was a crisis of Faith and that it must be addressed by the Church in Australia. With God’s grace and favour there was no fundamental reason to despair but both spiritual and social reality had to be confronted.


The organising committee perceived, through their own experiences, that while on paper the Catholic Church was the largest denomination in Australia (28%) and that a record number of young people had been educated in the extensive network of Catholic primary and secondary schools, there had been a virtual collapse of active interest-in and practice-of the Faith by a whole generation of Catholics since the 1960’s. The Church in Australia had gone from being a community where, in the 1960s, to be a practising Catholic was mainstream and normal, to the situation today where very few practice their Faith regularly, let alone live-out the Faith in their daily lives.


In the 1970’s and 1980’s, many Catholic associations which supported the broader Catholic way of life disappeared, and until recent initiatives, had not been replaced nor encouraged. Many parishes, since at least the early 1980s, have a reduced social and formational role, and many youth find little in the parishes to nourish them when the belief and habit of regular Mass attendance is no longer a part of personal and family identity.


With WYD in Sydney we believed a new era of youth involvement and organisation would be initiated. We envisioned the establishment of new and stronger Catholic associations, formed across the city and regions, absorbing many parish youth groups, which often have limited activities and are without a suitable “critical mass” of members. We also identified the necessity for a renewal of a Catholic culture and way of life. As the Evangelicals and Pentecostals exhibit in Sydney, strong active youth groups energise and attract more members and foster keener involvement.


All the features of the crisis of Faith are present in Australia’s younger generation of baptized-Catholics, from individualism, to materialism, to faithlessness. However, most young people who have a committed-Faith, have either emerged from sound and faithful Catholic families, or have received Catholic formation through groups and have been effected by the ever-developing Catholic culture. The WYD submission of 2001 from the youth of Australia firmly and distinctly showed that there are a significant number of young people who want to respond as faithful Christian witnesses and want to bring the wider Church, through the support of our bishops, the Holy Father and the Catholic youth of all the world, to assist us in this essential endeavour of proclaiming Christ to the youth of Australia.

Latest news from Spain- Bull Fighting

Have been to a couple of bullfights this last few days and they have been fairly dramatic! In one fight the fighter was whistled and heckled a lot- by the end the crowd were throwing their cushions at him as it took him 6 blows to kill the bull, who he originally injured too much to have a proper fight. In the fight on Sunday- One bull was injured and a substitution was called for- this is when they bring in the cows (vachas) to try and attract the bull out of the stadium. The only problem was the bull wasn’t interested! So after 25 minutes of classic entertainment of attempting to get him to leave they had to kill him and another bull was brought on instead. The whole format of bullfighting is classically ritualistic, involved a set liturgy of events whereby the bull is gradually injured more and more and his head is lowered by injuring his back. What the animal rights lobby forget above all is that it is the breeders themselves who keep up a good stock of bulls before sending a few to the ring. Banning the sport only destroys the incentive to keep bulls in the first place. Bullfighting is a great combination between art and sport (although it is not a sport) and the fighters are brave posers at heart.

World Youth Alliance Article organises summer projects

This year, the staff of WYA-Europe are currently involved in training Committee members and 2 major projects; ‘Viviamo –the art of living’ Summer School and a Polish conference entitled ‘Human Dignity and the Future of Europe’ where they will train young people to communicate the principles of dignity, human rights and diplomacy. WYA believes that formation is a high priority and the prerequisite for training others and shaping the culture. The European office has a successful internship scheme and has trained over 50 young people in Europe on the principles of World Youth Alliance.

The European headquarters in Brussels works directly with the international institutions, especially the E. U. The World Youth Alliance has been involved in the discussion of financing the 7^th Framework Programme which debates the European budgeting of embryonic stem cell research. World Youth Alliance members also discuss and negotiate in issues of HIV/AIDS, human cloning and the importance of family. Our young members articulate that society, through law and culture, has an obligation to protect the dignity of the person and thus protect the right to life.

Anna Halpine, Director and Founder, established the World Youth Alliance in 1999 and since then membership has grown rapidly in every continent, largely due to many well organised conferences, events and training sessions. The organization is committed to promoting the dignity of the human person and a culture of life through cultural and political events. The WYA is also dedicated to building solidarity between developing and developed nations. World Youth Alliance believes that the key to building a free and just society is the training of young people; the future leaders and shapers of society. Young people are trained on these issues of dignity in order to create an impact in policy and culture at a local, national and international level.

