Cologne starts preparing for 2018 Youth Synod

The archdiocese of Cologne has appointed a group of young people to “translate” the official Vatican Youth Synod questionnaire, which will probably be published online this month, into “ordinary German which young people are familiar with”, writes Christa Pongratz-Lippitt.

The group responsible for translating the questionnaire will be supervised by Fr Tobias Schwaderlapp, who oversees pastoral work with young people in the archdiocese. Cologne is the first German diocese to begin preparing for the October 2018 Synod on “Youth, Faith and Vocational Discernment”.

“We must find out how young people think,” the Archbishop of Cologne, Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki, told domradio.de on 27 April. “As we presume that the Vatican questionnaire will not be using the language our young people here speak, a group of our young will translate what Rome puts online into the German our young speak and add questions  of interest to us here. Experience has shown us that the wording used by the Vatican authorities is often difficult to understand.”

He was asked whether he was worried that the main focus would be on issues of sexuality and partnership, and that the rift between church teaching and how young people live would be exposed. This rift had always existed, Cardinal Woelki replied, adding that the Church needed to talk to the young “on an equal footing” and not be a “moralising institute”.

“Faithfulness, partnership and love are questions everyone thinks about. We must find out if our answers are convincing and if young people are willing to accept them,” he said.