Original scientific paper
Young people and Eucharist
Ana Thea Filipović
Abstract
This article deals with the issue of the young people’s
attitude towards the Eucharist, which in church practice has
been recognized as problematic. Some guidelines on how to find
solution to the issue are given. First, the reasons why the young
have distanced themselves from the Eucharist are considered.
Then the young people’s expectations and needs regarding the
form of the Eucharist celebrations are identified. The third
part of the article tries to find an answer to the question how
to restore harmony between liturgical needs of the young and
objectivity of Christian liturgy. Then, a broader spectrum of pastoral issues connected with the relationship between the
youth and the Eucharist is presented, emphasising that those
issues should be analysed and discussed by the whole parish
community, together with the young people. Furthermore, some
guidelines regarding the form of the masses with the young
are given, pointing at wider dimensions of religious education
and pastoral work with the young, making them competent
for understanding, celebrating and living the Eucharist.
Education for the Eucharist implies the following: cultivation of
faith, evaluation of life, interpretation and identification of the
Eucharist symbols, and education for the ecclesiastical. At the
end, the author discusses the very conception of the Eucharist
and brings around the existence of various emphases that
influence on the approach to the mystery of the Eucharist. The
subject of this work is the individual, communal and wider social
meaning of the Eucharist, and also the stresses that should not
be exclusionary but complementary.
Keywords
adolescent crisis of faith; Eucharist, mass with the young; Eucharist education; liturgical ability of the young; subjective and objective in liturgy; parish community
Hrčak ID:
93067
URI
Publication date:
15.12.2005.
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