SUMMARY OF DOCUMENT 85 (CNBB)

EVANGELIZATION OF YOUTH

PRESENTATION
• The "evangelization of youth" is very important to the Church; it depends on it
future of the Church itself and the directions that society will take.

• THE MAIN REASON is that young people have the right to receive from the Church the
Gospel and to be introduced into the religious experience, in the encounter with
God is in contact with the riches of the Christian faith.

• We are certain that the present and the future of the Church itself depend on
this our 'affectionate' and 'effective' choice for them...

• "A search for the unity of our ecclesiastical forces with a view to a task"
but the most efficient finds in this document its general lines and motivations.

INTRODUCTION
• Youth resides in the heart of the Church and is a source of renewal for society.

• Renewal of the affective and effective option of the whole Church for the youth.

• Joint search for concrete proposals that favor a true

evangelization

• The responsibility of announcing Jesus Christ and His project to young people calls for
us to a constant vigilance so that the will of God and the signs of
times and be answered appropriately.

• The Church must offer an evangelization to the youth that provides the
knowledge of the Word of God and that helps them to discern critically
ideologies and proposals opposed to the gospel, calling them to adhere to the faith,
loving them, understanding them, encouraging them, and motivating them to be
followers of Jesus Christ.

I. ELEMENTS FOR UNDERSTANDING THE REALITY OF YOUNG PEOPLE

1. Cultural transformations and the youth

An evangelization that does not engage with cultural systems is an evangelization

of varnish, which does not withstand opposing winds.
Subjectivity: the collective ideal replaced by a greater concern with the
personal needs.

The new expressions of the experience of the sacred: spiritual experiences outside of
institutions. Young people are seeking reasons to live without getting involved with a
church

A spirituality centered on the person and not on the institution, and therefore seeks something
that satisfies your needs.

Subjectivity

The danger is subjectivism that leads to individualism.

There is concern for personal needs, for the body, self-

estimate etc.

the discredit towards ideologies leads young people to have a strong

tendency to live only in the present.

It is necessary to seek a balance between the individual project and the project.
collective.

The new expressions of the Sacred

There is a rediscovery of the religious dimension;

There is a search for spirituality that brings unity and pleasure to life.
individual religion.

There are those who seek occultism, new age, esotericism, horoscopes,
astrology.

Fundamentalist groups that seek certainties (absolute truths of faith),

that provide security to life.

The search for God does not mean acceptance of religions.

There are many young people who seek reasons to live without involvement with
a "church".

Centrality of emotions

the danger is the absolutization of emotion that leads to intellectual emptiness and
of the commitment.

Neo-Pentecostalism emphasizes subjectivity, emotions, and the affective element.

in the methodology of evangelization.
 When the education level of the young person increases, the need for a
intellectual foundation of faith. Many abandon the Church and their faith when they enter into
university.

Pentecostal churches are born every day. With the diverse range of choices
of the sacred, on the part of the 'consumer', faith is regulated by the market, in such a way
special, on TV.

Religion stopped representing the space of the relationship between the believer and God for
to transform into a vehicle of social ascension or a promise of happiness
full.

It is necessary to have balance between the emotional (feelings and imagination need to be
integrated into a methodology that has clear objectives) and the rationale that
it must leave space for emotions and imagination.

How to break through the barriers of individualism and indifference?

2. Profile of Brazilian Youth

For the purposes of public policies, the age adopted in Brazil ranges from 15 to 29 years.

The period of youth has stretched and transformed, "gaining greater

complexity and social meaning.

2.1. Socioeconomic Profile

From 15 to 29 years: 47 million.

Most affected by social exclusion mechanisms.

Main problems: "income disparity; restricted access to education

quality and fragile conditions for remaining in school systems; the
unemployment and insertion in the job market; the lack of qualification for the
world of work; involvement with drugs; the trivialization of sexuality;
teenage pregnancy; AIDS; violence in the countryside and in the city; the intense
migration; deaths from external causes (homicide, traffic accidents and
suicide); the limited access to sports, recreational, cultural activities and the
digital exclusion.

2.2. Protagonism and social participation

Common sense considers youth to be individualistic, consumerist and

politically uninterested.

