World Mission Magazine September 2013

inside: THE YOUTH CAN CHANGE THE WORLD • THE SIMPLE LIFE • IN THE LINE OF FIRE

youth at the crossroads

In pursuit of purpose

The youth issue will surely be one of the major and enduring challenges for the modern Catholic faith.

sep tember 2013 • n o. 270 • VOL X X V • 50 pesos • ISSN 0116-8142

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editorial

Be protagonists, not spectators!

The Asian Catholic Monthly Magazine

www.worldmission.ph MAILING ADDRESS: 7885 Segundo Mendoza Street Villa Mendoza Subd. - Sucat 1715 Parañaque City, M.M. - PHILIPPINES TEL.: (+63-2) 829-0740/829-7481 FAX: (+63-2) 820-1422 E-Mail: wm.editor@gmail.com OWNER AND PUBLISHER: WORLD MISSION is published monthly by the Comboni Missionaries of the Heart of Jesus as part of their ministry and program of missionary awareness in Asia. WORLD MISSION magazine is registered at DI–BDT and at the National Library (ISSN 0116-8142).

EDITOR: Fr. Dave C. Domingues, MCCJ REDACTION: Corazon A. Uy (secretary), Fr. Jose Rebelo,MCCJ and Fr. Lorenzo Carraro, MCCJ (staff writers) COLLABORATORS: Manuel Giraldes (Portugal), Fr. Joseph Caramazza (UK), Fr. Francesco Pierli (Kenya) and Kris Bayos (Philippines) MANAGEMENT: Fr. Raul Tabaranza, MCCJ wm.administration@gmail.com Ma. Corazon P. Molvizar (secretary) Angeles S. de Vera (circulation) PROMOTION: Fr. Dave C. Domingues, MCCJ wm.promotion@gmail.com ART & DESIGN DIRECTION: Ric M. Gindap GRAPHICS & DESIGN: Victor Garcia SUBSCRIPTION RATES: (11 issues and Calendar) Regular (Philippines):.........................P500.00/year Six months (Philippines):...........................P300.00 Overseas–Air mail: Asia................................US$35 Rest of the world.............................................US$40 DISTRIBUTION: WORLD MISSION is distributed to subscribers by mail. Entered as Second Class Mail at the Parañaque Central Post Office under Permit No. 214-89 (March 9, 1989; valid until December 31, 2013). Published monthly in Parañaque City, M.M. Composition: World Mission. Printed by Lexmedia Digital Corp.

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T

hree million young people from 195 countries gathered in Rio, last July, to celebrate life, faith, and mission at the World Youth Day. Their hearts were set on fire by the presence of Pope Francis who, with his very human and warm approach, reached out to all, reviving in them the joy of faith and commissioning all to “go,” “not to be afraid” and “to serve” thus, empowering them to be protagonists in building “a more beautiful church” and “a better world” for all to live in.

The ‘fire’ that has been ignited must not die! The renewal of the Church and of society is, indeed, in the hands of the young. They are heirs of a heavy inheritance: corruption, poverty, crime, indifference, discredit and anti-church feeling… but they are also the windows of hope. If society’s future lies in the capacity to harmonize and solidify creativity and commitment of the young, drawing wisdom from older generations, we may also say that the Church also needs a spirit of appreciation for both the young and the old, in a common mission of reaching out to all. If our concern is to pass on lasting values that make life worth living and share a faith that is ever more incarnated in the concrete situations of today’s word, then we cannot afford mistrusting the younger generations, much less, accuse them of remaining at the side. It is, therefore, imperative that we instill in our minds and hearts a positive outlook towards today’s youth and provide them with venues and means to make them protagonists rather than spectators.

In the Philippines, where the youth comprise almost one-third of the country’s population, only one of eight is involved in religious or recreational organizations and only one out of ten, in youth organizations. The young are the ‘hidden treasure’ that the Church should truly encounter and claim as precious. For this, three things are needed: First, to be a church with ‘open doors’ to everyone, where parish priests make

Dave Domingues EDITOR

It is, therefore, imperative that we instill in our minds and hearts a positive outlook towards today’s youth and provide them with venues and means to make them protagonists.

time to welcome, listen and mingle with people, particularly, the young, giving them a greater sense of belonging. Second, there is need to speak a common language – the language of simplicity, togetherness, inclusion and participation. This is the language that can cross barriers of age, race and culture. Social networking may be a useful way to meet the young, but nothing can replace presence and witnessing. The sweetest words typed will always fall short of a warm embrace and a smile.

Third, appreciate the young, their enthusiasm, creativity, joy and voluntarism. They may not have all the doctrines or know all the dogmas, but they have a great capacity to love and to serve in Jesus way, given the good example, trust and confidence to carry on.

As Pope Francis went through the streets of Rio, well protected by security forces and barricades, young Nathan de Brito, a young boy, broke through and hugged the Holy Father. Without hesitation, he whispered to his ear: “Your Holiness, I want to be a priest of Christ, a representative of Christ” (www. cathnews.com). Moved to tears, Pope Francis smiled. He probably felt that his journey to Rio had already borne fruits.

Young Nathans, with their hopes and wild dreams, are the hope for a more “beautiful church” and a better world. To be a priest of Christ might not be a call for all, but to be a servant of Christ is God’s privileged gift to all who accept it and embrace this challenge with joyful hearts.

The Church must encourage the youth to be protagonists, not spectators!

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your letters Write to: The Editor, World Mission Magazine • 7885 Segundo Mendoza Street, Villa Mendoza Subd. − Sucat 1715 Parañaque City, M.M. – Philippines • E-mail: wm.editor@gmail.com ENLIGHTENING MINDS

INSIDE: EXPLORING TRUE BELIEF • THE TIME OF DIALOGUE • MURDER IN PARADISE

Greetings of peace! I have read your article, 'The Secret Shame of Children's Jails' and I like to share my reflection about it.

During my junior year in college, and as one of the aspirants of the De La Salle BrothSHARING THE FAITH ers, I had missionary exposure with the children in conflict with the law (CICL) in the city of Bacolod, Negros Occidental. The aspirants were brought into a house named, ‘Bahay Pag-asa’ (House of Hope) that sheltered about twenty of CICLs, during that time, who were supported by the Christian Brothers, social workers and members of the Court of Justice in their needs. My statement may appear contrary to the claim of Preda Foundation that they are the only ones having this kind of apostolate and advocacy. But in my early years in college (2005), I already had the same experience of witnessing the devastating scenario of Philippine jails including the way child offenders were treated.

At that time, I could not give anything material in nature but, deeply moved by their stories, I decided to be present for them each day.

Serving these kids, who are considered outcasts of the society, I, too, was helped and cured of my own woundedness. While giving them hope, I received it, too. In particular, they inspired me to amend my sinful life and turn back to Christ.

More power to World Mission for enlightening more minds amid the challenging faces of reality in our society today. « Christopher Castillo, Calamba The role of respect and dialogue

AU GUST 2013 • N O. 269 • VO L X X V • 50 PESOS • ISSN 0116-8142

City, Laguna. Philippines.

WELL DONE

I’m writing to you from our magazine Testimoni (Bologna-Italy). With your permission, I’d like to publish your article "Women Theologians, A unique contribution to evangelization," by Francesco Pierli and Maria Teresa Ratti. I think it will be very interesting for our readers, too.

Your magazine World Mission continues to be very well done. Congratulations! « Fr. A. Dall’Osto, Testimoni, Italy (Received by e-mail)

FORMATIVE, INFORMATIVE AND CHALLENGING

Assalamu Alaykum! Congratulations!

I find the World Mission you are editing formative, informative and challenging. Above all, it makes me reflect that I am a world mission-

ary. My involvement in the mission should not be confined to where I am.

It should be broader and farther than the horizon that my eyes can see.

Keep up the excellence!

Please, include among your subscribers the Carmelite Sisters, Carmelite Monastery, Jolo, Sulu. I have said two extra Masses for that. After a year they should be able to renew the subscription themselves. I lent them that very informative issue on the challenges of the new Pope. « Fr. Romeo P. Villanueva, OMI., JPIC Director, Jolo, Sulu, (Received by e-mail)

Erratum: The word 'National' should read 'Notional' (first column of illustration on Triple Perspective of Faith), page 16, August, 2013 issue of World Mission. Our apologies.

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events to remember in september 08 12 14

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- Int'l Literacy Day - Holy Name of Mary - Feast of the Triumph of the Cross - Feast of St. Matthew, Apostle - Int'l Day of Peace - St. Padre Pio - Feast of St. Lorenzo Ruiz & Companions

mIssion prayer intention

That Christians who suffer persecution in numerous regions of the world may be prophets of the love of Christ by their testimony.

inside PROBLEM OR SOLUTION?

Today, there are 1.8 billion adolescents standing at the crossroads between childhood and adulthood – making up the largest youth generation in history – the future in the making, a Church in growth.

At times, they are pictured as helpless, lazy, empathic and with serious behavioral problems. Often presented as a problem, they have to become the solution. Indeed, the best way to help solve some of the world’s most pressing issues is to identify and then take action to meet the needs of today’s young. The shifting of the young generation from the Catholic Church to Pentecostal and other evangelical groups leaves us with a question: What can we do to empower this influential population? It is not just to ensure survival or numbers, but to be faithful to the One who sends us to “make disciples of all nations” and, necessarily, of all generations! Being the face of the Church, the parish and the family, we are called to accompany the youth in a faithfilled journey, regarding them not as the problem but the solution.

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world touch

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frontiers

WM special | youth at the crossroads

The youth can change the world

By Fr.Shay Cullen, preda

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filipino focus | Therese “Gang” Badoy-Capati

Teenagers’ love for country

By KRIS BAYOS, JOURNALIST

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in focus | what we believe in

The Holy Spirit

By Arch. Thomas Menamparampil

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In pursuit of purpose

by Jose Bimbo F. Santos JOURNALIST

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Brazilian youth: Perspectives and challenges

by Fr. Ozanan Carrara, svd

spiritual reflection world refugees

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Missionary vocation | Blessed Pino Puglisi

In the line of fire

By Fr. Lorenzo Carraro, MCCJ

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THE LAST WORD

The gospel to those who are far away

By Fr. SILVANO FAUSTI, sJ

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Sad and growing data

by Fr. John Converset, mccj

frontline volunteer work

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The simple life

by Fr. Dave Domingues, mccj

WORLD MISSION has the exclusive services of the following magazines for Asia: ALÉM-MAR (Portugal); MUNDO NEGRO (Spain); NIGRIZIA (Italy); NEW PEOPLE (Kenya); WORLDWIDE (South Africa), AFRIQUESPOIR (DR of Congo); ESQUILA MISIONAL (Mexico); MISION SIN FRONTERAS (Peru); and IGLESIA SINFRONTERAS (Colombia).

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w o r l dto u c h WORLD YOUTH DAY

Church should master the 'grammar of simplicity' On papal trips, what one usually gets are pieces of a pope’s vision, meaning speeches targeted for special groups or occasions that beckon one emphasis or another. Every now and then, however, a pope has a chance to lay out his views in a programmatic fashion, and brought one of those rare moments in a speech Francis delivered to Brazil’s bishops. Jesuit Fr. Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, said the Pope’s speech was the longest of Francis’ papacy so far and, if not its most important, certainly "very significant." Five ideas loomed over the rest: 4 Popular Faith: Francis began with a reflection on Aparecida, Brazil’s great Marian shrine that draws an estimated ten million visitors each year. According to tradition, a statue of Mary was found by three fishermen in a nearby river in 1717. Among other aspects of the Aparecida story, Francis noted the fact that Mary appearing with dark skin was a means of breaching “the shameful wall of slavery.” In that regard, he said, popular faith teaches that the Church is always “called to be a means of reconciliation.” Francis also said it’s striking that the ordinary people were the first to welcome and assimilate the message of Aparecida, saying: “In the homes of the poor, God always finds a place.” The Pope argued that “at times, we lose people because they don’t understand what we’re saying, because we have lost the language of simplicity,” he said, “and import an intellectualism foreign to our people.” Francis said the Church must master “the grammar of simplicity.”

4 How to Get the People Back: Francis didn’t dodge the reality of massive defections from the Catholic Church in Brazil in recent decades to the evangelicals and Pentecostals, saying: “We feel like those who must tally up a losing season as we consider those who have left us, or no

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longer consider us credible or relevant.”

Yet, Francis argued, the losses aren’t irreversible. “The reasons why people leave also contain reasons why they can eventually return,” he said. To bring people back, the Church must be “capable of warming hearts.” The way to do that, “he suggested,” is with the pastoral basics: Scripture, catechesis, sacraments, community, friendship with the Lord, Mary and the apostles.” He also counseled patience in a world that seems to move ever faster.

seems as applicable to the Vatican as it does to the bishops’ conference in Brazil.

“Central bureaucracy is not sufficient,” he said. “There’s also a need for increased collegiality and solidarity.”

4 Permanent Mission: The idea that every member of the Church has to be a missionary, and that the Church has to get out of the sacristy and into the streets, is a constant theme in Francis’ thought.

He repeated it with the bishops, adding a twist: handing on the faith has to be person-to-person, one person at a time. “It’s like the baton in a relay race,” Francis said. "You don’t throw it up in the air for whoever is able to catch it, so that anyone who doesn’t catch it has to manage without.”

4 Social Gospel: Francis said that the Church “claims the right to serve man in his wholeness” which, among other things, means engaging the burning social questions of the day. He urged the bishops: “Do not be afraid to offer this contribution. The Lusa Church wants to make present that spiritual patrimony, without which “Is the Church still able to move slowly, society falls apart and cities are overto take the time to listen, to have the pa- whelmed by their own walls, pits, [and] tience to mend and reassemble?” he asked. barriers,” he said. “The Church shares with “Or is the Church herself caught up in the others a core desire for progress on matters frantic pursuit of efficiency?” such as education, health care and social harmony. What it can add is an underlying 4 Collegiality: Addressing a group of view of man, his freedom, his value, his bishops, Francis dwelt on the notion of col- openness to the transcendent.”

Within that panorama, Francis called legiality, meaning shared authority among the bishops rather than an exclusively top- on Brazil’s bishops to have a special focus down model of leadership. The remarks were on the Amazon Basin, where the bulk of directed at national bishops, but they’re the country’s impoverished indigenous also likely relevant for his understanding of persons are concentrated, as well as the his own role as pope. “The Church in Brazil scene of ferocious political and social needs more than a national leader,” he said. battles over the environment and property “It needs a network of regional ‘testimo- rights. He urged the bishops to train nanies’ which speaks the same language and in tive clergy, to form priests “suited to local every place ensure not unanimity, but true conditions,” and to lift up “the Church’s Amazonian face.” unity in the richness of diversity.” www.ncronline.org/ He made a point that, once again, John L. Allen Jr

NEPAL

Prize goes to human trafficking fighter

AFRICA

125 million mutilated women and girls The true extent of female genital mutilation or cutting is huge, a report from UNICEF last July revealed. It says that a total of 125 million women and girls are now living with the consequences of FGM – and yet the report suggests that the practice continues only because of social convention, while most women and men wish it would end.

