At last year's ordination I addressed the issue of education in our country. As you are aware, my remarks may have had some influence as the press and public opinion have taken up the cause of our children's education.  The Ministry of Education has recognized the role of the Church in education.  The Church, as the Foundation Body, is now able to  play her legitimate role in the national educational system.  Now, in solidarity with the government on this issue, we shall hopefully make great strides in the formation of Uganda's posterity.  We must not be lulled into complacency, but rather always be vigilant to assure that our children are not denied religious training.
Today I want to respond to the remarks of His Highness, the Tieng Adhola, Moses S. Owor, delivered on February 19, 2005—the occasion  of my 40th episcopal jubilee celebrations.  His Highness Owor spoke as a representative of the laity of the Archdiocese of Tororo.  His address included a concern for the youth—the most vulnerable members of our society.

Our nation is being plagued by emerging independent churches which appear to be challenging the mainstream churches, proclaiming a Gospel contrary to that of Jesus.  Love and the essence of human dignity is being replaced by hatred and the showering of insults against the mainstream religions.  Obviously, freedom of religion should not promote evil, hatred, and division.

Trickling into our culture is the lack of respect of the human body:  nudity, Big Brother Gaetano shows, gay fraternities, vulgarities, and obscenities, most unacceptable not only to Christian values but even to our ancestral heritage.

The Second Vatican Council in The Church in the Modern World (Gaudium et Spes) warned us to be wary of such changes in attitudes which would affect the morals and religious practices of all including our youth:

A change in attitudes as structures frequently calls accepted values into question.  This is true above all of young people who have grown impatient at times and, indeed, rebellious in their distress.  Conscious of their own importance in the life of society, they aspire to play their part in it all the sooner.  Consequently, it frequently happens that parents and teachers face increasing difficulties in the performance of their tasks.

Traditional institutions, laws and modes of thought and emotion do not always appear to be in harmony with today's world.  This has given rise to a serious disruption of patterns and even of norms of behavior.

As regards religion there is a completely new atmosphere that conditions its practice.  On the one hand people are taking a hard look at all magical world-views and prevailing superstitions and demanding a more personal and active commitment of faith, so that not a few have achieved a lively sense of the divine.  On the other hand greater numbers are falling away from the practice of religion.  In the past it was the exception to repudiate God and religion to the point of abandoning them, and then only in individual cases; but nowadays it seems a matter of course to reject them as incompatible with scientific progress and a new kind of humanism.  In many places it is not only in philosophical terms that such trends are expressed, but there are signs of them in literature, art, the humanities, the interpretation of history and even civil law:  all of which is very disturbing to many people  (no. 7).

Some people have accepted these trends in moral and religious behaviour as normal, or that which can be expected.  Passivity and resignation to these attitudes manifest in expressions such as bibawo—those things do happen anyway—are intolerable.  Should they happen anyway?  What are we to do about it?  What does the Gospel message say?  How would the late John Paul II react and what would he say to our youth?

John Paul II loved the youth and was loved by them in return.  He was comfortable with the youth, and they with him.  John Paul II, in his Crossing the Threshold of Hope believed that youth is a time given by Providence to each human as a task and an opportunity of answering the fundamental question concerning, not only the meaning and the purpose of one's life, but also the concrete project, or direction, of one's life.  Youth, in the opinion of the Pope, was an opportunity of the personalization of the human life.  It is a time of communion that is an opportunity to love and to live for and with others.

Being a youth, one must be attentive to the Gospel values as proclaimed by the Church and Christian tradition.

The Pope's encyclical on Family Life recognizes the significant role parents play in the lives of their children.  To this end, I urge the clergy and the parents, and the youths themselves, to be cognizant of the content of that encyclical.  I cannot overemphasize the influence family and society play in the formation of each young person.  The famous expression, "the boy is the father of the man," applies to all youth.  Young people themselves make choices when they are very young which affect their future and what type of person they will become.  A good man or a good woman is not made in a day; it takes a lifetime.

While acknowledging that stages of growth imply increased personal responsibility in our youth, adults cannot be like the monkey and close their eyes to evil.  Kofi Annan, the Secretary General of the United Nations, annunciates the idea that the person who sees a crime and fails to prevent it is also guilty. If adults fail to provide this necessary guidance when they know a young person has gone off track, they are guilty of the same crime. It is, therefore, important that the youths be guided during the various transitional phases to adulthood.

 May I appeal to all the youth in the archdiocese to preserve the integrity of faith in the face of dangerous, contemporary intellectual currents.  Do not be followers, but leaders be.  Be responsible for your actions and your thoughts.  Learn the Scriptures and the Gospel, applying their values to your daily lives.  Do not be mislead by false interpretations of the Lord's words.

It would be apropos to quote the John Paul II's blessing Urbi et orbi—Christmas 2004:

I leave you now with this prayer:  That the Lord Jesus will reveal himself to each one of you, that he will give you the strength to go out and profess that you are Christian, that he will show you that he alone can fill your hearts.

Accept his freedom and embrace his truth, and be messengers of the certainty that you have been truly liberated through the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus.

This will be the new experience, the powerful experience, that will generate, through you, a more just society and a better world.  God bless you and may the joy of Jesus be always with you.  Amen.

The Pope's blessing emphasizes the importance of freedom and truth, which I have already referred to in my homily today.  At baptism we are all consecrated in truth, that is, we are associated with Christ and His Gospel in facing the challenges of our culture.  Young people need to be reminded of the reality that they have been consecrated in truth and must live a life of truth and virtue.

May this ordination inspire our youth to accept the Christian principles espoused by the Church and embraced by the young men who have just been ordained.  How I wish many more of you would become more receptive to the grace of the religious life!  Do not be distracted by the enchantment of this world.  After all, your soul is at stake.  As John Paul II said in 1981, "The Church cannot be an association of free thinkers."  Rather, an association of believers who trust in the Lord and love one another.

On his deathbed, Pope John Paul II requested that Psalm 119:25-32 be recited in his presence:

I lie prostrate in the dust;
   give me life in accord with your word.
I disclosed my ways and you answered me;
   teach me your laws.
Make me understand the way of your precepts;
   I will ponder your wondrous deeds...
Lead me from the way of deceit;
  favour me with your teaching.
The way of loyalty I have chosen;
  I have set your edicts before me.
I cling to your decrees, Lord;
  do not let me come to shame.
I will run the way of your commands,
  for you open my docile heart.

My remarks are not meant as a criticism of our youth, but rather to encourage them to walk in the path of righteousness, which is by no means an easy journey.  But it is one which will reap positive rewards both for our nation and our Church.

I encourage the youth to participate in community projects so that they better our families and our environment, always in solidarity with and mindful of the less fortunate.

May God bless our youth and may they hear the whispers of the Spirit and receive His gift two-fold as Elisha did from Elijah (2 Kg. 9:13).

THE END
 

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