In Brazil, there are a number of new forms of youth participation: a) belonging to

groups (pastoral groups, ecclesial movements, new communities, networks, NGOs and
 other youth organizations) that work to transform the local space, in
neighborhoods, in slums and outskirts; b) participation in groups that work in
cultural and leisure spaces; c) mobilizations around a cause or
campaign; c) groups gathered around specific identities: women,
blacks, indigenous people, persons with disabilities.

2.3. Religious Profile

2000 Census: - young Catholics between 15 and 24 years old = 73.6%; young
14.2%

Attraction to exotic religious manifestations; and the elaboration of syntheses

personal from the repertoire of beliefs and practices available in various
religious systems.

Many young people dedicate time to activities related to religious institutions,

however, university studies and professional life make it difficult for many to a
greater insertion in groups.

Significant presence of youth: 'In the basic ecclesial communities and in the
parishes, participating in the liturgy and singing teams, acting as
catechists, in various pastoral activities. They are also present in the pastoral care of
youth, in ecclesial movements, in new communities and in the different
initiatives promoted by religious congregations and secular institutes.
Not always the young people impacted by the pastoral action of the Church in catechesis
chrismal and other pastoral initiatives have been achieved for a solid
engagement in the faith community.

II - A LOOK AT FAITH FROM THE WORD OF GOD AND THE MAGISTERIUM

1. The following of Jesus Christ

Maria, great model to follow.

In reading the Gospels and in community life, the youth can find the
Sir.

To evangelize, one must have discovered that Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

The privileged places of encounter with Jesus Christ: Sacred Scripture, Liturgy,
especially the Eucharist.

2. Church, community of the disciples of Jesus

Many young people have difficulty understanding that they are Church or do not feel
welcomed in the communities.
In light of the negative images that certain university environments and means of
communication from the Church, it is necessary to show young people the great examples of
martyrdom and holiness of our time.

The absence of young people in the Church also appears in the difficulty of attracting vocations.
for the presbyteral ministry, for consecrated life, and for the laity.

Offering young people channels for participation and involvement in decisions:

It is about valuing the participation of young people in councils, meetings of
group, assemblies, teams, evaluation and planning process.

Show young people the beauty and sacredness of their youth, and also the
threat of sin.

To say that the evangelization of youth is a priority is to affirm that one wants
A church open to the new - Considering the young as a theological place.

3. Building a fair and supportive society

There is a need to motivate and empower young people for the exercise of citizenship, such as
an important dimension of discipleship. The political and social dimension of faith, however,
it must be presented to young people in a way that is not reduced to just one
ideology.

4. Statements of the magisterium on youth

Christifideles Laici: - "The Church looks at you with trust and love... It is the
true youth of the world... Look at it and in it you will find the face of Christ.

Medellín, or the Episcopate of Latin America: -"a great new force of pressure" and
as "a new social organism with its own values." The Church sees in youth the
constant renewal of humanity's life. Youth is the symbol of the Church,
call for a constant renewal of oneself.

Puebla: the preferential option for the poor and for the youth.

Santo Domingo: option for an organic youth ministry, with

monitoring, with real support, with dialogue, with greater personal resources and
materials and with vocational dimension.

CNBB: -"Young people deserve special care, considering the situation that
they find in today's society. Young people are a great challenge for the future of
Church,
social.

III–LINES OF ACTION
Stages that open horizons for young people to define their life project. These stages
must lead to a vocational option, understood as the vocation of a layperson or vocation of
special consecration, as a presbyter or religious. What sustains the journey is
the grace of God.

1st line of action: INTEGRAL FORMATION OF THE DISCIPLE

2nd line of action: SPIRITUALITY

3rd line of action: TRAINING PEDAGOGY

4th line of action: DISCIPLES FOR THE MISSION

5th line of action: MONITORING STRUCTURES

6th line of action: MINISTRY OF ADVISORY

7th line of action: DIALOGUE FAITH AND REASON

8th line of action: THE RIGHT TO LIFE

1st Line of Action: COMPLETE FORMATION OF THE DISCIPLE

1. Psychosocial dimension - Personalization process: What is the relationship with me?

Really? Who am I?

2. Psychosocial Dimension–Integration Process: Who is the other? How to relate?

with him?

