ZAMBIA: “I look to Young People for the future of the Church in Mansa,” says Bishop Chisanga
Rt. Rev. Patrick Chisanga, O.F.M. Conv., Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Mansa
Rt. Rev. Patrick Chilekwa Chisanga, O.F.M. Conv., Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Mansa declared this year 2018 as the Year of the Youth in his Diocese under the theme “Proudly Catholic, Anointed to Proclaim the Good News.”
By so doing, he hopes to create, and awaken in young people the sense of belonging to the life and mission of the Church.
According to Bishop Chisanga who recently represented Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops in the Second AMECEA Preparatory Meeting for the Youth Synod in Nairobi Kenya, the youth have in the past been side-lined and left behind in terms of the live and activities of the Church.
He asserts that this has to change as it is time to tell young people to shout that they are proudly Catholic and that they are equally anointed to proclaim the Good News.
“I told the youth when I was launching the Year of the Youth in the Diocese that it is your time to shine; I told the elders and the leaders of the parishes to let the young people shine; I told them to put young people in the limelight,” Bishop Chisanga expressed adding that for the future of the Church in Mansa he looks to the young people to take up the challenge.
“We have elders who had contact with the first missionaries because our Church is a little over 100 years old and there may be still individuals who had direct contact with the primary evangelizers of the region; however, our focus is on how much has been handed over to the youth, their reception of the faith and the propagation of the faith. We are talking about exclusivity of young people in all aspects of Church life. It is therefore providential to our Diocese that the Holy Father declared the Synod to focus on the youth.”
According to the Bishop, the Young People’s Synod scheduled for October 2018 highlights the fact that although the world is changing, the Gospel is there to affirm that values can never change, they will still remain the same values even though the way in which we live them can change.
“Our Diocese has to respond to the question of how the young person of today responds or presents himself/
herself as a true and proud Catholic in a world that is rapidly changing. In a rural Diocese like mine and with its challenges, we are also talking of a global village; therefore, even the youth in rural setups are getting wind of what is happening in the world. So, our concern is how they may remain faithful to the values of Christ as preached by the Church,” he offered.
Bishop Chisanga said that he is very confident about the mission because the priests are also part of it as the majority of them are quite young.
“The average age of priests in the diocese would be late 30s, I would say. I have one or two priests who could be in the 70s, and probably a number of them could be in their 50s, but the majority are in their 40s,30s and even 20s so it is a very young Church and I have a lot of hope in terms of priests to helping in this mission,” Bishop Chisanga explained.
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By Pamela Adinda, AMECEA Online News
