“I think that the new generations…should be the privileged area of the New Evangelization,” said Superior General Brother Álvaro Rodríguez Echeverría in a statement he delivered before the Synod of Bishops presently gathered in Rome. He spoke about the importance of becoming familiar with the needs, distress, questions, yearnings and hopes of young people. Bro. Álvaro stated that “the new evangelization for the young and for those accompanying them should be a call to return to the Gospel and to discover that the central core of faith is a personal encounter with Jesus which leads to a community of disciples.” He advised the assembly “to act as companions to young people as they seek to find the meaning of life…Rather than teachers who teach from above or judges that judge and condemn from outside, we are called to be brothers and sisters who accompany from within.”
Bro. Álvaro is one of 95 secretaries and auditors appointed by Pope Benedict XVI to serve at the Synod which includes 262 nuncios and pontifical representatives. The Synod opened October 7 at the Vatican and will conclude October 28.