Encourage Youth to Be Change Agents” Bishop Henry D’Souza

BELLARY, June, 07, 2010, 10:50 Hrs (CBCI News):

“Encourage youth to be change agents”, ushering in a new society based on Jesus’ life and teachings, urged Bishop of Bellary Henry D’Souza.

Bishop D’Souza was inaugurating the 18th ten-day national training programme for Diocesan Directors and Animators of Youth, organized by the CBCI Commission for Youth, New Delhi. The programme was held at Karnataka Regional Pastoral Centre at Bangalore, June 1-10. Seventy youth animators from all over India are participating in the training programme.

“Animators can be ‘demanding’ like policemen, can be ‘commanding’ like CEOs and like true leaders be ‘inspiring’”, added Bishop D’Souza. “Youth animators of today, like Christ, need to fire the imagination of youth. They need to edify through their exemplary life and instill hope for the future”, he stated. “There are no bad youth, if there are any, either they are badly influenced or not had an opportunity to be properly sensitized”, he added.

“Youth animators should first of all be deeply soaked in Christian values themselves and be capable of exemplifying those values in word and deed. With their diverse talents, youth can be powerful agents of social change and that change can be brought about only through deeper commitment to Christian values such as respect for human life and dignity and an abiding concern for the least in the society”, said Bishop D’Souza.

He drew attention to the many challenges the youth today face such as “increase of violence and criminality, abuse of human dignity, degradation of environment and excessive materialism. But the youth of today are ideally placed to be agents of change, he pointed out.

With inputs from KARNATAKA SANDESHA