John Paul II had a strong connection with
youth and young adults
By Brandon A. Evans
One of the constant themes in the life of Pope John Paul II was his loving connection to the youth of the world—and the way that they loved him back.
Young people loved the Holy Father and he loved them, said Archbishop Daniel M. Buechlein, citing World Youth Day pilgrimages attended by millions of youth and young adults during the 26 years of his papacy.
“I think that youth are attracted to someone who they can be confident is a person of integrity and someone who can be trusted,” the archbishop said. “They just naturally connected to him. I think it’s that plus [the fact that] he loved them, and that love of his radiated wherever he went.”
“He had a special relationship with youth because he took their contributions to the Church seriously,” said Father Robert Robeson, director of the archdiocesan Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry.
“He was not afraid to challenge youth. He was not afraid to call them to a higher level of holiness,” Father Robeson said of the late pontiff. “He challenged them out of love.”
“Youth love to be challenged and encouraged,” said Father Jonathan Meyer, associate director of the Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry. “This man was alive with the power of the Holy Spirit.”
But, Father Meyer said, the pope was also a child at heart—and someone who was able to excite young people and relate to them.
Zac Karanovich, a sophomore at Marian College in Indianapolis, said that while we’ve had good popes in the past, “John Paul was different. He was a loving man, period. No one could argue that. His teachings were from the heart and from God. And he knew how to convey that to the youth.”
Aaron Thomas, a freshman at Marian College and seminarian with the archdiocese, said, “The Holy Father has given me hope for the future—despite dark and dreary circumstances—and [the] courage to be a Catholic, even when Catholic teachings may not be popular in secular culture.”
Father Meyer said that the pope had a way of not just showing people what Christ’s teachings are, but also of illuminating the reasons for those teachings.
He said that he heard someone in a news story say that young people are drawn to Pope John Paul II, but do not agree with his teaching. Father Meyer said that he disagrees—the young people who are regular Mass attendees that he has known are in love not just with John Paul II but also with the teachings that are bound to him.
Thomas said that when the pope fell ill last week, he and other students at the Bishop Bruté House of Formation at Marian College organized all night adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.
“Even in his dying, the pope brought so many people, so many young people, to love the Lord, to draw closer to him, to trust in Jesus,” he said.
The thoughts of many young people around the world are probably also turning to the upcoming World Youth Day celebration this August in Cologne, Germany. It is a festival instituted by Pope John Paul II and many youth like to go to pray with the pope.
Archbishop Daniel M. Buechlein is leading a group of young people on a World Youth Day pilgrimage in August.
“It’s going to be a way for Catholic [youth and young adults] all over the world to mourn the death of our Holy Father, but also to rejoice that the Church goes on,” Father Meyer said.
It will also be a chance for youth to greet the new pope.
“I certainly hope that youth embrace future popes with the same degree of love that they have embraced Pope John Paul,” Father Robeson said. “In a sense, John Paul II has set a standard of love for youth that future popes will be able to carry on.
“As Catholics, the pope is our spiritual leader and our father—and regardless of who fills that seat, we are bound to love him, to pray for him and to respect his teaching authority,” he said.
Father Meyer said that the death of the pope will affect young people because he was such a father figure to them—and their way of relating to the hierarchy.
“We will miss JPII,” Thomas said, “but we know that the next pope will be guided by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Father’s death reminds us that ‘the gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church.’
“Although at first I was distraught in the dying days of the Holy Father, I am now at peace,” Thomas said. “I rejoice in the wonderful ways that God used JPII as his instrument.”
One of those ways in which the pope was an instrument was through his prolific writings, which will be studied into the distant future.
“We have not even begun to scratch the surface of this man who was a philosopher and a scholar and a theologian,” Father Meyer said.
“Each time I read something he has written, I am virtually moved to tears,” Father Robeson said. “He has a way of capturing and expressing the truth of Christ’s message in a way that leads me closer to God. After reading his encyclicals, I just want to spend time praying. I know many people under the age of 40 who just can’t get enough of John Paul II’s writings.”
Because of the electronic age, the late Holy Father has left audio and visual recordings for future generations.
Thomas said that he has a CD with a recording of the late pope on it. Whenever he listens to it, he said, it sounds like the pope is talking directly to him.
“Perhaps this is why so many young people love the Holy Father so dearly,” he said. “They are drawn to him because in his life he saw into each soul he encountered and loved it.
“In his death, the youth have rallied around him because he’s not just the pope, but their father,” Thomas said. “The same is [true] with me. He has been the greatest inspiration in my life. He has truly been my father. I will always lovingly call him by his name, ‘Papa mío.’ ” †