Exploratory Essay

In Evangelii Gaudium, Pope Francis declared that all people of the Church, must learn the “art of accompaniment, which teaches us to remove our sandals before the sacred ground of the other”1 and accompany them to Christ, meeting them at the place of their weakness and suffering. In my ISP, I would like to explore what this accompaniment looks like within the context of a peer friendship, focusing specifically on the difficult questions that many young Catholics deal with when they are in relationship with people who do not share the same faith or values. Friendship is the sharing of truth and life, creating an relational space in which a Catholic may accompany someone who is living an immoral and/or self destructive lifestyle towards Christ,

I would like to explore the how slowly revealing the truth to someone by example within a relationship is different from withholding the truth, and how it is not a compromise of one's own responsibility to the truth. The difference between the law of gradualness and the gradualness of the law as presented by St. John Paul the Great will also speak a lot of clarity into this area. Tied in with this is also the importance of listening and patience within a friendship, as well as knowing when, or if ever, we are supposed to walk away from a scenario of

Too often it seems like I must make a choice between having a fun and equal friendship and speaking the truth into immoral lifestyles. Even now, I have friends who I am unsure about spending time with or moving forward in friendship because of the choices they are making. Pope Francis' example as pastor of the Church gives the principles, but I want to get down to what that really looks like in the context of friendship, deep friendship, where you can share authentically with each other, disagree and yet go on. Since this generation has such a lack of, yet deeply craves real relationship, I think this art of accompaniment and friendship will be highly instrumental to the New Evangelization, since it involves all. Some main resources for me will be Evangelii Gaudium, Amoris Latitia, and other church documents on pastoral care. For defining friendship, I plan to look at some of C.S. Lewis' works, as well as St. Augustine. There are also some people I would like to talk to about this, including my own Dad and previous parish priest who both are in situations of accompaniment with family. Of course, my own experiences will also play a role, as well as those of my classmates. I think having conversations with people about their own experiences is going to really be essential for my