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Some youths are leaving the Catholic Church. It is our duty as parents and priests to ask "why" And they are joining other religious groups. Again we must ask "why"? The research section of the SMA Youth Centre, Ibadan, undertook to examine these pressing questions. A pilot questionnaire revealed a need for a multilevel approach:- on the negative side of the reasons for the lapsed Catholic youth a) leaving our Church and b) joining another church. On the positive side we sought a) what our practising youth suggest for themselves and for their priests in this matter; b) what steps priests recommend should be taken to encourage our young members to stay in the Church; and c) what parents saw as the means in the home of helping their children to remain loyal to the Church. Questionnaires were designed for the four groups and distributed to them.
The analysis of the returned questionnaires focuses our attention on this urgent problem, letting us view it from all four perspectives. Of course, it didn’t produce a quick and easy solution to such a complex and changing problem. There never is one in this life because life just isn’t like that! But it does present us, parents and priests, with a clearer and more accurate understanding of the problem. Furthermore it indicates areas of concern in need of our time and attention. And lastly it points to directions in the religious journey of our youth, both at home and in the Parish.
I feel that this question of youth in the Church would best be examined in a broader context of the nature of the Church itself and their membership of it in the light of the Incarnation, the meeting of the divine and the human.
I thank all those people who took part in this exercise, the youth, parents and priests. May the divine image which is in each one of us shine as a light for of us. Amen.

Hearts on Fire
Jesus the key to the Bible

Recently our SMA Youth Centre, Ibadan, carried out a survey to estimate the knowledge level about the Bible among our practising Catholic youth. We asked about the “Bible-as-a-whole”, that is, a) about God’s overall plan and purpose as shown in the Bible and b) about the background knowledge of the Bible, its people, history, geography, culture, etc.These two items can greatly help anyone reading the Bible to avoid being sidetracked by its lesser events or being confused by its many details.

The results indicated that many of our Catholic youth are quite weak in these aspects of our religion. Thus they are very open to attacks by their non-Catholic (anti-Catholic?) companions, especially when they have selectively-chosen Bible quotations thrown at them. How much more so those of our youth who are less committed to the Catholic faith!

The survey analysis grouped the responses under five headings:-
areas of Clear Strength, Strength, Confusion, Weakness and Clear Weakness.
There were no ‘Clear Strengths’ or ‘Strengths’ in the Overall Grading of the replies from our more active Catholic youth!!! Over 36% of the answers given were the wrong ones, an overall ‘Confusion’. These negative figures are far too high for those surveyed. Obviously our Catholic youth need an overall unifying knowledge about the Bible, together with some accurate background information, if they are to withstand their ‘Bible misquoting’ peers as these fundamentalists ‘grasshopper’ around the Bible.
[The Questionnaire of the Survey is included here as Self Tests 1 to 6 and a Review of the Survey Analysis is in the appendix]
In this book I am attempting two main ideas:
a) to show Jesus as the key to the ‘Bible-as-a whole”, namely, that the Old Testament points to Him and the New Testament flows from Him. Clearly we need such a stabilizing centre amidst the confusion caused by the man-made ‘Bible churches’ as they try to lure our young adults away from the true Church with their half-baked preaching;
b) to make the real, though seemingly neglected, connection between studying the Bible and receiving Jesus in Holy Communion, from the word of God to the Word of God.
May the God who wrote His truth in the Bible write it anew in our hearts.

A M Kelly S.M.A.

A Story of Catholic Church for Young People

Hello

Our Story as a Church is a war between good and evil;
a war which is fought out in the Life of each of us.
In the garden of Eden,
Satan began his war against us.

In the wilderness,
he tried to prevent the beginning of Jesus’ work for us.
In the garden of Gethsemane,
he tried to prevent the success of Jesus’ work for us.
The struggle continues
And, yet, our Church grows.

Our Church, the Great Family of God, grows in many ways:
it grows in years;
it grows in numbers;
it grows in new places
and it grows in Theology.

Theology means ‘our knowledge about God’.
This knowledge grows through God’s Revelation of Himself to us.
Revelation teaches us more about God through
(a) our study of Sacred Scripture (the Holy Bible) and
(b) the holy decisions of our Church Leaders (Holy Tradition).

Today Satan attacks Jesus in His Church
by spreading doubt and division among our members.
When this happens, our Pope calls a Special Meeting (a Council)
of our Church Leaders
who pray and study the Holy Bible and Holy Tradition
about the current problem.
Then God the Holy Spirit guides our Church Leaders
to Jesus’ Truth about the dispute.
This is one of the main ways God’s Great Family grows.

their origin

their meaning

their purpose

"Dreaming about me" seeks the correct place for dreams in our lives. It is not to be found in superstition; it is not to be found in atheism. Rather dreams are a natural part of God's gifts for our journey back to Him.

