A conference on evangelization will be held in Manila this month, setting the stage for a series of discussion on how to be effective in pastoral accompaniment with the youth, CBCP News reported.
Running from July 19 to 21, topics for the sixth Philippine Conference on New Evangelization (PCNE) will take light from the Year of the Youth.
The Church declared 2019 as the year of young people, as part of the preparation for the 500 years of Christianity in the Philippines in 2021.
With the theme “Filipino Youth Walking with Jesus,” the PCNE will be held at the Quadricentennial Pavilion of the University of Santo Tomas (UST).
The PCNE will open with the “Misa ng Bayang Pilipino” that will be presided over by Bishop Rex Alarcon of Daet.
Among the activities on the first day include a “heart to heart” talk of some young people with Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of Manila.
On July 20, participants will get to listen to the experiences of youth ministers and their young collaborators as a way to explore the best practices of youth ministry in different contexts.
The second day will also feature a staged reading about the young people’s clamor for a welcoming and listening Church.
The last day of the conference will explore the theme of the Year of the Youth, “Filipino Youth in Mission: Beloved, Gifted, Empowered”.
Organizers said there will be three segments, namely: Praise and Worship (Youth as the Now of God); Youth Jam (Testimonials, dances, and songs); and Young people and their encounter with family, other circles and digital community, fellow youth, Church and God.
The gathering will conclude with a Mass and the commissioning of missionary disciples to be led by Cardinal Tagle.
Apart from the plenary sessions, there will be 10 concurrent sessions on education, culture, mission, youth, social advocacy, catechesis, social media, new trends in youth ministry, family, and FGD with the Young (“Mga Hugot at Galak: The Joys and pains of the Filipino Youth in the Catholic Church).
PCNE 6 introduces “youth pathways and spaces” that are composed of various activities where the participants can join throughout the three days, which include a Labyrinth, prayer walls, counseling, and confessions.
Cardinal Tagle introduced PCNE in 2013 as a local response to the call of the new evangelization.
This year’s PCNE will be preceded with “a day of encounter” for clergy and consecrated persons.
