Letter from Schönenberg

To all who take to heart
the Redemptorist vocation

We are writing to you from the heart of old Europe, in the shadow of the very beautiful Redemptorist church at Schönenberg (Ellwangen, Germany), where we recently held the annual meeting of the General Secretariat for Redemptorist Youth and Vocation Ministry (RYVM). We are joyfully grateful for the magnificent welcome given us by the local Redemptorist community at Schönenberg. We greet everyone in our great Redemptorist family, including religious men and women and laity who share closely in our Redemptorist spirituality and mission, especially those involved in Redemptorist Youth and Vocation Ministry (RYVM).

During this week we have examined all of the wonderful initiatives being carried out in the various Regions of the Congregation regarding youth and vocation ministry. The road that RYVM travels is illuminated with so many lights: the wide-spread desire to work in this field and the many initiatives being carried out, even though there persist, here and there, numerous shadows that render the road uncertain and the task abandoned.

Today, twenty years since the General Chapter of 1985, which inspired in the Congregation a prophetic movement toward a greater involvement with and commitment to young people and vocations, we want to confirm the validity of that inspiration and share with you this certainty we feel strongly: to speak of RYVM is to speak about the future of the Congregation. If we close ourselves to dialogue with young people, if our vocation does not challenge new generations, then we must ask ourselves if our mission itself has any meaning today, and above all, if it has any future.

Among the shadows that obscure the road in the journey of RYVM in many Units is the lack of clarity in the relationship between youth ministry and vocation ministry. Youth ministers are often criticized for only producing youth ‘events’ rather than seeking vocations. Very often there is ambiguity in the structures. Some Units engage in vocation ministry without any attention to youth ministry. Other Units do good work with youth but don’t bother with vocations. Others have separate structures for youth and for vocations without any communication between them.

We want to reaffirm one of the cardinal points of the document Guidelines for RYVM (Rome 2000): “disregarding consideration of structures already in place, every Unit should do its utmost to open up to young people. Youth Ministry, in its turn, should have as its principal objective, education for life as a vocation in the broadest sense, concentrating on Baptism, the source of all ministries that enrich the Church.” Along with this proposal for ministry with young people, we must also program the announcement of the specific Redemptorist vocation, the call to those we see as apt and the accompaniment of those who respond positively. And if they are numerous, our joy will be great.

To understand RYVM in this way might seem scandalous, because it motivates us to be free from self-interest in serving young people, overcoming the ever-present temptation to just recruit, which prevents us from truly fostering a real culture of vocations. This breaks the mentality and routine that often marks our mission. This way of understanding youth and vocation ministry requires the conversion of the entire community and does not delegate the task of all to a single confrere, making each one of us a promoter of vocations (Const. 79). It demands that each community make a conscious option in favor of RYVM. It calls for teamwork (Guidelines 20), and therefore close cooperation between youth ministry and vocation ministry, where these structures are separate.

As Redemptorists, then, in the name of our characteristic missionary dynamism (Const. 14) we have no right to limit ourselves to only those young people who “naturally” gravitate to our communities. On the contrary, we must also search further afield for those who are marginalized and abandoned, those for whom the Gospel is no longer ‘Good News’ (Const. 3). And if we consider how things have gone since the General Chapter of 1985, we must admit that these have become more numerous and more in need of the proclamation of redemption.

It will be wonderful if this letter succeeds in communicating to you some of the urgency and enthusiasm with which we regard RYVM. We would like everyone to be challenged by this task, including those young adults who have already participated in and benefited from RYVM and who might now assume the responsibility and task of leadership in this ministry, helping to develop new leaders.

No matter what, we hope this letter does not leave you indifferent or with that apathy that is a sign of surrender, if not of death. We would like to know if you agree with our way of understanding RYVM. If you don’t or if you would like to share with us your doubts and anxieties, we will be most interested in any reactions or challenges you may want to raise. You will find our e-mail addresses on the web site of the Congregation (http://www.cssr.com) or you may write directly to the General Secretariat RYVM – C.P.2458 – 00100 Rome, Italy.

May our Mother of Perpetual Help, our founder Saint Alphonsus, and all Redemptorist Saints and Blessed, particularly Blessed Gaspar Stanggassinger, intercede for us and help us reaffirm the beautiful vocation we have received (2 Pt. 1.10).

General Secretariat RYVM

Schönenberg, 24 November 2006