VATICAN (CNS): Young Catholics are looking for a Church that listens to their concerns, accompanies them in discerning their vocations and helps them confront the challenges they face, said the instrumentum laboris (working document) for the upcoming Synod of Bishops on young people.
 
Publisdhed by the Vatican on June 19,the document stated that young people “want to see a Church that shares their situations of life in the light of gospel rather than by preaching.”
 
Quoting a presynod gathering of young people who met at the Vatican from March 19 to 25, the working document said young Catholics “want an authentic Church. With this, we would like to express, particularly to the Church hierarchy, our request for a transparent, welcoming, honest, attractive, communicative, accessible, joyful and interactive community.”
 
An estimated 305 young adults participated in the weeklong presynod meeting, which allowed practicing Catholics and others to provide input for Pope Francis and the world’s bishops, who will meet at the synod in October to. Some 15,000 young people also participated in the presynod process through Facebook groups online.
 
The meeting, the working document said, “highlighted the potential that younger generations represent” as well as their “hopes and desires.”
 
It said, “Young people are great seekers of meaning, and everything that is in harmony with their search to give value to their lives arouses their attention and motivates their commitment.” 
 
Lorenzo Cardinal Baldisseri, secretary-general of the synod, said at a press conference on June 19, that the synod’s goal is that young Catholics may find “the beauty of life, beginning from the happy relationship with the God of the covenant and of love” in a world that often robs them of their “affections, bonds and prospective of life.”
 
He said, “The synod dedicated to young people gives us the opportunity to rediscover the hope of a good life, the dream of a pastoral renewal, the desire for community and passion for education.” 
 
The working document also said young Catholics would like more initiatives that allow further dialogue with nonbelievers and the secular world to help them integrate their faith in their dealings with others.