(ANS – Quezon City) – Fr Martin Macasaet SDB, Rector of the Salesian community in Mandaluyong City, speaking at a forum sponsored by the Carmelites, urged educators and religious communities to help the growth of spirituality in the lives of young people.

"Our openness to the spiritual formation of young people, to their gifts and to their personalities, leads us to consider their spirituality as something very precious", said Fr Macasaet during the forum held last week at the International Theological Centre in Quezon City. "It all depends on us, educators and ministers. We must first convince our young people that spirituality is something possible for them, and that this requires their openness to the ‘Church of the Poor’. This is a spirituality for them and from them."

The Salesian priest explained that young people practise a spirituality of their own: "It may not be Ignatian or Franciscan or Caremilite... but it is there." "By reassuring them, and giving them somewhere they can talk and be heard with an attentive heart, their untapped energy, and their language, can be channelled."

Fr Macasaet cautioned that some activities of Church organisations in the Philippines are excluding the poor and the young, by being elitist or activist in nature: "The context of the poor in the Philippines is not a question of class or socio-economic status." He added that "external and superficial expressions, bereft of a spiritual foundation, do not help develop genuine spirituality."

Working in the field of youth spirituality, said Fr Macasaet "is our true responsibility as priests and religious" because "we now have an authentic youth spirituality, not just religious fanaticism."

The Carmelite forum is one of the initiatives commemorating the 50th anniversary of Vatican Council II, and the 20th of the Full Council of the Catholic Church in the Philippines.

Published 11/8/2011