There are 29 countries in Africa where FGM is practiced but over half the girls who are cut live in just three – Egypt, Ethiopia and Nigeria. It may surprise many people to learn that cutting is highly prevalent in Egypt. The report says 91% of girls in Egypt are cut; most of them – 77% – by a medical professional, which indicates how much of an establishment practice it is, and raises ethical questions of the doctors and nurses involved. There are 27.2 million women and girls in Egypt who have been through FGM. In terms of the percentage of girls who are cut, Egypt is in fourth place, below Somalia with 98%; Guinea, 96%; and Djibouti on 93%. At the bottom end of the scale, in Uganda and Cameroon, just 1% of girls are cut. In more than half of the 29 countries studied, UNICEF says, FGM is becoming slightly less common – in Kenya and Tanzania, the older generation of 45 to 49-year-old women is three times more likely to have undergone FGM than today's 15 and 16-year-olds. But there are places where it seems still entrenched. The report says: “No significant changes in female genital mutilation/cutting, prevalent among girls and women aged 15-49, can

be observed in Chad, Djibouti, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Senegal, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.” UNICEF has found there is strong support for ending FGM both among women and among men. In most countries where FGM/C is practiced, the majority of girls and women think it should end. Moreover, the percentage of females who support the practice is substantially lower than the share of girls and women who have been cut, even in countries where prevalence is very high.

In 11 countries with available data, at least 10% of girls and women who have been cut, say they see no benefits to the practice. The proportion reaches nearly 50% in Benin and Burkina Faso, and 59% in Kenya. Not surprisingly, the chances that a girl will be cut are considerably higher when her mother favors the continuation of the practice. Genital cutting is often assumed to be a manifestation of patriarchal control over women, suggesting that men would be strong supporters of the practice.

In fact, a similar level of support for stopping FGM/C is found among both women and men. In Chad, Guinea and Sierra Leone, substantially more men than women want FGM/C to end.

The assumption that girls will not find a husband if they have not been cut is not borne out in the report. Except in Eritrea, relatively few women talked of girls' marriage prospects as a justification for continuing to cut them. Overall support for FGM is declining, the report says, except in Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Senegal and Tanzania. www.guardian.co.uk

Shakti Samuha, a group of former Nepali sex slaves that frees Asian women and girls from human trafficking in India and China, is among the five recipients of the 'Ramon Magsaysay Award' for 2013. Viewed as Asia's Nobel Prize, the award recognizes people and organizations that have distinguished themselves for changing their societies for the better. The Filipino government, which established the award in 1958, announced.

Created in 2000, Shakti Samuha is the first Nepali association founded and run by women victims of sexual exploitation and human trafficking. For Chairimaya Tamang and Sunita Dunuwar, two of its 15 founders, the recognition is a source "of great joy and encouragement to go forward," but also a reminder of the days when they were forced into prostitution.

"We were so immersed in the darkness of that hell that it is always there deep inside us. And we feel deep in our hearts that countless Nepali girls and women are still trapped in that situation," Tamang said.

Tamang and Dunuwar, who is president of the association, were released in 1996 during a police raid in Indian brothels that rescued 500 women and girls, including 148 from Nepal. From the day of the raid, it took the women six months to get home. Even then, they said, "the journey has not been easy. Government and society did not accept us. We encountered many difficulties even to register the organization. I cannot express in words the extent of exploitation, abuse and torture trafficked girls face in the brothels of India, China and the Arab world. Now our focus is in India and China but we will soon expand our rescue work to Arab countries, too," Tamang explained. www.asianews.it/ Kalpit Parajuli

Peter Liese, a Christian Democrat in Germany who has led Europe's efforts to curb airline carbon emissions, urged Obama to live up to his sweeping promises to act on climate change, and help advance stalled negotiations for a global aviation deal. − www.guardian.co.uk

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"When we isolate the young… we strip them of the possibility of belonging, and the young have to belong."

– Pope Francis to reporters on board the aircraft taking him to Rio de Janeiro for the WYD. www.guardian.co.uk

“A danger in the relativism of modern society is the assumption that human freedom essentially entails creating one’s own truth and moral good.” – Archbishop Gerhard

“The Church must give back to young people the true understanding of their own value that has been taken from them.” – Idem, Ibidem

Ludwig Müller, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, in a lecture at the University of Glasgow, last June.

“Francis is a miracle of humility in an era of vanity.”

– Elton John, writing in the Italian edition of Vanity Fair, which recognized Pope Francis as its “Man of the Year.”

“Krakow and Poland rejoice to become once again a city and state of young people. We are happy that the Holy Father Francis announced that the World Youth Day will be held at Krakow, in Poland.”

– Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, Metropolitan of Krakow and former secretary of John Paul II, at the start of a video speech published on the official website for World Youth Day (WYD) 2016.

“Young people are growing up in a world marked by moral relativism, individualism, utilitarianism and a lack of interest in the fundamental truths of human life.”

– Idem, Ibidem

The conflict, “besides bringing death and destruction, has truly become a manufacturing plant of countless miseries.”

– Archbishop Mario Zenari, Vatican Nuncio to Syria, commenting on the Syrian war. www.catholicherald.co.uk

PHILIPPINES

Filipino martyr to be beatified The Vatican has announced that Franciscan Capuchin priest, Eugenio Sanz-Orozco, also known as Jose Maria de Manila, will be beatified this year. The beatification ceremony, which will be led by Cardinal Angelo Amato, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints, will take place in Tarragona, Spain, on Oct. 13.

Orozco was born in Manila of Spanish parents on Sept 5, 1880. He was the son of Don Eugenio Sanz-Orozco, the last Spanish mayor of Manila, and Doña Feliza Mortera y Camacho. Fr. Eugenio Lopez, provincial minister of the Capuchin Order in the Philippines, said Orozco's baptismal certificate could not be produced because it was burned during the liberation of Manila during World War II. "But his school records from the University of Santo Tomas showed he is 'natural de Manila.' All his biographies from Spain also showed

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he was born in Manila," Lopez said when asked about Orozco's nationality.

Father Jose was among the 500 martyrs, including 20 Capuchin priests and 12 lay religious brothers, who died in religious persecution in Spain in the 1930’s.

Orozco spent his initial years of education at Ateneo de Manila University, San Juan de Letran and later, the University of Santo Tomas. Despite the objections of his parents, Orozco pursued his priestly vocation. Records show that he had his first profession to the congregation in Lecaroz (Navarra, Spain) on Oct. 4, 1905, his solemn profession on Oct 18, 1908, and he was ordained a priest on Nov. 30, 1910.

Lopez said Orozco "remained a Filipino at heart" throughout his years in Spain, always desiring to return to the Philippines to serve the local Church. “Circumstances, however, prevented him to fulfill his dream

of coming back to the land of his birth, yet he still offered his life for the Gospel he zealously preached in Spain and longed to proclaim in his native land," Lopez said. www.ucanews.com

taiwan

Young people at risk of AIDS

kenya

Countering the radicalization of youth Unemployment, poverty and political marginalization are contributing to the Islamic radicalization of Kenya's youth, a situation, experts say, that must be addressed through economic empowerment and inclusive policies. Youth unemployment is extremely high, as are levels of political disenchantment. An estimated 75% of out-of-school youths are unemployed, according to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). "The unemployment crisis is a ticking bomb. Over 60% of the population is under 25. You cannot ignore that," said Yusuf Hassan, Member of Parliament for Nairobi’s Kamukunji Constituency, which has a large Muslim population. "A huge and significant population is restless. And the gap between the rich and poor is getting wider."

"When access to resources is based on ethnic, cultural or religious characteristics or there is a growing divide between the 'haves' and 'have-nots' in countries and communities, economic conditions further contribute to instability," says a new report by the Institute for Security Studies in Africa (ISS). "Countries confronted by large differences between 'haves' and 'have-nots' are additionally vulnerable to conflict, which may include resorting to acts of terrorism."

A string of grenade attacks – some allegedly by Somali Islamist insurgent group, AlShabab, or their sympathizers – have occurred in the Kenyan towns of Garissa, Mombasa and the capital, Nairobi, since Kenya began its military incursion in Somalia in October 2011. But Islamic radicalization is not new to Kenya. Kenyans were involved in the 1998 US Embassy bombings in Nairobi and the Tanzania city of Dar es Salaam; the coordinated attacks, which killed more than 220 people, were Africa's first suicide bombings by AlQaeda's East Africa cell. In a 2002 dual car bomb and suicide attack on a hotel and plane in Mombasa, at least one of the suspects was Kenyan.

Muslims make up an estimated 11% of Kenya’s population; large Muslim communities can be found in the country’s northeast and in the coastal region. Traditionally, Kenya’s Muslims are moderate, with the community peacefully seeking participation in politics.

But ISS pointed to the historical political marginalization of Muslims – right from negotiations for Kenya’s independence, in which ethnic Somalis, who are overwhelmingly Muslim, were not represented – as a contributor to the radicalization of young people.

“Although Kenya is a secular state, it is essentially a Christian country because of the dominant Christian population… There is the perception that Islam is ‘alien,’ despite the fact that it came to Kenya before Christianity,” the report notes.

The report also found that some young Kenyan Muslims have been influenced by radical preaching, which leads them to believe that wars being fought against Muslims abroad – for example, in Afghanistan and Iraq – are part of “a global campaign against Islam”.

The Taiwanese government published data on new HIV infections, which have tripled in 10 years. Although the absolute numbers remain low, fortunately, civil society and the Church are launching the "zero tolerance" towards risk behavior.

Despite the absolute numbers being low, the data submitted by the Taiwanese government about the spread of AIDS on the island have created alarm, especially on account of the heightened number of young people increasingly at risk. In fact, statistics shows that the highest number of infected persons is among those ranging from 20 to 29 years of age.

Presenting the data, Dr. Lee Chia-chi stressed that the newly HIV-infected persons also include young people between 15 and 24 years. The most astounding fact is that, despite prevention campaigns, the number of infected, in New Taipei alone, has tripled over the past 10 years; in fact, it rose from 49 in 2003 to 147 in 2012. Although the largest number of cases of infection occurs in the 25-29 age group, proportionally, the largest increase has been among young people under 24 years old, of late."

With regard to HIV/AIDS in Taiwan, as far as the global data are concerned, those who have shown symptoms of the disease between 1984 and March 2013, reached a total of 24,792 people. And dividing all those affected into categories, 45.7% contracted it by relations with the same sex, 25.2% by infected syringes used for various drugs and 18.1% from heterosexual relationships. www.asianews.it/ Xin Yage

www.irinnews.org

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YOUNG WORLD

Some facts and figures - www.unesco.org At the beginning of 2012, the world population surpassed 7 billion with people under the age of 30 accounting for more than half of this number (50.5%). According to the survey, 89.7% of people under 30 lived in emerging and developing economies, particularly in the Middle East and Africa. Source: The

World’s Youngest Populations, Euromonitor International, 2012

Adolescent girls’ access to technology is limited by the societies, communities and families in which they live. In a patriarchal society, it is men who control technology, whether this is ‘new’, such as computers and mobile phones; or ‘old’, such as radios and televisions. For example, in Ghana, only 6.6 per cent of females use internet cafés compared with 16.5 per cent of male youth. Source: Children

There are at least 100 million street children globally; an estimated 18 million of these live in India, which has the largest number of street children in the world. Source: Children in an Urban World. UNICEF, 2012, p. 67

Report, UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2011, p.16 (International Labor Organization, 2011a and United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, 2011)

in an Urban World. UNICEF, 2012, p.112-114

Countries in sub-Saharan Africa have the youngest proportion of population in the world with over 70% of the region's population aged below 30.

In all regions, by the age of 24, young women’s labor force participation trails that of young men’s.

Source: World Bank, Girls and Young Women, 2010

Source: The World’s Youngest Populations, Euromonitor International, 2012

Nearly 75 million youth are unemployed around the world, an increase of more than 4 million since 2007. By 2016, the youth unemployment rate is projected to remain at the same high level.

Source: United Nations World Youth Report, Conclusions, 2011, Youth Demographics Worldwide, United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, 2011

Source: Global Employment Trends for Youth, International Labor Office, 2012, p. 7

There is a positive correlation between poor youth employment outcomes and inequality. Rising youth unemployment in recent years has increased inequality (measured by the Gini coefficient) by 4 percentage points in all advanced countries and by as much as 8 percentage points in Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain. Source: Tackling the youth employment crisis: A macroeconomic

perspective, Makiko Matsumoto, Martina Hengge and Iyanatul Islam, International Labor Office, 2012, p. 1

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In 2012, India and China had the youngest population.

According to the United Nations (UN), India's total population is forecast to overtake China's by 2025.

Source: The World’s Youngest Populations, Euromonitor International, 2012

The Asian region has the largest number of young people: 754 million. That number has nearly tripled since 1950.

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Youth unemployment rates are significantly higher than adult rates in all geographic regions, though with considerable variation.

In 2010, the global youth unemployment rate remained at 12.6%, dramatically overshadowing the global adult unemployment rate of 4.8% Source: World Youth

2013

Concerning infant mortality rates, Afghanistan has the worst situation with 165 children deaths out of 1,000 births. Democratic Republic of Congo, Chad and Sierra Leone follow having 126, 124 and 123 rates respectively.

Source: Children in an Urban World. UNICEF, 2012, p.170

The group, called “NEET” (not in education, employment or training), often constitutes at least 10% of the youth population, and disproportionally includes youth with a low level of education in developed economies.

Source: Global Employment Trends for Youth, International Labor Office, 2012, p. 9

Niger and Burundi have the worst girls’ gross primary school graduation rates (the number of children graduating from primary school in any one year divided by the number of children in the age group at which primary school completion should occur) which are 12.29% and 12.77%, respectively. Source: Children in an Urban World. UNICEF, 2012, p.164

f r o n t i e r s

The Youth can change the world by

Y

oung people are filled with a desire to reach out to those who are suffering and in need, especially, the disabled, mentally challenged, infirmed, aging and the youth and children hurt and harmed by the injustice of the adult world. They love to protect the environment and work for the restoration of degraded nature. I have always been inspired by the youth volunteers who come to work with the young people in need at the Preda Center. They are from the Philippines and many other nations. They have an ability to relate and work together for the common good of the children and youth. The World Youth Day, this year, held in Rio, South America, was founded to recognize the goodness in young people and give them an opportunity to express it. The value to serve others is inherent in the youth and can be nurtured if only adults will allow it to emerge, set a good example and give encouragement.

The incredible courage, bravery and dedication of young people are what the world needs to inspire and lead us into the future. Malala Yousafzai is a striking model of the capability of the youth to give a good example where adults fail. Her speech to the United Nations ignited the hope and activism of the youth around the world. Malala was shot in the head by a Taliban assassin because she was such a powerful, determined advocate of the universal rights to education.

She shows just how influential young people can be if only we listen to them and allow them to play their role and to take the lead at times.

The adult leaders: parents, teachers politicians, and the general public

Fr. Shay Cullen | preda foundation

should realize that there are great youth leaders and youth groups that are giving their time and energy to saving the planet, helping the hungry, the oppressed, jailed children and campaigning for one important cause or another .They need the encouragement and support of the adult world because they deserve it; it is the right and good way to educate and develop good positive and caring character and personality in the growing-up youth. The youth are the leaders of the future and they will, eventually, take over the duty and obligation of the aging generation that comes to pass before their very own eyes.

