Budując cywilizację miłości. Latynoamerykański model Duszpasterstwa Młodzieży dla Kościoła „wyruszającego w drogę”
Building a civilization of love. Latin American model of pastoral work with youth for an outward-reaching Church

Summary/Abstract: In this article the author presents certain aspects of pastoral work with youth, describing young people’s reality and the dynamic of pastoral work in Latin America, as well as certain aspects of pastoral work with youth for an “outward-reaching” Church. Criteria are indicated for the pastoral accompaniment of Latin American young people today, from a model of Church which Pope Francis has denominated “outward-reaching” (or “going forth”). This model challenges us to rethink pastoral work with youth, situating it in the horizon of the path of pastoral action in the perspective of Aparecida, which allows us to “deeply rethink and relaunch [the Church’s] mission in current Latin American and global circumstances with fidelity and audacity” (DA 11). This requires that the Church show its readiness to appreciate, value and encourage pastoral initiatives and processes that are developing “outside” of explicit parochial spheres, so as to immerse itself in the missionary adventure towards and into spaces where young people are on the margins. Without doubt this means reconsidering the forms in which parochial and wider ecclesial life is organized. This challenge implies leaving behind pre-designed blueprints in order to meet young people there where they are, in the majority of cases outside the Church, adapting to their times and rhythms. This paper presents four nuclear problems posed by CELAM (Latin American Episcopal Council) for 2015-2019 (social injustice, the deterioration of creation, violence and migration), which question the Church in its evangelizing task and open a challenging panorama for an “outward reaching” pastoral work with youth. Missionary activity which takes these four nuclear problems seriously lets arise a “new subject who emerges in history and which we call disciple” (DA 243), an active member of the Church and a citizen capable of making a significant contribution to society. It becomes obvious that pastoral work with youth in the service of the spreading the Good News isn’t under discussion, but rather is launched with the aim that the light of Christ shine on the faces of the poor and the reality of our peoples. A new model opens up for an “outward reaching” pastoral work with youth, centred in the following of Christ and at the service of life, that is to say with greater impact on society.

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