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JUVENTUTEM USA

INTRODUCTION TO JUVENTUTEM USA

CLICK HERE FOR INFORMATION ON OUR TRIP TO AUSTRALIA FOR WYD 2008!
Click here to download a brochure

JUVENTUTEM AUSTRALIA HAS SECURED A CHURCH FOR SYDNEY!
St Augustine's Church, Balmain, Sydney

Click here for more details

Juventutem USA is a lay organization for American Catholics aged 16-30 who are devoted to the traditional Latin Mass - also referred to as the Tridentine or Gregorian Mass, or the Extraordinary Rite (since the publication of Summorum Pontificum).

Juventutem USA is a chapter member of The Juventutem International Federation - a Catholic network fostering the sanctification of youth through traditional Catholic means.

CLICK HERE TO READ LETTER OF SUPPORT FROM THE VATICAN!

In 2005, over 800 Catholics devoted to the Latin Mass attended WYD in Cologne under the Juventutem banner. All liturgical activites organized by Juventutem were according to the 1962 Missal. (For more info on Juventutem 2005, please visit www.juventutem.com). Traditional Catholic youth will have another opportunity to come together as a group at WYD 2008 in Sydney, Australia.
Below is a video of Juventutem 2005 in Cologne
created by Amanda Simpson

The International Juventutem website outlines the commitment requirements and goals of the organization:

Commitments:
1. recite daily the extract from Psalm 42 «Judica Me », (“Judge me o Lord”) or say a prayer of your choosing (Hail Mary or Our Father for instance);
2. enter into a church or oratory once a week to adore Our Lord really present in the tabernacle;
3. once a year or more: attend Holy Mass in the 1962 Roman rite; go to Confession; on behalf of Juventutem, partake in some faith activity (Holy Hour, doctrinal talk, pro-life initiative, charitable action, excursion, etc).

(From Juventutem Int'l website): Obviously, none of the commitments suggested has been invented by us. They are well-known means of sanctification. But are they as widely used as they are known?
We believe that using those means of sanctification in our capacity of FIJ members will benefit us better than using them as sheer individuals. Why? As members of a youth network such as the FIJ, we know that throughout the world, there are Catholic youths praying to God within His Church like us, for us and with us. We know that they are faced with temptations similar to those we experience when trying to follow Our Blessed Lord and His Holy Church with more generosity. We know that they rely on our own prayer and friendship in order to let God’s grace work through them and bear more abundant fruit. In other words, we experience the “communion of saints” manifest in a framework we have freely chosen.
As baptised young adults, as members of the Mystical Body of Our Lord Jesus Christ, we already partake in the communion of saints. Like various sodalities, third-orders and pious societies in Church history, the FIJ only particularises the universal circulation of graces for a specific group of souls according to specific means, as inspired by the needs felt in new circumstances.

Our circumstances:
We live in difficult times. Whereas the number of well trained pastors is lowering, worldly means to allure our souls are multiplying. Particularly in so-called “developed countries”, to be a Catholic is objectively more difficult nowadays than it used to be some decades ago. We especially, as youths, are targeted by false guides presenting pleasure and independence as an end in itself instead of the only freedom and joy found in answering God’s call to holiness!
Most of our fellow baptised Catholic youths have deserted the churches, have no time for Catholic devotions and scorn Catholic doctrine. The liturgy, the doctrine and the apostolate most of them have been presented with failed to attract their interest. With common sense, most modern youths find that too often, those acting in the name of the Catholic Church are not convincing. We can’t see why we would sacrifice various earthly satisfactions to answer an invitation where transcendence does not show.
Thanks be to God, there are signs of a renewal. We know for certain that the Lord does not abandon His Church. We give Him thanks for the grace of having been put, without any merit on our part, on board that Ark of salvation governed by our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI.

Our means:
Our common aspiration as FIJ members is to draw our sanctification from the traditional liturgy and spirituality of Holy Mother Church. Having discovered what a valuable support the 1962 Roman rite is to our souls, as well as the doctrinal presentations of the divine truths so eloquently expressed by that very special form of the Roman rite, we desire to use them always more fruitfully. To which end we require the support of prayer, friendship and learning. Those values we expect to use and share through the FIJ, as much as it pleases Our Blessed Lord and His Mother Immaculate. The more we will assimilate the Roman traditions of the Church so as to be sanctified in them, the more God will touch other people through us. Thus we will find our fulfilment in humbly and joyfully helping to forward God’s grace across His creation.

So small!
Saint Theresa of Avila says that we should have high expectations for holiness. Nothing to do with pride, as we try and do our poor little best, cooperating with God’s almighty grace.
Just like us, the FIJ is but a tiny and imperfect tool. We are but a handful of youths spread thin all over the world. Lack of time and of money makes it rather difficult for us to travel across the oceans and meet with each other.
Thanks be to God, we don’t need to invent anything, since Holy Mother Church has everything ready for us. Valuable Roman traditions served by dedicated pastors are becoming more and more accessible nowadays. Several of us who are still unable to attend the special Roman rite (Roman Missal revised by Blessed John XXIII in 1962) on a regular basis can nevertheless read a lot about it on the Internet, see pictures and videos, and occasionally, on pilgrimages or other faith gatherings, attend Holy Masses offered in that most venerable liturgy.
Whatever the distances, our mutual prayer and our shared interest for the holy traditions of the Church know no border. If you are young and attracted by the Roman traditions of the Catholic Church, you are welcome to join us, already through prayer. We pray for you.

Beside our individual correspondents in the various countries listed above, we have groups of friends in the following countries: Ireland, France, Hungary, United Kingdom, Italy, Chile, Australia, USA, Brazil.

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