Why is it important to educate to optimism and hope today?
The pandemic caught us off guard. We were convinced that we were in the time of Homo Deus mentioned by the Israeli historian Yuval Noah Harari, the man who believes himself to be immortal. And instead, we have experienced fragility firsthand. We never thought that a molecule would bring the whole of humanity to its knees. This health crisis is being followed by an economic one, with devastating effects, and powerful social unease. In this context, resignation, pessimism and despair are rampant.
What would Don Bosco do today, in times of a pandemic?
The younger generations have not known war or hunger; they were used to dealing only with computer viruses, for which there are many antivirus. Hence the shock. I follow many YouTubers and influencers online: during the lockdown, they were literally speechless. Why? They were not prepared to face negative events, turning them into platforms for a relaunch, which is exactly what Don Bosco did. The adverse conditions for Don Bosco (and how many he experienced in his life!) proved to be opportunities to give the best of himself, reacting with resilience. A great lesson for today.
What is the difference between generic optimism and hope understood in Christian terms?
The first is the expression of a human feeling, the effort, sometimes unrealistic, of those looking for ways out of the dark. The Christian's hope, on the other hand, is based on the fact that there has been One, only one person in the long history of humanity, who has conquered death. He did not do it with technology, He did not resort to cloning, but with the only energy capable of overcoming death: love. The fact that God the Father resurrected Jesus gives us hope that no evil is definitive. And this puts the Christian in the conditions of going out of himself, of his self-referentiality, to live at the service of others.
Young people, however, find themselves living in a world marked by consumerism and selfishness....
Educating to hope allows us to face the challenges of the pandemic but, above all, the most serious problem of all: immanentism. Having closed man in the "here and now", we should not be surprised if the young are content to just getting by, wasting their existence, and if they resist making definitive commitments, opting for continuously reversible choices. They live for today, without a long-term perspective. For me, this is the most demanding challenge: there is a need to educate to the Absolute. Otherwise, life is reduced to a mere biological cycle without it having a meaning.
Many young people, after receiving a Catholic education, leave the Church and take other paths. Why does this happen and how do we respond to this phenomenon?
Young people are leaving the Church because they no longer understand its language and rituals. What is needed is a major change in the itinerary to the faith. Up to now, we have followed a "chronological" path, proposing catechesis according to age groups, but today this scheme no longer works. We need to move to a "kairological" approach, which focuses on the "kairòs", that is, situations and experiences that touch children deeply and raise questions. This is the reason why the various "Paths" are so successful. After all, the principal model for educating to the faith is more than ever that of Emmaus.
In what sense?
Jesus sees the disciples disenchanted, let down, disappointed. And what does He do? He walks with them. He doesn't scold or give lessons, but He listens. The trouble, as educators, is that we often give young people answers to questions they don't have, while we struggle to really listen to them. Where do we start from? In the past, we would start from the head to get to the heart; now we have to do the opposite, stimulating the imagination. This also applies to education in the faith. The last thing that teenagers and young people want today is that their desires and dreams be clipped. Don Bosco was a teacher in this and we must be inspired by him.
