The Youth Ministries Office of the North West Africa Province of the Society of Jesus and Jesuit Conference of Africa and Madagascar organised a one-day youth- oriented workshop on January 7, 2023 at St. Ignatius of Loyola Catholic Church, Baatsona under the theme, “Young People Leading the Church.”
Synodality, which means journeying together creates avenue for the Catholic faithful to listen to each other through the discernment of the Holy Spirit through prayer, listening to each other including people who do not share the same Catholic and Christian faith and to also listen to the weak and marginalized in society.
According to Dr. Nora Nonterah, a Theological and Comparative Ethicist and a lecturer at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, “we cannot succeed in walking together if we do not listen to the Holy Spirit.”
She also emphasised about the fact that Synodality which is a distinctive aspect of the church is not a new concept.
“Pope Francis is saying that we need to renew this important distinctive aspect of the church”, she said.
Dr. Linus Labik, a Material Scientist and a lecturer at the Physics Department of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, who was one of the speakers advised the youth of the church to have a desire to learn about their faith and must also have the willingness to serve others through active participation.
He added, “Young people are a vital part of the church and their active participation in the synodality process allows them to become a say in the direction of the church and its mission.”
Dr. Linus advised that no matter the setbacks and criticisms, it pushes for the betterment of the youth.
Towards the end of the workshop, participants were put into groups to go through the synodal process where participants were given a document to read, have some silence and come up with issues which were in the document and issues which they would like to be addressed in the church.
These suggestions and ideas raised by the participants in the workshop will be gathered and sent to Rome for the next stage of the synodal process.
