Youth and ecumenism

While much of the population of Latin America adheres to the Catholic Church, for many years there has been a growing sense of awareness among different churches. Often by working together on social issues, Christians from different traditions are able to experience real unity. Of particular importance is the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, which in the southern hemisphere is celebrated between Ascension and Pentecost. More and more it’s the youth who are taking the lead to get things done.  

Young people have always been attracted by the unknown, by what is different from themselves, by all that something new can bring, even in the realm of religion. So youth are always more open to those from another church to their own. This is precisely the experience of Ikuméni, a workshop for young Latin American Christians belonging to different churches and Christian traditions.

“From the first day, I realised it was going to be challenging for everyone present, starting with me because the people I meet on a daily basis are nearly all Catholics like myself. In this course, everything was new and every participant came from a different church”, explains Carolina Bojacá, a young Focolare member from Colombia.

In this formation journey, these young Christians from different traditions become travelling companions, in what is proving to be a real innovation in the ecumenical field. Starting from their shared faith in Christ, each one is prepared to serve actively in areas like sustainable development, peace and humanitarian aid.

Carolina continues, “In August 2021 I participated in the online course for young people on good practice in ecumenism and inter-religious dialogue. There was a great atmosphere among us all from the start, and we all wanted to get to know each other better and build good relationships. As we tackled each theme, we quickly realised we would not be able to make progress unless we let go of all those prejudices or preconceptions that are often nurtured within a community and which block us from opening our minds and hearts to welcome each other. It’s the only way to discover the beauty of what unites us and also the differences that make us who we are as a church or group, without them being an impediment to working together for a more fraternal world. As the months went by, we got to know each other and eventually we managed to meet face to face. It was great to feel how strong our bond had become, to be able to give each other a hug, to pray together, to dialogue and discover the diversity and richness in each one, and in myself too!”

As part of the course, the young participants prepare for a program of service. As it says in “Serving a Wounded World in Interreligious Solidarity”, the 2020 joint document by the World Council of Churches and the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, Christians must now recognize the urgency to get involved with people of other religions in expressions of interreligious solidarity. So Carolina and her group rolled up their sleeves, as she explains. “In December, together with another youth member of the Focolare Movement who attended the same course, we thought of taking gifts to an indigenous community who had been violently displaced from their homeland to the outskirts of Bogotá. We proposed the idea to the others on the course and got a very positive response. Many contributed gifts and prayed for us, showing how even if we belong to a different church, our motivation is love inspired by Jesus, the model for all of us. At the end of the course we all gathered in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Each of us presented the actions inspired by the program not only to our fellow Ikuméni course mates, but also to some members of other religions who were invited.  They happily shared their ideas and their own practical actions. It was a special moment of openning up to interreligious dialogue”.

For many it was a completely new experience, a testimony of how fraternity can be built from personal commitment and effort combined with a great desire to get to know each other and do great things all together.

“So now we’ve completed the course,” said Carolina, “but it’s only the first step to respond to a personal calling. We’ll continue to strengthen our relationships, help each other in actions which open up our hearts and continue working to make a united world something real”.

Carlos Mana