THE young face of the Asian Church shone brightly in a faith-gathering of close to 2,000 young people coming from all over Asia and the Philippines at the recently-concluded 5th Asian Youth Day (AYD5) hosted by the Diocese of Imus, in Cavite.
Nourished by the Word and the Eucharist, participants to the 5th Asian Youth Day ended their five-day gathering with a statement containing their commitment to deepen their love for the Word of God and the Eucharist despite the many challenges they experience along the way.
The Asian youth assembly which carried the theme “Young Asians: Come Together, Share the Word, Live the Eucharist” aimed to inspire the young faithful to live more profoundly their Catholic faith.
Youth participants came from across Asia, representing China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Macau, Taiwan, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Timor Leste, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Kazakhstan, Kyrjyzstan, Mongolia, Siberia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and other Asian delegations from Australia, Germany, France and the Netherlands.
The regional counterpart of the World Youth Day, the Asian Youth Day is usually held on years when there are no World Youth Day celebrations. It was initiated by the youth desk under the Office of the Laity of the Federation of Asian Bishops Conferences (FABC) to help the Asian youth deepen their spirituality and become effective witnesses of Christ’s love to one another. The first AYD celebration began in Thailand in 1999, followed by Taiwan in 2001, India in 2003, and Hong Kong in 2006.
YAsia Fiesta!
The AYD5 slogan YAsia Fiesta aptly conveys a joyful atmosphere which truly characterized the youth event. But in the words of Bishop Joel Baylon, Chairman of the Episcopal Commission on Youth of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, the gathering was not merely a festivity devoid of spirituality, instead it was a faith-filled encounter manifested in joyful celebrations.
“Festive dancing and singing during fiesta are what we Filipinos are known for. This typical expression of faith is something unique that we can offer our delegates,” Bishop Baylon said.
The five-day event was preceded by a three-day immersion in parishes called “Days in the Diocese” where delegates stayed with different host families and experienced the realities of Philippine life.
Many of the foster families who had given accommodation to the delegates had been devastated by the recent typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng which inundated a greater part of Metro Manila and environs. But despite their sufferings and want the foster families insisted on lodging the delegates in their homes.
The sense of volunteerism shown by foster families who adamantly took in the delegates assigned to them, and of the many youth who had made themselves available throughout the entire event really amazed Bishop Baylon. The prelate said that the situation of foster families can teach a lesson or two to AYD5 participants on the meaning of poverty and suffering.
“Hopefully, their days in the diocese will make them realize that in the midst of poverty, the Church is alive because of the faith and hope of the people, remain unwavering,” he said.
Indeed, the immersion program left quite an impression on the participants. For many who live in countries that restrict if not ban the public expression of the Catholic faith, the Filipinos’ exuberant demonstration of religiosity comes as truly invigorating.
One of the participants, Rosa Da Lima from Indonesia marveled at the way Filipinos celebrate the feast of Christ the King. She said the obvious devotion of the people to the Eucharist and the long procession that accompanied the Blessed Sacrament really touched her because it was something that she had not experienced in her country. Others, meanwhile, were awed by the generosity and cheerful attitude of Filipinos who remain joyful and faith-filled despite poverty and want.
Origin of AYD
Youth coordination in the Asian region took off after a historic meeting of Asian youth in the International Youth Forum during the World Youth Day held in Czestochowa, Poland in 1991. The delegates expressed to the Asian bishops their desire to develop a common Asian response in the area of youth evangelization. This was further taken up and discussed during a youth consultation meeting in Bangkok in 1993 which led to the creation of a Youth desk under the auspices of FABC’s Office of the Laity.
Since its inception in 1994, the FABC youth desk had organized various programs and activities for Asian youth involved in the ministry. In 1997, a seminar on the theme “Youth in the Socio-Economic Development of Asia: A Challenge to Integrate Faith in Youth Life and Work” was organized by the Bishops’ Institute for Lay Apostolate for Youth (BILA on Youth) in Tagaytay. In the same year, during the World Youth Day in France, the first Asian Youth gathering themed “We are the Church” was organized where Asian youth delegates met for an afternoon of cultural and spiritual activity. In every WYD celebration thereafter, Asian youth delegates come together for a cultural and spiritual encounter.