The World Youth Alliance is composed of young men and women from every part of the world. In cooperation with other organs of the international community, primarily the United Nations and the European Union, the World Youth Alliance is committed to building free and just societies through a culture of life. That culture affirms the inalienable dignity of the person, defends the intrinsic right to life, nurtures the family, and fosters a social climate favourable to integral development, solidarity, and mutual respect.

We believe that the authentic development of society can occur only in a culture that fosters integral human development-characterized by physical, spiritual, mental and emotional growth, in a climate of respect for the human person and the family.

We invite all those who share these convictions to join us in affirming them and give them effect in public life at all levels.

For more information please contact the European office, +32 2 7327605.

Email: Europe@wya.net 

Website: www.wya.net

For information on the ‘Viviamo-the Art of Living’ Summer School please click on the link below:

http://www.wya.net/events/eventitem.html?id=25&year=&...

For information on the Polish Conference ‘Human Dignity and the Future of Europe’ please click on the link below:

http://www.wya.net/events/eventitem.html?id=26&year=&...

National Committee Weekend

Mheer, Netherlands Thursday 13^th of April until the 15^th of April 2006

World Youth Alliance-Europe hosted a National Committee weekend to gather and train the most committed and brightest WYA members in Europe. Over 20 young people, from a considerable number of European countries, travelled to Mheer in the Netherlands,     in-order to train and commit themselves to the national ideas and works of WYA.

Training and formation of our best members is a very high priority for our region and a prerequisite for training others and shaping our culture. We recognise the crucial importance of bringing young people together to build solidarity and share experiences and ideas.

As it is essential to establish a stable structure, the members of the committee were trained using Track A (equivalent to Training set 1) for it is vital to grasp the purpose, method and direction of the work of World Youth Alliance. The ideas are then implicated through living experience and by gaining an understanding of their application at the level of international policy and culture.

Committee members then formed local and national strategic plans for Europe to advocate for the dignity of the human person through E.U. policy work, publications and training seminars. The strategic plans of each country would involve the implementation of internal development, advocacy, training and projects.

European Region focuses on National Committee Strategies 

European National Committee candidates and members were treated to a weekend in a beautiful country house in the Netherlands during which they participated in training and strategic planning. The first day provided an in depth examination of the founding story and core ideas and achievements of the World Youth Alliance.  The second day focused on sustainable structures and concrete plans for the future of the region.  The European Directors invite interested members to apply for positions on the National Committees. 

link: http://www.wya.net/news/newsitem.html?newsid=22

Robert Colquhoun

Observations at Death’s door

Characters:

Jonathan- Struck down by car in drink driving accident, in intensive care and critical.

Christopher – Autistic young adult, terminally ill, with desperate parents Jill and David.

Nurse Geraldine, working on the ward.

Story is told from the perspective of Jonathan, as he is conscious of all around him, despite being paralysed, but is able to talk. Nurse Geraldine, in an  attempt to be seen as a good nurse is secretly plotting to almost kill and then resuscitate Jonathan by denying his intensive care.

Nurse Geraldine knew she was right. It was only fitting that one should suffer in order that the hospital might be saved. The Horton Hospital faced closure once again, the third attempt to close the hospital in as many years by the authorities. She rather enjoyed taking her patients to the brink of death, moving them out of their beds, relocating them to another area and then seeing if they would survive by resuscitating them. Having moved the last 8 patients in this way she knew that Jonathan would be her last gracious victim, at the salvation of the hospital - the hospital monitors would not suspect a thing. The buzz she got justified the means- she was the saviour who rescued these poor lost ones from their dying moments and brought them back to life, saving the hospital in the process.

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            I (Jonathan) knew that Geraldine had some grand plot up her sleeves- but there was nothing that I could do. I was lucky to be alive following the accident- now I can move, only think and talk- I can only pray I quit this paralytic life soon.

            The intensive ward here is bleak- suffering, torment and unhappiness are expressions all around. The visitors are always anxious and concerned, they bring large collections of presents to alleviate the suffering of the patients. Yet there is an atmosphere of disturbing anticipation, of the inevitable and relentless advance of time counted by the loud ticking of the grandfather clock at the end of the ward. Even the nurses grimace in anticipation of the next death at the intensive care unit. At night the creaks and groans of the bed complement the wails of unhappy patients wanting to go home. Pandemonium broke out last night as Tom fell of his bed and stopped breathing- only the high pitched squeal of Christopher saved his life. I’ve been in this chronic situation for 2 days now- my brain has soaked up all of my energy – being fully awake while my body aches and itches to move.