"Dreaming about me" looks at dreams in the Bible. It also points to the derailing of dreams by misconceptions such as astrology, Ifa oracle and God-less science.

"Dreaming about me" examines the results of research into dreams. It draws out the purpose for dreams: a natural aid to our development as a person and people.

"Dreaming about me" offers guidelines for recalling and for understanding your dreams.

Melchior de Bresillac

Founder of the SMA

Prologue: THE SPIRIT OF THE FOUNDER

1. The Society of African Missions (SMA) was founded by Bishop Melchior de Marion Bresillac on the 8th December 1856 at the chapel of Notre-Dame de Fourviere, Lyons.
2. Bishop de Bresillac had, from childhood, felt an atrraction to become a “minister of Jesus Christ among the gentiles”. So he left his home diocese of Carcassonne in France to go as a herald of the Gospel to Asia. Even when he felt obliged in conscience to withdraw from the Indian Mission he resolved to remain a missionary to the end of his life. This is what prompted him in May 1855 to offer himself to the Holy See as a missionary to any part of the World. In answer to this generous offer he was urged to form a Society. Propaganda Fide formally authorised him to do this in February 1856.
3. In November 1856 he was able to write to Propaganda Fide: “The Society of African Missions is no longer just a project; it exists”. In a few ‘Fundamental Articles’ he out-lined the kind of Society he wanted. It was to have “as its principal aim the evangelisation of the countries of Africa which have most need of missionaries…Independently of the care it will give to the missions specifically confided to it, the Society will constantly work to prepare ways for penetrating into the places in Africa where there are as yet no missionaries…the Society being essentially secular, a member will not take vows in it but he will make a solemn resolution to persevere in the Society to the end of this days, considering it his greatest merit, to die at the work, either on the missions or at their service in Europe”.
4. As Founder of the SMA, Bishop de Bresillac received from the Holy Spirit, for the benefit of the entire Church, a charism for the evangelisation of non-Christians, especially Africans.

In his life and in his writings, he expressed his charism in this way:

a) Above all, a missionary is essentially an apostle to non-Christians; he must always be ready to go ‘elsewhere’. “Happy the apostolic missionary who founds churches and, as soon as he sees them well established, hurries on elsewhere to found new ones”.

b) Working in this way, the missionary is the heir to the vocation, the mind, the virtues and, to a certain extent, even the methods of the Apostles and especially of St. Paul.

c) Following the example of the Apostles and profoundly conscious of the final aim of missionary activity, Bishop de Bresillac retains as a essential duty of a missionary the formation of indigenous priests and the establishment of a local hierarchy. “To make priests, to make bishops, to plant real Churches – this, then, is the true mission of the Apostle”.

d) He insists that the Christian faith elevates societies, “but does not change the essential character of people, because there is no need of this. Catholic, in the full sense of the word, is made for all places as well as for all people”.

e) He shows that missionaries activity, in the light of the Lord’s call, should be directed to the greater progress of the people, especially the most abandoned.

5. By his life and death, and also in his writings, the Founder of the SMA has left to his followers the chief elements of the spirituality required for the formation of a true missionary.

a) He appears as a man “called”, an apostle who responds with an authentic “passion”, a faithful servant of God and the Church, a person radical in his desire “to be a missionary from the bottom of my heart”.

b) The source of a true missionary commitment is Jesus Christ, whose Cross, the sign and instrument of salvation, helps the missionary to live as a disciple of the Lord in the renunciation of self. “Near the Cross of Jesus stood His mother”, the Virgin Mary, who is also the strength and support of all missionaries.

c) He frequently uses the adjective “apostolic”. He expects missionaries to imitate the Apostles, both in their activities and in their style of life.

d) A missionary spirituality has certain qualities:

- it is directed towards the work of the Father which is yet to be accomplished: announcing salvation in Jesus Christ, especially to those who have not heard the Good News.
- it finds expression in the attitude of mind demanded by the missionary situation that the Founder experienced in India and Africa, especially in the exercise of humility, detachment, poverty, obedience, chastity and cheerful patience.

- it is at the service of the progress of people, especially the most abandoned.

6. Down through the years the SMA has sought to remain faithful to the spirit of its Founder, constantly adapting itself to new situations, and “always ready to respond to the needs of the times”.