US bishops: Youth are ready to make world better, give them room to discern how

ROME (CNS) -- Young people have such a great desire to make the world a better place that church leaders should help give them the space to discern what God wants for them, a group of bishops said during the Jubilee of Youth.

"We need their voice," Archbishop Nelson J. Perez of Philadelphia told Catholic News Service before the start of the USA National Jubilee Pilgrim Gathering at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome.

"We need to listen to their hearts and listen to their minds. They have a great desire to make the world a better place, to make the church a better place, and our lives a better place," he said July 30. "So I'm thrilled that so many of them are here."

The archbishop was one of eight archbishops and bishops who attended the special gathering at the basilica organized by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops with the support of the Knights of Columbus. More than 4,000 people from the U.S. attended the event as part of their pilgrimage to Rome for the Holy Year.

Auxiliary Bishop Italo Dell'Oro of Galveston-Houston told CNS he tries to attend as many youth activities as he can, especially World Youth Days and this Holy Year's Jubilee dedicated to young people July 28-Aug. 3.

The Italian-born bishop used to serve as the vocation director for his religious order, the Congregation of Somascan Fathers, so he is aware how much young people need a lot of "dedicated attention."

"I think the church should offer space for them so that they can confront one another in a way that makes them look forward," and broadens their mind beyond their current situation to see how they can play a role in changing things for the better, he said.

They have a responsibility "to become good disciples on their own," he said, so he sees his role as "challenging them" to not only enjoy being young but to also "be brave, courageous and trustful that if they make one step forward, the foot will land on solid ground."

Recalling his youth and the "struggle to find the answer" to whether he should get married or pursue the priesthood, Bishop Dell'Oro praised the guidance of his spiritual director who helped him discern and provide "the tools to make what I would say were courageous decisions, (and) renounce what needed to be given up and taking the chances of being in another setting."

"I was fortunate to have had such good guidance in a fairly Catholic environment," without the "distractions of the media that we have today," he said. "It was, in a certain way, easier to focus on the fundamentals of life, of our faith."

The church, therefore, should give young people "the space to discern, which is absolutely very, very important, even more than, if I may, space to do some ministries," he said.

If "we engage them to live their life in the fullness as lay people, and then if they have vocations, they can discern, and that's a very, very important space that needs to be provided," he said.

Bishop Edward J. Burns of Dallas, who was giving a homily during the Eucharistic adoration in the basilica for the pilgrims, told CNS he wanted young people to know that the presence of today's online "Catholic influencers" is nothing new.

"We've had apostles, we've had martyrs, we've had saints" who were "the influencers of their day and through their lives and through their sanctity, and they continue to influence us," he said.

Young people can continue to be "authentic as disciples in proclaiming the Word of God, even through digital means," he said.

Archbishop Anthony Fisher of Sydney, Australia, who coordinated World Youth Day in Sydney in 2008 as an auxiliary bishop, told CNS the Jubilee of Youth has been just as big an event as a World Youth Day and will have the same positive impact.

"We have had fruit from that World Youth Day for 20 years now," he said, and the Jubilee celebrations will be "very good" for Rome, for Italy and for the young people from all over the world because of their testimony and their joy in their faith.

"Certainly that's what World Youth Day does wherever it goes. It brings huge fruit in terms of vocations, good marriages, just young people thinking, 'Where does God fit into my life?' and 'Where do I fit into God's plans?' So that's going to happen here," he said.