            At Breakfast, Christopher drowned his corn flakes into his milk until they were soggy and limp, before passing his bowl to one side, refusing to even have a spoonful. He knew those two familiar people were coming today- but his emotional autonomy prevented him from realising that they were his parents. His bond of love to his parents had been severed by his mild autism- he was more interested in tormenting his cereal than engaging with anyone else. Meanwhile Tom did not have the privilege of eating- his condition meant that he had a large drip inserted straight into his veins. Nurse Geraldine had already fed him breakfast this morning by turning the tap. All three of us knew we were burdens to our loved ones and hospital now- we were the source of suffering and inefficiency- were we to be discarded of so that happiness could prevail?

“I shall hope against hope, take courage in courage alone and prevail in where the Lord wants me to be – right here for the mean time – after all we can only live in present,” I said peacefully as my head lay softly against the pillow.

“Well – we can only hope and courage in the acts we do to others, I’ve saved countless lives of patients in this hospital. But inside us- we cannot have peace, hope and courage for ourselves. I’m the most outstanding nurse in this hospital but I lack such fanciful attributes,” replied Geraldine despondingly. She had already got the drugs ready for me later in the day; secretly she was waiting with glee before her next victim would be rescued inches from the realms of death. “After all,” she added “we have no hope after this life, courage is for some, but eventually it will all come to no avail.”

But I would not be overcome with Geraldine’s negativity “Death has been overcome by triumphant love- we cannot fear the afterlife but remain confident in the hope of continued existence, nurtured by the grace sustained by our acts of goodwill. Pain is only temporary but glory is forever,” With this Geraldine moved swiftly off, frustrated by my optimism- it was clear that he only had weeks to live, how on earth could he be so positive and relaxed- with what faith and hope did he possess? Geraldine knew she would be back later- perhaps the disappearance of my consciousness would destroy my insane joy.

The grandfather clock in the ward struck noon swiftly, time had progressed as if it had been in fast forward. Christopher knew that his guests would arrive. The squeaking of shoes on the polished floor created a symphony of unpleasant noises throughout the day but the patients quickly adjusted to the inconvenience. After all, the food trolley for lunch dulled the patients into submission to the cost cutting regime in the hospital. In the corner, 3 elderly patients watched the dreariness and drab daytime television semi unconsciously dribbling and shrivelling like decomposing corpses. At last, after more dreary blasts from the television, Christopher’s parents arrived- they knew his fate would be soon decided by the operation but it was almost certain he would not survive. Jill had contained her hope well until her husband had lost compassion for their child.

                                                            ----------------

“Jill, you know in two weeks it will all be over, and we can continue our lives back to normality. We don’t want to be burdened by inconvenience- we have already suffered a lifetime’s burden from this ungracious child, its sad- but terminal illness is just not compatible with our lifestyle,” remarked David as they entered the hospital.

“But Darling, Christopher has been our child, a wonderful gift and we must cherish these last moments- even if he cannot reciprocate anything for us,” Jill knew that David was right- after all they had suffered tremendously due to their child. “There must have been some meaning and purpose of our suffering- some good must have arisen and it cannot have been in vain. We are to be sure that suffering can only be finite- we should not be concerned about the countless sacrifices we have made for Christopher.”

But David contested, “But what do we have to show for this suffering? A whiff of benevolence perhaps, but this is nothing in comparison to the hardships that has scaled our skin. Happiness can never prevail against the obligations of unwanted commitments. We shall see for the ends of this operation.” 

They entered the intensive ward. But Christopher had just been sick all over his bed – 3 nurses were in the process of attempting to clean up the vile stench that emanated from the duvet. Yesterday’s supper of green peas had left a light green stain on the bed. I noticed that Jill’s words were soothing and calming towards Christopher, but David stood then amok, disappointed that he could be more involved with his only child. Even though Jill did not realise Christopher hung on her words and understood them, her words were a cradle for his heart- she was the only comfort and hope that he experienced in his life. I realised, that even when we are aware of the consequences of our actions, which does not prevent the greatness that we bring forth in others. Christopher barely responded to his parents, yet at the same time he subconsciously knew their voices and faces, and that prevented him from causing more nuisances later on that day. David and Jill promptly departed after 20 minutes of nurturing and care, despite the foul stench and Christopher behaved immaculately for the rest of the day. Sometimes- the great wonders of our goodness is hidden- but this does not negate the good that we create.

