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Havana (Agenzia Fides) – The National Youth Pastoral Ministry Committee has organized the 5th Youth Pastoral Ministry Assembly to take place August 4-8, 2008, at the Cobre Retreat House, near the National Shrine of the Virgin of Charity, Patroness of Cuba. The Assembly will be attended by 185 delegates sent from each diocese. There will be a presentation and examination of the basic contents of the new National Plan for Youth Pastoral Ministry, which will serve as a reference guide for the Church in Cuba, in its task of evangelization in this area. It has been drafted as a response to the question: “How should Youth Ministry be carried out in Cuba?” and has been revised, etc. taking into account the surveys done in various communities and the Archdiocesan workshops that have been held. They will also analyze the present situation of the youth and reflect on the spirituality of a young Catholic being proposed in the new Plan. The encounter will conclude with proposals and guidelines as to how the Plan should be carried out.
The Archdiocese of Havana will host 22 delegates from the Diocesan Youth Pastoral Ministry Team and from the four existing vicariates. There will also be a group of 90 young people who will travel in pilgrimage to the Shrine and participate in the Prayer Vigil to be held as a part of the encounter, on August 7. The event hopes to see some 700 youth from all over Cuba, present as the plans and hopes for this new period in Youth Pastoral Ministry are entrusted to the Virgin Mary.
As a part of the preparation of this event, the delegates and pilgrims of Havana held an encounter on July 19, also coinciding with the celebration of World Youth Day in Sydney. This meeting ended with a pilgrimage to Holy Spirit Parish in Old Havana, to pray that the Assembly would be a new Pentecost for the youth of Cuba. In addition, the youth of the Archdiocese will participate in a Prayer Vigil on August 2, at “La Caridad” Parish, with Cardinal Jaime Ortega, Archbishop of Havana, and his Auxiliary Bishops, where there will be the presentation of a candle representing the Archdiocese.
The youth of the Archdiocese hope that this encounter will help enliven Youth Pastoral Ministry not only on a structural level, but also for the 60 youth groups in the Archdiocese, that there may be specific commitments to a life of prayer, catechesis, and the liturgy within their communities and throughout society. The organizers are hoping that the Assembly will contribute to finding a new manner of carrying out youth ministry, taking advantage of the new situations and means, and that it will be an opportunity for the youth to celebrate their faith.
In Cuba, a desire to establish a well-organized Youth Pastoral Ministry led to the organization of the First Interdiocesan Assembly for Youth in the Shrine at Cobre, in 1980. In 1993, the First National Assembly for Youth Pastoral Ministry was sponsored by the Bishops’ Committee for the Youth, which had recently been created so as to coordinate youth ministry on a national level. In that Assembly, their was a study made of the First National Plan for Youth Pastoral Ministry, intended to be a unification of proposals from all the dioceses, as before then, each one had organized its Youth Ministry on its own. From 1995-1997, the 2nd and 3rd National Assemblies were held, with the goal of examining the National Plan more closely. In 2001, the 4th Assembly was held and the need was seen to open pastoral work to include all those who are not involved with ecclesial groups. (RG) (Agenzia Fides 28/7/2008)
