AMECEA: Young People from AMECEA Region to be Fairly Represented at the Pre-Synod Meeting in Rome.
Out of the eight Episcopal Conferences that makes AMECEA Region, participants from six conferences will be joining the Holy Father Pope Francis at the Pre-Synod Meeting which is scheduled to take place in Rome from 19th to 24th March, 2018. From the Meeting a document will be produced that will be given to the Synod Fathers scheduled to meet in October 2018 for their reflection to deepen their knowledge about the reality of young people in the contemporary world.
Representative at The Pre-Synod Meeting in Rome,
during his visit to AMECEA Secretariat in Nairobi
with Rev. Fr. Joseph Healey, MM, and Colins Ongoma
from Ngong Diocese. On extreme right is Rev. Fr. Emmanuel
Chimombo Coordinator AMECEA Pastoral Department
Pope Francis will be meeting with around 300 young people representing their peers from the five continents. From AMECEA Countries, a team of six, comprising of three male and three female, will be attending. They include: Elisabeth Efrem Estifanos (Female) from the Archdiocese of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Cornelius Opollo (Male) from Ngong Diocese, Kenya; Tamandani Kamuyanja (Female) from Zomba Diocese, Malawi; Deogratias Steven Masangia (Male) from Archdiocese of Dodoma, Tanzania; Doreen Shabohurira (Female) from Kabale Diocese, Uganda and Chanda Mulenga (Male) from Monze Diocese, Zambia.
These young men and women will be part of the delegation who will have the opportunity to express their views on the state of things, their ideas, their feelings and their recommendations, to be presented to the Synodal Fathers who will meet under the theme: Young People, the Faith and Vocational Discernment.
Cornelius Opollo who is representing Kenyan, expressed three major concerns of the young people which he is taking with him to the meeting. On top of his list is poor representation of young people in the Church structures, a scenario which he says is occasioned by lack of opportunities for them to be listened to.
“There is need to recognize that as Young Catholics, we have talents and we can be innovative if given opportunities to explore our talents,” he said adding that considering the church structures and hierarchies, opportunities for young people are very limited.
“Young people yawns for church leadership that is ready to listen to their voices, their opinion and their contributions,” he explained adding that the majority of young people fail to participate fully in the Church activities such as pastoral council or other church groups because their views or opinion are never taken seriously and nobody wants to listen to them.
The other concern Opollo expressed was about unemployment which he says is a cross cutting issue affecting not only Catholic youth. He explained that there are many young people who have graduated from school as well as others who did not have opportunities to go to school; all of them scramble for the few job opportunities available and because of economic huddles and constraints, the majority of them who don’t succeed in getting something to do end up being frustrated and downcast.
He explained that even though the issue of unemployment is one that the Church on its own cannot tackle, she (the Church) can develop mentorship programs to help young unemployed men and women develop technical knowhow as well as skills that would make more competitive in the job market.
“Such programs would encourage productive interactions between the youth and parishioners who are professionals in various fields and this would help propel the unemployed young people to the job market as well as support them to come up with innovative ways for self-employment.”
The third concern Opollo highlighted was social injustices especially discriminations based on ethnicity and nepotism.
“For many of us here in Africa, when it comes to getting opportunities, it is usually about whom do you know at the higher levels who can push your agenda. The results of such scenarios is that some people get opportunities they do not deserve, while others who are more qualified and more deserving of the same opportunities are often left out.”
His expectations from the meeting is to hear what other young people from all over the world have to share in terms of their concerns. It will be a learning experience for him, an opportunity which he is greatly looking forward to with an intention of bringing the message back home.
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By Pamela Adinda, AMECEA Online News
