The Watering Down of World Youth Day? Taking Bishop Aguiar at His Word, by John M. Grondelski, Ph.D.

If You Were A Sheep During Covid, Admit You Were Wrong And Do Better Next Time, by Evita Duffy-Alfonso

July 17, 2023

Benedict XVI: What Is the Source of Objections to Catholic Sexual Morality”

July 17, 2023

World Youth Day 2016 - Krakow, Poland - 2016-07-31 - Holy Mass From Campus Misericordiae

By John M. Grondelski, Ph.D., Catholic World Report, July 16, 2023

John M. Grondelski (Ph.D., Fordham) was former associate dean of the School of Theology, Seton Hall University, South Orange, New Jersey. He publishes regularly in the National Catholic Register and in theological journals. All views expressed herein are exclusively his own.

Pope St. John Paul II launched World Youth Day on the model of his own work as a university professor with young people, offering a clear and explicit Catholic vision, not excluding anybody but also not tailoring his message to “soften” its Catholic edges.

In the wake of the debacle over Cardinal-Designate Americo Aguiar’s remarks that World Youth Day (WYD) 2023 doesn’t intend to “convert” any youth because its goal was rather some kind of amorphous exercise in “fraternity,” somebody apparently sent out a “Lisbon, We Have a Problem” alert. The usual defensive mechanisms sprang into place: whenever a hierarch today utters something utterly off-the-wall, there follows efforts to walk back those off-the-wall remarks.

It started with Bishop Aguiar himself. He certainly never meant to suggest that WYD shouldn’t bring youth—even non-Catholic youth—to “God.” No, the head of WYD 2023 and auxiliary bishop of Lisbon hopes all young people have a positive “experience of God” there. …

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The Watering Down of World Youth Day? Taking Bishop Aguiar at His Word, by John M. Grondelski, Ph.D.

If You Were A Sheep During Covid, Admit You Were Wrong And Do Better Next Time, by Evita Duffy-Alfonso

Benedict XVI: What Is the Source of Objections to Catholic Sexual Morality”

By John M. Grondelski, Ph.D., Catholic World Report, July 16, 2023

Pope St. John Paul II launched World Youth Day on the model of his own work as a university professor with young people, offering a clear and explicit Catholic vision, not excluding anybody but also not tailoring his message to “soften” its Catholic edges.

It started with Bishop Aguiar himself. He certainly never meant to suggest that WYD shouldn’t bring youth—even non-Catholic youth—to “God.” No, the head of WYD 2023 and auxiliary bishop of Lisbon hopes all young people have a positive “experience of God” there. …

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