Very Rev. Fr. Joseph Okine-Quartey, Rector of the St. Paul’s Catholic Seminary, Sowutuom in the Catholic Archdiocese of Accra, has counselled the youth in Ghana to build up their confidence, discover their talents and harness opportunities since they constituted a greater fraction of the Church, nation and world’s population.
He said this at the 7th edition of the Kaneshie Deanery Catholic Youth Council (KANDCYC) Empowerment Seminar on May 25, 2024 at the Our Lady of Assumption (OLA) Catholic Church, New-Achimota.
Speaking to about 400 youth on the theme “The Importance of Youth Empowerment: The Role of the Catholic Church”, he explained the power the youth had and the crucial role they played in the Church and world today.
He said particularly in the Church, the youth were vastly seen playing diverse roles during liturgical celebrations as Choristers, Ushers, Mass Servers and Lectors.
He brought to bear who a youth is, why empowerment, the way and manner a youth ought to be empowered and recommended some ways to empower the youth from the church and world’s perspective.
He added that empowerment truly builds self-confidence, brings about the development of skills, fosters innovation and brings self-reliance since the days when elders decided and children obeyed have evolved, hence, the need to empower the youth.
He defined a youth as “a quality or state of being young or the period between childhood and maturity”. Amidst several definitions he gave, he made it known that being a youth is not tied to how old or young a person may be.
To buttress this, he referred to a post he said he once chanced on social media which read “Old age is mandatory, provided you are alive but to feel old, is a choice”.
According to Fr. Okine-Quartey, organising programmes like the empowerment seminar, education and catechesis, leadership opportunities, mentorship and guidance programmes, the dimension of social justice initiatives and volunteerism, the use of technology and media, facilitation of a generational dialogue; bridge the gap between the youth and elderly, and reinforcement; show gratitude and acknowledgement to the strength the youth bring to the Church, were the ways of empowering the youth.
The Empowerment Seminar is one of the flagship programmes of the Kaneshie Deanery Youth Council with the goal of exposing the Catholic youth to the array of opportunities in the Church, corporate world and society at large.
Similarly, it has over the years sought to bridge the gap between academia and industry while equipping the youth with the requisite skills required of them to excel irrespective of where they found themselves.
By Joseph Obu Jnr//Newswatchgh.com
