TANZANIA: Bishop Rwoma Wants The Church To Be Close To Youth, Encouraging Them To Meet Their Dreams

The Chairman of Lay Apostolate Rt. Rev. Desiderius Rwoma says he wants the Church to be close to the youth, encouraging them and paying attention to their potentiality as young people in the Church.

He said this during a three days’ workshop on Christus Vivit aimed at creating awareness of Pope Francis’ message to pastoral workers on the role of Young People, which was held at Tanzania Episcopal Conference’ Kurasini Centre in Dar es Salaam.

“Looking at it from the context of the Association of Catholic Bishops in Eastern Africa (AMECEA), I invite you to deliberate on the Pope’s message in his post-synodal letter Cristus Vivit (Christ is Alive) where the Holy Father has raised pertinent issues regarding pastoral care for the young people in all the institutions – families, schools and houses of formation.

The task before us is to create awareness about Christus Vivit to all pastoral workers on the role of young people as protagonists of Evangelization in the Church,” he said.

The participants in the workshop were also to discuss how to building the capacity of youth chaplains and youth leaders; and to draw a pastoral plan for effective chaplaincy in AMECEA region.

He said that the youth constitute the majority of the faithful in the Catholic Church in all AMECEA countries. They are good agents of evangelization through their singing in choirs, their participation in pilgrimages and Church associations such as the Young Christian Students (YCS), the Legion of Mary and Sacred Heart of Jesus.

He further noted that the youth are the most targeted group by emerging sects, and that they can easily abandon their Catholic faith due to poverty, shallow knowledge of faith and other mundane incentives which the sects use to woo them.

“This being the case, there is urgent need for the Catholic Church in the AMECEA Region to be abreast with the Pontiff’s message.

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By Sarah Pelaji- Dar es salaam