The first two events saw the beginning of a regular gathering for Asian youth dubbed Asian Youth Day which is held in different Asian countries every 2-3 years. In 1999, with the Church preparing to welcome the new millennium, the first Asian Youth Day was organized at Hua Hin, Thailand reflecting on the theme: “Asian Youth Journeying with Jesus Towards the Third Millennium.” The 2nd AYD was convoked in Taipei, Taiwan in 2001, themed “We are called to Sanctity and Solidarity”; in 2003, the gathering was held in Bangalore, India with the theme “Asian Youth for Peace”, and in 2006, the 4th AYD was held in Hong Kong.
Asian youth today
To reiterate the words of Bishop Cornelius Sim of Brunei, one of the plenary speakers during the AYD5 event, the youth of Asia today are facing enormous challenges in the face of “rapid modernization and globalization, diversity and plurality of cultures.” Their social status renders them “powerless” even as they try to compete in the vast exchange of diverging views and ideas around them.
The youth event then was a great opportunity for these young people to find their voice, to build their confidence and hone their skill to become effective evangelizers of their own fellow youth in a continuously changing world deeply mired in consumerism and materialism. Sharing among them the importance of the word and the Eucharist in their lives, they realized that living the word and the Eucharist means speaking out for the truth.
In 2008, the Youth desk of FABC Office of the Laity conducted a survey among the youth on the importance of the Eucharist in their lives. The study revealed that a certain percentage of Catholic Asian youth have little understanding of the Eucharist. The results of the survey were made public during the FABC regional conference in Manila in August 2009.
Infanta Bishop Rolando Tria Tirona, who currently chairs the FABC Office of the Laity that commissioned the poll, said the survey’s outcome presents a challenge to the Church, especially to Catholic leaders, who have greater responsibility in the formation of the faithful, particularly young people. He acknowledged the need for the Church to reach out to the youth sector to make them understand that the Eucharist is a “very powerful force” that can prod them to become “agents of transformation.” The study provided a situationer for the Asian youth assembly where the youth were challenged to live and love the Eucharist.
At the opening of the AYD5 in the Diocese of Imus on November 23, Bishop Tirona noted that the theme on the word of God afforded the youth participants a climate to share stories imbued with faith to one another.
“The challenge for the youth is to continue telling stories to one another which maybe sad stories, wonderful or triumphant stories, but are stories about themselves, and which are stories of God,” he said.
Hope of the Church and society
Tagged by United Nations as the most populous continent in the world with more than 3 billion population, Asia with its teeming young people must have been in Pope John Paul II’s mind when he said that the future of the world and the Church belongs to the younger generation.
“Christ expects great things from young people,” the pope said in his apostolic letter Tertio Millennio Adveniente. “If they succeed in following the road which he points out to them, they will have the joy of making their own contribution to his presence in the next century and in the centuries to come...”
Would the young people of Asia dare make a difference in the face of unjust societal structures that breeds poverty, corruption and unpeace?
Bishop Tirona believes so, affirming the great contribution the youth can give in the area of evangelization, of renewal and transformation.
Indeed, there are a lot of issues confronting the Church and society today where the youth can actively participate and bring about the needed changes we all desire. As they themselves acknowledged, they are sent to “live out God’s love” and called “to transform unjust structures and to respect the dignity of all men and women, to work for reconciliation, fight poverty and create a civilization of peace and harmony.”
Coincidentally, as the youth gathered and shared among them their potentials to make a difference, the world bestowed honor to Efren Peñaflorida, an Asian and a Cavite native. CNN named him “Hero of the Year” for his innovative work of teaching children using a “pushcart classroom”. Peñaflorida reached out to the young and made a difference in their lives by educating them, thus giving them hope and the chance to see the world beyond their poor social conditions.
Now that is what the youth are challenged to do. Where the adults have faltered and failed, the young can learn and succeed. The responsibility of guiding them lies in the families, communities and parishes where these young people belong.
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