Florida Catholic | Bishop Barbarito’s Column

The hope of tomorrow, the promise of today

Published: 07.17.08

Happiness is found in the person of Jesus Christ who, indeed, came to make us free and is the way, the truth and the life.”

During the month of June our diocese was privileged to sponsor the Steubenville Youth Conference. It was an inspiring event where more than 1,300 young people came from all over Florida and other parts of our country to be witnesses to their Catholic faith and to deepen that faith. The weekend included many talks, eucharistic adoration, confessions and a concluding Mass. The young people participated enthusiastically in these spiritual activities.

I was privileged to offer the concluding Mass for the conference. I was deeply impressed by the sincere attention which the young people gave at the celebration of the Eucharist, as well as by their authentic devotion. They participated in a lively manner; they listened to the word of God attentively; they knelt devoutly for the whole eucharistic prayer; and they received the real presence of Christ with obvious faith. It was a wonderful experience to be a part of this liturgy and to sense the real faith of our young men and women today. It is obvious that they are seeking true values in life through their Catholic faith.

As I participated in this Mass with the young people, I could not help but think of the recent visit of our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, with young people here in our country. He gathered with thousands of young men and women on the grounds of St. Joseph’s Seminary in Yonkers, N.Y. Many of the participants were interested in priesthood and religious life, as indeed were some of the Steubenville participants as well.

The pope spoke a poignant message to the young people on that April Saturday afternoon. His message was an encouraging one not only for those present, but for all young people in our nation. It was also an encouraging message about them and their desire to seek spiritual values. I certainly experienced this encouraging attitude in our young people who were present at the Steubenville Conference in our diocese last month.

Pope Benedict shared with the young people the experience of his teenage years. He told them that those years were marred by the sinister regime of Nazism. It insidiously grew until it infiltrated schools, civic bodies, politics and even religion. Nazism set a course of evil that banished God and wrought destruction before, in the words of the pope, “it was fully recognized for the monster it was.” The Holy Father told the young people that many of their grandparents and great–grandparents remember this horror and that some actually came to America to escape it.

Young people today are fortunate to live in a democratic society where such a regime cannot exist and would not be tolerated. The pope was clear in stating that our young people are able “to enjoy the liberties which have arisen through the extension of democracy and respect for human rights.” They can “grow up in an environment that nurtures what is beautiful, good and true.” Certainly the young men and women present at the Steubenville Conference are witnesses to this as are all young people in southern Florida.

However the power to destroy still remains and many times in our society makes itself present in ways that can be as insidious as Nazism itself. This form of destruction comes about through a misunderstanding of freedom as well as of truth. Freedom is erroneously understood as the ability to do whatever I want and not the ability to choose to do good. A misunderstanding of freedom places too much emphasis upon the individual’s rights and loses the perspective of the community and its rights. A misunderstanding of truth, based on a misunderstanding of freedom, sees it as relative and not absolute. Speaking of absolute truth becomes controversial and best held to the private realm. A false understanding of truth gives value to everything indiscriminately in order to assure freedom and personal conscience. Pope Benedict XVI raised the questions, “But what purpose has a ‘freedom’ which, in disregarding truth, pursues what is false or wrong? How many young people have been offered a hand which in the name of freedom or experience has led them to moral or intellectual confusion, to hurt, to a loss of self–respect, even to despair and so tragically to the taking of their own life?”

It is my personal experience that young people today want true freedom and want the truth. They do not want empty promises and are willing to make sacrifices for the sake of true happiness. That happiness is found in the person of Jesus Christ who, indeed, came to make us free and is the way, the truth and the life. Our young people have much to offer our society by this open attitude and they look for role models to lead and guide them.

I would like to point to one such role model in our diocese. That is Sister Jude Ruggeri, Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Sister Ruggeri has been our diocesan youth director for the past 16 years. She has given herself joyfully, enthusiastically and effectively to our young men and women and, indeed, to many others during these years. Her faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ and in his church is singular, and she has been a blessing to our young people and has made a difference in their lives. She knows what freedom and truth are all about and she lives the reality that they are found in Jesus Christ. Because of the needs of Sister Ruggeri’s religious congregation, she will be leaving our diocesan family after the summer. On all of our behalves, I thank her for an extraordinary witness to our young people. She will be greatly missed, but she leaves a great deal with us. We prayerfully wish her all the blessings she has brought us.

When this column appears, World Youth Day will be taking place in Australia. Pope Benedict XVI will be gathering with hundreds of thousands of young people from all over the world in a similar fashion to our Steubenville Conference. He will bring a message of hope, similar to the message he brought to Yonkers, N.Y., and proclaim Jesus Christ as the way, the truth and the life. Young people will listen to his message because of its inherent truth and their desire to hear it. Let us pray for those and all of our young people. They are a great gift to us and a reminder of the true meaning of life they seek. May we be examples to them by living more fully the message of Jesus Christ as they listen to the message and strive to live it in their young lives. They are the hope of tomorrow, but the promise of today!

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