Cardinal Tagle: Engage young people

Aug 02, 2019

MANILA: Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of Manila ended a conference on new evangelisation on July 21 by stressing the need to engage young people.

The cardinal said that many young people want a Church that listens more “because often, we just want them to welcome our words.”

“But now it seems that young people are telling us to welcome them, their world,” Tagle said in his homily during the closing Mass of the Philippine Conference on New Evangelisation at the UST Quadricentennial Pavilion.

Also present during the liturgical celebration were Archbishop Gabriele Caccia, the Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines, and Bishop Leopoldo Jaucian, the outgoing head of the Church’s Commission on Youth.

The cardinal said that it is sad when there is no one to welcome the stories of young people “especially stories that tie one generation to the next”.

“As we urge the young people to listen to our stories, may I invite you to also welcome the stories of the young,” Tagle said.

“And you will see how our stories in the hands of God are woven into the stories of God, in our families, in our lives,” he stressed.

Now in its sixth year, the PCNE was attended by more than 5,000 participants, with dozens coming from Los Angeles, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia and Taiwan.

Throughout the three-day conference, Tagle said one recurring theme that the youth communicated to the Church and the wider society is “please welcome us, please listen to us”.

“So let us pass our songs, the songs of our generation, pass on the word of God through your experiences, your stories,” Tagle added. “Eat together, for when you eat together, you listen to one another, you tell stories.” -- CBCPNews