BILA Youth’s recommendations for youth workers

PAPAR – Inspired by the Gospel story of the Samaritan Woman, ninety- five (95) delegates from various episcopal commissions and Catholic organizations for Youth in Asia (COYA) gathered together at Pace Bene FSIC Retreat Centre, 3-7 Aug  2015 for the 3rd Bishops’ Institute for Lay Apostolate (BILA) on Youth, under the auspices of the Federation of Asian Bishop’s Conferences – Office of the Laity and Family – Youth Desk (FABC-OLF-YD).

At the end of BILA III, they make the following recommendations:

For all who care for the young in Asia:

1. To be continually transformed through prayer and daily encounters with the Lord.
2. To continue to respect and value the youth as gift and vital part of the Church today and its future.
3. To provide regular opportunities for dialogue between Church leaders and young people as well as youth ministers.
4. To empower the youth and provide opportunities for them to minister to their peers.
5. To lead the youth to discover the treasure of the Church’s teachings and experience encounters with God through the Mass and the other sacraments.
6. To explore new methods and ways of reaching out to the young especially those who suffer in the peripheries.
7. To lead the youth intentionally to become disciples through the ministry of presence, dialogue and witness.

Particularly for Youth ministers:

1. To give sufficient attention to youth ministers’ needs and set-up support structures to enable them to address concerns such as loneliness and burnout.
2. To help youth ministers remain relevant through ongoing formation.
3. To keep youth ministers updated with technology and youth culture.
4. To share resources between dioceses, offices and movements as a Church in communion.
5. To call and train more full time lay youth ministers in our dioceses, parishes and organizations, and provide suitable remuneration.
6. To plan for youth ministry ‘succession,’ respect the teams and work done previously and do proper documentation of events and tools for continuity.
7. To channel the idealism and energy of the youth for social justice and address dehumanising issues in our cultures and societies.
8. To provide spaces or create opportunities to train our youth to understand and engage in inter-religious and ecumenical dialogue.

To transform Asia, we humbly acknowledge and invite everyone to reflect further ways to reach out beyond our comfort zones to the ‘peripheries’.