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Piccadilly Arcade
John fllioll m5r. Ex-Wa izi Bros Sludeal Vol.
Perth
Tel. B7988
B7908
PERM WEDNESDAY , OCTOBER 17, 1816,
Na. 8,ffi12.
PRMUE THREEPENCE.
SEVENTYSECOND YEAR.
YOUTH WEEK. Opens tiUith High Vass Young People Viciously Exploited' to Serve False Gods How the Church Guards andTrains Adolescence Victor• Youth Week was officially opened on Saturday by the Minister for Education and Social Services (Mr. . 1. T. Tonkin 1. Appropriately- the observance commenced with religious services. Catholic Youth organisations will participate in the Week. While the combined Youth dedication service was being held at the University on Sunday,Selemn High Mass was offertd in St.Mary' sCathedral. His Grace the Archbishop,assisted by Rev.Dr. Sullivan and Rev.T. Parrott,S.J., presided. Very Rev. E.Kennedy,Adm., was assistant priest. The celebrant of the Mass was Rev, J. J. Rafferty,with Rev. E. Rodgers as deacon,and Rev.P. Donnelly as subdeacon. Rev. Father O'Farrell was master of ceremonies. The occasional sermon was preached by Rev. Dr. E. Sullivan as follows :—
times, to meet the challenge of youth to the modern world. Iler history there have been men and women, among Tier saints and leaders— This movement for both young men and young women exists in the Arch. diocese of Perth. We have the "Young Christian Workers' Move• ntent" and the " Catholic Girls' Movement." Already they have branches in some of our parishes; it is the direction of the Archbishop. that they be extended to all parishes. Both of these movements form part of National or. ganisations, and these in turn are the counterpart of youth movements in many parts of the Catholic nworld. They are inspired by the same spirit and use the same technique. This technique is not a mere theory of training; it is in great part, the fruit of the deep thought of a Belgian priest, who had dedicated his life to the young worker; of deep thought during years of internment at the time of the Great War; and it has ' been proved successful by practical experi-
A present-clay writer has said: " Youth has been discovered only in our own time." This does not mean that no importance has ever before been at tached to youth; quite the contrary is true. it means that prc`eminently in our own century the emphasis has been placed on youth, and the period of adolescence has been made the subject of scientific study; it means, most of all, that modern States have realised what an important part youth can play in the life of anation. Hence the growth of world-known youth organisations, created and fostered by the great, social, national movements of our day. What they achieved, for good or evil, in a few years, has shown what vast resources of vitality and strength, what powers of achievement, are to be found in the youth of a nation. Thus it is that most modern States —and among them Australia—see the need of youth movements, into which has been integrated a new type of education— An education in the broadest sense. An education of mind and body, An education for life. A proof of that outlook is the Victory Youth Week which begins in Perth today. Its sponsors have rightly decided to give emphasis to the religious element in that education, and this Solemn High Mass is the Catholic contribution to the opening ceremonies. Unfortunately, this education for life, in some cases, has been viciously exploited to serve militarist or false idealogical ends: in other cases, it has been, and is, marred by adefeat, by the exclusion or neglect of Christian grin , ciples, by a refusal or a failure to re• cognise the demands made by God's plan for mankind ,by man' seternal destiny. Yet even those who have ex.
For Value and Service
plotted youth have seen the need of a religious or spiritual motive in the training of youth; they have surround. ed the idealogies with both dogma and ritual; they have led their young people to worship at the shrines of false gods. The Catholic Church is, and always has been ,vitally interested in the w•el• fare of youth, as part of Her divine mission to mankind ; at all stages of and religious Orders of men and ,women —who have dedicated themselves to the training of youth. Therefore it is natural that, in view of modern conditions, there is in the Church a height• ened interest in youth ,and that a world-wide youth movement has come into being to meet the needs of these
ence in Belgium and in other coon tries. This technique revolves around young men and young women who are called Leaders, who are trained as apostles of vouch. In forming a branch of the movement a group of trained leaders gathers about itself other young people, of whom some may, in their turn. become leaders, but all of awhom belong to the movement and share in its work. The training of a leader consists of two main parts. The first is the Gospel Meditation, which teaches them to see and know Our Lord and His doctrine from the Gospel story, to model themselves on Him as the Leader: which presents
Christ as the most perfect model, because not only the Son of God, but also the most perfect of human beings; which presents Him as using not only the highest supernatural gifts to redeem men ,but also the best of human means, bodily strength and vigour, clarity of mind, sure knowledge of his aims, complete poise, calm strength of purpose, manly attractiveness, deep understanding of men, and deep sympathy with them. Youth is prone to hero-worship; the Gospel meditation presents youth with a Hero in Christ, compared to whom all others are second-rate. The second part, called the Enquiry, teaches the young leaders"to apply the teaching of Christ to their own lives, to life as they see it around them. They are taught to assess their own problems, (which are the problems of all young people, to attack them and to solve them. They are taught to go into the arena of life and to win their own battles and the battles of their fellows. The fruit of their experience will he for the benefit of all. The Youth \ loveemnts also provide services for youth, and each branch is encouraged to use them. These services are recreational, sporting, educational, social, vocational. They are intended to attract and to make good use of leisure time. But more still, they are intended to help young people order their lives, to enable them to play their own active part in building a new world, their own active part in the betterment of social conditions. The result of all this is to form in coung people a strong Christian personality. For youth is the time when personality is formed; it is the time when a young man or woman really meets life and all that life promises, meets it iwith zest and enthusiasm, with high hope, with a new spirit of in,'ependence, and with a certain degree of egotism and intolerance, with eager expectation, but often with doubts and misgivings , and a feeling of disillusionment. Youth is the timewhen the pattern of life is set; it must he set correctly. Besides this, the members of our youth movements are concerned not only with their own spiritual and sovial welfare, but with the welfare of ,-oath in general, with their welfare of our countrv. Their motto is: " A new vouch to build a new Australia." The aim of the Catholic Youth Movements is to fashion an environment in which• and to provide the means b\ which, human personality , , an be developed to its utmost limits, but freed from the hampering and degrading effects of false idealogy, but enriched and ennobled by fidedity to the Laws of God and. the teaching of Christ. That task they set themsel"es. That task ,by the grace of God, the\ will accomplish.
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