Young Life Catholic Forum: A Historic Step Forward for YL Catholic Relations

“In the Gospel, the good news is revealed as a mystery of God’s closeness,” penned Bishop Daniel Flores to participants at the Young Life Catholic Forum in New York City in January. “He is the God who moves first to us, who unites himself to our journey. He becomes a pilgrim to straighten the paths of those who wander.” A pilgrim God united to a pilgrim people in search of the lost and forgotten. It was a moment of profound symbolism and solidarity as two hundred missional leaders from Young Life and the Catholic Church gathered at historic St. James, the cathedral basilica of Brooklyn. Co-sponsored by YL Catholic Relations and the Diocese of Queens and Brooklyn, the Forum brought both Protestants and Catholics together in a united response to the mystery of God’s closeness in Jesus Christ. 

“It was a profound experience of unity and celebrating our common purpose of sharing the Gospel with young people,” noted Kathy Goller, Director of Youth & Young Adult Ministry for the Diocese of Buffalo, NY. “It helped me see this movement as just one piece in the larger movement of evangelistic ecumenism, a movement that is so desperately needed in these times when the largest growing ‘religious denomination’ is the unaffiliated.” Less than a year earlier, Kathy held Young Life at arm’s length, fearing that it only led Catholic kids away from the Church. That was before she was invited to a Catholic Adult Guest Camp at Timberwolf Lake and experienced Young Life for herself. Now she sees God’s design in our shared pilgrim path. “Young Life and the Catholic Church share a common core – Jesus Christ,” she says. “And we see a common need – those people, especially our young people, who do not know the love, the hope, and the joy of Christ. I am hopeful that a true partnership can be built on that common core which addresses that common need, bearing fruit for the Kingdom of God.”

The Young Life Catholic Forum was a true watershed moment in the growing relationship between Young Life and the Catholic Church. Young Life senior leadership, field staff, and volunteers joined Catholic leaders representing more than thirty dioceses gathered in friendship to tend to one of the most important questions of our age: 'How do we effectively evangelize young people today?' In the age of polarization and polemics, the Forum was a breath of fresh air for those who have dedicated their lives to youth ministry. It was the kind of unity Jesus prayed for in John 17 and it propelled this united core into the future with fresh energy and hope.

Fr. Lukasz Szymanski travelled all the way from Poland to participate in the Forum. “That’s the church I dream of,” he noted, “a church that is a visible sign of unity. I’m convinced that all we do in YL makes sense only if we do it together – Catholics and Protestants.” Fr. Lukasz joined a YL Expedition trip to World Youth Day in his home country in 2016. Experiencing Young Life was a “coming home” for him. Now he serves as the Catholic Liaison to Young Life in Poland where active ministry is running in Poznan and Warsaw. “When kids look at our relationships they can truly feel that they are loved and open up to God’s love. And that’s what it’s all about, leading kids together to Christ, our Lord and Savior.”

For some, the Forum was a deeply personal experience. Tasha Taylor is a Catholic serving the Chicagoland Region as Coordinator of Capernaum. She said, “I truly never imagined a day when my Catholic faith would be encouraged and celebrated to this extent in Young Life.  At the Forum, I felt incredibly encouraged and empowered to bring all of me to the table, unashamedly.” Rooted in the FORWARD commitment of going deeper together, the Forum represented a monumental step toward building and equipping teams that reflect the worldwide body of Christ. 

Whether it was the worship, the personal tour of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, the practical workshops on doing ministry together, or the insights of Aux. Bishop Massa on the ecumenical movement, the Forum moved hearts and minds in the mystery of God’s closeness. It helped us all believe that “the best Young Life is yet to come.”

Young Life Brings Protestants and Catholics Together in the Holy Land by Deacon Nathan Gunn

Young Life’s commitment to unity in diversity and bridge-building just reached new heights. In some parts of the world, bridges need to be built between socio-economic groups.  In other places, the need is to bring healing to issues of racial tension.  On the continent of Europe, the biggest need for unity is between Catholics and Protestants. 

In late May, the staff and spouses from YL Europe joined with Mission Leaders and guests representing a group of over 200 pilgrims.  For a week, people from nearly 20 European countries toured the Holy Land, following in the footsteps of Jesus, His family and His apostles.  The journey began in the tightly-wound ancient city of old Jerusalem.  The group descended the Mount of Olives and ascended the Via Dolorosa – trodding the very paths that Jesus took, carrying His cross to Calvary.  We floated in the Dead Sea and looked into the Caves at Qumran. We sailed across the Sea of Galilee and traced Christ’s miraculous works through ancient Capernaum.  With every turn and every detail, the mercy and grace of God was extended through the landscape, the history, the recollection of the stories, and the vividness of the setting.

