His Eminence Aloysius Cardinal Ambrozic
Archbishop Emeritus of Toronto
Biography :: Letters, Homilies, Statements :: Articles

Pastoral Letter
After World Youth Day
November 2002

My dear friends,

World Youth Day was unquestionably the most important event for the Archdiocese of Toronto this year and in many another year. It was indeed most important for many Catholics and non-Catholics across Canada.

What We Have Learned

The first thing I learned to appreciate anew was the kindness of Torontonians and of all the inhabitants of the GTA. This kindness was mentioned again and again in the thank-you letters which I received from many parts of the world. It was, most often, spontaneous and unplanned, shown by all sorts of people, Catholic and non-Catholic, Christian and non-Christian. It is true, of course, that the young pilgrims in our midst were easy to be kind to. One of my friends said to me: "You know, I am not a Catholic, but this was the nicest week I have spent in Toronto; one felt so safe." Torontonians' response to the inevitable glitches which occur at such events was very Canadian: they did what was needed, without fanfare, in a taken-for-granted fashion. Practicality and sense of helpful responsibility were evident so often.

We are very grateful to the various levels of government, federal, provincial, municipal, to the TTC, to the Mississauga Transit Commission, to the police, to the other Churches, Anglicans in particular; all of them have contributed enormously to the success of the event. I suspect, however, that some of the pleasantest memories on the part of the young people will be those of their encounters with the so-called man on the street.

The second thing I learned to appreciate anew is that it is the young people who are the main evangelizers of one another. The importance of the Holy Father is unquestioned: his presence draws them in their tens and hundreds of thousands, his liking for them, and even more his trust in them, in their goodness and seriousness are evident. By promoting World Youth Days against occasional inertia and scepticism, the Holy Father has enabled the young people to become more articulate about, and thus manifest more clearly, their deep sense of responsibility and their goodness. No fly-by-nights, they are happy to meet others who live, believe and struggle like themselves. The Holy Father refuses to reduce the radicality of Jesus' call and demand to what is thought to be the measure of the young but which is often the adults' low expectation of ourselves and our refusal to make real sacrifices.

There is much else the young people taught me or taught me again. I mention only one more, namely, the need of rethinking and redefining or rather relocating our notions of daring and sophistication. During WYD I received a letter which spoke of the "impressionable young people" at the catecheses offered by Bishops and Cardinals. The term "impressionable" told me that the writer did not truly know these young people. They are anything but impressionable; they are, rather, wise, very wise, to their world, for one does not become wise to one's world by swallowing credulously what it has to offer, but by standing up to it and experiencing its chagrined disappointment.

It may still be thought to be striking and glamorous, but it takes no courage to be politically correct, to belittle, to be cynical and thus buy a semblance of cleverness. It is much more sophisticated and daring to uphold, to be faithful, to forget oneself and one's comfort, to be chaste, to be honest even in an inflated economic bubble, to be fair, in short, to be good.

It takes little courage and it requires no intellectual effort to imagine that civic tolerance, necessary in a democratic society, presupposes or demands ideological or religious indifferentism. Secularism, the principal religion of our public square, demands narrow-mindedly that we accept its notion of tolerance. While we must be willing to learn from every religious and non-religious conviction, we simply cannot accept the suggestion that all of them are of equal value. Jesus is the Centre of all humanity and of all human history. All human insights, no matter how profound and beautiful, are incomplete apart from him. Like his followers of the first three centuries, living in a welter of self-proclaimed saving and healing insights, philosophies and spiritualities, we know that Jesus is the Light of the world.

What Adults Ought to do

Adult members of the Church ought to imitate the Holy Father, whose liking and deep respect for the young is so obvious and attracting. He knows them as his fellow-disciples, serious about their life, seeking the strength to live their faith. They are not only the future of the Church but its present. We were fortunate to see the impact of their joyful and courageous faith in many a city or town across Canada, but particularly in Toronto, which will not easily forget their delightful spontaneity. They were a true light of our world and salt of our earth.

The Holy Father's insistent promotion of World Youth Days shows his trust in his young fellow-disciples and his conviction that, given the opportunity to manifest itself locally and internationally, their goodness cannot help but build up and encourage the young themselves as well as their often surprised and astonished elders. The adult members of the Church must admit truthfully and humbly, that not only do we have much to learn from the young, but that they often put to shame our timidity and willingness to compromise.

Like the Holy Father, we must know Jesus as our loving Friend who will never forget or abandon us, and as our risen Lord and God, who has absolute claim on all of us, on our life and work. Much of what Jesus expects of us is not easy, running against the tides in our environment and thus in our own personal make-up. In moments of inner and outer struggle, the thought must never leave us of the cross being part and parcel of Jesus' own existence and that of every one of his disciples. I ought to mention specifically his demand for a life that is chaste: difficult as it is in our pornographic atmosphere, it is one of the clearest daily declarations of our independence and true originality. As well, adult members of the Church ought to learn from the Holy Father to act our age. Being genuine and respectful of the young, he never tries to be "eighteen again".

A Few Words to the Young

I wish, first, to thank you from the bottom of my heart for what you have done for us last July, for your fellow-Catholics, for your fellow-Christians, for your fellow-citizens. You have shown us that knowing Jesus is a source of joy, your infectious happiness has made us happy and relaxed, your deep seriousness has made us more aware of what all of us are about as followers of Jesus and as human beings.

I invite you to continue doing what you are already doing: listen to Jesus carefully. He speaks to you through his Gospel, through his Church, through other people. Listen to him particularly as he calls you to join him in the Sunday Eucharist. Because he loves, respects and takes you seriously, he expects much of you.

He may well ask of you more than he has asked of your elders. You know that our world may, at times, "smile, and smile, and be a villain". Your world could well be, in some respects, more opposed to Jesus and to you than is ours. You may well have to be stronger than we are. Your fidelity to Jesus, your Friend and your Lord, may well be tested more painfully than ours.

But he has promised to be with you each day until the end of history. Aloysius Cardinal Ambrozic

Archbishop of Toronto.