Young Asian Catholics find new ways to become evangelizers

Bringing the good news to "the cloud" is one of the challenges identified by some 100 young Asian ?Catholics who gathered in the Philippine capital Manila to mark the United Nations International Youth ?Day.

Sep 17, 2015

PHILIPPINES: Bringing the good news to "the cloud" is one of the challenges identified by some 100 young Asian ‎Catholics who gathered in the Philippine capital Manila to mark the United Nations International Youth ‎Day. 

"Our young people are called to be evangelizers of a new continent — the Internet continent," ‎said Father Eduardo Apungan, director for apostolate of the Claretian congregation, which organized ‎the event on Tuesday, the eve of the Aug. 12 International Youth Day. 

"Young people in Asia have a ‎lot of things to share with the world," the priest said, adding that the youth are the "multipliers of ‎evangelization." 

Father Leo Dalmao, the Claretian provincial superior in the Philippines, said the ‎gathering in Manila is an attempt to consolidate young people in Asia to become "evangelizers in other ‎parts of the world." 

"We in Asia, especially the young, play a very important role in terms of ‎evangelization," said Fr Dalmao, adding that the activity in Manila is "our response to the challenge to ‎use new media in evangelization."‎

The activities during the weeklong event include multimedia productions and discussions about the use ‎of social media as tools "to evangelize the youth in the context of information technology."  "That's ‎why the theme is 'Meeting Christ in the Cloud,'" Fr Dalmao said.   But young Catholics in Asia also are ‎facing a lot of challenges, especially in non-Christian countries. In Japan, for example, "there are many ‎young people who do not know or do not believe in God," said Shimizu Ayaka, 21, from Osaka, Japan.‎

‎"It is very challenging to be a Christian in my country," she said. "There are a lot of challenges in ‎spreading the good news."‎

Gemma Doromal, a member of the Kaulo tribe in the southern Philippines, said the entry of modern ‎technology to the hinterlands has "brought problems, immorality, and vices."  "We lost some of our ‎young tribal leaders who were lured to the cities," the girl said in her local language.  Doromal said she ‎joined the gathering in Manila to learn how to deepen their experience with other young people.  ‎

On Aug. 11, other youth groups marked the International Youth Day in Manila with calls on young ‎people "to go beyond the comforts of their homes, classrooms and the Internet and engage in social ‎issues."  The theme of this year’s U.N. International Youth Day, was "Youth Civic Engagement."‎

Marc Lino Abila, president of the College Editors Guild of the Philippines, said that with the “deliberate disregard to the rights of the people,” young people “must go out and be with the masses, hear their plight, and criticize social ills”.

For Ayaka of Japan, “the keyword is joy”.

“Christian life is a happy life,” she said. “People ask me why I am happy, and I tell them its because I am a Christian.”

She said young Asian Catholics should not only be activists but become “happy witnesses of the Gospel’.

“People find us attractive, and I think this is an opportunity for us to introduce God to them, whether in the streets or on the Internet,” said Ayaka. --ucanews.com

 

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