What they need to grow strong and mature, besides health, food, and education, is nourishment of spiritual values. These are positive attitudes, relationships that cannot be bought at supermarkets, such as trust, respect, affirmation, inspiration, encouragement, good example, security, emotional support, affection and friendship.

A nation is judged by the way it cares and nurtures its children. How very true! Parents, teachers, and authorities, in general, ought to put aside the age-old practice of asserting negative authority over young people.

The youth are filled with a desire to be acknowledged, respected and encouraged in their activities and not to be scolded, judged and chided for youthful enthusiasm, immaturity and mistakes. We all make mistakes so tolerance, understanding, patience and forbearance are what adults should have toward them. Over the years, the youth will learn to overcome human frailties as they grow to maturity.

Malala Yousafzai is a striking model of the capability of the youth to give a good example where adults fail. Her speech to the United Nations ignited the hope and activism of the youth around the world...She shows just how influential young people can be.

Lusa

 COURAGE. Malala inspires the young.

Given that encouragement and respect, they will become advocates of the good and beautiful just as Malala has done. Her parents are also to be admired for giving her the opportunity and support in her pursuit of education and the right to go to school amid threats and intimidation.

It must be seen that these youthful heroes are striving to do good for all and what greater good is there than to sacrifice for the well-being of others. The young people of the world have these surging desires and hopes and must be allowed to exercise them with trust and in collaboration with the adults.

Openings must also be made to give them as many opportunities as possible to express themselves in arts, music and theatre. For young people, to have a sense of self-worth and value as human persons, selfexpression is essential. They can achieve that through the opportunities provided to them by the adults around them.

The volunteers at Preda Center, Olongapo, like good samaritans, live out their belief and faith in a wider circle of goodness and love. These are the youth leaders of today. The promissing honest-to-goodness the promising nation-builders of tomorrow.

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filipino focus • Therese “Gang” Badoy-Capati

Teenagers’ love for country She has an aim: “I want more teenagers to feel that the Philippines is their business.

Even if you live in Taguig and something happens in Maguindanao, that is still your business, my business, our business. My dream is for Filipino teenagers to have a feel of ownership of their country.” But she also warns: “You can’t push kids to the black or white section. You have to push them to be smart enough to know it for themselves.”

This is what’s behind the mix of faith and action that Gang Badoy represents. by

KRIS BAYOS | Journalist

I

t is said that science and faith are hard to marry. While science depends on objective truth and measurable theories, religion entails believing on unseen and immeasurable divine concepts. If science and faith appear to be irreconcilable to you, how about combining patriotism with religion?

Sure, we have cults worshiping national heroes here in the Philippines and a belief system that is similar to Britain’s Anglican Church. But have you ever considered love of country as a translation of your love for God? Does the equation, country = God, sound incompatible to you? Here’s someone whose life story will prove you otherwise.

Little did one know that behind an inf luential youth movement that stirs up social awareness and civil participation was a devout Catholic who attended Mass daily as a habit she grew into, having been raised by a very religious mother and educated in Catholic schools.

But Therese “Gang” Badoy-Capati, often referred to by her maiden name, Gang Badoy, rarely talks about her faith in the context of her work at “Rock Ed” (Rock Education) Philippines, a movement known for advocating civic participation through alternative education with the help of celebrities, musicians, poets, artists, entrepreneurs, writers, et al.

Admittedly, a religious person when she was younger, Badoy has been recognized more for her work through

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citations as one of The Outstanding Women in the Nation’s Service (TOWNS) and as among the Philippines' Ten Outstanding Young Men (TOYM) both in 2010.

But Badoy made it a choice to refrain from talking about religion during immersion with the young. She did so to prevent inadvertently alienating those who do not subscribe to her belief system or those who have no belief at all.

Although she wants to keep her relationship with God private, Badoy does not discount the fact that her faith fuels her passion to educate young people about the country and to inspire them to have a deep sense of love of country. As she puts it, patriotism is the language that best works for her in propagating the faith.

An intellectual, a broadcast and print media journalist, and educator, Badoy is a living proof that there is hope in the youth – both in the context of country and of Church.

How did you start the ball rolling for “Rock Ed?” When you start something that will be monumental for you in the end, there is no one point of start. There are a lot of causes and, one, I can trace back to my childhood.

[But,] officially the idea of “Rock Ed” came up during the height of the “Hello Garci” issue.1 I was surprised by how we reacted to the allegations of cheating: the EDSA revolution.2

[I believe that] if you mess with the election, you mess with the entire democracy system. It (my reaction) was not about President Arroyo because those were just allegations. I was looking at myself and my peers, and asked: ‘Wait, what happened? Aren’t we going to even push for a probe?’

It started because I had questions and I wanted to know if we had the same questions and then we proceeded from there.

If “Rock Ed” started with a mere question, what happens next? What makes “Rock Ed” appealing to the young?

When I was in high school, I had a short attention span. So every time I gave a lecture to high school seniors, I assumed many of them were the same way and so I brought musicians to keep the lecture entertaining enough.

I would always say that we would be ‘rocking while educating.’ Eventually, many people who have voices joined: musicians, photographers, filmmakers, critics, writers and journalists.

The voice got bigger and the bigger the voice got, the more I had to streamline what we were about. I felt it was unfair to push solidly for things, that is why “Rock Ed” has no voice on the issues about RH or FOI.3 “Rock Ed” is a solid voice that says ‘Ask. Find out about the RH, FOI and choose what your position is.’ The invitation of “Rock Ed” is ‘do you have questions, too? Let’s ask them together.’

If “Rock Ed” does not embrace a solid position on issues, what does it make its followers do?

The real push is to come out and ask because it is a prequel to participating.

Before you participate, ask as much as you can about an issue or an advocacy.

I am all for rally participation if it is the best way to magnify a statement but I am also for “do not go to a rally if you don’t have an idea what it is about.” Ask yourself why are you participating. It is okay if you don’t want to participate for as long as you can explain your decision.

Aside from patriotism, what do you want young people to learn through “Rock Ed?” [That] critical thinking is different from disobedience. It is coming up with reasons. It is decisiveness alongside obedience.

When we were kids, we were not allowed to join rallies but at one point I disobeyed and I joined because I wanted to find out. Was I scolded for it? Yes. Was I grounded after it? Yes. I

took the consequence of that. Was it wrong? Now that I am older I look back and say there’s nothing wrong with rallies. Would it be good to obey and not join the rally? Yes. That’s why there’s no black and white. And you can’t push kids to the black or white section. You have to push them to be smart enough to know it for themselves.

Raise your children well

What impact do you want to render through the work that you are doing?

I didn’t start “RockEd” to have an impact per se. [But] I want more teenagers to feel that the Philippines is their business. Even if you live in Taguig and something happens in Maguindanao, that is still your business, my business, our business. My dream is for Filipino teenagers to have a feel of ownership of their country.

If you are rallying for patriotism, what is your definition of this concept?

A patriot is someone who is interested where the country has been and where it

I think raising our own children well could be our best contribution to the nation. If you push or rally to save the mines in Palawan but you neglect your toddler, there is something wrong with you. That is not right, that is cosmetic.

wants to go and contributes as much as he can, to journey in the same direction.

What do you think is the simplest way to be a patriotic?

I think raising our own children well could be our best contribution to the nation. If you push or rally to save the mines in Palawan but you neglect your toddler, there is something wrong with you. That is not right, that is cosmetic.

The better offering to Inang Bayan (motherland) is to make sure that your children grow up to be smart, kind, and patriotic.

But no, sometimes you want it big, you want it grand, you want it publicized because we have a wrong notion of what’s appreciated or what’s grand but I keep telling my friends that, ‘ God, you’re raising four children, four future decision makers. That’s fantastic!’ I don’t have children and I make up by talking to teenagers.

Teachers will help, as well as books, but the biggest foundation is really the parents. You know, how many parents have messed up with their children?

And how many parents have saved their children’s lives and helped build the country’s future because they raised their children well?

Educate, not just ban

Gang Badoy

 EMPOWERING. Gang Badoy's dedication to the young aims at making them protagonists.

How do you suggest parents raise their children?

Banning is being lazy if you have the chance to educate. There are more risks in a despotic approach to teenagers. Ideally, parents must not default to bawal pag-usapan (prohibited to talk about) – instead, for example, of banning illegal drugs with strong or silent disapproval, be brave enough to research on the effects of drugs, healthwise and their effects on the brain – and be brave enough to explain to them the consequences of choosing to be exposed to drug use. Grab chances to educate, rather than ban. They just might end up having an unhealthy curiosity for things you ban if you don’t talk about it openly.

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In the day and age of available immorality venues within access, it is not helpful to ban. It is more helpful to explain what this immoral thing is about and then you let them choose. Hopefully, you educate them well enough to choose the right thing.

“Rock Ed” is reportedly wrapping up and set to expire in two years. Why does this movement have to end?

“Rock Ed,” as a campaign, will end in 2015; it is supposed to be not needed anymore. Teenagers of 2015 will know best what they need and should be doing more concrete in terms of civic participation.

I don’t think you create a movement to be there forever. It is supposed to be not needed anymore after a while. With the power of choice of the kids in the internet, hopefully, they can start their own more specific and concentrated advocacy – not only a motion to ask questions.

What’s going to happen next after “Rock Ed?” “Rock Ed” ran on poetry, music and on the feeling that I must participate and then it gave birth to specific projects like “Book Bigayan,” “Project Rehas” and other alternative education programs, and projects for teenage girls.

These byproducts will continue.

“Rock Ed” gives you the venue, to date, all the advocacies and projects.

You’ll just choose which fits you. And if you want to be in a longer relationship with an advocacy, approach it with both mind and heart. Choose an advocacy and see it through.

All have an inherent capacity

Does faith have something to do with your work?

Of course! I can’t discount that it came from that.

If you are faith-centered and you see our work, you will imagine that it is from a Christian point of view. If you are an atheist, you will just assume our work is about being patriotic. If you are a reader, you will think of us as believers of books.

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Gang Badoy

 INCLUSIVENESS. "Rock Ed" caters to the young regardless of faith and family background.

I think too many people talk about doing good work in the context of God but the danger is: others may get disappointed if you fail.

So, I think, in this stage of my life, I better shut up first about my beliefs and see if my actions will speak for me instead.

If you are Catholic, why are you not taking advantage of “Rock Ed’s” clout to the young help spread the faith?

I do not infuse religion into “Rock Ed’s” motions because I don’t want to alienate those who are not Catholics, not Christians or those who don’t believe.

I seriously believe that whether you have faith in God or not, everyone has an inherent capacity to help. So I refuse to turn away or turn off teenagers who have no faith structure in their life from civil participation.

Also, when I was in college, I was president of a Catholic organization. I think I talked too much about God. I Bible-quoted and I imagine that I was the self-righteous “annoying one” but you see, I don’t think I was really “walking my talk.” And, I think, ever since I started “Rock Ed” in 2005, I haven’t read a word about God [aloud] in the context of “Rock Ed” because I want my walk to catch up with my talk. Actions must catch up at some point, otherwise, your words are empty.

I think too many people talk about doing good work in the context of God but the danger is: others may get disappointed if you fail. So, I think, in this stage of my life, I better shut up first

about my beliefs and see if my actions will speak for me instead.

How does your faith inf luence your work?

When I look back at all the effort, sleepless nights, sacrifice, and resource sharing I had ever since I started “Rock Ed,” could those have been about my search for God? Oh, absolutely!

Have I defined them as such? Not yet! But I always say that everything good and generous decision I made, I credit to my mom who is very religious.

My sense of God is really from her; it wasn’t given to me by anyone else. And no religion class could match what I witness at home and how my mom lives her life. And patriotism is the same way.

The young could have dined with senators but if their parents did not raise them to have in their consciousness that ‘I am a Filipino,’ that’s senseless.

If people read my work as “something to do with God,” I am not going to disagree but I am not going to discuss it as such. I won’t trumpet it as the work of faith because I am not comfortable with that yet.

If you are a believer, something or someone higher or more divine leads

filipino focus • Therese “Gang” Badoy-Capati you, I think your entire life is in search of the closest possible way to feel it.

And if you are lucky, it is in your work and actions.

A more flexible faith

How religious is Gang Badoy?

When I was in college, I was religious.

By religious, I mean by textbook definition. I went to Mass everyday. One time, I had a class schedule for Natural Science from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. And there was a Mass schedule from 12 to 1 p.m.

I had the temerity to skip class thinking that attending Mass was much more important than showing up in class. I thought I was right even if my primary responsibility was to go to class. But now that I’m older, I realize that I should not have acted on that belief because anything that goes against your daily duty and obligation is not about God. I guess when you’re younger, you’re more rigid. You refer to the Mass as more of a divine offering to God than a Natural Science class. Then, you become less rigid when you get older.

Attending class would have been an equal, if not a better offering than a Mass, because it is your duty as a student and you owe it to your parents who enrolled you in that class.

When you get older, it’s not like you tend to compromise more, no. It’s just being more f lexible. Every athlete knows that a more f lexible athlete is a stronger athlete and a more f lexible muscle is stronger. I think the same goes with Catholicism. If your Catholic muscle is more f lexible, then probably you are a stronger Christian as opposed to a rigid one.

We have to be a little less rigid but still very conscious of the lines: open to critical thinking, knowing when to disobey (because sometimes it is better to be kind than to be right, and being kind is the better option). For example, you have a friend who calls you up saying he wants to commit suicide but then you are scheduled to hear Mass. I say, skip the Mass and run to your friend who needs you because that is the Mass

more than the Mass that you are going to attend as a gathering where there is consubstantiation and consecration.

I think the real Mass happens when you’re around your child, your spouse, your friends, or you change someone’s tire. I am sure that is a greater offering than the Eucharist.

If your Bible-quoting days are gone, what is your means of expressing and sharing the faith?

If you really want to talk about God and to propagate the faith, you have to choose the best language for you. And for me, this is the language I am most at home with. I am a rock music, film, literature, and photography fan.

For me, it is not really that I have nothing to say but I want my life to say everything. The best language for me is doing this piece. If the readers take it as a Christian action, okay; if they read it as just another work to do something good, great; if they find it as a spiritual journey, it’s okay, as well. Other people might even think I just did this to become a little more popular, it’s okay, I suppose, people will always judge, and that’s cool. After all, interpretation of one’s life story will always depend on the reader – but that’s not what’s important in the end and we all know that.

If you try as much to separate religion from your advocacies, what do you tell people who ask you what drives you into doing these things?

One time, someone asked me in a conference in Ateneo, why do you this? Why do you sacrifice for this? Is this for country? I said, yes. My parents taught me that I have a responsibility to contribute something to the country because I was educated and was exposed to very highcaliber professors unlike the others.

Yes, it’s a country thing for me.

Another reason is because I have created my own job description, and that pushes me to carry on. I’m not, by default, a good follower. If I don’t like something, I don’t do it. But if I really like something, I do it all the way and

see it through the end.

And then people would ask, ‘what else, what else, what else?’ I feel they are forcing me to say that it’s about God. My reply? If there is one more aspect you think it’s about that which I have not mentioned at all, it probably is.

Maybe it’s about God? It could be. I haven’t labeled it yet as that. Maybe the day before I die, I’ll say it.

