In the wake of the debacle over Cardinal-Designate Americo Aguiar’s remarks that World Youth Day (WYD) 2023 doesn’t intend to “convert” any youth because its goal was rather some kind of amorphous exercise in “fraternity,” somebody apparently sent out a “Lisbon, We Have a Problem” alert. The usual defensive mechanisms sprang into place: whenever a hierarch today utters something utterly off-the-wall, there follows efforts to walk back those off-the-wall remarks.
It started with Bishop Aguiar himself. He certainly never meant to suggest that WYD shouldn’t bring youth — even non-Catholic youth — to “God.” No, the head of WYD 2023 and auxiliary bishop of Lisbon hopes all young people have a positive “experience of God” there.
But that “God” has a name. And that God revealed Himself and spoke His Word, who is “Jesus Christ.” Why the allergy to the Name (cf Acts 5:40-41)?
Sure, it looks great to speak of an “experience of God,” but I fear the expression is just so many more soapsuds in the eyes of the faithful, offering a sop while advancing an agenda. Frankly, I think Aguiar’s July 6th comments were quite accurate in terms of his thinking: while organized by the Church, this is a gathering of world youth (most of them admittedly Catholic) assembled to celebrate “fraternity” and “diversity” among those who believe in Somebody or Something. It might be G-d, it might be Allah; for non-believers it might be “social justice” or even “the Force be with you.” Then they will all go home, appreciative of religious diversity, with the added benefit of knowing there are still so many folks who recognize something bigger than themselves (but don’t be “triumphalist” about that).
That’s why, until I hear an explicitly Christocentric focus from Aguiar and Pope Francis, I’m not buying the bishop’s “clarification” nor modifying my argument that we are watching the dumbing down of WYD.
The next line-of-defense is that Bishop Aguiar was quoted out of context and, therefore, willfully misunderstood: all he opposed was “active proselytism.”
Three responses: (1) Except as a bugaboo in Pope Francis’s mind, who can cite any example in recent decades of an event run under explicit Catholic institutional auspices that involved outright, aggressive proselytism? (2) Since Aguiar is regarded as something of an ecclesial media spokesman and celebrity in Portugal, why are we to believe he was just innocently unaware of how his remarks might be taken? (3) After ten years of this pontificate, why are there still constant “communications” problems? Might the problem lie in the confused theology behind it?
Two essays on the “Where Peter Is” site attempt to spin the controversy. Claire Domingues and Pedro Gabriel would have us believe that Aguiar was really just channeling his inner-Josef Ratzinger. They quote from Pope Benedict XVI’s 2012 Christmas address to the Curia, in which he noted that interreligious dialogue “does not aim at conversion but understanding.”
But WYD is not a gathering of ecumenists or practitioners of interreligious dialogue. It is a gathering of primarily Catholic youth. I expect most people (including most parents paying big bucks to send their children there) expected the focus to be Catholic: explicitly and unabashedly….
I’m more and more of a mind that the church’s prelates are overwhelmingly like trust fund babies who have a comfy life without having to do much of anything. So they don’t stand for anything nor do they evince belief in anything except the current secularist worldview because that’s what makes them acceptable to the people they most admire in society and it gets them positive press coverage.
World middle aged day should be canceled.
Well said! Maybe Cardinal-Designate Aguiar should invite the pope’s beloved “Tucho,” to give the WYD kids kissing lessons, with demonstrations– since it is not to be a “CatholIc” gathering. Then he could teach the kids to dance the Tango on the Lisbon beaches.
“In the wake of the debacle over Cardinal-Designate Americo Aguiar’s remarks that World Youth Day (WYD) 2023 doesn’t intend to “convert” any youth …” Aguilar is the Pope’s man and expresses the Pope’s desires for what Youth Day should be all about. Indeed, Aguilar echoes P. Francis’ own convictions on proselytizing, on which the pontiff has given a thumbs down on more than one occasion. The Abrahamic Family House in Abu Dhabi exists to encourage people to exemplify human fraternity and solidarity within a community that cherishes the values of mutual respect and peaceful coexistence, while the unique character of each faith is preserved. The act of proselytizing would be inimical to such a purpose, and a good place to make this clear would be to the world’s Catholic youth.
