Youth towards a Theology of Reconstruction: A Salesian Perspective
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Date
2001-02
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Tangaza University College
Abstract
As we march with courage in this new era of science and technology, a century full of
hope and great expectations, the youthful population of Africa, a valuable asset in hand charged
with aspirations to excel and participate in the affairs of the world, challenge all those who are
involved in youth ministry on the African soil. The education of the young with which a youth
minister involves himself/herself should involve a 'liberating and empowering' method, a
method that challenges the young to set the world on the move towards liberation. The words of
Pope John Paul II in his address to World Youth Day 2000 speak of such pulsating response that
is required of a person interested in the affairs of the world. "When you return home," says the
pope, "do not grow lax. Reinforce and deepen your bond with the Christian communities to
which you belong... paraphrasing St. Catherine of Siena's words, reminds you: if you arc what
you should be, you will set the whole world ablaze'?"
In response to the existing educational. socio-political and religious challenges that the
African landscape faces today, the African theologians (since I990s) speak of "reconstruction of
Africa" in their theological investigations. Likewise, having the interest of the young at heart,
every Salesian is challenged to respond to and to educate young people towards this
reconstruction project. How are we to venture into such renewal in spirit? What does it mean to
be young and work for reconstruction by setting the world ablaze? Are the young just future
possibilities and never a present potentialities, dying to participate in this reconstruction process?
what are the possibilities for a Salesian style of ministry in Africa in this era of 'reconstruction'?
These are some of the queries that will be dealt with in this essay. The adventurous, emotional
and dynamic youth population is indeed a weapon in our hands to reconstruct a new Africa. Most of the time we x iew the period of the young as having a lot of problems and hence giving'
becomes the end of all our youth ministries. This essay is aimed at showing not just how young
people are sometimes seen as a problem. but also how they are people filled with energies to
transform society. This quest to transform should be ‘iewed as a 'reconstruction project' which
e need to inculcate in the young.
The essay. is divided into two parts. Part one deals more with the theoretical part of the
emerging theology of reconstruction and the Biblical foundations to such theology in Africa.
Second part deals with the response of the Salesans of Don Bosco in Fastern Africa. Based on
the Salesian educative method of Reason. Religion and Loving Kindness,2 this section shows
how a breakthrough is necessary, in terms of a - reconstruction project' in our youth ministry,
today. The concluding part of the essay discusses possible developments in the Salesian
presences in the Eastern African province.
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Keywords
Youth, Theology, Salesian, Socio-Economic, Religious, Educational, Political