There is a need to descend to the level of affection, to live relationships of brotherhood.

focused on discipleship.

Eroticized environment where sexuality is trivialized and frequently

transformed into a selfish way of pleasure and manipulation and corruption of relationships
deeper connections between people. It is important to develop education programs
sexual that integrates sexuality into a broader growth project
maturity

3. Mystical Dimension - Theological-Spiritual Process

What is my relationship with God? Where did I come from? Where am I going? What is the meaning of
my life, the meaning of death? What is the meaning of suffering?

The theological dimension is cultivated in study, catechesis, and deepening of

basic aspects of faith. The spiritual dimension corresponds to the experience of God. This
it can be done through retreats, sacramental experience, and prayer. It is not enough
studying God; it is also necessary to have an experience of God.

4. Sociopolitical-Ecological Dimension - Process of Participation-Awareness: What

my relationship with the society around me? How to organize social coexistence?
Can we change society?

5. Dimension of training–Methodological process: What is my relationship with the

action? How to work? How to organize myself through a consistent personal project
of life?

Action Clues

A. Evaluate whether the dimensions of integral education are being addressed.

B. Assess the youth in the development of their Life Project, addressing

all dimensions of training.

C. Organize a Confirmation Catechesis that provides meaningful experiences

group activities, community activities, meditation on the Word of God, experience of
prayer etc.

D. Mobilize the schools to ensure that they guarantee throughout the pedagogical process
a comprehensive education for young people.

E. Involve families in the different programs of the evangelizing action.

2nd Line of Action: SPIRITUALITY

The speed of changes, the attractions... make it difficult to experience a true

spirituality. Young people do not live in a Christian context, in a Christian family, they were not
initiated in faith.

How to provoke in the youth the desire to follow the Lord? How to motivate them to a
understandable and accessible spirituality, full of meaning...?

The Church needs to develop a proposal for spirituality as a path that provides
sense of life. The spirituality proposed to young people should encompass joy, the
movement, body expression, music, symbols, involvement with life, the
friendship, coexistence, spontaneity, etc.

Understanding spirituality as a central motivation, in the direction of the will of

God, we propose to the youth a spirituality:

Centered on Jesus Christ and His project of life;

2. Welcoming the everyday as a privileged place of growth and sanctification;

Joyful and full of hope;

Marked by the community experience where the Word of God is meditated upon and celebrated
Eucharist.

Effective means (mediations) can lead the young person in a constant process of
review of life and vocational discernment before God and before the world.

Action clues

A. Guide the young person about the value of personal prayer.

A liturgy that encompasses joy and depth, spontaneity and respect,

past and present, silence and movement, new language and tradition.

C. Participation in the Sunday Eucharist.

D. Opening to the ecumenical dimension of Christian life.

E. Involve young people in various decision-making and organizational instances

community.

F. Promote access, understanding, appropriate tools, courses so that the

young person can deepen the Sacred Scriptures.

G. Encourage the Prayerful Reading of the Word of God (Lectio Divina) with young people,
mainly with youth leadership.

H. To creatively and attractively offer training programs for the

sacraments of Christian initiation and penance.

I. Provide training means that gradually offer young people

conscious reception of the sacraments of Matrimony or Holy Orders.

J. Introduce Maria to the young people;

K. Organize spiritual training meetings and retreats with the youth.

L. To facilitate the circulation or acquisition of books, subsidies, and films by men and
women who responded positively to the call to holiness.

3rd Line of Action: TRAINING PEDAGOGY

There is a need for a training pedagogy that wins over and engages young people.
a journey that leads them to maturity in faith.
We have a generation shaped by images, accustomed to constant stimuli.
to maintain your attention, for those for whom 'feeling' is more important than 'thinking',
which, at times, has a very fragile 'I', with an aversion to long-term commitments.
deadline, open to the spiritual dimension of life, but often rejects religion
institutionalized.

Priority of experience over theory

It is about walking and dialoguing with young people, starting from their lives and
concerns, illuminating these concerns with the dimension of faith... A
The evangelization of young people requires a new language to communicate with them.