I wonder if one aspect of B. Strickland’s concern with Francis’ undermining the faith is the pope’s refusal to embrace Jesus’ call to make disciples of all nations. Anyone, what do you think? And does this concern have any validity in your eyes?
The Pope’s refusal to embrace Jesus” call to make disciples of all nations?????????
This Pope has been insistent on the mission of the Church, on evangelizing, on making sure that every person on the planet has heard the invitation of Jesus Christ.
Maybe I have missed this emphasis in his pontificate. If so, the fault is mine. I am a little concerned that jon gives P. Francis’ 2013 address as proof of his commitment to evangelization. A lot of water has passed under the bridge since then– I am thinking of his fulminations against proselytizing and the Abrahamic Family House in Abu Dhabi, as well as the Document on Human Fraternity, a beautiful document, but underlying it is the conviction that
” Freedom is a right of every person: each individual enjoys the freedom of belief, thought, expression and action. The pluralism and the diversity of religions, colour, sex, race and language are willed by God in His wisdom, through which He created human beings. This divine wisdom is the source from which the right to freedom of belief and the freedom to be different derives. Therefore, the fact that people are forced to adhere to a certain religion or culture must be rejected, as too the imposition of a cultural way of life that others do not accept; ”
It is hard for me to conceive that P. Francis wants “every person on the planet [to hear} the invitation of Jesus Christ” in light of this document, but if I am wrong, well, I am wrong, and I spoke too soon, as it were.
The dedicated Catholic kids will follow the faith, and brush off the rest.
We must not allow ourselves even a moment of rest, knowing that still not everyone has received an invitation to this Supper or knowing that others have forgotten it or have got lost along the way in the twists and turns of human living.
Pope Francis
On July 13, 2013 at his homily on World Youth Day, Pope Francis told the thousands of young people gathered in Rio de Janeiro:
“’Go and make disciples of all nations’. With these words, Jesus is speaking to each one of us, saying: ‘It was wonderful to take part in World Youth Day, to live the faith together with young people from the four corners of the earth, but now you must go, now you must pass on this experience to others.’ Jesus is calling you to be a disciple with a mission!….Dear young friends, Jesus Christ is counting on you! The Church is counting on you! The Pope is counting on you! May Mary, Mother of Jesus and our Mother, always accompany you with her tenderness: ‘Go and make disciples of all nations’. Amen.”
You had to go all the way back to 2013 to find that, huh? That was when he was still a new pope.
https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2023-02/pope-francis-general-audience-holy-spirit-evangelisation.html#:~:text=And%20what%20is%20this%20task,freely%20know%20and%20love%20Him.%E2%80%9D
There are way too many to post but this is recent.
What did you think go out to the peripheries meant?
Go tell the good news to those who have never heard it.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with quoting Pope Francis from 2013. It shows that evangelization has been central to his ministry from the beginning of his reign. He hasn’t changed.
And I so agree with “general audience” about going to the peripheries as Pope Francis tells us. That’s why I comment here; I am going to the “peripheries” by coming here. Because admit it, folks: you’re not exactly at the heart of the Church. You’re in the margins.
And so I am here to bring you all the Gospel, because it seems from the way many of you write, many here have never heard of the Gospel. Many are even ignorant of basic Catholic teachings.
You have as much of a savior and living martyr complex as Bishop Strickland does.
No I haven’t. Strickland was taking himself seriously in his podcast, as he should. Whereas I challenge the commentariat here, with self-deprecation on my part, if necessary.
Only God is great, and His Son, Jesus Christ. Christ was God, very humble, totally empty of ego and delusions of grandeur and self-importance, giving all glory to God.
God is indeed great, and so one should respect and honor the Church He has founded by not slandering His ministers and His priests. When we unjustly criticize in public, we are criticizing God. Give glory to Him.
And for the record people, there is absolutely nothing of the “savior or living-martyr complex” is saying that one is bringing the Gospel here. Bringing the Gospel to the peripheries is what is expected of us by Pope Francis.
jon, I don’t think this is the peripheries that the Pope meant. He meant people who have never heard of Christ, I think.
