Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Seoul (Agenzia Fides) - The “aftershock” of World Youth Day is still being felt in Korea, where 1,000 Catholic youth have returned from Sydney. “It is an event that will give fresh strength to youth ministry in Korea,” said Seoul Auxiliary Bishop Basil Cho Cyu-man, President of the Korean Bishops’ Conference’s Youth Ministry Committee.
The entire Korean Church will benefit from the “WYD Effect,” which will give the parishes, schools, associations, and movements the necessary drive for multiplying the number of activities and improving the means of evangelization among the youth. Above all, it will be thanks to the efforts of the youth themselves, who participated in WYD and have returned to Korea full of energy and enthusiasm, ready to share all this with their peers.
Upon their return from WYD, the youth’s hearts have remained filled with the catechesis (led by the Korean Bishops) and the main celebrations: the Way of the Cross, the Prayer Vigil, and the Closing Mass. They especially cherish the friendships they have made with the Australian youth, and the fraternal moments they have lived with all the Asian pilgrims at the Asian Youth Gathering, that brought together over 10,000 youth from the continent in an encounter of joy, song, and testimonies.
Bishop Basil Cho says: “WYD has been a great opportunity for the Korean youth to contemplate the Church in Korea and make their own contribution. I am sure that through WYD, all the Korean youth have received the grace of the Holy Spirit in abundance. I hope that upon their return home, they can share this immense love that the Lord has given them in this encounter with their families and friends.”
After WYD, the Bishop highlighted the urgent need to evangelize other young people, focusing on youth ministry in all the local Churches, as the youth are “the hope of humanity.”
The evangelization of the new generations will be one of the main priorities for the Korean Church in the next few years. Since 2000, the number of Catholics under 40 years of age in Korea has diminished, due also in part to a drop in the number of children baptized. Unemployment is also causing economic problems among the youth, as well as a general depression that leads them to fall away from Christian values.
New methods and strategies are needed in communicating with the youth of the “Internet generation,” to tell them that Jesus Christ is their Savior and their Good Shepherd, the Bishop says, listening to the youth and trying to respond to their needs.
The importance of the family is also a factor, as it is where the youth can appreciate a real testimony of Christian values and receive the inheritance of the faith. (PA) (Agenzia Fides 25/7/2008)
