Many voices agree that the authentic challenge of the Synod on Young People will begin on October 29, that is, when the synod meetings have concluded and everything said must be concretized in daily life.
FR. ALEXANDRE AWI MELLO
Secretary, Dicastery Lay, Family and Life
'I am convinced that more important than a document or words being produced by this synod, is the process and the attitudes that emerged from it. To have a Synodal Church, an open Church willing to listen, a Church that learns with young people.'
Fr. Alexandre Awi Mello is the Secretary of the Dicastery for Lay People, Family and Life. He explains that this synod has helped the Church to catch up in the dialogue gap with young people, to offer answers to the concerns of all of them, believers and non-believers.
FR. ALEXANDRE AWI MELLO
Secretary, Dicastery Lay, Family and Life
'That is the perspective we are also taking: to listen to their needs, their questions, their doubts. We try to respond to them from our Christian reality. For example, through our testimonies, clearly saying that we do not want a proselytizing Church. We do not want to convince you of anything. We just want to share our joy. That is something that also reaches atheists.'
Fr. Mello knows this is a formula that works. He himself comes from a non-Catholic family. Even so, he always looked for God, and at 15 he was confirmed. Fifteen years later, he was ordained a priest. His dream was to sail, and be a sea captain, but God had prepared other seas for him.
FR. ALEXANDRE AWI MELLO
Secretary, Dicastery Lay, Family and Life
'I changed my idea of being a sea captain. I changed the physical weapons for Jesus’ cross and weapons. For me, it was a joy to be able to find my vocation. Some asked me, ‘But why?! You had a future and so many things you could do.’ Others even said, ‘Poor man.’ I told them, ‘No, I am the happiest person in the world because I have been able to discover my vocation.’”
For this reason, he asserts that it is important to help each person to find his or her specific mission in the Church and in society, a job which his Dicastery is dedicated to doing.
FR. ALEXANDRE AWI MELLO
Secretary, Dicastery Lay, Family and Life
'It is the time for the laity and we cannot let this era stop. Because a missionary Church, an outgoing Church, is a Church dependent on the mission the laity have received through baptism. That is, the importance of letting the laity act in the Church and in society.'
In this way, the laity can transform the world through their work in each and every one of the countries around the globe.
