arents, educators, and students are still feeling the shock wave coming from the tragic and violent events at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. Once again, the security of our schools, our children, and our lives has been thrown into question. Such an event is hard to ignore and demands intelligent response from many sectors of society. It is a natural and necessary response to look for causes and it is instinctive to place blame on someone or something for such a tragedy. But no matter how long we search and no matter how passionately we point a finger here or there, we are all shaken to the very core by the questions that haunts us all: Can it happen in my school, to my kids, in my neighborhood? Is there something I can do today to help prevent such a nightmare from happening again?

Looking for a "New" Response
These questions drive us all into research and study. We want to be part of the solution and not another statistic. We look for "new" ways to reach the young, especially those who feel outside the world of their peers—those who fall through the cracks. Can we add something to the curriculum to help young people deal with their anger? Is it possible to conduct classes on parenting, to offer skills for understanding the struggles and questions of ado-lescents today? Can we isolate the parts of our culture which at-tack the innocence of our youth and plant the seeds of violence in their psyches?

All of these further questions and issues are vitally important, but we know that there is something more, something more basic, something deeper to be tapped. At the heart of the questions and the research are the core issues of meaning and relationship. We want to know how to pass on meaning and purpose to our young people. We long for them to have and to find healthy relationships. And these two have always gone hand in hand.

Our search for the "new" solution usually drives us back to the "old" and the "tried and true" solutions. Perhaps, all we need do is find a "new way" of communicating or applying what has al-ways been the answer. Therefore, education, family life, and all other areas of human growth are constantly called upon to update and to find pathways into young hearts which speak in their language and offer them hope and guidance.

A "New Evangelization" and a "New Pastoral Mentality"
Pope John Paul II has consistently called to the youth of the world to find their meaning and purpose in Jesus Christ. He has challenged them to be the bearers of the Gospel for the world by offering their special gifts as a youthful Church. He has never called them to a private piety but to a public service of witness and action. He has held up the youth of the world as the hope of the world and has no doubts about the power of the young for good. In our times, the Pope has called the world to a "new evan-gelization." The Gospel has not changed, but the times call for a new response to its message. New generations are given the task of bringing this good news into all parts of human experience in ever new ways.

The U.S. Bishops published the document Renewing the Vision: A Framework for Youth Ministry in June of 1997. This document responds precisely to the need for the American Church to deal with the present needs of the young. The genius of this document lies in the call for comprehensive youth minis-try. It targets the unchurched, those who fall through the cracks. This documents asks the whole Church and, indeed, all of society to make all youth their concern. After twenty plus years of study, implementation, and experience gained from applying A Vision of Youth Ministry (The 1976 U.S. Bishops Document on Youth), the Bishops identified eight components of comprehensive youth ministry. These components encompass far more than any one ministry could ever hope to manage and calls upon the entire community to journey with the young.

The Salesian Congregation, whose mission is to the youth of the world, has also felt the stirring of the Spirit in these times. The Congregation has met with Salesians from all corners of the globe since the times of Don Bosco to wrestle with the rapidly changing world of the young. In the past thirty years, a tremendous focus has placed youth at the center of all the reflection. From this reflection, the Congregation has identified four dimen-sions of youth ministry and has called upon the collaborative ef-forts of the wider community, lay and religious, old and young, to minister to young people. This ministry to the young is not to be understood as the jurisdiction of experts or professionals, but the urgent task of all those involved in the life of the young. These persons weave together a tapestry of "organic" youth ministry.

Fr. Antonio Domenech, who sits on the General Council of the Salesians in Rome as head of the Youth Ministry Department, has called the Salesian Congregation and the whole Salesian Family to "a new pastoral mentality." This new way of thinking invites the wider community to the table of youth ministry and asks that all planning and resources continually put youth at the center. He asks that our outreach to the young root itself in their expressed needs and the four dimensions of youth ministry. These four di-mensions are: education for life in the world of the young, evan-gelization and catechesis, grouping and associations of youth, and discovery of one’s calling from God in life.

The starting point of this ministry is St. John Bosco’s encounter with Jesus Christ. As he found Jesus authentically present in the young, youth ministers are called to encounter Jesus in them as well. This encounter should lead the young to their own rela-tionship with Jesus Christ. This relationship deepens their con-nection with the young Church and with one another. And the strength of this connection in faith and life enables the young to transform the world.

You Are a Part of the Community
St. John Bosco often repeated, "It is not enough to love the young, they must know they are loved." Young people, like all of us, respond to and need love—a love that is experienced as real. No one parent, teacher, or friend can supply all the love that a growing child needs. It takes a community of love and service to reach out to a young person. Until the community of educators, parents, and peers begin to unite and work for the meaning and friendship that all young people need, there will be many who fall through the cracks.

All of us are called to be concerned about and serve the young. We must help them to know that they are loved by attending to their real needs. We must help one another to see those who do not wish to be seen or hear the cry of the quiet ones who feel outside of life. In the words of the Salesian Congregation, we all form "the educating and pastoral community" of the young.

With the Holy Father, the U.S. Bishops, and the Salesians of Don Bosco, let us not rest until young people may know the gift they are to the world. Let us seek out those who are on the margin of their world and draw them into the loving embrace of the community. And let us be vigilant that our embrace comes from the deep center of our lives, the encounter with a loving and faithful God.