                                                            ------------------

Nurse Geraldine had secretly entered the ward with a needle filled with enough drugs to make the whole ward comatose. I didn’t realise that she had inserted it into my drip until I felt the cold liquid rush up my arm like a stormy sea breeze. Immediately the emergency device at the end of my bed started to bleep as I began to lose consciousness- my heart had actually stopped- but I was still conscious. Incidentally, Nurse Geraldine was there injecting me with the second drug that might resuscitate me. After 3 bizarre minutes- I realised I should have been dead but was entirely conscious- watching the scene of now 3 nurses desperately panicking to save my life- that ironically was threatened by an evil nurse. But after these minutes dramatically I gasped for air and immediately came back to life. Coincidentally, Geraldine’s attempt to be a hero had cured me from my terrible accident- I had been restored to full health, as my heart pounded and blood flowed casually around my veins. Geraldine had in fact rushed by body back into full health. I was suppose to just survive her cruel experimentation but in fact she had jolted my body into full health once again.

Could good come from evil, was this a miracle? Certainly it was a form of near death experience. But how would I place justice into the equation? An evil woman, who nearly killed me, just cured me of chronic illness. Should I inform of her mischievous acts to the hospital managers or should the fact that I survived mean that I forgive her for her actions? My conscience rattled with activity as I walked around the ward two hours later, numb from surprise and joy from today’s extraordinary events. I had been brought back to life and life abundantly and from this day forth I would cherish every hour as a gracious gift from redemptive luck. I decided that the authorities would have to be informed about Geraldine the wicked nurse, because in all likelihood she would probably finish off Christopher at the earliest possible opportunity. It would be unjust to give her benefit of the doubt over my miraculous recovery. Justice must prevail even where there is only a foretaste of it. As that afternoon I packed my bag to leave the hospital, I called in the area ward nurse to inform her of Geraldine’s mischievous activity.

The area nurse promptly started an immediate investigation as I made for the doors, in fear of the repercussions. But I turned to have another quick look at Christopher- I realised that no matter of our situations in life, they were mostly gift and mystery, we couldn’t explain our circumstances, our past or our future, but merely we can only be grateful for what we have and cherish that in gratitude. We can only assume we have the chance to live another day at most- and nothing had focused my mind closer than realising I might only have minutes to live. As I walked out the hospital into beautiful sparrows chirping, with the trees swaying in the wind, dancing a seductive rhythm I saw 2 policemen heading in the direction of my ward, presumably to investigate the nurse. I realised justice must happen, whether in this life or the next as time caught up with you. Regardless of how desperate situations can be, there was hope and new life for all of us.

The sun shone dazzlingly as I waiting for the bus back into town. I had the experience of having mysteriously overcome evil today- a proof that hope and joy can surpass wrong. My suffering had left me stronger and more willing to embrace the world. I had rejected the temptation to despair and my faith and hope transcended the hospital experience and its bleak environment.  

John 14:7-14

John Dunne famously once said, “No man is an island.” We are all sustained and nurtured by relationships with others- our family, friends and associates. Life is impossible without the inter-relationships that we must have: A mother cares for a child in the womb; she nurtures the child through early childhood and when this wondrous child is grown up it cleaves to a companion- a husband or wife for love, compassion and protection. In our giving and service to others our life is sustained, whilst we also bring life to others. Life and love is truly enriched and experienced by the gift of oneself to others.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus explains that he is one with the Father. These words would have been blasphemous in the eyes of the Jewish authorities. How could a man claim to be at one with God? But this statement is a central claim of the Christian faith. Jesus is God; he is intimately linked with his father in heaven as they cannot be separated. The situation is like: A pregnant mother: intimately united with her unborn child- the child lives in her and she lives defined with the nurturing of that child- as a reality of her own existence. We may be unaware of how God acts and reveals himself in our lives, just as Phillip is so demanding to see the father and yet so unaware that Jesus in front of him and is precisely who he is searching for. God can be hidden under appearances in our lives. We too can often search for many things, be distracted when what we want is just in front of us. The lost spectacles, the love not yet to be realised, the potential of a virtuous act instilling good in another person, are right in front of our eyes yet we can search for a long time before realising. Jesus is in front of us today, but are we willing to acknowledge him, worship, thank him and share our lives with him?

