Young People and Spirituality

The editorial in the Catholic Times gives the readers a look at the situation of the young people in our Korean society.

The mass media influences the world society much more than Christianity and to a greater degree the youth.

Conscious of this reality in 1984  Pope Saint John Paul II held an international gathering of young people with over 250,000 in attendance. When the UN proclaimed 1985 to be the International Youth Year, he issued another invitation to young people to come to Rome and again the response was huge with over 300,000 young people gathered in churches around the city. 

Starting in 1987, World Youth Day was celebrated for the first time internationally and every 2 to 3 years from that moment on in different host cities of the world.

The next World Youth Day will be held in Seoul, South Korea, in 2027. Pope Francis announced this at the  Mass of World Youth Day 2023 in Lisbon, Portugal on August 6, 2023.  The excitement among the South Korean delegation was great. 

Archbishop  Chung, of the Archdiocese of Seoul during his homily reiterated the theme of WYD 2027, "Rejoice in Hope ", which was announced by Pope Francis on Dec. 1, 2023.

World Youth Day has been hosted by 14 different countries around the world in almost all of the continents. Europe has hosted it 10 different times; The Americas – North, Central and South – have hosted a total of 4; Oceania and Asia have each hosted it once. This will be the first time on the Asian continent.

Korean churches celebrate the last Sunday of May every year by designating it as ‘Youth Sunday’. This day was established to convey the true love and truth of Christ to young people so that the church can be with them. The frustration and despair experienced by young people seem bigger and heavier than ever before. As we all know, young people in our society are pushed into high-level competition from a young age.

The reality of the entrance exam hell that occupies most of adolescence, and the constant competition for employment seems to be an endless time of suffering for our young people.  Even as an adult, life is still hard. 

The problem of the low birth rate, currently a great problem of our society, clearly reveals the difficult lives of young people. Young people who have to lead such difficult and arduous lives often do not receive respect or comfort even within the church. We must reflect on the reality that people have no choice but to neglect their religious life because they are busy with their studies and social life, and that the church has been lacking in truly respecting and listening to them. 

However, despite this, we are confident that young people can still find true hope by living with the Lord, who is the way, truth and life. This is because the hope that young people often lose can be found in the Lord. This is because we believe in the Lord’s promise, “I will always be with you” (Matthew 28:20). 

The Korean church is preparing for the 2027 World Youth Day. Thorough preparation is necessary for this conference to be not just a large-scale international event, but also a place where young people from all over the world meet to discover and share hope in the Lord. And the preparation is not just preparation for the event but requires a change in our hearts and lives. The hope is that this year’s Youth Sunday will be the starting point for that preparation.