Do you feel fulfilled in the work that you do and the life that you lead?

If I was apathetic, I could have carried on with my life like many others do: have a family, get a house, retire and travel. It’s similar to playing bowling: in targeting the pins, the ball may either go to the canal or stay on the lane and make a score.

1. The “Hello Garci” scandal emanated from a tapped conversation between former President Gloria Arroyo and a ranking election officer after the 2010 elections. In the audio recording that surfaced, the officer Virgilio Garciliano (nicknamed Garci) was assuring Mrs. Arroyo of a wide lead over her contender in the presidential race. The discovery of the conversation led to public unrest over alleged poll rigging and forced Mrs. Arroyo to make a public apology, insisting that the call she made to Garciliano was not meant to manipulate election results.

Despite the controversy, Arroyo finished her two terms in the presidency for nine-years but later on faced several lawsuits.

2. The world-famous People Power Revolution that was held along Epifanio delos Santos Avenue (EDSA) in 1986 caused the downfall of former President Ferdinand Marcos. Filipinos from all walks of life gathered for a bloodless revolution to oppose the victory of Marcos against Mrs. Corazon Aquino in a snap election marred by widespread cheating. Mrs. Aquino, mother of incumbent President Benigno S. Aquino III, was later on proclaimed as president of the revolutionary government and eventually acknowledged as an icon of Philippine democracy.

3. Two legislative measures are dividing the country: the RH (Reproductive Health) law which seeks to ensure public’s free access to artificial family planning methods and devices courtesy of state coffers, and the FOI (Freedom of Information) bill, which seeks to make government records readily accessible to the public and to institutionalize transparency in governance.

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In pursuit of purpose The youth issue will surely be one of the major and enduring challenges for the modern Catholic faith. No doubt, modern technology will play a major role in the agenda but, above it all, the humility, sensitivity and creativity of the youth ministers will also prove vital. A carefully planned online strategy will be greatly instrumental but, in some cases, the little things such as a surprise birthday party for a friend or a casual personal invitation to a prayer meeting could spell the difference. by

Jose Bimbo F. Santos | JOURNALIST

J

uan Carlo Gotinga is defensive.

Because, after what happened, he would like to clarify that he was never unfaithful.

"No. I was not a two-timer," he explained.

It started after high school, when a relationship he has faithfully and dutifully nourished for about two decades was sorely tested. Like many in the Philippines, Gotinga was born a Catholic. But as he grew up, he chose to take Catholicism.

"I was really religious ever since I was a kid. I was a sacristan and a member of the Knights of the Altar and was also a St. Francis Youth. My obsession really was on religious matters. I even planned on being a priest," Gotinga said.

“Up until first year college, I was a sacristan every Sunday. I really tried to live out the faith. I did not treat it as a theoretical framework. I saw it as a life pattern,” Gotinga added.

The disengagement with Catholicism started during college, when Gotinga pursued Philosophy at the University of the Philippines. The gradual falling out could be narrowed down to two culprits: timing and circumstance.

“I was best in religion from elementary until high school. I knew religion like the back of my hand, or so I thought,” Gotinga said.

"I started harboring questions in college and then I was also approaching puberty so I was having different sorts of intellectual epiphany that there are new ways of looking at the world. It suddenly became convenient not to be a Catholic," Gotinga recalled.

It was a potent brew: the heady days of youth, a fearlessly inquisitive academic environment, and a few personal crises. It was enough to shake one’s faith.

“There was a point during college when I was confessing every week.

The priest was already laughing at me. From being an extreme believer, I came to the point that I don’t already know,” Gotinga said.

wm special • youth at the crossroads

 DISENGAGEMENT. Some young Catholics can't find the support they need from their church.

It’s becoming a familiar plot line. In a predominantly Catholic nation, more and more Filipino youth are being drawn out from the Catholic faith, where they are born into, toward more charismatic leaning organizations such as the Born Again Christians.

And it was amid these trying times that Gotinga found what he needed outside of his church. It was a timely but phased in intervention.

“I have friends who are Born Again Christians so when they go to church during Sundays I sometimes tag along,” Gotinga said.

Through intermittent church attendance and participation in Bible studies, Gotinga was gradually drawn into the Born Again faith after he became lukewarm to the Catholic faith. The actual day when he decided to officially identify with them is a telling moment of one of the strengths of his new religion.

"This is when I've really decided: It was my 21st birthday and my friends from theater who are also Born Again Christians threw me a surprise party.

It was the first time I experienced that and to think that these people really went through all of that trouble just for me. It really moved me," Gotinga said.

It was a sincere and moving gesture, just enough to finally tip him over to another newfound relationship. One that Gotinga, now 28, is still actively involved in.

“I suddenly became more willing to see the world as they do because they

were just so good to me. They made me feel really important and good and happy,” Gotinga recalled.

“When I decided to convert, I’ve felt that my needs were being met and I was being given inspiration and the mental and emotional resource that I needed at that time. And while I can say that all of these theoretical stuff also sold me into it, looking back, realizing it now, it’s really more of the fellowship,” Gotinga added.

It’s becoming a familiar plot line.

In a predominantly Catholic nation, more and more Filipino youth are being drawn out from the Catholic faith, where they are born into, toward more charismatic leaning organizations such as the Born Again Christians.

“The Catholic setup was not able to meet me where I was, so I started leaving it behind,” Gotinga said.

More often, it’s not an issue of differences in terms of dogma or principles that lure them in but the acute feeling of belongingness within a social group.

“Yes, this is really happening. I am a part of a demographic. I am not an extraordinary happening. The people who reached out to me are also reaching out to others,” Gotinga said.

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wm special • youth at the crossroads

 SEARCHING. Leaving their Catholic heritage, the young are joining evangelical groups.

The survey found out that nearly half of the Filipino youth population or about 44.9% are just Catholics on paper who seldom practice their faith. The survey also reported that the youth see little significance in going to church to express their faith.

“It’s big. It’s growing. And it’s mostly the youth,” Gotinga added. problem of reach

Aside from the anecdotal evidence and word-of-mouth stories, there has been no actual comprehensive study done by independent research and survey groups on the number of Filipino youth leaving the Catholic church to join charismatic organizations. One of the few pieces of evidence somehow validating the claim was released as far back as 2002 by no less than the Episcopal Commission on Youth (ECY) of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).

The survey found out that nearly half of the Filipino youth population or about 44.9% are just Catholics on paper who seldom practice their faith. The survey also reported that the youth see little significance in going to church to express their faith. The ECY characterized this widespread character trait as a "split-level" Christianity, where personalistic expressions of faith outside the church have much more weight compared to involvement in actual church activities.

"These findings, though sprinkled with positive data, nonetheless, show how

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our Filipino Catholic youth form part of the false picture of Catholic faith among Filipino Catholics," the survey said: "As this understanding of God stands out among the Catholic youth of the Third Millennium, it is indicative of a weakness in the catechesis and religious instruction that the Church offers Catholic children and youth," the survey said.

A survey done in 2001, meanwhile, found out that only about a fifth of the Filipino are involved in church activities. In 2000, a CBCP study, also reported in the media, stated that only 6% of young Filipinos received "significant religious instruction" and, at the rate things are going, the Philippines would no longer be a Catholic country after four decades.

As one member of the church saw it, the issue was less of the youth turning their backs but rather of shorthandedness on the part of the church to reach out.

"They are not turning away. They are simply not being reached," Fr. Catalino Arevalo told the media.

A global situation

Though the seeming exodus is somehow more pronounced in the youth

segment, the issue is also a reflection of a larger context, and one that is not distinct to the Philippines alone.

Latin America, for one, is now seeing droves of its Catholic population converting toward other charismatic evangelical denominations. From 81% in 1996, the total Catholic population in Latin America dropped to 70% by 2010 according to the Chilean polling group, Latinobarometro. The Protestant population, on the other hand, saw a dramatic rise in the same time period from 4% to 13%. In a cover story by Time magazine last April, the unfolding phenomenon was dubbed as “The Latino Reformation.”

A separate survey, this time done by the American think tank, Pew Research Center, echoes the same findings in other predominantly Catholic countries. Brazil, which has the largest Catholic population in the world, saw its Catholic denomination drop from 74% in 2000 to 65% in 2010, a decrease of nearly a tenth in just a decade. Mexico, which has the second largest Catholic population in the world, went from 89% Catholic in 2000 to 85% in 2010.

From the religious arena, evangelicals are also spilling over the political ring in Brazil as they now have 68 seats in Congress, a 50% increase in the 2010 elections. Evangelical Christians have grown so much in Brazil that President Dilma Roussef was even moved to appoint an evangelical bishop to her Cabinet.

A humble leader

Amid a dwindling Catholic population in Latin American countries, it was only fitting that many saw the accession of Pope Francis, who is from Argentina, as an auspicious event compatible with the current needs of the f lock. With significant numbers converting toward other evangelical congregations in such territories, many church observers are hoping that the election of the first Latin American pope may arrest the bleeding.

But as things have turned out, it has been less Pope Francis’s cultural heri-

tage than his disarming modesty and unassuming ways that are winning the people, and more so, the youth.

Pope Francis’s down-to-earth nature was immediately put on display after his election to the papacy. Following the papal conclave, he chose to return to his residence onboard the minibus together with other cardinals, personally collected his luggage, and insisted on paying his bills. These are all gestures that resonated deeply to the youth.

"The new Pope brings humility a more vivid face and persona and this has captured the imagination of the young," Fernando Academia Jr., a fulltime pastoral worker for the Youth for Christ, an arm of the international Catholic lay ecclesiastical movement ,Couples for Christ, said.

For a number of the youth, who are at a stage in their lives where an aversion toward traditional founts of power and authority may come instinctively, a self-effacing establishment figure may indeed prove fresh, charming, and attractive. It is something that is now making the Catholic Church more accessible for the present generation.

"It makes the Church approachable and reachable as the lifestyle that

the Lord, through the Catholic Church, teaches is iconized by the Pope,” Macademia said.

The lowly lifestyle has been one crucial drawing factor of the other evangelical organizations as it is the “I am no different than you” approach that has attracted a number of young people to be drawn in by lessening the perceived tension and intimidation.

Iconoclasts and traditionalists

That the Catholic hierarchy has held its traditions closely and tenaciously, even amid the seeming attractiveness of a more contemporary and youthful outlook, is not without reason as for a centuries-old institution, it is both weakness and strength.

"In some respects, yes, the Church is still very old-fashioned; but it is in being traditional that the Church ensures that the deposit of faith, handed down by Jesus to the apostles and their successors, remains unchanged and uncompromised," Joey Villarama, a church correspondent of a Philippinebased broadcast media outfit, said.

While some may see the traditional conventions of the Catholic church as a sign of inflexibility, Villarama pointed

For a number of the youth, who are at a stage in their lives where an aversion toward traditional founts of power and authority may come instinctively, a self-effacing establishment figure may indeed prove fresh, charming, and attractive.

Lusa

 ATTRACTIVE. Pope Francis, with his simplicity and humility, stirs the hearts of the young.

out that it is also a symbol of resilience.

"Those who say the Church has not adapted to modern times actually mean that the Church has not succumbed to the pressures of secularism, of convenience and of the whims and caprices of youth," he said.

"This is actually a positive observation, a strength in the Church's strategy because it only means that Jesus' teachings have not been altered," Villarama added.

But even then, Villarama admitted that being much rooted and grounded in the past may be ill perceived by the youth.

"Unfortunately, this slow, leisurely pace that the Church is taking will likely be the impediment in its strategy to keep the youth interested," Villarama said.

Gotinga, on the other hand, also stressed that the contemporary vibe of other charismatic religious organizations helps make it attractive to the youth.

“They are really iconoclastic. They really defined Christianity for the average young person. No church vestments.

No statues. The place does not smell of flowers. The services are noisy. You are allowed to bring food in. You are even allowed to wear shorts,” Gotinga said.

The energetic and animated preaching, as well as the electrifying praise and worship aspect of a typical Sunday church service of Protestants and Born Again Christians, indeed stands in stark contrast to the sober liturgical Mass of the Catholic Church. While the former tends to excite the youth with its contrarian and borderline rebellious appeal, the latter is just more prone to be perceived as tepid and even downright boring by the young population.

“Catholic service is very ritualistic while those from the Born Again are very production-based. It is almost a variety show. So I guess it’s more in tuned to the times,” Gotinga said.

Scale and intimacy

Fr. Oscar Cruz, an archbishop-emeritus of the Catholic Church in the Philip-

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pines, also said that the sheer size of the Catholic congregation has somehow worked to its disadvantage in terms of reaching out to the young people on a more personal level.

"It is an advantage for a group to be small in this issue as they readily respond to one another. The Catholic Church in our country, however, is a large congregation so there could be less affection, less care, less attention in terms of reaching out to every member.

The membership is more loose as opposed to other more compact groups where there is a tighter sense of belonging for its members," Cruz said.

“More often if you go to church on Sundays, there are many people but they do not know one another. There is no fellowship,” Cruz added.

The opportunity of fellowship and the sense of intimacy it nourishes among its members is an edge that cannot be understated within any congregation. It is something that, with the right circumstance and timing, could tip people like Gotinga toward other congregations. Or, if it works, could make people like Katrina Martin stay and devote a life of full-time ministry to the church.

"I was really having difficulties then with a personal relationship and other things. I guess I was looking for a distraction. Then some of my college blockmates invited me to join their prayer meeting and I gave it a try," Martin, who is now 28 serving as a publications head of the CFC, said in recalling how her active involvement with the church started.

Like Gotinga, it was also a timely intervention for Martin as her friends reached out in her hour of need.

"So I joined and the first meeting was fun. It did not feel like you are listening to a sermon or anything like that. And then I gained friends and I think that was what really kept me there," Martin said.

“A lot of these people let me feel very loved so that was how my relationship with God really started to grow. Be-

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 ENKINDLE THE FIRE. It is the Church's mission to invite, welcome and nurture the youth.

In terms of rebranding, no one has seemed to achieve widespread and seemingly instantaneous success as Pope Francis himself.

His contagious humility and exemplary gestures have now reached... even non-believers who have now begun warming up to the church. cause when you come across the love of other people, when you experience that, you really can’t help but also see God,” Martin added.

The Millennials

In addition to the large yet “loose” and dwindling membership as well as having a traditionalist sheen, one of the hurdles also of the modern Catholic Church is reaching out to the youth in an age of iPhones, tablets, Facebook, and other modern gadgets and online preoccupations that all compete for the

limited and f leeting attention span of the younger generation. With such a wealth of gadgets and options to choose from, the young people are also growing accustomed to having their highly specific needs met by various tools and media. Dubbed as “The Millenials,” the present generation is used to the efficient concepts of speed and customization, things that are not exactly prime character traits of a much-established institution like the Catholic Church.

“One of the biggest challenges for the Church in terms of reaching out to

wm special • youth at the crossroads

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the youth is that the secular world has shaped the minds of people on how other things can be customized to suit their tastes. The faith, being based on sacred traditions, doctrines and morals, cannot be customized like how other things can be adjusted,” Macademia said.

"It is then the challenge for the church to communicate the faith in a manner more palatable to the youth, to enable and empower them to be witnesses of the faith," Macademia added.

