PH Catholic Church declares 2019 ‘Year of the Youth’

By Franchesca Marie F. Abella

In celebration of the 500th year after the arrival of Christianity to the Philippines, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) announced that it will dedicate 2019 as the “Year of the Youth.”

This will be the seventh year of their nine-year spiritual journey for New Evangelization in 2021.

The solemn opening ceremony will be held on Dec. 2, the first Sunday of Advent, in Manila, conveying the theme “Filipino Youth in Mission: Beloved, Gifted, Empowered.” It will be concluded on Nov. 24, 2019, the Feast of Christ the King.

According to both Philippine history and the bishops, the first mass ever to be conducted in the archipelago was celebrated on Limasawa Island on Easter Sunday of March 31, 1521. The first Filipino Christians were Humabon and Hara Amihan, who were baptized Carlos and Juana, respectively.

The Spanish missionaries brought the Christian faith to the Philippines 500 years ago and today the nation is home to Asia’s largest Catholic population. Out of 110 million inhabitants, 80 percent are Catholics.

CBCP has laid out four goals in commemorating the Year of the Youth: Youth in Formation; Youth in the Community, Church and Society; Youth in Mission; and Youth Ministry and Youth Ministers.

The last five years were dedicated to the integral faith formation (2013), the laity (2014), the poor (2015), the Eucharist and the family (2016), and the parish as a communion of communities (2017). 2018 is dedicated to the clergy and consecrated persons.

The remaining two years of the preparation will be dedicated to ecumenism and interreligious dialogue in 2020 and missio ad gentes in 2021.