Challenges:
We learned, and it was repeated to us in many different ways, that:
“Youth do not care about ‘how much you know’ but they know how much you care”.
“Rules without relationship lead to rebellion”: Christianity is not a set of rules, but a liberating and personal encounter with Christ.
A Parish without youth does not have a future. Most pitifully, it doesn’t have a present either, since it is spiritually dead: there is no fire! No Joy! No enthusiasm and therefore no Holy Spirit!
“For the Youth, by the Youth” is the Golden rule to follow.
To empower and encourage the Youth in the life of the Church.
To network with other Chinese Youth Groups present in North America.
To exchange resources and man-power.
To establish a Youth-group where none is existing.
Leaders can be chosen among College students and start working with upper-graders in the elementary schools.
Music is of vital importance in the Youth ministry. Songs at times can become Catechesis.
Leaders should be provided with the necessary skills: “camps” are essential.
To cultivate the practice of family members spending quality time talking, listening to each other and in prayer.
To make our faith-community a big, extended family that becomes a sanctuary of love, life and communion, where every member feels accepted, cared for and appreciated.
Asian families are called to witness to the Good News of Jesus in difficult times and circumstances, when the family itself is threatened by an array of evil forces.
With the power of faith and prayer, Asian youth have to rediscover their place and role in the family and society.
Some Recommendations:
We urge the elders of the Church:
· To help and support our young people in their faith journey and prayer life.
· Conduct echo programs on the theme of “Youth, hope and joy of the church”.
· To develop youth friendly parishes.
· To use the internet effectively to provide assistance and guidance to young people who look for ‘answers’ while surfing the net.
Conclusion:
* We believe that there are seeds of faith and joy in Asian youth. If this faith is nurtured well, they can truly be the hope and joy of our Chinese Community of faith .
* Participants of the Convention were inspired and fired with zeal and determination to take up the challenge of becoming ‘hope and joy givers’. Even though our society struggles with a culture of death we see great possibilities for our youth to become a source of hope and joy to help uplift their church.
* We commend our Chinese Youth in Asia to Mary our Mother, and pray that she be their refuge in times of trial.
* We sincerely thank Card. Joseph Zen, Card. Francis George, Bishop Gustavo, Teri Nuval from the Ethnic Ministry Office, the whole of the Archdiocese of Chicago for assisting St. Therese Chinese Church with the organizing and animating of this event. Our gratitude goes to the key-note speakers: Fr. Tom Betz, Benjamin T. OuYang, Ph.D and his family, and to Sr. Maria Koh: their contribution was an eye-opener to many of us.
* I’d like to mention the steering Committee: they were the back-bone, and the very reason for the success of the Convention. They have to be commended for efficiently attending to the day to day smooth running of all the programs.
* God’s Holy Spirit, which we have been praying to for two years now, was visible and powerfully working during these days. The same Spirit will empower us with the necessary strength to carry out, and implement what we decided together. We have now to keep the fire alive!
* Last, but not least, we pray that God bless the enthusiastic young people who volunteered to help with the organization by sacrificing their time, and offering their talents and skills for arranging the programs.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. Analyze the profile of our Chinese Catholic apostolate? Are the participants from Taiwan or Hong Kong? Educated? Restaurant-workers? Legal/illegal? How would you define the style of our ministry: urban or suburban?
2. What does your Chinese apostolate do to evangelize and serve Chinese who do not fit with the predominant group in the church?
3. Could we at St. Therese have a ministry which reaches new poor immigrants?
4. Do you have a ministry which reaches English speaking families, born in the US, whose members came to the US many years ago?
5. What do you do for youth? Are the youth affected by our church’s ministry? Are they primarily children of church members or are they from non-Christian families?
6. Do we see diversity among the youth—English or Chinese speaking, etc? And if so, are you meeting Chinese youth of various subgroups?
(From Xaverian News)