The bishop of Palencia defends the role of the brotherhoods with young people
Topics Real Federación de Hermandades y Cofradías de Granada
Mikel Garciandía argues in Granada that popular piety brings young people who are hurt and distant from the Church closer to the faith.
Brotherhoods and confraternities have a role in bringing young people closer to the faith. This is what the bishop of Palencia, Mikel Garciandía Goñi, defended in a lecture held at the Centro Ágora, headquarters of the Real Federación de Hermandades y Cofradías de Semana Santa de Granada, on the occasion of the institution's Founding Centenary.
Young people looking for a boat
Garciandía described young people who barely know the Church and who, after contemplating a procession or living an experience of popular religiosity, begin to take an interest in Christianity. Some even ask for baptism. «Young people are full of wounds and are looking for a boat in which to get on and sail the sea of life,» the prelate stated.
The bishop, president of the Area of Popular Piety of the Conferencia Episcopal Española, stressed that this first encounter must have continuity. Following Jesus, he explained, is not only accompanying him in the miracles, but also walking with Him through the Passion. That is why he asked that the life of the brotherhoods not remain only in external manifestations and be supported by the liturgy.
Self-criticism in the Church
Garciandía also engaged in self-criticism. «What worries me is an impoverished Catholicism,» he acknowledged, warning of the risk of reducing the faith to doctrines, rites or rules. He asked whether it is young people who abandon the Church or whether it is the Church itself that sometimes abandons them by not offering them what they need.
The lecture is part of the activities of the Centenary of the Real Federación. Among them is the exhibition Kerygma. El arte de evangelizar, at the Catedral de Granada, which shows the heritage of the brotherhoods from their religious meaning.
Next event in the series
The series will continue on Thursday, November 5, at 19:30, in the assembly hall of the Curia Eclesiástica de Granada. Luis Alberto Rosales Araque, general director of the Fundación CARF, will give the lecture «Religiosidad popular y vocaciones sacerdotales en el mundo». Admission will be free until full capacity is reached.