Then, in a powerful movement of God’s grace, another element emerged.  At YL “Club” each night, we heard from one of two European ministers.  Rev Dr. Keith McCrory, a Protestant pastor from Northern Ireland, and Father Lukasz Szymanski, a Roman Catholic priest from Poland, took turns preparing us for the next day’s sites and leading us into deeper communion with Christ.  Two men from two Christian traditions, overcoming centuries of division and strife to lead Young Life hand in hand through the Holy Land, was a living testament to Young Life’s priority of unity within the Body of Christ.  Along with the shared teaching, the corporate prayer of the Stations of the Cross, walking Christ’s steps to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher brought more reflection and deeper unity among us.  

But the biggest movement of the Holy Spirit was experienced in Nazareth.  Together, with one voice, all two hundred-strong sang worship songs and prayed together as Fr. Lucasz celebrated Catholic Mass at the Basilica of the Annunciation.  Not only was the setting dramatic, but the movement of God’s Spirit as Catholics and Protestants basked together in the Presence of God was awe-inspiring.  For many, this was their first experience of the Mass.  For others, this was their first experience of Mass in such a powerful Catholic setting.  During small groups that night, pilgrim after pilgrim shared that the Mass was the highlight of their day, if not their trip.  While the Mission Leadership set the direction and put the players in place, it was the Holy Spirit that took over and sparked the unity that Christ prayed for in John 17.

As the pilgrimage ended, conversations continued. There are about a dozen meaningful entry points for cooperation between YL and the Catholic Church that are ready for immediate follow-up.  Beyond those venues, there are dozens more YL staff who are hungry and eager to learn more. Plans for partnership are being crafted, trying to keep pace with the unity that the Spirit is forging. The groundswell of unity is happening. The tsunami of partnership is coming. And at the center of it all are two elements that YL has always held most sacred – the love of Christ for every kid and every kid’s need to hear of His love for them.   

*post written by Deacon Nathan Gunn, a 20-year veteran of Young Life who serves as Associate Director of YL-Catholic Relations for the Eastern States, and is a permanent deacon in the Roman Catholic Church.                   

Grace First or Grace Alone? Good Gracious!

This year marks the 500^th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, the culmination of important and much-needed reforms of the Late Middle Ages but also the flashpoint for the unfortunate fissure of Western Christianity. Like fish in water, most of us were raised in a world wet by this unhappy division. We don’t know any different. We assume notions about “the other” through the same cultural matrix that informs our views about privilege, punctuality, poverty and pizza. “Catholics believe in salvation by works and Protestants proclaim salvation by grace.” Right? (sigh)

Well, we’ve come a long way since 1517. While differences remain, we’ve straightened out a lot of the nonsense about works righteousness, ringing coins and souls springing from purgatory. Today Protestants and Catholics acknowledge one another as brothers and sisters in Christ. We are children of one Father, members of one Body, cleansed by one baptism, united by one Spirit, proclaimers of one faith, disciples of one Lord, evangelizers of one world, redeemed by one Savior, Jesus Christ. “We are all in the same boat and headed to the same port!” Pope Francis says. “Let us ask for the grace to rejoice in the gifts of each, which belong to all.”[1]

However, in the latest edition of Christianity Today, the subject of grace (of all things) seems to rear the ugly head of division yet again. And quite unnecessarily, I might add. The article features two contributors - one from the Catholic perspective and another representing the Protestant tradition - who have been asked to reflect on the nature of grace. Hence the title – “Grace First or Grace Alone? What Catholics and Protestants Now Agree On – And What Still Divides Us.”

I was eager to read the article, even more so when I discovered that the initial reflection was written by Bishop Robert Barron. Barron, a brilliant systematic theologian and adept ecumenist, offered a characteristically even-handed and conciliatory treatment of the Reformation, particularly in light of the Second Vatican Council. Extending the ecumenical olive branch, Barron notes:

Vatican II valorized a number of themes dear to the hearts of the Reformers: the primacy of Christ, the need for ardent evangelization, the central place of the Bible in the life of the church, using both bread and wine in Communion, the priesthood of all believers, etc. And it expressed its fervent hope for the unification of all those baptized into the body of Christ.[2]

“For this,” Barron continues, “both Protestants and Catholics should give thanks.” True to the Catholic tradition, Barron takes nothing away from the primacy of grace in the economy of salvation but his argument hinges on how Luther interprets “being”.[3] Does human cooperation with grace take away from or magnify God’s primacy and glory? This is the question Barron posits as the essential kernel. No mention of human “merit”, no suggestion that we have anything to boast about when it comes to salvation. It’s all by grace.