Oh this is part of the peripheries alright. Just read how Pope Francis defines the “existential peripheries”: “the mystery of sin, of pain, of injustice, of ignorance and indifference to religion, of intellectual currents and of all misery.”
Some of those words and phrases aptly describe many of the comments here, especially “sin,” “pain,” “injustice,” “ignorance,” and especially, “of all misery.” Many of the comments here are just “all misery.”
Notice that the Pope nevercrudely insults anyone, as jon dies. Jon has no manners, and no moral conscience.
Notice that the pope never viciously insults nor attacks anyone– as jon does. Nor does the pope arrogantly proclaim that he has “come to bring the Gospel” to all these “worthless Catholic commenters” whom he despises. Such vile behavior is totally unworthy of a good follower of Jesus Christ.
Get closer to Peter by getting closer to the Pope, his successor. Respect and love him. Because “Ubi Petrus, ibi Ecclesia.” Where Peter is, there is the Church. And where the Church is, there is Christ.
Nothing vile about Jon’s posts.
https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/apost_exhortations/documents/papa-francesco_esortazione-ap_20131124_evangelii-gaudium.html
Thank you for the link. I have been reading chapter IV: Social dialogue as a contribution to peace [238-258] which is one place where evangelism is linked to fraternity. As best as I can understand, the link is stated best here:
250. An attitude of openness in truth and in love must characterize the dialogue with the followers of non-Christian religions, in spite of various obstacles and difficulties, especially forms of fundamentalism on both sides. Interreligious dialogue is a necessary condition for peace in the world, and so it is a duty for Christians as well as other religious communities. This dialogue is in first place a conversation about human existence or simply, as the bishops of India have put it, a matter of “being open to them, sharing their joys and sorrows”.[194] In this way we learn to accept others and their different ways of living, thinking and speaking. We can then join one another in taking up the duty of serving justice and peace, which should become a basic principle of all our exchanges. A dialogue which seeks social peace and justice is in itself, beyond all merely practical considerations, an ethical commitment which brings about a new social situation. Efforts made in dealing with a specific theme can become a process in which, by mutual listening, both parts can be purified and enriched. These efforts, therefore, can also express love for truth.
251. In this dialogue, ever friendly and sincere, attention must always be paid to the essential bond between dialogue and proclamation, which leads the Church to maintain and intensify her relationship with non-Christians.[195] A facile syncretism would ultimately be a totalitarian gesture on the part of those who would ignore greater values of which they are not the masters. True openness involves remaining steadfast in one’s deepest convictions, clear and joyful in one’s own identity, while at the same time being “open to understanding those of the other party” and “knowing that dialogue can enrich each side”.[196] What is not helpful is a diplomatic openness which says “yes” to everything in order to avoid problems, for this would be a way of deceiving others and denying them the good which we have been given to share generously with others. Evangelization and interreligious dialogue, far from being opposed, mutually support and nourish one another.[197]
The dialogue envisioned here certainly is directed towards fraternity “enrich each side…” and “A dialogue which seeks social peace and justice is in itself, beyond all merely practical considerations, an ethical commitment which brings about a new social situation.” How exactly such dialogue contributes toward evangelization is less clear. The closest statement on this seems to be: “…by mutual listening, both parts can be purified and enriched. These efforts, therefore, can also express love for truth.” But then I ask, whose truth? To be sure, an enriching dialogue does lay groundwork for evangelism. If people are convinced an evangelist has a genuine concern for them, they are more likely to give that person a patient hearing. But the document stops short of saying this, and in fact, studiously avoids saying this. Much more could be said, but this document needs careful study, and this for another time.
I think those who attend WYD are already converted.
We all need continuing conversion.
Fraternity is brotherhood (and sisterhood.)
Those I know who attended a WYD say it is amazing to see so many youth who believe the Faith.
They often feel rather alone.
So we have WYD, NCYC conferences, Steubenville conferences, LifeTeen camps and rallies, LA Congress Youth Day, FOCUS conferences, and other events. Yet the church is still losing young people. It’s not sticking.