As a solution, Macademia said that the church is now developing strategies to meet the youth on their home court, which is the online platform. Dialogue in all possible forms of media, especially in online platforms, will be paramount to stem the tide.

“We are currently developing an alternative online environment where the young can find themselves at home. It is an environment relevant to their daily concerns, their interests, and also that elicits dialogue with our missionaries who can guide them in sifting through their tough times and life-related queries," Macademia said.

Another major factor for the disenchantment of some members of the present generation is disagreement with raging social issues such as reproductive health, abortion, and divorce, among others. Opposing camps have largely won the hearts of the youth with their creative means of demonstration and aggressive online campaigns.

In the Philippines, a popular tourist guide named Carlos Celdran became a modern cult hero in 2010 after he held up a placard amid an ecumenical service inside the Manila Cathedral and shouted “stop getting involved in politics” toward the priests. He was slapped with a two-month jail sentence by a Metropolitan Trial Court early this year “for offending religious feelings,” but last June, he was appointed as a consultant for the tourism of Manila.

“It is difficult for us especially now that secularism is very cool and it’s cool to be anti-church. We all like the idea of being a rebel so it’s difficult,” Martin said on the challenges of the youth ministry today.

“The Catholic Church is actually a little behind in this battle so we saw that there is a need to kind of repackage our image,” Martin added.

Aside from actively engaging people in social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter to better articulate the position of the Church on various social issues, Martin said that they are also trying to rebrand their image through various clothing merchandise.

But in terms of rebranding, no one has seemed to achieve widespread and seemingly instantaneous success as Pope Francis himself. His contagious humility and exemplary gestures to shun luxury have now reached the

other aisle as even non-believers have now begun warming up to the church.

He has been called a rebel. He has been called “the Catholic Princess Diana” by CNN. And in an opinion piece at Esquire magazine, an atheist has called Pope Francis as “kind of awesome.”

“There is no doubt that the way Pope Francis has run things at the Vatican so far has attracted renewed interest not only in the Papacy but in the Church as a source of spiritual nourishment,” Villarama said.

“Pope Francis simplicity, not only in deed but in word, has made Church teaching more visceral and comprehensible, without taking away the beauty and relevance of those teachings in the modern times,” Villarama added.

Moving forward, the youth issue will surely be one of the major and enduring challenges for the modern Catholic faith. No doubt, modern technology will play a major role in the agenda but, above it all, the humility, sensitivity and creativity of the youth ministers will also prove vital. A carefully planned online strategy will be greatly instrumental, but in some cases, the little things such as a surprise birthday party for a friend or a casual personal invitation to a prayer meeting could spell the difference.

Eighteen years after the statement of Pope John Paul II at the 1995 World Day of Prayer for Vocations still rings true.

“This is what is needed: a Church for young people, which will know how to speak to their heart and enkindle, comfort, and inspire enthusiasm in it with the joy of the Gospel and the strength of the Eucharist; a Church which will know how to invite and to welcome the person who seeks a purpose for which to commit his whole existence; a Church which is not afraid to require much, after having given much; which does not fear asking from young people the effort of a noble and authentic adventure, such as that of the following of the Gospel,” Pope John Paul II said.

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wm special • youth at the crossroads

Brazilian youth: Perspectives and challenges

Brazil, despite so many changes in social, political, economic and religious sphere, is still a Catholic country largely with young members. The recent census of 2010 reports that, of the 200 million population, 123 million (64.6%) declare themselves Catholic. There is an outstanding growth among the Pentecostal groups (22.2%) over the past decade. The youth (15 to 24 years old) form 20% of the Brazilian population. The World Youth Day that was held in Rio de Janeiro, in July 2013, called the world´s attention to the current situation of the Brazilian youth and to the challenges they face. by

Fr. Ozanan Carr ar a , svd | JPIC COORDINATOR

T

he Brazilian youth have a significant role in the various historical moments of the country since the time of the Portuguese colonization in the early 1500. One of the great struggles taken up by the youth was the campaign for the abolition of slavery in which the youth assumed the defense of the enslaved members of the society; they helped in organizing mass escapes. Among the prominent leaders was Joaquim Nabuco who had a strong influence in the movement that culminated in the abolition of slavery in 1888, and in the proclamation of a Republic in 1889. Another symbol of resistance was the Afro-Brazilian Zumbi dos Palmares, born in the northern state of Alagoas in 1655. For decades, he led 30.000 slaves forming a community composed of those who had escaped from farms, prisons and senzalas (houses of slaves in the big rural properties). At the age of 20, Zumbi was already a military strategist at the service of his black brothers and sisters. Among the local Indians, a young leader named Sepé Tiaraju is well remembered in the history of the Gaúchos in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. He was a missionary Guarani hero who led the indigenous militia against the Luso-Brazilian and Spanish troops during the Guarani War. The 20th century ushered a more visible and larger participation of the youth. An outstanding moment hap-

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pened in the Week of Modern Art, in 1922, in the Tenentista Movement (a movement of young militaries against the political oligarchies of coffee and milk producers) and in the organization of the Communist Brazilian Party, both of which happened that same year, when the youth acted as the protagonists of new ideas for the nation and the State, according to Caccia-Brava (2004).

Between 1930 and 1950, the National Union of Students (UNE) was founded, as well as religious movements like the Catholic Action. The 1960’s saw the rise of the Catholic Specialized Action (ACE), formed by various branches as the Agrarian Youth (JAC), Students Youth (JEC), and the Workers Organization (JOC). These youth organi-

zations came from the urban middle classes and challenged the cultural and political values of the time, as reported

by Regina Novaes (2000). Later on, the Catholic University Youth (JUC) also appeared with a very significant contribution to the Brazilian society.

The 1970’s saw the military repression organized by the military dictatorship that began in the military coup of 1964.

The Brazilian youth played an important role during this period, either as part of organized groups called sindicatos (unions) or in the clandestine armed guerrilla movements. May I also point out the start of the participation of young people in the socio-pastoral ministries that developed in the Basic Ecclesial Communities as fruits of

Lusa

 PARTICIPATION. Brazilian youth have a significant role in different moments of history.

need attention from the government, the Church and the Brazilian society in general: urban violence, drug issues, lack of work opportunities for a large part of the youth, the precariousness of structures in the periphery districts of the big cities that do not offer adequate conditions for leisure and for the development of cultural activities for the youth, among others.

Social discrimination Lusa

 ORGANIZING. Religious institutions today appear to be good venues to gather the youth.

Among the most serious problems faced by the Brazilian society today is violence. Eighty-five percent of the Brazilian youth live in the urban centers where they are confronted by high levels of violence and unemployment. the Liberation Theology. The 1970’s and the 1980’s also showed the rise of the social movements that focused on issues of citizenship. From the 1990’s onward, there has been a depoliticization of the student movements. According to Sampaio Cardoso, the reference for the young is no longer the political party or the organized workers' unions (sindicatos), focusing from that moment on their specific movement. Two new manners of organizing appeared in this period, namely, the Hip-Hop Cultural Movement and the work developed by the Youth Pastoral Ministries of the Brazilian church. The 1990’s saw the withdrawal of the great revolutionary utopias (socialism, communism, armed struggle, etc) on the part of the youth which, according to J. T. P. Sousa, turned to the preservation of individuality, in a search for autonomy and realization of individual desires. The exception was seen during the impeachment of President Fernando Collor de Melo when the Brazilian youth were very much present, through the movement of carapintadas (painted faces) and the MST (Movement of Landless Rural Workers) that had a significant place in the struggle against neo-liberalism.

The changes that accurred from the nineties onward can be explained by the importance of the youth's involvement in the Brazilian society. In the sixties and seventies, their participation was in unions and student movements; in the eighties, in social movements; in the nineties, in cultural and ludic movements. In the years after 2000, the young people found their place of socialization in the religious movements, such as the Catholic Charismatic Renewal or the Neo-Pentecostal Evangelical Movements. However, the youth have not been completely absent in the socio-political life. This was evident in their mass participation in the World Social Forum that took place in Porto Alegre, South Brazil, in 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2005. These events were clear indication of the effort to involve the young in the social and political life of the Brazilian society and in global economic discussions. Several researchers show that religious institutions, Catholic and evangelicals, appear, in contemporary time, to be good venues to organize the youth.

In the meantime, there are new and big challenges in store for the youth today. These are problems that still

Among the most serious problems faced by the Brazilian society today is violence. Eighty-five percent of the Brazilian youth live in the urban centers where they are confronted by high levels of violence and unemployment. Fortyeight percent of the urban youth live in inadequate housing conditions and two million of the youth, between the age of 15 and 29, still live in favelas (shantytowns and slums); 67% of whom are blacks. The homicide levels continue to be very high with an increase in the violent deaths of young people. The percentage of youth mortality from violent death reaches 40% of the total of homicides in the country. This violence affects mainly the black youth. While the level of homicides among the white youth gets to 63,9% for each 100 thousand inhabitants, the level of homicides among the black youth reaches 135,3% and that of the mulattoes reaches 122,8%. For each white youth’s violent death, there are two blacks’. This high level of violent deaths is generally due to trafficking and use of drugs. There has been significant increase in the consumption of cannabis, cocaine and crack among the young people, affecting all social classes. The federal and the state of Rio de Janeiro governments adopted, in the last years, a policy of pacification of favelas in the city of Rio de Janeiro as part of its preparation for the 2014 World Cup and for the 2016 Olympic Games. Some of these favelas, dominated by drug trafficking, were occupied by police forces. They have started to become present also in the middle of the favelas’ population that,

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often, was unaware of the presence of the State among them. Some drug traffickers have lost control in some of these areas, although many still remain in others. Some have migrated to the countryside where the police forces are less prepared to handle them and the local population is more vulnerable.

Many young people, mostly blacks, find drug trafficking a means of subsistence for themselves and for their families, exposing themselves to the violence of the police and of traffickers.

Another cause of the high level of violent deaths is vehicular accidents. This affects all kinds of social classes, especially in the big urban centers. There is still a slow response to this problem on the part of the Brazilian society and of the State. The present public policies and the pastoral response from the part of the Church are still wanting.

The same inequality can be verified at the levels of scholarship of the young Brazilians. Illiteracy among the blacks is twice of that of the whites. Despite the government’s policy introducing social and racial quotas at public universities where up to 50% of its place, should be reserved for those coming from public schools, and those with Afro-Brazilian and indigenous background, 20% of the white young people are in the university against only 7% of the Afro-Brazilians.

The ethnical distribution of the Brazilian youth tends to be balanced: 47% of the population being formed by whites and 53% (IPEA data) by blacks.

However, 70% of the poorest come from the blacks and mulattoes. In spite of the general belief that there is no racism in Brazil, statistics shows the contrary.

Racism, though, is due to social origin rather than to ethnic origin. lack of an agrarian reform

Fifteen percent of the Brazilian youth come from the rural areas which are more subject to the difficulties when it comes to access to education, work, cultural activities and public security.

The Fernando Henrique Cardoso and

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 EXCLUDED. Among the Brazilian youth, the minorities struggle for the equality of rights.

the Lula governments did not advance significantly in agrarian reform. The agrarian situation has turned worse with the changes in agriculture in the international market, and with the political alliances with the conservative sectors under the last two presidents who conformed to the interests of the Brazilian agri-business. The demand for technical modernization of agriculture was imposed without the necessary social reform. The representative sectors of the big rural properties and of the agro-industrial agglomerates gained the state’s support, expanding the model favorable to agri-business, with the monoculture of commodities and deficient working relations. Those outside of the logic of this development model such as the Indians, the forest people, the black rural communities (quilombos, once created by escaped slaves), the small producers, and the peasantry, in general, remain excluded from the socio-economic system.

The governments of Fernando Henrique Cardoso and Lula went on prioritizing primary exportations (cattle and agriculture products, minerals and brute petrol) so the country started to be seen as commodities furnisher (meat, soy, sugar, alcohol, cellulose, minerals such as iron, etc), having retroceded in the commerce of manufactures. The industry linked to these products has in-

creased intensively in the last decades.

With the new role that Brazil has played as a furnisher of raw materials to the world market, we have alleviated the problem of internal deficit. And agrarian reform has not appeared as part of the fundamental reforms that the country needs. The Brazilian agribusiness has favored enormously the concentration of land, speculative valorization of private lands, expansion of monocultures, illegal occupancy of public land, deforestation, deterioration of working relations besides the non-observance of the legal statute of land in the country.

Miners against Indians

As to the indigenous youth, according to the last census, there is in Brazil 896.917 people who declare themselves as Indians, of which 572.083 of them are living in rural areas. There are still 305 ethnic groups living in the whole country, speaking 274 different indigenous languages. The 1988 Federal Constitution, still valid, recognized the Indians’ rights to the lands they have inhabited since ancestral times and have demarked a great part of them. However, the Mining Code, created by the militaries in 1967, is being reviewed by the government of President Dilma Roussef as the Indians` rights to their lands are threatened by the pressure of big mining compa-

wm special • youth at the crossroads nies, nationals and foreigners, eager to explore minerals in the Indians` lands.

Besides the social-environmental risks of these extracting activities and the prejudices they can bring to the indigenous population, we ask who is going to benefit from this wealth that belongs to the whole Brazilian people. The unlimited desire for profit on the part of the mining companies and the necessity of financing the public debts of governments, in addition to lack of financial resources for social investment, disturb a balanced control of such activities from the part of the public institutions.

Neither the Indians nor the other big sectors of the population, such as the social movements, were involved in the revision of the Mining Code. The discussions on its revision were restricted to the enterprises and their representation. Syndicates (unions), social movements, NGOs and native populations (Indians and rural people) were also either excluded from the discussion or have not been able to influence the process of law making, to their interests.

Another concern is that the Brazilian state has been permissive in taxing mining activities, collecting the state of Minas Gerais – to give an example – only 2% over the mining extraction in its territory. The profit coming from these activities must be put at the service of the redistribution of wealth in the country, creating a new model of development at the service of local interests and not merely aimed at the external market, increasing still more our condition of peripheral and dependent economy. The youth, specially the university students, could be much more aware and involved in all these discussions.

an apolitical and socially indifferent form of religion, alienating a great part of the youth from the social struggle.

In the Catholic Church, we have seen old traditions being revived in a triumphalist spirit ,without telling anything to the contemporary society and culture. On the other side, from the seventies and eighties onwards, a liberating spirituality has been born in the whole Latin-America, born out of a social and political engagement, in a protagonist way, in search of a more egalitarian and socially inclusive society leading to a more prophetic Church.

The Brazilian bishops’ advice: “We cannot preach an abstract love which covers the economic, social and political mechanisms responsible for the marginalization of big sectors of our population." Here, we see the need of forming the youth for the exercise of citizenship. There is need to connect faith with life, faith with politics” (CNBB, Document 85, 2007). The task of building a more just and egalitarian society depends, fundamentally, on the formation and evangelization of the youth, on their conscientization and on their engagement in social struggles and move-

ments. We can notice a tendency in the neo-conservative movements, such as the RCC (Charismatic Renewal), to an individualistic spirituality disconnected from social justice. Such a tendency is still clearer in the neo-pentecostal churches which preach a theology of economic prosperity, eluding people´s hope of improving their standard of living. The challenge is to revert such tendencies and return to a prophetical mystic which is able to join faith and politics, faith and social justice.

