Reflections on Youth Ministry

The magazine "Vida Religiosa", periodical publication of the Claretian Missionaries, in its latest issue (December 2024, vol. 137, no. 10), contains the interview to the Professor of the Faculty of Theology Santiago García Mourelo, by Ignacio Virgillito, from the communication office of the Claretian Province of Santiago.

In the interview, our Professor and Coordinator of Theological Extension and Christian Social Thought at Comillas shared his profound reflections on youth ministry and Christian initiation.

Professor García Mourelo underlines the importance of mystagogy. He distances himself from the tendency to reduce youth ministry to one-off emotional encounters and stresses the need for a progressive insertion into the community. "Christian initiation cannot be reduced to the reception of the sacraments of initiation", he says.

Our Professor warns against the risk of believing that one is accompanying young people without really doing so, underlining that accompaniment should enable discernment and favour personal maturity. He notes that pastoral initiatives often do not prepare young people to live their faith as adults, but perpetuate youth dynamics that are not adapted to adult responsibilities. Warns that a lack of critical capacity and personal formation in young people can facilitate authoritarian tendencies. He insists that all youth ministry should be vocational from the beginning, not as an appendix or an end goal.

Emotions, Professor García Mourelo points out, must be integrated into broader pastoral planning to be effective in the long term. He highlights three essential values for pastoralists: faithfulness, patience and the search for wisdom. The interview invites serious reflection on how to accompany young people on their faith journey.

The full interview is available to subscribers.

Professor Santiago García Mourelo holds a PhD in Theology, from the Department of Dogmatic and Fundamental Theology, and is a recognised expert in the phenomenology of religion and Youth Ministry. He is currently Coordinator of Theological Extension and Christian Social Thought at the University. His latest publications include Teología Fundamental ( CCS 2024) and Sueños y travesías. Claves e itinerarios para una mistagogía con jóvenes ( Desclée De Brouwer 2023).

All the latest news from the Faculty of Theology can be found on the website, in the monthly newsletter and on the social network X (formerly Twitter).