So it was particularly confusing (ok, disheartening) when the Protestant contributor strikes a notably different tone, immediately picking up the tired bone of Pelagianism. He states:

Our main objection to Catholic theology is the implication (if not straightforward claim) that merit other than Jesus’ own comes into play in the sinner’s reconciliation and right standing with God. . . All [Protestants] agree that, whatever the case may be, there can be no talk of human ‘merit’ and no ground for boasting of salvation.[4]

Hold on. What? Merit? Boasting? As a student of Catholic theology myself, I wondered what resources were informing his understanding of Catholicism.

While there are necessary distinctions to be made about efficient and instrumental causes of salvation, both Protestants and Catholics agree that God’s gift of grace through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the whole kit and caboodle of Christianity. The heart of our common message has been, and will always be the same, God’s love revealed in the crucified and risen Christ. We’re not talking about “merit” here. That case was closed definitively in the 1999 Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification: “Together we confess, by grace alone, in faith in Christ’s work and not because of any merit of our own, we are accepted by God and receive the Holy Spirit, who renews our hearts while equipping and calling us to good works.”[5] Pope Francis further clarifies, “No human efforts, however good they may be, can enable us to merit so great a gift [as salvation]. God, by his sheer grace, draws us to himself and makes us one with him.”[6] Catholics don’t depend on our efforts toward salvation any more than we go around boasting about our cooperation with God’s grace. Good gracious!

Barron started his essay by citing Yves Congar, French Dominican, ecumenist and major architectural contributor to Vatican II (which Cardinal Dulles referred to as “Luther’s Unfinished Council”).[7] Congar suggested that if both sides had not given in to exaggerations and over-reactions, there would be no split in the Western Church. Such is the poignant lesson today.  

Jesus calls us to loving communion, to abide in one another as we abide in Christ. To heal the divisions in the one body we must listen to one another, truly listen. We must not give into the temptation of opening old wounds, stirring old controversies, and harboring uncritical prejudices. “How do we proclaim the Gospel of reconciliation after centuries of division?” Pope Francis asks. Through an open posture of good will. Through a faith that seeks understanding. By seeing a separated brother to be loved, not a contested argument to be won. By “losing our lives” for one another so that the world may believe in the power of God’s reconciling mercy.[8]

We are one in Christ. I pray that by God’s grace we can all live into that mystery as we commemorate (for the first time in history) the Reformation together.

---

[1] Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel), 99.

[2] Bishop Robert Barron, “Grace First or Grace Alone? What Catholics and Protestants Now Agree On – And What Still Divides Us,” Christianity Today (April 2017), 44.

[3] The underpinnings of Luther’s notion of being rest in nominalism, a philosophical movement of the late medieval period championed by William of Ockham. Ockham asserts that God and creation are categorically univocal, meaning that God is one being (albeit “supreme being”) amongst other beings. This unintentionally posits a sort of ontological competition between God and humans, a zero-sum game when it comes to grace and glory. Accordingly, human “cooperation” with grace, as presented in the Catholic tradition, is said to compromise God’s absolute primacy in the economy of salvation.

            Catholicism, on the other hand, grounds its notion of being in the work of Thomas Aquinas. Thomas presents God, not as one being amongst others, but the sheer act of being itself, the very agency through which all creatures have their existence. This understanding sees human cooperation with grace not in competition with God’s being but exemplifying and magnifying it.

[4] Roger E. Olson, “Grace First or Grace Alone? What Catholics and Protestants Now Agree On – And What Still Divides Us,” Christianity Today (April 2017), 45.

[5] The Roman Catholic Church and Lutheran World Federation, Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification (1999), 15.

[6] Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel), 112.

[7] Notre Dame theologian Richard McBrien notes, “By any account, Yves Congar is the most distinguished ecclesiologist of this century and perhaps of the entire post-Tridentine era. No modern theologian’s spirit was accorded fuller play in the documents of Vatican II than Congar’s.”

[8] Lk 9:24; Jn 17:23.

How Young Life Helped Me Be a Better Catholic

I’ve known about God my whole life. I was born into a Catholic family and baptized as a baby. We went to church every weekend without question, I went to Sunday school, we prayed before meals, and we did everything Catholics are supposed to do. I was introduced to God at an early age and all throughout my childhood I definitely thought I knew who God was. When I was in second grade my mom enrolled me in Holy Family Catholic School, and I remained there until I graduated from eighth grade in 2010. It was at Holy Family that I really got the foundation for my faith.