On the part of our society, the challenge is to overcome all forms of exclusion and all forms of social and racial discrimination, above all, against the poorest, offering an education that is free, egalitarian and of quality, to all sectors of the population. The education system should impart adequate knowledge on the country’s history and its present, as lived by our society, so that the young may be more encouraged to become active agents of transformation and citizens of a more just and solid society.

Fr. Ozanan Carrara, SVD, is Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation (JPIC) Coordinator in the northern province of Brazil.

We cannot preach an abstract love which covers the economic, social and political mechanisms responsible for the marginalization of big sectors of our population. Here, we see the need of forming the youth for the exercise of citizenship.

Social and religious challenges

The philosophers have been predicting the end of religion and God`s death.

What we could see, however, in postmodern times, is the return of religiosity and of the Sacred. Unfortunately, what we have now are forms of religiosity which are fundamentalists, conservatives and individualistic, preaching

 ABANDONED. The task is to build a more just society, overcoming exclusions of any kind.

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spiritual reflection • world refugees

Sad and growing data About 45.2 million people have been forced to leave their homes due to conflict and/or violence. According to the U.N., this means that each day, another 23,000 people begin to search for safety from harm or persecution: the world has a new refugee or internally displaced person every 4.1 seconds. by

Fr. John Converset | comboni missionary

H

ow many? On World Refugee Day, June 20th, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) released an estimate that, globally, 45.2 million people have been forced to leave their homes due to conflict and/or violence. That is equal to the population of South Korea or Colombia, three million more than in 2012 and the highest total number since 1994. Of these, 15.4 million people are refugees forced to flee from their countries to seek safety in another country, most often a neighboring one; 7.6 million of them were uprooted last year alone. In addition, there are 28.8 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) who were forced to flee from their homes but have been able to remain in their own countries. Nearly another million have officially become “asylum seekers” in another country; they are seeking legal recognition of their status as refugees and the right to legally reside in the host country for an indefinite period.

Antonio Guterres, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, explains that these alarming numbers mean that “each day, another 23,000 people begin to search for safety from harm or persecution – the world has a new refugee or internally displaced person every 4.1 seconds.” The high number of refugees reflects the failure of the international community to prevent or halt armed conflict.

From which countries do the refugees f lee? The UNHCR reports that, at this time, the largest number comes from five countries: Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Sudan and Syria. However, a steady stream of refugees also flee from

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ongoing situations, such as the endless violence in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo or from the violently oppressive governments of Ethiopia and Eritrea. Significant numbers also flee from Myanmar, Colombia and Vietnam.

A burden on poor countries

Where do they go? At least, initially, most flee to a neighboring country, and often these are relatively poor or overcrowded countries that cannot provide adequate assistance. Pakistan, Iran, Kenya, the DR Congo, Sudan and Yemen are hosts to many refugees. Eighty percent of the world’s refugees are staying in developing countries. A big number of refugees from Darfur and Mali are in Chad, one of the world’s poorest countries and one with its own armed conflicts. Kenya is host to the largest refugee camp in the world; the Dadaab camp near the border of Somalia may hold a half-million Somali refugees. Kenya is also host to many refugees from Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Refugees place an enormous economic burden on poor host countries. For example, in 2011, Pakistan was host to 1.9 million refugees. That comes down to 710 refugees for each U.S. dollar of its per capita Gross Domestic Product.

The conflict in Syria constitutes the worst crisis at this moment; 1.6 million Syrian refugees are crowding into Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon. Jordan is host to roughly half a million Syrian refugees. The Al-Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan is now the second largest in the world, with 160,000 total occupants, at

least 60% of them under the age of 18.

On average, 66 babies are born in that camp every day. Before the upsurge of the armed conf lict in Syria, Jordan already had three quarter of a million refugees, mostly Palestinians and Iraqis, and now has one and a quarter million.

Tiny Jordan is expected to be host to two million refugees by the end of 2013. The presence of these refugees places an enormous strain on Jordan’s resources for healthcare, education, sanitation, etc.

Jordan has already spent nearly a billion U.S. dollars to give minimal assistance to the flood of refugees from Syria alone.

Where do the refugees stay in the host countries and who assist them? A lot of the refugees have no other option than to stay in officially-designated refugee camps where a minimum of food, water and temporary shelter is provided. Sometimes, these are desperate survival situations of continuous boredom with little opportunity for education and none for employment.

The UNHCR often sets up and runs these camps, but the UNHCR depends on voluntary donations and is chronically underfunded in proportion to the number and needs of refugees.

Various humanitarian organizations seek to assist the refugees in these camps and elsewhere with healthcare or education but, in most cases, their relatively meager resources are no match to the enormity of the needs that they confront. Even when the host governments have the best of intentions, they often lack adequate resources to even provide proper documentation to the refugees present in their countries or to do so in a timely manner.

Desperate to escape

It is no wonder that many refugees are desperate to escape from these camps.

Many African refugees have fled from camps in Kenya, Zambia and Bostwana to the Republic of South Africa (RSA) to seek asylum in the hope of finding jobs and opportunities for education; about 20% of the world’s asylum seekers are in RSA. Although RSA permits freedom of movement, the overall situation of refugees is hardly better than elsewhere.

The RSA government provides temporary documents to asylum seekers, but is very slow to process asylum applications. Often, for many years, refugees must travel to the city where they first registered as asylum seekers to renew their provisional permits on a monthly or quarterly basis. It may take three, five or more years before their applications are processed. If they are officially recognized as refugees, they are then given temporary residence permits. Meanwhile, without permanent documents, it is almost impossible to find work in a country that has 40% unemployment.

Millions of refugees have poured into RSA in recent years, especially from Zimbabwe. In RSA, foreign Africans face ongoing xenophobia and

resentment from people who accuse them of coming to steal their jobs. In 2008, there were massive riots and attacks on foreign African nationals throughout RSA. More than sixty people were atrociously murdered; hundreds more were seriously wounded and 50,000 left homeless. Since 2008, African foreigners are the victims of ongoing criminal attacks that are disproportionate to their percentage of the total population.

A good number of refugees, through the mediation of the UNHCR and non-governmental organizations that collaborate with it, such as the Jesuit Refugee Services, ultimately seek asylum in countries farther away where they hope to be able to build a secure future for themselves and their children. Germany, Australia, New Zealand, the United States and Sweden give residential status to a certain number of refugees. Germany is the industrialized country that has settled the largest refugee population.

Waiting for the next wave

Many refugees remain in unsettled situations for five years or more; about a third of current refugees are in this situation.

Various humanitarian organizations seek to assist the refugees in these camps and elsewhere with healthcare or education, but, in most cases, their relatively meager resources are no match for the enormity of the needs that they confront.

 FACE OF TRAGEDY. Somali women longingly wait behind a wire fence for food ration.

Some, such as the Afghans who first f led the Soviet invasion in 1979, have been refugees for as many as thirty years.

Some countries do not welcome refugees, whether in general or those coming from particular countries but force them to return to their own countries, even when it is well known that they will face persecution or other dangers. Israel and Egypt force Eritreans to return to Eritrea where they face persecution. This is called “refoulement” and is a gross violation of international law and legally binding international conventions.

In addition to refugees, the UNHCR cares for about 3.5 million “stateless people” who have no legally-established nationality. Estimates of the global number of stateless people run as high as 12 million.

The purpose of the UNHCR is to assure international protection for refugees and stateless persons, and to assist governments in finding solutions to refugee situations. The basis for the activities of the UNHCR is the 1951 Convention on the Status of Refugees, an agreement between states regarding how they will treat refugees. The Convention has been ratified by 144 countries out of the U.N.'s total of 193, and entered into force in 1954. It was later supplemented by a Protocol adopted in 1967. The U.S.A. never ratified the Convention but does accept the binding nature of the Protocol; some other countries are party to the Convention but not the Protocol.

The statistics and information given in this article do not include small farmers who have been forced off their lands through “land-grabbing” by corrupt or incompetent government officials to lease or sell to other countries, corporations or investment groups – lands that hve been occupied for generations by small farmers. In addition, the next big wave of refugees and IDPs are expected to be those forced from their homes by the consequences of global climate change, such as drought, f looding or an unpredictable crop-growing season.

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frontline • volunteer work

The simple life Pauline Carr is a registered nurse and midwife from Sydney, Australia. I met her at Mapuordit Hospital. Her gentleness and very discreet attitude as she attends to her patients speaks of an already familiar environment to her. Her warm character, simplicity and contagious smile, in the midst of such a stark reality of people suffering and dying, fascinated me.

Despite her busy schedule, she gave me the pleasure to listen to her story. And also to learn about the art of simplicity that guides her life: “Let us learn from people who have little and yet know how to share the little they have. What should life actually be all about? Simplicity, sharing and appreciating the littleness of everyday life.” by

Fr. Dave Domingues | comboni missionarY

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didn’t even ask questions. I just let Pauline talk. And here is what brought her from Sidney, Australia, to Mapuordit, in South Sudan. She has already a long experience as a volunteer in Africa. She likes the simple life and to make a difference: to be beside the people and watch them grow: “I first came to South Sudan in 2007. Prior to that, I worked for a long time in Sydney as a registered nurse.

Then, the time came for my first overseas experience. I went to work in India with an Australian volunteer organization called Australian Volunteers Abroad. I found that experience an eye opener. When I returned to Australia, I had difficulty inserting myself back into the way people live in rich countries. Not long after this, during the major famine in Ethiopia, in 1985-86, I went there, as an expatriate, working in a famine area with Save the Children Fund UK. This time, I was not a volunteer. I was paid. After that, I came in contact with some Sisters who worked in Zambia and I, too, went to work there, as a volunteer, for nine years, in a very remote hospital on a little Island. I loved the challenge of the work and the fact that I was able to do a lot of things which I was never able to do at home. I liked to be with the people, to stand beside them and watch them grow so that, eventually, they would not need someone like me to be there anymore.

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Caring learned from my mother.

After that, I went back home where I worked for a number of years as a nurse in an Oncology Ward and at the same time, caring for my elderly mother.

When my mother died, I again felt the call to return to some sort of development work. After a lot of searching around for a suitable place to go to, through the Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Sisters in Sydney, I was put in contact with Brother Rosario, a Comboni Missionary doctor. I told him of my availability. He said: “Yes, come!

There is plenty for you to do here!”

When I came, I confess, it took me a while to find out what I should do that would have a lasting effect. The thing that seemed obvious to me was that people here needed opportunities to be educated in the field of nursing. So, this is how I have been spending most of my time for the past seven years of work. Aside from working as nurse and midwife in the hospital, I have tried to set up some avenues by which our staff can access professional training.

Grace-filled moments. I think it was the grace of God at work. In 2009, I had been here for about 18 months,

I was offered the opportunity to help start a Certified Nurse Training School for the state's Ministry of Health. It was just entrusted to them but they were not ready. They had no buildings, no staff… so, the project was given to our Hospital to implement. Now, four years latter and still in partnership with the Ministry, we have 51 trainees, together with the first year students here. Then, after a year and a half, they go to Rumbek Hospital. Periodically, they will return here for clinical placement. When I came here in 2007, such a possibility never crossed my mind. I was wondering whether these people would ever be able to get proper training and, now, we have a nursing school right here, preparing for the people's future. When I look back at my life I find grace-filled moments that I didn’t expect. I believe they are the confirmation that I am somehow on the right track. These moments give me courage to keep on doing what I am doing.

Empowering people. Over the last couple of years, when we had new staff coming to the hospital, we just gave them basic training – how to wash a patient, measure the blood pressure, the

People here needed opportunities to be educated in the field of nursing. So, this is how I have been spending most of my time...Aside from working as nurse and midwife in the hospital, I have tried to set up some avenues by which our staff can access professional training.

temperature and the pulse and how to record them on the chart. Over time, it became a formalized kind of training.

Since 2011, we have had other hospitals in South Sudan approaching us and asking us to give training to their staff.

So, now, we have set up a formal training program (although not recognised as such). People who could not pursue a professional career because they don’t have the academic background, can now learn the basics, at least enough to be able to look after patients. The present course we are running lasts for 6 months and there are 16 students in the course, coming from 5 health centers in South Sudan. After six months, they go back to their centers or hospitals and, hopefully, they will be able to adjust themselves and work well. For me, this is another sort of affirmation and gives me the energy to carry on. To give people the tools and teach them the skills to keep them going even without our presence. That is the challenge! We need to empower people!

Retributing God’s gifts. I suppose I am the kind of person who is quite f lexible and adaptable. Undoubtedly, my previous experiences have made me as such.

I am used to spending quite a lot of time alone. Perhaps, for a much younger person, that would have been difficult. Also the reality of interrupting their professional life to give some time to voluntary work like this might seem almost unthinkable to them. I guess, for me, now, at the end of my professional life, it was much easier to come here and offer my time and efforts for as long as my energy would allow it. At this point, I think I can still manage quite well. During my first five years here, I lived with the Sisters(OLSH).

Now, I live in the expatriate compound, together with the medical staff and teachers from Slovakia, Kenya, Uganda….. People coming from outside sometimes ask: “How can you live like this? You don’t have much!” But, in fact, I live comfortably.

I believe there are things in our own culture that we can do without. Of course, it is nice to have them! But if we don’t, we are not going to die. When I go to Nairobi, I really enjoy the things that everybody enjoys – going shopping, having coffee, going out for a nice meal – but, when it is not possible to do these things, I don’t sit around thinking ‘I wish I could do this or that…’ I am happy and content where I am.

Dave

 ENCOURAGEMENT. Pauline shares light moments with some hospital patients.

What nurtured me during the five years I spent with the Sisters was their spirituality. I joined their praying together every morning and evening.

I do miss that and their companionship as well. But I had to move out of the area and go to the expatriate compound because the Sisters’ community has expanded and there was no more extra-room. Nevertheless, they continue to be accommodating. I have a meal with them once a week. Most of all, I still go with them for Mass every morning. I suppose, without putting it in a spiritual way but, rather, in a very practical way, I have always been aware of how fortunate I am. I grew up in a closely-knit family. As I get older, I realize that that is a great privilege because, nowadays, not many people

have that experience. I believe God planned everything for me, including the family that raised me to give me a stable beginning. This is my spirituality. Not to the point of martyrdom – laying down one’s life for someone else – but ,being aware that I am a privileged person and, because of that, I need to give something back to society.

Simple life is good. These experiences are very enriching not just because of what I have contributed to others here, but also of what I have learned – powerful lessons – that I can share with my friends, relatives and co-workers back in Sydney. I wish that people would realize that a simple life is a good life. It is a liberating life – one that is light and free of debts because we have no expensive things to pay for. When you see people who live, from day to day, with nothing, not even a plan, and yet they seem to be much happier than most of the people you see living in Europe, Australia or America, then you wonder what is it in our own culture that brings restlessness and discontent? To be happy and to live a simple life is what people should be seeking for, rather than complicating their lives by running after material things that are unnecessary. Let us learn from people who have little and yet know how to share the little they have. What should life actually be all about? Simplicity, sharing and appreciating the littleness of everyday life.”

