Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Fides Service) - In a final statement issued by participants at the 1st International Meeting on Pastoral Care for Street Children participants stressed the need to increase awareness with regard to the gravity of the situation; organise systematic commitment to tackle it, also in church circles; advance from pastoral of waiting to pastoral of encounter with creativity and courage in order to reach children where they meet; reawaken among Christians awareness of vocation to serve and to mission. Representatives of 11 European countries and 7 countries from other parts of the world as well as the full Council staff attended the meeting, organised by the Pontifical Council for Pastoral Care for Migrants and Itinerant Peoples, held in Rome 25 and 26 October.
The final statement underlined that the phenomenon of street children in the world is one the most worrying problems of our day and it concerns the Church as well as civil and political society. Street children are 100 million according the Amnesty International or 150 million according to the International Labour Organisation, whatever the case, the number grows continually. The participants agreed that even when public institutions are aware of the problem they fail to take action for prevention or rehabilitation. The attitude of civil society is usually one of alarm, only because these children are a threat to public order. People are more concerned about guaranteeing personal safety than assisting the children: a sense of humanity, solidarity and still less a sense of Christianity fails to emerge.
Street children in the strict sense are separated from their family, the street is their home and often their bed. Situations vary according to country. In developing countries the number of street children is frightening. There are also ‘street children’ who are not separated from their families but they spend most of their time in the street. They choose to live each day as it comes, with little or no responsibility for education and the future and meet in disreputable groups. Their number is concerning even in developed countries.
The causes of this increasingly more worrying social phenomenon are many. Among the main causes identified at the meeting: growing disgregation of families; emigration; poverty and extreme poverty; drug addiction alcoholism; prostitution and the sex industry; war and social disorder; a spreading “culture of rip-roaring and transgression” in Europe in particular”; lack of reference values.
Goals identified in two days of discussion included: forming groups and communities (parochial and non) in which to help young people encounter the Gospel and live it radically; open schools of prayer to give new impulse to the contemplative and consequently missionary dimension of the different groups; form teams for evangelisation and ‘missionary youths’ to carry the embrace of the Risen Christ to their peers and the ‘new poor’ of our day; offer young people professional training to enable them to use their artistic and musical talents to create new entertainment which can effectively help prevention and reach thousands of young people with Gospel messages; open centres to form young people in evangelisation in the streets; commitment to use the mass-media to shout ‘from the roof tops’ the Good news of the Gospel. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 30/11/2004; Righe 44 - Parole 538)
