PARAGUAY, Bishop Claudio Giménez
Our youths are truly marvelous. They were there steadfast, working, serving in different places on the 18th with great responsibility and awareness of the task they assumed for that Covenant Day.
They worked alongside the adults as Mary’s allies. As a matter of fact, the Church in Paraguay has for sometime wanted to reward our youths for that spirit of service in the dioceses, in the parishes, in the Movements, and in religious communities.
A struggling and joyful Church
But the culminating event that sped up the reward was Pope Francis’ visit. There the youths demonstrated how they know how to do things in the place entrusted to them by the Church.
The Pope verbally expressed the lived experience among the youths in Paraguay. He said on the plane returning to Rome: “I met a struggling and joyful Church.”
It was evident to me when we were behind him with his retinue, we saw joyful and young faces with beautiful smiles everywhere. That remained etched in the soul.
Youth triennium (2017 – 2019)
To these youths, the Paraguayan Church gives three consecutive years, the Youth Triennium, with the motto “Embraced by Jesus Christ.”
During these three years (2017, 2018, 2019), they will endeavor in all novenas, in all Patronal Feasts (chapels, parishes, cathedrals, and shrines) to reflect on the youths: on their values, their problems and possible solutions.
The youths deserve for our concentration to be on them and offer them our full attention.
Seeds from the Shrines
In the diverse Schoenstatt Shrines (Tupãrenda, Asunción, Ciudad del Este), marvelous youths abound, anxious to participate and to feel useful in some task of service to the Church in our country. Their camps, retreats, family missions, and university missions are excellent.
In our youths, there are many more positive things than those that give society a headache (which are also abundant and continue to multiply). But the desire to excel also is growing.
Father Kentenich and the youth
I posed a question to the groups (of boys and girls), in this Schoenstatt year dedicated to Father Kentenich on a worldwide level (9-15-17 – 9-15-18), the 50th anniversary of his death:
What are some of the things Father Kentenich said about the youth?
Many things. But which have touched you the most and why?
Source: Tupãrenda Magazine, November/December 2017
Original Spanish: January 21, 2018: Translation: Carlos Cantú, La Feria, Texas USA. Edited: Melissa Peña-Janknegt, Elgin, TX USA
