The International Formation Commission sponsored a two week course over Zoom exploring How to Engage Generation Z? Being Faithful Witnesses to the Carmelite Charism from One Generation to the Next. This comes from the 2019 General Chapter. The goal of the course was to first learn about Gen Z but then to discuss its impact upon our formation and, finally, to seek creative and relevant ways of engaging Generation Z. The meeting took place from November 15-19 and 22-26, 2021.
On one day of the first week, four Carmelite who are members of Generation Z from Europe, Africa, and the Americas presented pertinent issues affecting their generation.
In the end, the formators committed themselves to listen and dialogue with Gen Z, to better understand their world and to learn their language; to offer Gen Z our accompaniment and witness as their elder brothers and sisters, so they can appreciate the reality of life and seek it in the living face of God; and to use wisely the aid of information technology as a means to communicating, engaging, and bridging the intergenerational gap.
The full final statement of the meeting can be read pdf here (105 KB) .