Jesus is the mediator between God and man. When we ask in his name, he is able to grant us grace and love. But we must not only ask what he can do for us, but what we can do for him. We are to put on Christ and perform the same charitable acts that he performed himself. But this must be done in the action of charity and service not in the context of power and privilege. Not only does Jesus have union with God, but we can come into close relationship with God, by adopting attitudes of humility and sacrifice in our lives. Jesus as the suffering servant leads the way to the father; we follow him and can come to live with him. The litmus test is if we keep his commandments. But our faith is far more than not just doing wrong, but more about realising good and bringing it about in abundance. The rich young man needed to realise this- he made sure he did no wrong, but he was unable and terrified of the extra distance needed for the ever more close union with God. We can fail to act through fear or ignorance, but ever closer intimacy with Jesus can rid us of these traits in our lives.

“To find the will of God and to do it wholeheartedly.”

“The Lord will show you in his own good time.”

“When the Lord closes a door somewhere he opens a window.”

Co-operating in adversity, getting attention by tricks, refutation of negativism

“I am seeking the courage I lack.”

“Pace my mistakes with defiance.”

“I have confidence in confidence alone.”

“I’ll do better than my best.”

“You have to live the life you were born to live.”

“There is nothing more irresistible than a woman in love with him.”

The sound of music shows how a young woman discovers her vocation in life by exploration and open mindedness, honesty and passion. Optimism combined with humility helps us to discover the paths that God intended us to walk in this world. We cannot hide from the world,  or ourselves, but must climb every mountain to discover what God has intended. Yet we must also make the commitments at the right times, not lose hope at times when hope is pitched against hope and live the life that we were supposed to live.

It is taking longer and longer for young people to settle down in the world, find their feet and fully fly from the nest of home. This is for a combination of social and economic reasons, but it tells us clear signs about our society. Many young people are unwilling to leave home because they cannot afford somewhere to live. Many are delaying marriage for longer and longer or not bothering at all. Children are delayed, even to the point when infertility makes it impossible. Above all, this trend demonstrates the reduction in commitment that young people are willing to undergo. The availability of choice, as characterised by the film Trainspotting, shows that due to prosperity, consumerism and technology our lives are flooded with choice every day and some of us choose not to choose. We cannot leave a state of perpetual adolescence without making firm commitments in our lives, and we must ensure that we do not change from one thing to the next too often. When we start a new job we always start at the bottom of the pile again if it is a new area. Building roots, establishing clear sources of income, completing training, generating wealth and contributing towards the world can all help us to gain independence as young people.     

Only by loving ourselves can we be able to love others. Others learn by example and good practice. Evil can be defined as the absence of good. This means that nothing can actually be wrong. Teenagers tend to misbehave when there is nothing to do. If we do not have God at the centre of our lives, then something will fill that gap that only God can fill in our lives, giving faith, joy and hope. As holiness is infectious, just like sin, our practices have clear consequences for those around us and we influence everyone around us. Compliments help to build up confidence in people whereas destructive words only seek to undermine people. Very little can be fruitful for unnecessary negativity that criticises everything in its path, it is like a rotting crop that bears no harvest. When people know they are loved, they can fully develop their personalities in confidence and trust that others are there for them. Parents and role models play a key role in ensuring that young people are filled with the knowledge that others care for them and that others have belief and value them. Children need to be loved tremendously so that they then can go on to love others. It would only be tragic to live a life without love. By smiling, others naturally impersonate our actions and through the international language of body language we can build up happiness for humanity. Smiling is the one international language that everybody understands. It transcends language and culture. By volunteering, being generous and available for others we can help them with their problems, build up communities and friendships, destroy loneliness and make life worth living for many people.

Many who criticise Christianity do it on the presumption that Christian practice is synonymous with Christian principle. It is an incredibly weak argument, ultimately as Christians we acknowledge that we are all sinners in need of God's mercy. Pope John Paul saw this when he asked forgiveness from God for the crimes committed by members of the Church. But if Christians are to be attacked for their faith, it should not be for actions they have done which are contrary to their faith, but rather something instric to the understanding and the teaching of the Church. Christian principles are beautiful when they are carried out, but in practice they can never be lived out perfectly.