As I listened to Pauline’s story, I couldn’t help but think: The world could indeed be a better place for all of us and, in particular, for the less fortunate, if only we could approach life the way Pauline does. Why complicate life when it is so simple? Why weigh down ourselves with enslaving possessions, looking always for the latest gadgets, the latest car models, fashion designs, etc – when sharing can fill the heart with joy? Why look for comfort in life by sweating our brows when love can fulfil our lives? I guess we can only find the answers by living simply.

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in focus • What We Believe In

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The Holy Spirit In this Year of Faith and era of New Evangelization, it is good for us to reflect for a while on what we mean when we say “I believe in the Holy Spirit” and see how the Spirit is active in human history, how He makes use of frail mortals to accomplish ‘impossible’ things; most of all, to realize that it is He who introduces Jesus to people who do not know Him. John the Baptist frankly confessed: “I did not know that He was the One” until the Holy Spirit indicated (Jn. 1: 31-33). There are so many today, standing close to Jesus, who do not recognize Him for what He is. They need the assistance of the Holy Spirit. In fact, all of us need His assistance in this age of uncertainties, aimlessness, lack of motivation and the spirit of venture. But the amazing thing is that the Spirit uses mere weaklings, making of them leaders of exceptional caliber capable of working wonders for God’s people. by

Archbishop Thomas Menampar ampil , SDB | GUWAHATI – INDIA

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n the Old Testament, after the Spirit of the Lord came upon Othniel, he was able to hold out against the mighty king of Mesopotamia for 40 years (Judges 3:10-11). Gideon felt transformed and took up the challenge of the sturdy Midianites (Judges 6:34); so did Jephthah (Judges 11:29), Samson, David (1 Sam. 16:13), and many others. They felt capable of daring deeds and unlimited sacrifices. But a caution is due: even a God-inspired person can become so unworthy of Him that the Spirit takes leave of him. This is what happened to Saul (1 Sam. 16:14). David pleads, “Do not take Your Holy Spirit from me” (Ps. 51:11); Isaiah warns, “Do not make the Holy Spirit sad” (Is. 63:10; Eph. 3:30).

The believer’s inner life itself is drawn from the Spirit. In Jesus’ words, “What gives life is God’s Spirit” (Jn. 6:63; Jn. 3:6; Gal. 5:25). The Spirit dwells in the believers (1 Cor. 3:16; Rom. 8:9-11), giving wisdom, knowledge (Is. 11:2; Eph. 1:17), and understanding (Col. 1:9). He teaches them about everything (1 Jn. 2:27) and leads them into all the truth (Jn. 16:13). He generates love, joy (Gal. 5:22), and strength in our ‘inner selves’ (Eph. 3:16). Asians are deeply concerned with their ‘inner selves’ and long for the Spirit who “searches everything, even the hidden depths of God’s purposes” (1 Cor. 2;10). It is at these depths that mighty healings take place when a person feels “hurt to the depths of his heart” (Ps. 109:22). The Holy Spirit is the Healer, the Advocate, the Consoler, the Counselor, the Helper (Jn. 15;25). He brings self-understanding, He brings forgiveness (Jn. 20:22).

The Holy Spirit was intensely active in the early Church: He led Philip to the Ethiopian (Acts 8:29), Peter to Cornelius (Acts 11:12); directed the Church at Antioch to set apart Barnabas and Saul for His work (Acts 13:2-4), restrained Paul from entering Asia (Acts 16:6), and warned him of troubles ahead (Acts 20:22). Great things indeed happened when believers allowed the Holy Spirit to guide them (Gal. 5:16), lead them (Gal. 5:18), and take control of their lives (Gal. 5:25; 2 Tim. 1:7), and drive them to announce the Gospel (Acts 2:4; 4:8; 4:31;

7:55). Believing communities were strengthened and grew in numbers in Judaea, Galilee, Samaria (Acts 9:31).

Difficulties arise when Christian communities grow in numbers and their institutions and structures become impersonal and inattentive to the needs of individuals and groups. But the Holy Spirit suggests solutions in every circumstance, as He did in the early Church in favor of the Hellenists (Acts 6:1-4). Today, the answer may be small Christian communities, dynamic ecclesial movements, or the reachout of evangelizers to the masses: villages, homes, slums, prisons. But, in every case, unity in the Christian community is important, which only “the Spirit gives by means of the peace that binds” believers together (Eph. 4:3). That is why we are always happy to cooperate with those entrusted with the ministry of unity in the Church.

“I will pour out My Spirit on everyone” (Joel 2:28). Unexplainably, today, all believers are enthusiastic about their religious traditions, except the Christians. In this era, therefore, of haunting doubts and drooping hearts, we need new energies that can come only from the Holy Spirit. He alone can renew the face of the earth (Ps. 104:299-30). The Lord promised “to pour out” His Spirit “on everyone” (Joel 2:28; Acts 2:17; Ez. 39:29; Is. 44:3). This concept in Joel introduces the universal dimension. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit is for the whole of humanity. He makes no distinction. The Jews were amazed that “God had poured out His gifts of the Holy Spirit on the Gentiles also” (Acts 10:45-47; Acts 15:8). The Lord chose to include Egypt, Babylonia, Philistia, Tyre, and Ethopia when he made the list of the nations that obey Him (Ps. 87:4). His plan includes all the nations. His ‘justice’ is for “every nation;” and “distant lands eagerly wait for His teaching” (Is. 42:1-4).

The Lord’s ‘justice’ encouragingly points to reconciliation and redemption. His justice is not about ‘eye for an eye’ or ‘tooth for a tooth.’ His law of history is not Hegel’s ‘thesis and antithesis’ or Marx’s ‘class war’ or Huntington’s ‘clash

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of civilizations.’ His answer to imbalance in society is reconciliation; if reconciliation does not take place at one stage, one form of imbalance will be replaced by another from one generation to the next: Western injustice by Eastern injustice, colonial war by class war, color hatred by ethnic hatred, exploitation of the working class by the intolerance of the successful. As Isaiah says, when the time of one group (class, caste, community, nation, race, continent, civilization) “to rob and betray will end, they themselves will become victims of robbery and treachery” (Is. 33:1). This cycle of injustice can be broken only by a redemptive act of forgiveness. “Forgive them, Father” Jesus said (Jn. 23:34) and breathed His last, bringing redemption to humankind. A new world was born.

And the message He left us is: “Forgive one another” (Eph. 4:32; Col. 3:13). We need the Spirit of forgiveness to empower us to offer similar forgiveness to each other (Jn. 20:22).

The Spirit of the Lord makes His choices in the most surprising manner. It was Emperor Cyrus, though not an Israelite, who initiated the process of rebuilding his temple at Jerusalem (Ezra 1,7; Is 44:28); similarly, Artaxerxes who inquired how well His law was being obeyed (Ezra 5,14). It was Babylonia likewise that acted as His hammer (Jer. 51:20). All actors in history are tolls in His hands. The Spirit is active everywhere: both in the cosmic processes (Gen. 1:2; 2:2-3) and in human history (Ex. 15:11; 1 Sam. 12:7; 1 Chr. 16:24; Job 24:22; Ps. 77:12). His designs are deep. Without His help, we will not be able to read His hidden purposes in the evolution of the Universe (Col. 2:3) and in the flow of human history.

The Holy Spirit in life situations. Affirming our faith in the Holy Spirit means affirming our readiness to recognize the manner in which He is working in creation, in human history, in society, in the Church, in persons, ideas, movements; even in ideas and movements which seem to differ

Affirming our faith in the Holy Spirit means affirming our readiness to recognize the manner in which He is working in creation, in human history, in society, in the Church, in persons...

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from ours and even are opposed to us. But we choose to be deaf when the Holy Spirit speaks to us: e.g. in the form of a correction from a religious authority, a negative evaluation from a junior, criticism from an opponent, research findings of an anti-Christian group, or an accusation from radical Left.

Truth is truth, no matter who says it and how. For, “all who are on the side of truth, listen to My voice” (Jn. 18:37). We may need to sift out the truth where it is mixed with empty rhetoric, bias or prejudice; but we must listen. Or else, we would not be on the side of the truth. It is in this context that we understand why the bishops of the world gathered in Council said, half a century ago, that we need to dialogue with “men of all shades of opinion” (GS 43).

Vatican II invited us to open our windows wide to the breeze of the Spirit active in the world of thought and action. It is truly exciting to begin to recognize the presence of the Spirit amidst the ‘many voices of our times’ (GS 44), both to be open and to be discerning; to keep searching further, to widen interests, deepen thought, raise ideals. The intellectual ferment stimulated in consequence and its benefit to Church life and its wider social impact cannot easily be measured. The Spirit came alive. Fresh energies of the mind gave birth to institutions of high caliber, set in motion a tidal wave of thought and action, evoked the most radical spiritual commitment unforeseeable in earlier times. The religious sought to return to the sturdiness of their founding days. Inspired lay people brought new ecclesial movements into existence solely dedicated to the cause of sharing the Gospel just when professional missionaries were lost in self-questionings. Bridges were built across denominational divides, religious prejudices, ethnic distrust, and ideological distances. Yes, the Spirit is in action.

The Holy Spirit is active today. Church personnel of great erudition have been dialoguing with scientists, thinkers; innovators in the area of technology, intellectuals in every field, movement leaders of every ideology, visionaries of diverse inspirations. Christian leaders, especially lay activists, make headlines, in defense of justice, human rights; women, children, indigenous communities, the downtrodden, and of God’s creation. We are in universities, in the media, in the streets and in relief camps. We are in courts, jails; and not a few have given their lives for noble causes, stirred on by the Gospel. It is precisely in such a moment of dynamism in the Church that we feel the need of seeking advice and counsel from each other, especially from those to whom the role of guiding the community of believers has been entrusted. For, individually, we do not have monopoly of the Holy Spirit; He belongs to the believing community.

He can be seen and heard and experienced continuously in our days. Church leaders are in the news. Heroic announcers of the Word, like Archbishop Romero, proved that faith could be brought to most complex human agonies. Mother Teresa showed that even a society given to ardent consumer-

in focus • What We Believe In

 ALIVE. The Holy Spirit is alive in every culture, tradition, shade of opinion, in a mysterious manner, in search of a meaningful response.

ism could be drawn to generosity. Blessed John Paul II has given evidence that when an authentic voice challenges the conscience of the world on matters related to justice, fairness, development, freedom, peace, or concern for the weak, humanity listens. Shrines and holy places (Compostella, Lourdes, Taize, Vailamkani, Bandel) are taken by storm. Renewal programs draw hundreds of thousands of people (retreats, prayer gatherings). The Spirit is alive in society, and spiritual writings find a big market. Mystics win attention.

Be guided by the Holy Spirit. New challenges keep rising all the time. Today, we need the Holy Spirit to answer the new ‘questionings’ that keep arising in modern and post-modern philosophies; countervalues proposed in art and literature in current times; beguiling interpretations of human history and proposals in the area of physical biological sciences. It is not enough to denounce the wrong answers. We need to be open to human anxieties and supportive of legitimate human ambitions. We need to dialogue with the enticing sturdiness of each insight, both learning and co-searching, holding firm to core beliefs and learning earnestly from new discoveries. We need to be attentive to the genius of every culture and society, draw profit from their valuable traditions, and build on the treasures of wisdom they cherish (AG 18). We need to grow together with other Churches in our common fidelity to the Gospel. We need to add new dimensions to our interreligious dialogue; we need to join hands with people of all religious traditions in a common struggle against godless materialism, erosion of cultural values and ethical principles. The Holy Spirit is alive in every culture, tradition, ideology, shade of opinion in some mysterious manner, prodding us on to a meaningful response.

We need to make the non-functioning institutions of our democracy work. We need to give a human face to our fastgrowing economy. We need to give a human touch to the cold products of technological achievements lest they become unmanageable Frankensteins. We must ensure that research in

the field of biology, psychology, natural and social sciences, technology serve humanity and his environment rather than destroy them (GS 5, 15). We need to act as agents of peace and of balanced thinking in an era of tension between ethnic groups, religious communities, political alliances, economic interests; ideologies, philosophies and even theological speculation. We must teach people with grievances to change them into an inspiring message and transform their extremist views into high idealism.

We need to make sure that the Church presents a humane face to society as she plays her prophetic role. And as Church institutions grow in number and win recognition, we must make sure that personnel engaged there do not lose touch with the ‘masses,’ with the average believer, with grassroots realities, and become incapable of helping them. We need to renew our faith in the Church, in the guidance that we receive, and not be lost in internal squabbles. We have a mission to the World. We must remember that being with the times does not mean losing the ‘sense of the sacred’ and other values that Asian cultures have preserved in their traditions.

Hidden depths of God’s purposes (1 Cor. 2:10). The call “Duc in altum” (Lk. 5:4), ‘search the depths’ is the most purposeful invitation in Asia today. Our apostolic nets have been at the superficial level too long. “The Spirit searches everything, even the hidden depths of God’s purposes” (1 Cor. 2:10). The invitation is to those depths. Our fellow Asians love an inner journey together, a sharing at a deeper level. And when we take issues to those depths, we discover unforeseen meanings. Differences diminish; consensus emerges; the human being feels healed of the split within himself/herself (GS 13) and among themselves; he/she becomes aware of the godlike seed in him/ her (GS 3), and receives motivation to unite with others in worship, at productive labor and at generous service. It is in such contexts of both profundity and togetherness that he/she develops the confidence and acquires the art of pointing to Him, Who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life (Jn. 14:6).

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Missionary vocation • Blessed Pino Puglisi

In the line of fire “I have been expecting you!” is what Fr. Pino Puglisi said to his executioners the day he was shot dead by the Mafia hit men. It was September 15, 1993, Fr. Pino’s 56th birthday.

Parish priest in the rough Palermo neighborhood of Brancaccio, he openly challenged the criminal group that was dominating the population by organizing the youth away from robbing, drug dealing and contraband. Fr. Puglisi's murder shocked the world.

He is the first Mafia victim to be crowned with glory by the Church, but Fr. Pino is, first and foremost, the champion of the youth who look at the future. His beatification took place in Palermo itself, in front of a large crowd, on April 25, and marks the commitment of the leadership of the Church, from the pope downwards, in the fight against organized crime. by

Fr. Lorenzo Carr aro | comboni missionary

 CROWNED WITH GLORY. Thousands of people acclaimed with joy the new hero of holiness, Fr. Pino, as champion and model of the youth.

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n the second part of the 19th century, in the wake of the conquest of Sicily by the Italian national hero, Giuseppe Garibaldi, the traditional landowners who did not want to keep loyalty to the new united Italy, started a muted resistance which, little by little, became an organized crime, although still maintaining the unique combination of family ties and Catholic exterior religious observance. It was the Mafia

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and it passed to the United States of America with the immigrants and was glamorized by the numerous Hollywood godfathers.

"In Sicily, there were churchmen who colluded with the Mafia but then there were those, like the new Blessed Fr. Giuseppe (Pino) Puglisi, who fought against it" said Palermo mayor Leoluca Orlando. The proponent of Fr. Puglisi's beatification, Archbishop Vincenzo

Bertolone, said: "The Mafia is a religion and not just a criminal phenomenon and it does not allow other faiths. Fr. Puglisi’s martyrdom was a signal of the irreparable and definitive rupture between the Bible and the Mafia and other similar criminal syndicates."

