Pakistan: Fulfilling aspirations

In his message for the 23rd World Youth Day, Pope Benedict XVI wrote to the young people of the world: “Only Christ can fulfil the most intimate aspirations that are in the heart of each person. Only Christ can humanize humanity and lead it to its ‘divinization’…There is a need for young people who will allow God’s love to burn within them and who will respond generously to his urgent call.”

This message resounds clearly in Pakistan. Never before has the country’s population been so young. 60% of Pakistan’s 210 million people are aged under twenty and a good third are aged between twelve and twenty. They are the future of the country, and of the 3.3 million-strong Christian community there also. The Church has proclaimed a Year of Youth, and the diocese of Islamabad has set up a programme to help 1,200 young people deepen their faith and their personal relationship with Christ. Archbishop Joseph Arshad wants these young people to grow spiritually. He writes: “Their relationship with God prepares them to serve Christ in everything they do thereafter.” Then, they will be able to “humanize” society, and renew the face of Pakistan. The programme teaches love, hope and mutual respect. There will be seminars and distance learning courses which will also address questions such as how to behave in the workplace and in the family and issues around education and problems with drugs. 

The archbishop has asked us for AUD$14,700. And so, for just AUD$40 you can help three young people begin to fulfil the “most intimate aspirations of the heart.” Could there be a more beautiful gift of faith?

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