It is just over a year since I arrived in Paris to join our IMCS and IYCS International Teams. A major part of this time has been spent on adjusting to life and work together as a team. This has been an extremely interesting (even it often difficult) experience as a team, as we have struggled to understand and accept the vast diversity of expectations, ways of working, values, humor, ways of dealing with conflicts, understandings of community… Basically the cultural diversity that has existed in this small office in rue de Rennes. Besides the members of the Teams (Habib from Lebanon and Tarsoo (Linus) from Nigeria for IYCS, Budi from Indonesia and Natalia from Catalonia for IMCS AND myself from South Africa as the Common Chaplain for Both Movements), there is also our secretary Margarita, originally from Uruguay, and our accountants (Magdalena originally from Argentina, for IMCS, and Anna , originally from Poland for IYCS). A real assortment!! But so far , it is still a very rich experience, and we are growing to be more and more of a community , able to be more honest with each other, as well as more understanding and caring, and hopefully more efficient!
I would like to remind our team continually that, if we can learn to live and work together here in harmony, there is hope for the world! Why? Because one of (if not the greatest sources of conflict and war in our world is the absolutising of our own cultural, ethnic, language or religious group (seeing it as the norm for all behavior or belief). And we are all tempted to do this! This is whu international (or inter-religional or inter-ethnic) meetings are so difficult; because we are naturally stick to those with whom we feel more comfortable (who share our language and our culture), and it is easy or disagreements and tensions to develop with people from other group who might see things from a completely different point of view.
If we are concerned therefore, about bringing peace and harmony to our world, we have to open ourselves up to really respecting, listening to and understanding those coming from different cultures. These highlight the indispensability of inter-cultural communication of world peace, and hence, the indispensability of international movements likes our own, which enable this to happen. The Christian vision- “Father, may they all be one (John 17:21)- is therefore an internationalist vision! However, we are often not convinced to this even if we like the idea of belonging to an international movement. Local demands (inevitably) always take priority, and there is generally little enthusiasm for international structures (both from grassroots members as well as from funding agencies). We are therefore forced with the huge challenge of promoting our internationality.
It also reflects a desire for more visible results of our efforts (which are more easily evident at the local level) in a world that is becoming impatient with ideologies and words. However, it also reflects a failure to grasp the indispensable inter-connectedness of each level of organization- local, natural and especially the international level (which is the most distant from our local experience)- if we want to face up to the powerful (and often evil) international forces that are increasingly determining our lives. This need for international inter-cultural exchange is highlighted by an honest reflection on the state of our movements.
The youth today are increasingly, questioning the basis of almost everything. There is little interest in history, and tradition is less and less a value. There is impatience with doing things out of a sense of duty only, or because that is how things have always been done. There is a search for meaning now, and things must make sense now. They are searching for new fresh answers to the many questions that the world is throwing up. The challenge for us now is to be able to identify precisely what these questions are, and what new answers our movements can suggest. How can we create a space where students can raise and explore their questions in a spirit of openness and searching, without being prematurely judged? Is our movement a place where today’s youth truly find good news- where they can feel the presence of God? Do we communicate a spirit of celebration and caring?
These are all big questions, with which we all, all- students, chaplains and advisers need to be grappling. To do this we need to be embarking on an analysis of the culture of the students among whom we want to be embarking on an analysis of the culture of students among whom we want to be present (their attitudes, values and needs). But before doing this cultural analysis of the student milieu, we need to do the same of ourselves, looking critically at the attitudes, values and needs to be changed. Such self- critical reflections is usually the most difficult task for all of us, since it implies an openness to different structures, different pedagogies, different styles, which means letting go of traditions in which we have invested a lot.
But this where our openness to the international, inter-cultural experiences of our movements can be of such great benefit. Let us find new and creative ways together to leant from, and debate with others, so that we can discover new pedagogies and structures at the local, national, regional and international levels which will enable our movements to live through the new millennium with fresh hope and energy.
Fr. Mike Deeb
Former IYCS/IMCS International Chaplain