Koncepcja ewangelizacji młodzieży akademickiej

Abstract

There are two main elements determining the new status and function of the pastoral care for youth, among others, university students, i.e. 1) new social-moral-religious situation of Polish society and the Church which situation is being created at present, 2) postcouncillar renewal of the whole Church which follows from certain theological premises and related with them evangelizational instructions. That is why one should look more closely at the hitherto conceptions and directions of the pastoral care for youth. One can generally say that the main current trends of this activity are insufficient. They are directed towards either: 1) spiritual formation which is carried out in liturgy, sacraments, Sunday Eucharist and various prayers, 2) theological formation carried out by means of lectures and conversatories, 3) engagement in various practical groups, fellowships, 4) self-teaching and self-educational classes. The conception that has met the above demands does not seem to be that one which takes one of these four directions or comprises them into one direction. It is rather such a conception that is supplementary to the hitherto practices of the Church, adding to them the ecclesial aspects. At the same time, this conception sets up its own structures on the milieu-parochial foundation in concert with other evangelizational functions. It seems that this approach gives the pastoral care for university students some characteristics of integrity, making it an "integral evangelization". In keeping with the broader understanding of the ministry for students as an "integral evangelization", we can find in the conception put forward to be carried out the following things: the adequate, as for its integral understanding, role of liturgy, sacraments, small groups; the individual and group, pastoral-apostolic kinds of activity placed in appropriate proportions, and the milieu-parochial framework of reference for its organization. Let us mention that the conception that has been outlined here is already in some of its aspects being put into practice. We find more and more genuine opportunities to make this approach more integral, i.e. in its ecclesial understanding and milieu-parochial placement. We can find those opportunities in the developing pastoral theories, organizational-evangelizational practices which are entertained now, especially in the new social-Church situation of Poland in the 90s.