By Kielce Gussie
In 2011, a book dedicated to helping young people better understand the Catechism of the Catholic Church was published, entitled “YOUCAT”.
Fifteen years later, a second edition has been published. This time, the text was specifically prepared for anyone looking at Sacrament of Marriage or simply trying to better understand love in light of the Catholic faith. “YOUCAT Love Forever” offers insight into every stage of a relationship geared towards the sacrament.
In Rome on Oct 6, the YOUCAT Foundation hosted a presentation for the book, “YOUCAT Love Forever”, with a number of guests: Regina Lynch, Executive President of Aid to the Church in Need; Veronica Katz, Head of the Spanish Local Group and Consultation Process for YOUCAT Love Forever; Bernhard Meuser, Creator of YOUCAT and coordinator of the project and the editorial work on YOUCAT Love Forever; and Fr Joseph Fessio, SJ, Founder of Ignatius Press and YOUCAT’s publishing partner since its beginning.
A guide for the youth
Archbishop John Joseph Kennedy, Secretary of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and member of the ACN Supervisory Board, presided over Mass in Rome’s San Lorenzo Center before also joining the presentation.
In his remarks, the archbishop called “YOUCAT Love Forever” a roadmap that can help guide young people on their faith journey and to guide them “to make many important life decisions.”
He pointed out that today the Church sees that young people are open to listening and are interested in the Catholic faith. That is where YOUCAT can step in. Archbishop Kennedy reminded everyone that the Church is not telling young people to bury their desires. Rather, “the Church is saying that your desire to love is something true, something real, that it comes from God, and that God wants you to fulfil it according to his plan.”
Concluding, he encouraged young Catholics to use the book to ask their questions, “even the hard ones, because by reading and studying these questions, you will find the answers of life and the most important thing: You were created for love.”
Answering the greatest need
Speaking to Vatican News ahead of the event, Bernhard Meuser explained that work on this second book started soon after the publication of the first “YOUCAT” in 2011 as people kept asking: What now?
“What should we do next? The most important suggestion people gave was to do something about love and sexuality. That is the greatest need,” Meuser shared.
With that, the YOUCAT Foundation began working on this second book. However, the creator said they ran into a number of questions about how to address the different opinions globally regarding sexual morality, gender ideology, and similar issues.
It was a push from Pope Francis that really sparked the flame a second time to work on creating the new book. Meuser explained that the Argentine pontiff “said we urgently need a marriage catechumenate. So, we started the project for the second time.”
Love in today’s world
In 2016, the YOUCAT team began collecting questions from more than 30 countries around the world. The creator described being flooded by questions and testimonies from couples, singles, psychologists, priests and religious, and theologians.
From these responses, “YOUCAT Love Forever” responds to the concerns young people have in the context of the world today. It offers an understandable and practical Church-based view of love.
He stressed that “the greatest problem now is the condition that people let in the mainstream or false idea of love. love is a kind of feeling that lasts as long as the feelings are strong. This is not the Christian idea of love.”
Meuser highlighted that “YOUCAT Love Forever” “is a freer version of a kind of Catechism. It is a kind of marriage handbook for young people.”
It is “a little stone in a great wall,” he said. “We cannot change the world” with it, but rather “invite people to reach the ideal.” – Vatican News
