Reflection from Greece: Church in the eyes of our young people

WYD Lisbon. Image ICN/JS

Mill Hill Missionaries have published this thought-provoking reflection from Greece on the urgent challenge of passing on faith to the young in today's weird, fast-moving world.

"It must be said, that the Church does not easily accept adolescents. It often has trouble understanding and communicating with them. The position it imagines for them is a bit strange, because it tells them that they, the young people, are the Church of tomorrow, while in fact the young are the Church of today!

"The Church wants to accompany them for what they will become; while they want to be taken into account for what they are now!

'To grow and mature in one's faith - let us not be afraid to state this - is to abandon the God of one's childhood. Have we not often built an image of an almighty God that in children's soul is reduced to a disposition for reciprocal transactional 'dealings', not to say idolatrous demands, of the type: 'Help me do well in my exams!'?"

"In adolescence, if we leave the young free from facilitating superstitions (praying for national exams and suchlike) they will understand that if they haven't done their homework, there is little point in asking for God's help!"

Fr Theodosius Martzouchos gave this reflection at the start of an informal meeting of Evangelicals and Orthodox Christians in Agios Lavrentios Pelion, 30 May - 1 June 2024.

Read his full text here:

https://millhillmissionaries.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Theodosios-Martzouchos-Volos-Conference-2024.pdf