A group of young Catholic youth has written a letter in response to the new synodal summaries that were made public on the 6th of July. They do not agree with a couple of fundamental points and want to explain a different way of being a church. The Catholic Newspaper writes that the youth mostly does not agree with the decisions on the subjects of celibacy for priests and the place of women in the church.
By: Jessaï van der Neut
Jean Stemler and Astrid Sergent sent a letter in the name of two hundred youths in which they want to release a different sound. According to them, it is their duty to share in the responsibility and complement each other. The letter contains five points that we will briefly explain.
1. The young Catholics want to hear more absolute teaching. According to Jean and Astrid, they don’t want a watered-down faith.
2. There is a big need for pastors. They write: “We have the energy, we now need the experience, the loving and paternal look that supports us in our initiatives while protecting us from our unstoppable passion: we need them.”
3. Priestly celibacy is seen by youth as something very valuable. According to them, it is a big offering; but it shows that God is enough to make you whole.
4. They also oppose changes around the so-called ‘ordination of women’. Jean and Astrid say about this that the practice of the ordination of women had been rejected by the early church fathers. They say that to change this means to question the magisterium of the Church, and added to that to undermine the truths of fate itself.
5. The following point Jean and Astrid make is that they strongly believe in the complementarity of men and women. With this, they want to say that they strongly believe that men and women should have different roles in the church.
Jean and Astrid hope that through this letter, they will paint a different image of how to shape the Catholic church in Belgium.