Integrate the rational with the symbolic, affectivity, the body, and the universe. For many
young people, the encounter with Jesus Christ first involves the affective life,
not feeling welcomed and being in an environment of joy and friendship.

2. Pedagogy of small groups and mass events.

3. Levels of evolution of the youth monitoring process.

a) Provision of services: Nucleation

b) Organization of youth groups

c) Organization of groups in a network

d) Need for a shared pastoral project

e) Stepwise growth

Action Hints

A. Promote at all levels of organization a pedagogy that favors the

affective growth among young people.

B. Provide evaluation moments to detect the pedagogical gaps in

conducting the process of faith education for young people.

C. Train the advisors and coordinators: fellowship, prayer, and planning

in common.

D. Promote courses in the area of pedagogical training so that there is greater

professionalization and methodological clarity.

E. Encourage the habit of reading articles, books, and documents

F. Organize, value, and monitor the Youth Groups in the Communities.

 G. Periodically assess the stage of each Youth Group,
offering you concrete clues that contribute to your evolution.

H. Organizing Mass Events (Movements, Youth Pastoral)

Religious Congregations, Confirmation Groups, Vocational Ministry, Pastoral
Familiar, Schools, etc.), mainly National Youth Day, in the last
Sunday of October. Valuing the World Youth Day that takes place on
Palm Sunday.

I. Gradually involve young people in community activities.

faith.

J. Organize meaningful experiences for volunteering practice.

4th Line of Action: Disciples for the Mission

It is necessary to stimulate in everyone the missionary spirit so that they go on a mission to

to lead other young people to a personal encounter with Jesus Christ and the project of life
proposal by him.

The mission is not limited to just bringing the youth to the activities of the Church, but
also so that they take on their role in society.

Action hints

To promote the project 'Youth Mission', already existing in some places in the country,
so that it takes place in other regions and dioceses.

B. Mobilize the youth of the ecclesial community to become missionaries

in the environments they are in and in those where they show greater
challenges, investing in differentiated work with youth: students,
university students, riverside dwellers, black people, farmers, impoverished, from the outskirts
the big cities, drug dependents, involved in the world of violence
and the gangs and other youth segments.

C. Encourage the young people of the ecclesial community to invite other young people to
participate in their activities.

D. Gradually awakening the youth to the awareness of citizenship and the

socio-political engagement in the transformation of society, from the option
evangelical for the poor.

5th Action Line: MONITORING STRUCTURES

The evangelization of youth goes through the strengthening of organizational structures.
that accompany the processes of education in faith.

1. The organization of youth evangelization presents two challenges:

a) Strengthen the organizational structures that support the processes of

education in the faith of young people.

b) Organize a broader articulation - YOUTH SECTOR - that involves

all the forces that work with young people.

2. The challenge of strengthening organizational structures:

a) The Youth Pastoral Care that accompany the processes of evangelization of

youth from youth groups.

b) The Ecclesial Movements and New Communities with their specific charisms;

c) The Religious Congregations that work with youth, according to the

respective Charisms;

d) Other ecclesiastical organizations that also work with youth, such as

Confirmation Pastoral, Catechesis, Vocational Pastoral, Education Pastoral, to
side of others.

e) - Strengthen and expand the Church's evangelizing action and not lose wealth
conquered.

f) - Both the pastorals and the movements, new communities and congregations
religious people need to get to know each other and, together, find their place in
Joint Pastoral of the Local Church.

g) - A new organization is not being proposed, but the unity of all

forces around some common goals and priorities.

Action clues

A. Organize the Youth Sector in each Local Church.

B. Organize courses and technical training workshops for advisors.

C. Ensure that the jointly undertaken projects do not overload the

leaderships do not weaken the different organizations.

D. Invest more human and financial resources in training structures and

accompaniment of youth evangelization.

E. Invest in communication through the Internet.

6th Line of Action: MINISTRY OF ADVISORY

There is no process of education in faith without guidance, and there is not

companionship without a companion. As long as there are no
adults and young adults the results will always fall short of what is desired.

It is noteworthy the absence of priests who embrace a work of

systematic monitoring of young people. Religious and lay adults also
they are very distant. In the absence of adults, there are young people who find themselves forced to be
youth advisors. The role of the adult is irreplaceable, whether religious or lay, in
I work with youth.