My childhood was different than normal. I was forced to grow up quicker than most kids because when I was 5, my dad decided to leave our family. My mom protected me and my two younger siblings from most of the ugly details and raised us on her own as a single mother. Because I was so young, I didn’t know what divorce was or really understand it. I don’t remember much about my dad at all. I could probably count on one hand how many times I’ve seen him since he left, and he was a subject my family and I never really talked about.

As I got older I started to understand that my family was different, and I spent a good portion of my life trying to figure out why he left. I convinced myself it was because I wasn’t good enough, and I believed that for a long time. I put a lot of energy into trying to be good enough and trying to fit in. I tried really hard to impress people because I wanted to feel like I belonged. However, I never really opened up to anyone about why it was so important for me to fit in because I didn’t want people to see me as some broken girl or different than them. Mostly I was just trying to be normal.

During all this I was still at Holy Family, and even though I was surrounded by the faith every day, it was not a big part of my life at all. I would go to religion class and Mass all the time during the school week, and I memorized all the prayers and learned all the bible stories. Yet even with all that, it never occurred to me that God could be something more than just going to church on Sundays and memorizing prayers. I had never connected Jesus’ death to my own sins, and I didn’t have even the slightest clue to the capacity of Christ’s love for us. I realize now that while at Holy Family, I was just going through the motions of having faith without ever understanding what I was doing.

In 2012, I went to Young Life camp at Sharptop Cove. YL camp opened my eyes and made me realize that there was still so much about God I didn’t know. At YL I learned that Christ wanted to have a relationship with me, and that was something I’d never heard before. I had a hard time believing it because just as camp made me realize how great a life with God could look, it also brought up a lot of old feelings that I had tried to bottle up inside of me. Growing up I never talked about my dad and tried to brush off the subject when people brought it up. But after camp I thought about it a lot and tried to make sense of him leaving. I was wearing myself out trying to understand something that really couldn’t be understood, and I started to grow increasingly angry at my dad for leaving. I could come up with no other reason for him to leave other than he didn’t want me, and so I had to work through that before I could really get serious about my faith. The amazing relief and joy that a relationship with Christ could bring me was clouded by the feelings of anger and resentment I felt towards my own dad. I couldn’t understand how anyone, let alone God, could want me when my own dad didn’t even want me.

I didn’t become serious about my faith until March of my junior year when I went on a retreat called Chrysalis. On the second night of that retreat, I finally let go of my struggles and I gave them up to God. For the first time, I was able to feel God’s unending grace, and that feeling is indescribable. Something clicked in my brain that night and I realized that even though I don’t have an earthly father, I have a heavenly father who will always be there and who loves me more than anything, and for Him I will always be good enough. This realization was life changing, and I felt like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I decided to fully give control of my life to Christ that night and begin a relationship with Him.

Coming home from Chrysalis I had a new outlook on life and a renewed appreciation for my Catholic faith. Chrysalis not only allowed me to experience Christ in a way that I never had before, but it also helped me better understand why I was Catholic. Growing with Christ on a personal level helped me to realize the importance of going to Mass and receiving the Eucharist. Although I came to these important realizations about my faith outside of a Catholic setting, it was through Chrysalis and Young Life that I was able to better understand why I was Catholic.

In the months following, I continued to face new struggles and still dealt with old feelings of insecurity from time to time, but it was different now because I had the love of Christ in me. I stayed involved in Young Life and continued to push myself further in my faith by becoming a Wyldlife leader during my senior year.

While I learned the “fundamentals” of my faith through going to Mass and religion class, Young Life provided me with important fellowship. I got to know Jesus on a deep, personal level and I was shown firsthand what a life with Christ looks like through my Young Life leaders.  However, I realized it was important for me to not lose sight of my Catholic roots. For this reason I also became more involved in my church by becoming a Eucharistic minister and teaching Sunday school. Looking at my faith now and reflecting on the journey I took to get where I am today, I realize that I could not have gotten this far without both Catholicism and Young Life. My faith and my beliefs continue to grow stronger each day, and because of the experiences I’ve had through Young Life, I am now surer than ever before of my Catholic identity in Christ.

*Rachel is an amazing young woman from Jasper, IN. I met her during the Young Life Catholic Adult Guest Camp at Rockbridge where she served on Work Crew. Rachel shared her testimony with our Catholic adult guests and just blew us out of the water. Her poise, joy for the Lord, and commitment to her Catholic faith is a testament to the beautiful relationship that can exist between Young Life and the Catholic Church.