From now on, the banner with the image of the new Blessed will march in front of the processions once dominated by the Mafia bosses who used to hang

dollar bills to the statues of the Patron Saints. It is the way Fr. Pino continues his anti-Mafia campaign from heaven.

Cardinal Ernesto Ruffini, who ordained Fr. Puglisi to the priesthood, still regarded Communism as a greater threat than the Mafia. He once questioned the Mafia's very existence to a journalist asking "What is the Mafia?"

He responded: "So far as I know, it could be a brand of detergent." This denial persuaded Fr. Pino Puglisi of the need to challenge church authorities. "We can, we must criticize the Church when we feel it doesn't respond to our expectations, because it's absolutely right to seek to improve it," he said. With his trademark humor, Fr. Puglisi added: "But we should always criticize the Church like a mother, never a mother-in-law!"

In the beginning of the 1990's, two courageous judges, Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, were beginning to expose the Mafia for the evil organization it was. The Mafia managed to kill Falcone in May 1992, and Borsellino a few months later, both with large bombs made of plastic explosives.

Today, the Palermo airport bears the names of these two heroes. In the wake of the Maxi Trial that followed at Palermo and the Pizza Connection trials in New York, there were still those who took the position that the Mafia did not actually exist or that its prevalence was exaggerated to "defame" Sicilians, or Italians, generally. In fact, politicians at the highest levels of Italy's national government were protecting the Mafia.

Fr. Puglisi happened to be with some school children from his parish when he learned of Borsellino’s death. He was deeply upset but, after a moment, he turned to the children and said: “We must be able to forgive the authors of this tragedy and to invite them to conversion.” The kids were incredulous. Fr. Pino then asked them, “If Judge Borsellino had been in your family, would you forgive his killers?”

The youth, raised on the centuries-old Sicilian tradition of the vendetta, said

 GRATITUDE. Fr. Pino's heroic witnessing drew the admiration of many who keep his memory.

"We can, we must criticize the Church when we feel it doesn't respond to our expectations, because it's absolutely right to seek to improve it." ... Fr. Puglisi added: "But we should always criticize the Church like a mother, never a mother-in-law!" no. “Then we have a long way yet to go” he said. “It is the road of Christian forgiveness, seeking justice and not revenge.” Now, it is Pope Francis, because of Fr. Pino’s heroic witness, who asks the Mafiosi to convert.

“To do something”

Giuseppe "Pino" Puglisi was born in Brancaccio, a working-class neighborhood of Palermo in Sicily, into a family of modest means, on September 15, 1937. His father was a shoemaker and his mother, a dressmaker. He entered the seminary at age sixteen. Fr. Puglisi was ordained as a priest in 1960. By all accounts, a witty, resourceful pastor, Fr. Puglisi dedicated his life to the task of convincing the youth in his crimeinfested island that there are ways forward other than the mob and of shaping a civil society in Sicily that challenged the Mafia's political influence.

His journey started as a young pastor in Godrano, in the hills twentyfive miles outside Palermo. When Fr. Pino, as he was commonly known, arrived, there had been fifteen recent

murders in this village of scarcely more than one hundred people, all related to a feud between two rival Mafia clans.

Fr. Pino started going door-to-door, reading the Gospel with the people and talking about forgiveness. He encouraged small groups to pray and to read the Bible, at first once a month, then every two weeks.

Eventually, one of the women hosting a group said she couldn't carry on until she had forgiven the mother of her son's assassin. Fr. Pino arranged the reconciliation between the two women, which endured despite strong disapproval from many in the village. By itself, this outcome did not cancel the feud, but it was a start."Peace," Fr. Pino said, "is like bread: it must be shared or it loses its flavor."

In 1990, Fr. Puglisi returned to his old quarter of Brancaccio and became the parish priest of San Gaetano's Parish. He spoke out against the Mafia who controlled the area and opened a shelter for underprivileged children.

Fr. Puglisi had been offered other parishes by the local curia, in less trouble-

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 UNAFRAID. Fr. Pino, surrounded by a loving crowd, was laid to rest, but his legacy lives on in the hearts of many who embrace his cause.

Fr. Puglisi was an exemplary priest and a man devoted especially to youth ministry. Educating young people according to the Gospel, he took them away from organized crimes, and thus the Mafia tried to defeat him – by killing him. some Palermo neighborhoods, but he opted for San Gaetano.

With little support from the Palermo archdiocese, Fr. Puglisi tried to change his parishioners' mentality, which was conditioned by fear, passivity and omertà – imposed silence. In his sermons, he pleaded to give leads to authorities about the Mafia's illicit activities in Brancaccio, even if they could not actually name names. He refused the money of the Mafia bosses when offered for the traditional feast day celebrations, and would not allow the Mafia "men of honor" to march at the head of religious processions.

His main concern was the youth.

He tried to discourage the children from dropping out of school, robbing, drug dealing and selling contraband cigarettes. To underscore this antiMafia conviction, Don Pino composed a parody of the Our Father in the Sicilian dialect: "O godfather to me and my family, You are a man of honor and worth. Your name must be respected.

Everyone must obey you. Everyone must do what you say for this is the law

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of those who do not wish to die. You give us bread, work; who wrongs you, pays.

Do not pardon; it is an infamy. Those who speak are spies. I put my trust in you, godfather. Free me from the police and the law."

Fr. Pino ignored a series of warnings. "If God is with us, who will be against us! I am not afraid of dying if what I say is the truth," he said in one of his homilies. He declined to award a contract to a construction firm which had been "indicated" to him by the Mafia for the restoration of the church, where the roof was collapsing. To those parishioners who made attempts to reform matters were sent strong messages. A small group that had organized themselves in order to promote social improvement found the doors of their houses torched, their phones receiving threats, and their families put on notice that worse things lay in store.

On September 15, 1993 – Fr. Puglisi's 56th birthday – he was killed in front of his parish church by a single bullet shot at point-blank range. He was taken unconscious to a local hos-

pital, where surgeons could not revive him. The murder was ordered by the local Mafia. One of the hit men who killed Fr. Pino later confessed and revealed the priest’s last words as his killers approached: "I've been expecting you." Visitors to Brancaccio today can find his favorite saying scrawled all over its walls: "And what if somebody did something?"

Funeral and beyond

There was an immediate call by eight priests in Palermo for the Pope to travel to Palermo to be present at the funeral of Fr. Pino, but John Paul II was scheduled to be in Tuscany on that date and did not attend the memorial service.

At the funeral Mass, the archbishop of Palermo, Cardinal Salvatore Pappalardo, still carefully avoided indicating the Mafia as the suspects in Puglisi's murder, although many had no doubt about it. Pope John Paul II however, during his visit to Sicily in November 1994, praised Fr. Puglisi as a "courageous exponent of the Gospel." He urged Sicilians not to allow the priest’s death to be in vain and warned that silence and passivity about the Mafia was tantamount to complicity. He also was the first pope to invite the Mafiosi to convert.

Missionary vocation • Blessed Pino Puglisi On April 14, 1998, the four hit men materially responsible for the killing of Fr. Puglisi received life sentences. The Graviano brothers also received life sentences for ordering the killing. Two of the perpetrators later turned against the Mafia and became key witnesses in trials that put dozens of gangsters behind bars. One of the two is now a devout Catholic and the second, the trigger man, told investigators he has been haunted by Fr. Puglisi's smile ever since.

In 1999, the Cardinal of Palermo started the beatification process, proclaiming Fr. Puglisi, a Servant of God. On June 28, 2012, Pope Benedict XVI signed a decree acknowledging that Fr. Puglisi had been killed "in hatred of the faith," meaning that he could be beatified – the last step before sainthood – without a miracle being attributed to his intercession with God. The beatification of Fr. Puglisi, took place on May 25, 2013, during an openair Mass that was held at the Foro Italico 'Umberto I', a large green area of Palermo which revived memories of the high-profile Mafia killings and bomb attacks of the early 1990s. On that day, it was packed with more than fifty thousand people. The Cardinal Emeritus of Palermo, Salvatore De Giorgi, presided at the beatification with dozens of priests and officials in attendance – in contrast to when Fr. Puglisi's pleas for help were ignored by many religious and political leaders. "Puglisi's beatification is an eagerly awaited gift from God for Sicily and beyond. Twenty years after his murder, Fr. Puglisi is speaking

again and louder than ever," he said.

At Sunday’s Angelus, the day after the beatification, Pope Francis paid tribute to the priest who was murdered by the Sicilian Mafia. “I think of the great pain suffered by men, women and even children, exploited by such cruel people. Behind this exploitation and slavery are the Mafias,” the Pope said.

“Let us pray that these Mafiosi convert to God.” the pope said. “Fr. Puglisi was an exemplary priest and a man devoted especially to youth ministry. Educating young people according to the Gospel, he took them away from organized crimes, and thus the Mafia tried to defeat him – by killing him,” he added.

“But it was he who defeated them, with the Risen Christ. Let us praise the Lord for His luminous testimony and let us treasure His example.”

Multi-faceted martyrdom

John Allen Jr. wrote: “Make no mistake: Fr. Puglisi is not only a terrific story, but his beatification marks a profound evolution in the Catholic understanding of martyrdom and "anti-Christian" persecution, generally. According to the Center for the Study of Global Christianity, approximately 100,000 Christians around the world have been killed "in a situation of witness," each year, in the past decade.

The rise of this new generation of martyrs is the most important Christian story of our time, and Fr. Puglisi is an ideal patron saint for making the defense of believers at risk a transcendent Christian cause. Entirely on his own, Fr. Puglisi is deserving of the honor.

However, his beatification also represents a powerful impulse to reframe how Catholics perceive a wide variety of contemporary situations in which Christians are at risk.

The Puglisi beatification points to a martyrdom that potentially could accommodate many other similar situations. To take just one example, the Puglisi beatification sets a precedent for the well-known martyr, Bishop Oscar Romero, too.

But this beatification has other important aspects. The influential Catholic weekly Famiglia Cristiana wrote: “Don Puglisi is the living demonstration of how much fear a zealous priestly activity (education, youth catechesis, apostolate in the parish, the example and the recalling of authentic Gospel values) can put into the Mafia. The parish priest of Brancaccio was snatching hundred of youth from the street, traditional hotbed of the Mafia. Fr. Pino was disassembling and making fun of the Mafia culture of indifference and imposed silence (omertà).”

“He had funded a center for home coaching for poor children who were naturally earmarked for possible failure and vulnerable to be subjected to Mafia bosses. Not by chance the assassin who killed him had only completed Primary Five. We will not understand his holiness, if we do not envisage his model of priesthood. Fr. Pino’s holiness now shines over the difficult city of Palermo, and reminds us that, even in the darkest moments, the light of the Gospel and the example of an authentic way of life will never abandon us.”

SHARE IN GOD’S MISSION — BE A COMBONI MISSIONARY PRIEST OR BROTHER! For further information, contact: Daniel Comboni Seminary 282 Roosevelt Ave., S.F.D.M. 1105 Quezon City, M.M., Philippines Fr. Théophile Bessan Fr. Romulo V. Panis Tel: (02) 372–5858; (02) 414–3164 Cellphone Number: 09179001999 Cellphone Numbers: 09062905502 E-mail: combonivoc@yahoo.com E-mail: bessantheo@hotmail.com 09184050640

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the last word

THE GOSPEL TO THOSE WHO ARE FAR AWAY by

Fr . SILVANO FAUSTI, s.J. | BIBLIST & WRITER

“What is to prevent my being baptized?”

– Read Acts 8:26-40

I

have made it my ambition to preach the Gospel where Christ has not yet been named” (Romans 15:20), writes Saint Paul. The proclamation to those who are far away is the heart of Christianity. It deals with God’s truth and the truth of what we are as human beings: God is Father of all and we all become children of God if we welcome all other people as brothers and sisters.

Why is it that the present day Church doesn’t evangelize those who are far and even those who are near are drifting away? We must ask ourselves if we are showing the crucified and risen Nazarene or the powerful Messiah who was dreamed of even by Peter whom Jesus calls Satan (Mark 8:33).

When we use power in order to impose the “good” – which is the ideal of every “state religion” – Christ becomes the hanger of our interests. We give Him lip-service but our heart is far away from Him. If we search for money, power or glory, “we are following the devil, not Jesus.” We are using as means what He rejected as temptations. Our bad witnessing makes people go away from Him – all, both those who are near and those who are far.

This again is the reason that compelled Popes Celestine V and Benedict XVI to resign: those who do not feel the need of conversion, lack honesty and proper information or brain.

The presumptuous lack all three: they prefer their securities to truth and dialogue. Such are the fundamentalists, whether Christian or otherwise, who are fighting each other because they mirror one another. They had better become allies among themselves.

Notwithstanding the evident “dirt,” the Church still exists and goes on, thanks to monks, religious, priests and, above all, simple Christians who have tried to be witnesses of Jesus.

His ID is the poverty of the Beatitudes; His face, that of every person who is hungry or thirsty, immigrant, naked, sick and in prison (Cf. Matthew 5:1ff; 25:31ff ).

The lifestyle of the new Bishop of Rome, Pope Francis, portrays a face of Christ that attracts everybody. In fact, the way of life and of dressing is more eloquent than any word.

The “five wounds of the Church” are those that every “temporal power” inflicts on Christ and on all the poor who resemble Christ. This scandal ends when we convert to the poor. Only the “Gospel witness” is like “a fire that lights other fires.”

“

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The encounter between Philip and the Eunuch is a model of evangelization. It spells out what it is, where to go, whom and how to approach, what to propose and what to do. It is not a human project. It is the “crazy” suggestion of an angel that makes us go along a deserted road at midday. It is exactly where we would rather not go. But God, on the Cross, has made Himself near to every, however distant, place or situation. Because of this, we meet Him in those who are far away.

The Spirit then tells us how to make ourselves close to them: listening, entering into a dialogue and accepting to become fellow travelers with them. What we should speak about is what they are meditating about: “the fourth Song of the suffering Servant of Yahweh” (Cf. Isaiah 53:1ff ), which speaks of innocent suffering. It is that type of evil that questions everybody and constitutes the center of Jesus’ teaching.

He flooded love on everybody; because of this, He was flooded by the egoism that exists in everybody’s heart. Thus, He overcame evil with good: on the Cross He gave life to those who were taking away His own. Philip “evangelizes Jesus.” He announces the good news of a person who makes Himself friend to every enemy, Brother to everyone who is far away. This is why He is the Son, the Lamb of God who puts on His own shoulders and takes away the evil from the world. In Him is rebuilt the brotherhood which was broken since the beginning.

What we should do comes out spontaneously. Philip and the Eunuch enter the same water, they immerse themselves into the crucified Christ and both emerge as risen to a new life. No curia document is yet there to stop baptism! Philip is snatched away by the Spirit and the other one, full of joy, goes back to his own land. He is the first of all those who are far away, who for God are the nearest.

In fact, God is “all in all”: He only waits for us to open our eyes to recognize Him and love Him. © Popoli – www.popoli.info REFLECT AND PRAY – Do you see the opportunities of evangelization in the different circumstances of your life? Are you ready to take advantage of every situation in order to witness the Good News?

– Do you train yourself to the art of listening, giving room to the people you approach to express their difficulties or points of view?

– Are you conscious of the beauty of the Gospel vis-à-vis the way of life of the people of our time and the challenge which ensues for all?

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