The advisor is the main companion who helps the young person define their project.
life, according to the project of Jesus Christ. It is about a person who has already clarified their
life project, went through the vocational discernment process and seeks to integrate
faith and life. Celebrate and share your faith and your work with young people. You are an educator
in faith, through the testimony of coherence and the explicit announcement of the Lord Jesus.

It's not enough for the adult advisor to have a youthful demeanor. The times demand preparation.
planning, clarity of goals, and strategy to achieve them.

There is a need to establish criteria for choosing the young advisor.

Action clues

A. Develop strategies to engage adult advisors to support the

processes of education in the faith of young people.

B. Invest in the training and possible release of adult and youth advisors
adults, at all levels.

C. Clearly define the responsible persons (advisors, coordinators) for the work.
youth

D. Organize advisory committees including priests, religious (women and men), and laypeople
adults, young adults. These committees are spaces for emotional support, exchange of
experiences, life review, prayer, and development of strategies to improve
the monitoring service.

E. To appoint priests, religious, and adult laypeople who have a vocation and passion for
youth, ensuring their permanence in the Advisory for a while
reasonable.
 F. Ensure the training of new advisors, enabling periodic renewal
of those who accompany the evangelization of youth.

7th Course of Action: DIALOGUE FAITH AND REASON

Pastoral action should enhance the intellectual foundation of your faith so that you know how to move.
in a critical manner within the intellectual world that often hostile to the
religion and the institutional Church.

One must propagate a church committed to the marginalized sectors of

society, which evangelizes through the testimony and dynamism of its members, of
a special way of young people who are apostles to other young people, a joyful Church and
welcoming who loves and believes in young people.

Action hints

A. Promote groups, retreats, experiences of the sacraments, courses, spaces of

reflection and study so that young people can have an adequate education and
experience of God and, in the words of Saint Paul, learn to give reasons for it
faith.

B. Organize an efficient pastoral in universities coordinated by people

properly prepared.

C. Seek and form advisors capable of safely monitoring,

always the just balance between faith and reason.

D. Awakening the missionary spirit so that university students become

apostles of other young people in the university environment and participate in projects in the
society alongside the poorest and learn to apply intellectual knowledge to
service of social transformation.

8th Course of Action: RIGHT TO LIFE

A strong involvement from all segments of the Church is needed in order to

guarantee the right of young people to a dignified life and to their full development
potentials.

Youth is the stage of life in which physical development is usually completed.

intellectual, psychological, social, and cultural. It is also a suitable time for training for the
citizenship... Only through the implementation of basic rights is it possible to expect that the
young people take on their responsibilities towards society, becoming citizens
responsible for leading their lives and the nation.

Action clues

A. Involve the different segments of the Church in promoting actions that

to ensure the fundamental rights of young people, in view of: overcoming the
structures that produce social inequality, expansion of access and
staying in quality schools, eradication of illiteracy among
youth, preparation for the job market, job creation and
strive for the labor rights of young people to be respected,
promotion of healthy living, democratization of access to sports, leisure,
culture and information technology, promotion of human rights and
affirmative policies, combatting crime and ensuring public safety,
stimulus to citizenship and social participation, democratization of access to land and
defense of an agricultural policy that encourages small family farming,
recognition and appreciation of the quality of life of young people in rural areas and in
traditional communities.
B. Support young people who engage in activism within society organizations,
Providing them guidance based on the Social Doctrine of the Church and the Magisterium.
C. Encourage the debate within the Church on topics that directly affect
life of young people, and that require a public stance, such as the reduction of
age of criminal responsibility and the establishment of quota policies in universities,
for Afro-descendants, indigenous people and students from public schools.
In this debate, it is necessary to seriously consider the arguments of experts and
of youth movements that have technical knowledge and awareness of reality.
D. Encourage the youth to value and commit to the sacredness and inviolability
of their own life and that of their peers.

CONCLUSION
The bishops of Brazil renew their affectionate and effective option for young people and find in
Pope Benedict XVI a boost for the evangelization of youth.

They want to go, with preferential love for the young who suffer the most.

As pastors, we call the whole Church to invest in the evangelization of youth,

so that it can energize the ecclesial and social body.