Where do we go now?

Beth Warren writes about young adults’ experience of synodality and the importance of learning how to accompany young people on the journey they have begun

The global synodal journey has fascinated us at Million Minutes since its launch last year. This idea of “synodality”; actively listening to other people and gaining a deeper understanding of their life experiences, is what we, as young adults, have been crying out for. But there seems to be a perception that now the structured “synodal conversations” in parish communities have been “ticked off the task list”, and the journey’s destination has been reached. But that can’t be true – it shouldn’t be true. This is a journey that we want to continue – but where do we go now?

The global synod 2021–23 has been a joyful opportunity to create spaces where the voices of all people can be heard. At Million Minutes, we felt called to ensure that the voices of young people were being heard, so we joined as many conversations as possible across as many dioceses as possible, whether formal or informal. To provide a space that was dedicated to young adults nationally, in January of this year we facilitated a synodal conversation with our friends of the Columban Missionaries in Britain, for a small group of young adults across the country to express their experiences and thoughts, while also providing an opportunity to listen to others.

During this conversation, each person in the group was able to express themselves and their experiences in a way that they haven’t found the space and opportunity to do before. Even though each individual has a completely unique life experience, we were able to sympathise with the feelings that have been stirred in each of us.

This was the first time that this particular group of people had met together. Through this type of conversation, which was shaped with openness and understanding, a community was being formed through accompaniment. At Million Minutes, we resonate with this because we know that being accompanied by another person can have a huge impact on the personal journey of discernment and level of engagement.

Over the past few months, I have had many parishes reach out in search of an answer to the question, “How do we get those young people out there to go to Mass?”. The delivery of this question seems to be laced with the idea that people are not present in the community if they don’t attend Mass, and I think this is completely the wrong question to be asking at this point of the synodal journey. Rather, if we ask “How can I offer accompaniment to this person?”, the dynamic and focus shifts. We are not speaking to a person with the mindset of completing the goal of convincing them to attend Mass on a Sunday, instead we are making an offer of a connection through understanding and acceptance.

Through life, we have all been accompanied in various ways, and I’m sure that if you take some time to reflect on what accompaniment can look like, you will resonate with the type of accompaniment that you most connected with. As part of our response to the synod 21–23, we are producing training and resources for parish communities to put accompaniment into practice in their communities. There have been many seeds sown by the synodal conversations, and we believe that great fruit can be grown in parish communities across the country, especially if we look to young adults for inspiration of true accompaniment.

Beth Warren is Senior Parish Engagement Officer at Million Minutes. For more information on accompaniment and to read the report from our young adult synodal conversation, visit www.millionminutes.org