Youth and Spirituality

There's an information from the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines that fewer Filipino youth are attending the Mass these days. This is true. Even in Cebu, the seat of Catholicism in the country, this observation is true. We say this not because we have read in other sources similar observations but because we have seen such a trend ourselves in connection with our work years back at DepEd.

During our visits to schools we would try to see the kids in their classrooms and sometimes talk to them. Usually, we would harp on their roles as learners and how to become a good person, eventually touching on the need to be spiritually "charged." Then we would ask: "How many of you go to Mass on Sundays?" First, no hands could be seen. Then you repeated the question and slowly some hands would show up - but only very few. Even among lowland kids, you would be lucky if out of a class of 50 you could see 20 hands upraised. In mountain schools far from parish churches only two or three hands, and sometimes none at all, could be seen.

Among high school students, the situation was no less disappointing. We found this out during pre-Palaro training when about 400 athletes would be quartered for two or three weeks. Part of the daily regimen was a holy Mass in the morning complemented with a Rosary hour in the evening. During the orientation we would talk to the athletes about the relation between godliness and sportsmanship, and do some plugging about their attendance on the Mass.

We would then ask them whether or not they had been regular in their Sunday obligation. The usual response would be a resounding silence. The reason: Only 50 or so out of 400 were regularly hearing the Mass. But your dismay would not end there - more than half of the athletes could not correctly recite the "Our Father," and almost all of them didn't know about the Holy Rosary and other prayers!

The implication was alarming. While our school children were learning the 3 Rs they were not getting spiritual formation. Spiritual formation in the sense of formal religious instruction is not taboo in public schools. The Constitution is explicit in this concern. "They shall inculcate ethical and spiritual values, develop moral character and personal discipline " Consequently, religious instruction is allowed in schools, but this job is entrusted entirely in the hands of religious authorities and no government expenditure is allowed.

During my watch a number of priests in Cebu organized teams of catechists, usually students from Catholic schools in nearby areas. But their services were mostly confined in central schools and even there not all classes could be reached. Pity the many school children in various barangays - they never heard about God in their classrooms.

For intervention we arranged with Mons. Fred Kreekienvic and Brother Dodong Lim Chua for a series of Life-in-Spirit seminars for graduating high school students in Cebu City. With the full force of the Oasis of Love pitching in, such activity was conducted in all big secondary schools that year (1995) resulting in the evangelization of some 10,000 students. From that time on similar seminars are being conducted every year, thanks to Dr. Leonilo Oliva who spearheading this project in his division. The estimate is that some 150,000 young people to date have been evangelized.

Complementing the efforts of the Oasis of Love, the Little Angels community under Mr. and Mrs. Ben Siao has been undertaking a similar activity for high school students in the province of Cebu and in the cities of Lapu-Lapu and Mandaue for several years now, and to date tens of thousands of young people have been brought closer to God.

Yet these initiatives are not enough, and unless Church authorities would go full blast on a similar program, thousand of young people would remain spiritually in the dark. The families too should do their part. Parents who are godly would inevitably raise godly children.

The youth disappearing from Sunday Mass? The finger should be pointed towards all of us, but more emphatically towards the Church and school authorities and the parents themselves.