�����������

They say teaching is a vocation. Teaching youths is a vocation that might even be more challenging than teaching a classroom of younger children, because there is more distractibility, increased expressions of boredom and other realities that have to be contended with. Add to that the need to be resilient to the unique challenges that youths are encountering today, what with experiencing their youth in the middle of a pandemic, that of not meeting their peers in person, and that of being pushed beyond their comfort to do something that can easily be done automatically, and the ability to cope might seem further away than it usually is. Adolescent spirituality might hold the key to finding a source for this resilience, says Dr Pauline Dimech, who currently coordinates the MA in Youth Ministry offered by the Faculty of Theology.

At the age of 16, Dr Dimech was already teaching a group of teenagers, as well as fellow members (as is customary within the Society) about the Pauline Epistles, and the Catholic dogmas. The Assignment, as St George Preca intended it, has always been a learning community where everyone is both a teacher and a learner. 

Originally a catechist and a youth minister within the Society of Christian Doctrine, Dr Dimech began her studies in Theology in 1988, but by then she already had a first degree in education behind her.

• How did you come to choose the path of Theology?

It was the realisation that I knew so little, despite my efforts, that led me to apply for a Diploma in Religious Studies and then extend my studies to a second Bachelor degree in Religious studies.

I was hooked on Theology but it took me over fifteen years to properly respond to the calling of becoming a theologian. My College of choice was Heythrop College in London, a Jesuit College and a constituent of the University of London. I opted for a taught Master Degree in Systematic theology, and wrote a dissertation on George Lindbeck's 'The Nature of Doctrine'.

For some years after I returned to Malta, between 2008 and June 2014, I lectured in Religious Knowledge at the Junior College. Also, during this time, I started working on a PhD with Durham University UK, under the supervision of Prof Mark Allen McIntosh and Prof Paul Murray. My research was about the authority of the saints in the writings of Hans Urs von Balthasar. In answer to your question, I became a member of the Faculty of Theology in October 2014.

My choice of theology is a long story, with a lot of challenges. It often required having to compete with Catholic priests, finding myself alone in the company of men, and continually having to defend my bias towards systematic theology, which is often considered to be the field of specialisation for men. But despite all this, I persevered and here I am today.

• What would you say are the unique spiritual needs of the youths of today?

The same as those of every generation. Youths have a deep need for meaning, purpose and hope. All other needs are related to these. Youths need to receive and give love, compassion, respect, acceptance, sometimes also forgiveness. They need to have sincere friends, and be such friends to others. Youths want to belong, they long to participate in community, to feel at one with the physical environment and also relate to the Transcendent.

What is unique today is the context in which young people find themselves, and the challenges to which they have to respond. But despite this, their deep yearnings are still the same.

• Is spirituality a step towards a positive youth development process? In what way does the spiritual hunger of youths develop their personality?

Most studies focus on the physical, mental or emotional development of young people. And yet spirituality is a positive youth development construct.

Young people start asking the fundamental questions. “Why do we exist? Where are we going? Is there any life after death? What should we do when we are still conscious?”

The MA in Youth Ministry, which I coordinate, is based on two premises. The first being that significant-others surrounding adolescents (such as parents, teachers, youth ministers, peers) have an important influence on adolescent spirituality. The second premise is just as important: Joining religious groups, involving oneself in church activities, and participating in spiritually related gatherings, provide a good opportunity for young people to develop their spirituality.

The seeking by young people of silence, of sacred spaces, of spiritual teachers are certainly important instruments for spiritual growth. Other young people prefer to fulfill their spiritual hunger in organised religion, in religious buildings and in religious communities.

• With individualism being so rampant nowadays, are Maltese youth more inclined to serve their community, or less? And why?

With the pandemic, political scandals, environmental changes and so on, it seems as if individualism is indeed rampant. And yet, I think Maltese youth would still wish to serve their community if given the opportunity. Young people are much more communally-oriented than we think. They’re more receptive, more open to diversity than some of us adults.

• Today’s youth often look to popular culture and the media to form their identity. Do you think this might deter their search for true meaning in life?

Adolescence is among the most confusing periods in one’s lifetime, because it is the time when we start to doubt what we were taught while we struggle with something new to hold on to and guide us through life. Identity formation starts in adolescence.

It is true that today’s youth often look to popular culture and to the media as a guide. Popular culture and the media might actually deter the search of young people for true meaning in their life. It serves as an escape and a distraction.

Youth groups, and youth sections of religious movements and societies are meant to challenge young people to face life, rather than to escape it. They are meant to discourage young people from living in a fancy world, and to accept their destiny, take responsibility of their actions, overcome their individualism and to live for others, with all the difficulties and risks, but also excitement, that that involves.

When a young person reaches spiritual maturity, they realise that life has a meaning, existence has a purpose, and there’s always some reason for hope. As youth ministers, it is our role to help them realise this.

• For how long has the MA in Youth Ministry been running and how many students have been welcomed?

It was first offered in October 2009, always given by the Department of Pastoral Theology, Liturgy and Canon Law in collaboration with the Department of Youth and Community Studies within the Faculty of Social Wellbeing.

It’s an evening course which opens once every 3 years, which means we’ve had four groups so far, and we are about to welcome the next in October 2021. We’ve had around 35 students welcomed into the course.

• What are the career prospects of those who graduate from this course? And what skills do the students gain?

Youth groups on the island are generally run by generous members of religious movements and traditional ecclesiastical groups. In fact, most of them have youth sections to cater for the needs of young people specifically. Other youth groups are seasonal, and are focused on particular events within the Parish. Besides these, there is the pastoral work taking place in schools and chaplaincies in post-secondary schools, colleges and at the University.

The concept of youth minister is not sufficiently recognised in Malta. The reason is that the career prospects for this role are still not sufficiently developed. It remains the case that most Parish priests and leaders of youth groups, or of youth sections within larger organizations, are still hesitant about spending money on a professional youth minister.

Still, the opportunities do exist, and this masters, which is designed to make candidates eligible as professional youth workers both within the Church and society, attempts to strike a balance between theory and practice, and between the secular and Christian component, giving students with a degree in education, social work, psychology or theology to professionalise their desire to work with young people in parishes or in some voluntary institution.

As youth ministers, they will be able build groups and foster communities, develop and apply models of youth ministry according to the requirements of local communities and settings, and to supervise and animate youth leaders within the Church and its institutions.

You may also