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Trusting youth

Province Germany-Austria: Meeting of the sisters at Obernzell

That was a premiere for the province Germany-Austria. For the first time the age groups 1 and 2 met at Obernzell from November 20 to 22, 2015. 21 sisters (from year 1954 on) came together in order to talk and discuss the topic ‘Trusting youth’. The days were especially organized and enriched by Prof. Dr. Martin Lechner from Benediktbeuern. He presented impulses from the project on vocation pastoral, which had been initiated for all religious orders by the conference of major superiors in Germany.

Starting from Rev 10,8-11 we first meditated and talked about our own individual vocation. Which word of the Bible accompanied me on my way and led to my decision? What tastes ‘sweet’ for me? What makes me feel joy? What tasted ‘bitter’? What was hard? And finally: Where does my vocation lure me? What lies ahead?

Saturday morning Prof. Lechner made us think about the way from pastoral to evangelization. The goal of the Church (and of religious orders) is not self-preservation, but the spreading of the gospel of God’s Kingdom. People ought to experience that God wants to heal us. It is not our task to produce this experience, but to tell people about it. We are called to midwife the Good that God endowed every human being with, especially the young, in order to transform the world spiritually.

After those impulses we asked ourselves: What are our strong sides as Sisters of the Divine Saviour? What would be missing in the concert of evangelization, if we and our charisma did not exist? On discussing those questions we came up with a deep gratitude for what Sister Alfons Maria had handed down to us.

In the afternoon we plunged into the world of today’s youth. Words and ideas like ‘pluralisation’, ‘individualisation’, ‘globalisation’ and ‘digitalisation’ were brought home to us especially through the Sinus Study on youth. It became very clear to us that today’s young people have to face great challenges when it comes to organizing their personal lives. They choose pragmatically what might help them on.

Next Prof. Dr. Lechner proposed 5 theories concerning the relationship between the Church and youth. He made us consider that we encounter a new relationship between individuals and institutions. Young people claim that the Church ought to meet their needs. They do not see themselves as performers of any duty, but as people who seize opportunities. Therefore the Church should offer opportunities for contemplation, participation and individual paths. In that way the gospel of God’s Kingdom would reach young people even today.

In a next step we formed four groups (home economics, social services, school, other tasks) who tried to apply those thoughts to our everyday life.

Saturday night was devoted to playful joy. Some young people under the leadership of Sister Sara had prepared an activity game with ideas and topics from the world of today’s youngsters. We laughed a lot about pantomimes, dances and funny definitions of words.

On Sunday we first celebrated Patron’s Day of the community church at Obernzell – the Feast of Christ the King. Afterwards we met again in order to sum up the impulses of the previous weekend. We considered how we could further develop compassion in ourselves and within our communities, improve the quality of our relationships and attentiveness in our daily life, and how we could bear witness of God’s love for all people. With the song ‘Start to a new life’ we finished a weekend which we had experienced as a lively and encouraging encounter. I wish further weekends like that could be organized for us participants.

Sr. Sara Thiel