The Archdiocesan Youth Ministry
The Archdiocesan Youth Ministry is coordinated by the Archdiocesan Youth Chaplain. The youth groups are organized in an Archdiocesan Youth Federation whose main aim is to coordinate the activities of young people in the Archdiocese. The Youth Chaplain is assisted by a Youth Formation Team and a Youth Council, Deanery and Parish Youth Chaplains or Advisers. Each Parish is supposed to have a Youth Apostolate Commission, which promotes the participation of the young people in the life of the Church. Each year, they celebrate the World Youth Day, presided over by the Archbishop. This celebration normally takes place on Palm Sunday every year. Before the celebration, the Youths come some days before and have the opportunity to have some educative talks based on the theme of the World Youth Day and the Pope’s Message on that occasion. This normally ends with a Penitential Service through which they have the opportunity to celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation and a Eucharistic celebration in which more than one thousand youth participate.
Every year, they have two Youth Camps: The Junior and Senior Youth Camps. The former has as participants the Altar Servers and Cadets of Mary, while the latter is usually attended by adult youth, mostly in secondary and high schools, or those involved in business or other forms of activities that give them a daily sustenance. These camps are normally very enriching since the participants are given talks that deepen their knowledge of the faith, and which also assist them in their moral upbringing. The numbers of the young people who attend these camps have been on the increase obviously due to the richness of the input given to them. However, a major setback has been the armed crisis in the Northwest and Southwest Regions of Cameroon, which deterred and hampered such gatherings, and made worse by the outbreak of the corona virus pandemic in 2020. For this reason, the youth camp did not take place in 2020 given health the restrictions in a bid to contain the virus. However, to the relief of the youths, the camp was organized, and effectively celebrated in 2021.
At the level of the parishes and deaneries, the young people are very involved in the life of the Church and present themselves as the “Now of God.” They have their weekly meetings, Parish and Deanery rallies which go a long way to help them in their upbringing in the Catholic Faith. However, there is still a lot to be done to improve the quality of the Youth Ministry at the Archdiocesan level.
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