The Bishop, Catholic Diocese of Oyo, Most Rev Emmanuel Badejo has urged youths in the church to make communion, participation and mission of Christ the compass that drive their actions and activities and growth.
Bishop Badejo made this known in his homily at the Mass to begin the Golden Jubilee Celebration of the Catholic Youth Association (CYA) in the Dioceses of Oyo and Osogbo.
He urged young people to practicalise the theme of the Synodal process, promote the gospel and Christian values in the digital media, embrace and promote Church doctrine on Human Life Family and Sexuality, shun illicit drugs and gambling, live a life of volunteerism and fall in love with praying.
Addressing mammoth crowd of youngsters at the Mass, Bishop Badejo paid tributes to Bishop Julius Babatunde Adelakun who inaugurated CYA in 1974 and those who assisted him in making the vision of redefining youths successful.
While noting that CYA transformed to what is today known as Catholic Youths Organization of Nigeria (CYON), the cleric stated that CYA positively formed, impacted, and transformed the lives and faith of thousands of people in its fifty years of existence.
On how the youths can become great treasures, Badejo said, “The overall theme of the synodal process which by now you know about is: “For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation and Mission”. Those three dimensions, which are interrelated, can be a good compass with which to drive your activities and growth. As young people if you make these three to define your activities you will become great treasures to your family, the Church and to yourselves. In working for communion and participating in the mission of the Church, positive values like Godliness, selflessness, solidarity, honesty self-restraint, compassion, and consideration for the common good will become part of you. In doing this, you will embody your cultural values as well, namely respect for elders, respect for the underprivileged and love of family and community.”
He further tasked the youths on evangelisation saying, “As young people, the digital media space is your natural habitat. Jesus Christ needs you to bring him alive to the numerous social media platforms that you inhabit. So, invest more and participate in the media with your spiritual wealth and resources. You must be active in the digital space as co-creators of content so that it is not left to charlatans and profit seekers who merely exploit others.
“Understand that even contemporary AI technology is an extension of the human mind. It is a tool that you can use for good. I invite you to study the recent pastoral document of the Dicastery for Social Communication, entitled: “Towards Full Presence”, which is available on the internet, to understand what the challenges are and what you can do to transform society and our world through the social media and digital platforms. Some of you are doing so and can testify to this need.”
Speaking on the need for them to shun drug abuse, he stated, “A very serious problem ravaging the life of youth all over the black world especially West African countries today is drug abuse and more recently gambling. Yesterday, I heard that the President of Sierra Leone has declared the problem of illicit drug abuse in his country a national emergency. Nigeria is not very different. Drugs and gambling consume lives and destroy the capacity of young people to become what God wants them to be. Honest work and discipline are still the surest way to prosperity. Imbibe them and God will act for you.”
