Youths want to help strengthen Bible Apostolate

July 29, 2008, LAOAG CITY, Philippines (UCAN) -- Young people attending a Bible congress here in the northern Philippines told their Church leaders they want to participate in promoting the Gospel.

Speaking at the Second Bible Congress of the Diocese of Laoag, John Paul Calamaan asked for "strong formation, organization and mobilization among youths in parishes" to help young people relate Scripture to everyday life.

Once organized, Calamaan explained, parish youth council members could more easily convene and collaborate on efforts to help the Church promote the Gospel.

Calamaan, 28, a teacher at Divine Word College of Laoag, represented the Commission on Youth workshop group at the July 26 congress, held at St. Mary's Seminary gym in Laoag City.

"We want to feel we belong to the Church," the parish youth-ministry worker said. But he admitted, "We lack appreciation of the word of God."

Calamaan later told UCA News this lack is due mainly to the absence of concrete Church plans and programs for the youth.

Laoag City, 340 kilometers north of Manila, is the capital of Ilocos Norte province, which Laoag diocese covers. Sixty-seven percent of the more than 658,000 people in the diocesan area are Catholics, according to Church data.

The diocese commemorated the 47th anniversary of its establishment with the Bible congress on Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church.

Approximately 500 delegates took part, including members of the diocesan commissions on liturgy and worship, Christian education, social services, youth, vocations and family. Catechists, Catholic school teachers and members of Basic Ecclesial Communities also participated, as well as Bible apostolate workers.

In workshop groups they shared about Bible stories and texts, and how they experience these in their lives and in the community. They also considered how their respective sectors can make the Bible known to people in the diocese.

The congress aimed to gather insights and ideas from diocesan commissions and the 28 parishes of Laoag. The first diocesan Bible congress was held in 1989.

In a pastoral statement read in parishes on July 6, Bishop Sergio Utleg of Laoag explained the Church was convening the congress in response to the pope's call to promote the Bible in the life and mission of the Church. Its theme is the same as the topic Pope Benedict XVI has set for the 12th ordinary assembly of the Synod of Bishops, scheduled for October.

Biblical apostolate director Father Victor Hernando told UCA News at the congress, "There is still a lot of work to do to enable the faithful to completely understand the Bible apostolate."

His team has observed parishes taking Bible sharing and related seminars as something "extra" rather than as an "integral part of the parish," he said.

"If parish leaders will give attention to this, we could expect Bible formation in the barangays (smallest unit of the local government)," the 51-year-old director said. He acknowledged the apostolate needs to find the "proper strategy" to engage youths.

Father Hernando admitted there has been no formal effort to engage youths in Bible sharing or the Bible apostolate during his more than 25 years working in the apostolate. But he acknowledged "committed youth" could be the Church's "lasting companions" in this work.

Auxiliary Bishop Renato Mayugba of Lingayen-Dagupan archdiocese, southwest of Laoag, presented the keynote address, in which he challenged participants to "transform and redirect" Christian devotion and show it in action.

"Although the word of God has been preached, our people have not been truly evangelized," observed the prelate, who serves in the Commission on Biblical Apostolate of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines.

He suggested including Scriptural stories and texts in catechetical modules, which at times present primarily Church doctrine.