Advising the Youth in Peru

Carlos Apcho – Lima Peru Chapter

“Young people are not the future,
they are the present.”

Pope Francis, in his recent document to the youth, Vive Cristo (# 64), says: “We cannot just say that young people are the future of the world. They are the present.” Their testimony invites us, like them, to see life with expectation, to set goals without fear. They are the ones who revitalize a community of people with their joy and fill it with hope. The challenge they pose to the elderly is “to motivate them to follow ideals that lead them to be better citizens and not fall for criticizing them.” This is my experience as an advisor to “Kerygma,” the youth group in the parish of San Francisco de Asís, here in Lima, Peru. [Kerygma, Greek for “proclamation,” refers primarily to the preaching of the Apostles as recorded in the New Testament.]

As an advisor, I recall that some years ago, when I was a member of the Youth Ministry, I met young people from other parishes. I can say of those young people, and of those with whom I currently live, that they respond to being treated as young people who find their way and develop the gifts that God has given them. They just need to be welcomed with affection and understanding, and to feel that their proposals are considered, because they favor the common good of society.

Their message translated:
Stay in your house. Christ loves you and the country needs you. Sincerely, Kerygma

Many young people who belong to the Youth Ministry come from broken families, which affects their emotional and intellectual growth, but by serving in an atmosphere of joy, their hearts are filled with love for themselves and others.

    The majority of young people in this part of Lima have migrant mothers and fathers who came to live in the capital to escape poverty or the terrorism of the 80s and 90s. Their parents have tried hard to satisfy their basic needs and to support them while they become professionally trained, continuing their studies at institutes and at the university.

As a youth advisor from my Parish and from my country, I offer them formation in the spirituality, mission, and courage of the Maryknoll missionaries who came to Peru and gave themselves to the population. The testimony of their lives moves young people to be brave in this life, to be people of prayer, and to put their talents at the service of others.