A Student Responds to Reflections on Steinfels, John Paul the Great, and the JPII Generation

I want to share this email that I received in response to my posting on Steinfels and Catholic youth:

Dear Professor Scaperlanda,

Greetings from Washington, D.C.!

Thank you for posting your comments about the JP2-Generation. Your response to Peter Steinfel's article was greatly needed.

My name is John Paul Shimek. Currently, I am enrolled in the M.A./Ph.D. program in Philosophy at the Catholic University of America. Previously, I have written for Catholic newspapers and on-line resources about the JP2-Generation. Lastly, I plan to enter the seminary in the fall - I made the decision on the day of the funeral of John Paul II. My older brother, a J.D. program graduate from Notre Dame, is a seminarian at the Pontifical North American College in Rome.

At any rate, all of that is by means of an introduction. Here are some thoughts that I have on the issue at hand.

My brother tells me that the journalists in Rome are scrambling for young seminarians who do not support the Church's teaching on difficult moral matters (like contraception, homosexual unions, and the ordination of women to the priesthood -- which really isn't a moral issue, but I digress). Moreover, my brother tells me that one cannot find a young seminarian in the city of Rome that does not endorse the Church's positions. If you have ever visited a Roman seminary (like the Pontifical North American College), then you know that we are talking about large numbers of young men.

Also, I think that one has to look in the places where the new evangelization is being taken up with vigor in order to read more carefully the signs of the times. Here in Washington, we have numerous study groups on Pope John Paul II's Love and Responsibility and his Theology of the Body. Also, the new ecclesial and lay movements are attracting a great deal of attention. I regularly attend an Opus Dei evening of recollection where nearly thirty to fifty young people gather monthly for spiritual growth and direction. Additionally, I have friends in groups such as Communione e Liberazione (which are just as orthodox) whose numbers rival our own. To add to the foregoing, my university quickly fills classes on the thought of Pope John Paul II every time they are offered. In fact, I am currently taking one class on his philosophical anthropology that is offered to the graduate communities of CUA and the JP2 Institute. We are a standing-room-only bunch! Lastly, my generation is continuously bringing forth study circles, outreach programs, and student-led mini-think tanks (like New York's "World Youth Alliance") where we study the writings of Pope John Paul II and celebrate his life.

I should like to make one more point. There has been much talk made so far about the new pope's relationship with young people. While waiting for him to come to the central loggia of St. Peter's basilica on Tuesday, one of the news network's cameras got a shot of a sign that read, in Italian, "we already know that we love you." I think that says it all. I couldn't help but notice the large crowds of young people that filled St. Peter's square on the day of his installation. It was truly impressive to see young people waving flags and banners with great enthusiasm. My brother was at the mass and, afterward, he told me that so many young people -- both at his seminary and elsewhere -- are excited about this new pontificate. Young seminarians have begun to read his books -- I know of one seminarian who bought up six of them already, even though he has to plow through exams and papers before he can get to them.

It does seem to me, however, that one ingredient is key in all of this excitement. Wherever the bishops of the Church have tried to implement the pope's pastoral project, then the youth have responded. That was the case in Denver, Colorado and it is now the case in places like Milwaukee, Wisconsin and elsewhere.

Well, I realize that this is a very long (perhaps, long-winded) e-mail. But, here's the rub: the JP2-Generation is here and we are not afraid of the future! We are so in love with our great John Paul II and we are ready to embrace his successor. Naturally, those in our ranks do not include all of the young people of the Church or of the world. But, we are a growing bunch. Our enthusiasm, hope, and many prayers will very shortly outpower the spinmastery of the E.J. Diones and the Peter Steinfels of the world, you just wait.

Thank you for giving voice to us in your post on MOJ. I appreciated your comments very much.

All the best,

JP