OCEANIA/TAHITI - Many young Polynesians need to know more about Jesus and his message of happiness and hope.: mission during Lent, dedicated this year to evangelising young people and helping the poor

Papeete (Agenzia Fides) - “Too many Christians live Lent absentmindedly…their minds are more concerned with other things” Archbishop Hubert Coppenrath of Papeete, Tahiti, writes in a local Catholic periodical La Semeur Tahitien. Recalling that in the Liturgical Season “the Church suggests various ways of thinking more deeply of God and correcting any slackness that may have crept into our life of faith”, the Archbishop says “when properly lived Lent flowers into a joyous and fervent celebration of Easter, because the liturgical celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus is accompanied with interior renewal achieved with effort and enables us to understand Saint Paul when he speaks about ‘rising with Christ’”.
The theme of the Lenten Campaign 2007 is “Together, evangelising young people and helping the poor”. Illustrating the theme the Catholic periodical writes: “Many young Polynesians need to know more about Jesus and his message of happiness and hope. We must reach out to them and tell them of the graces Jesus brings. We should not wait until young people come to Church to speak to them about Jesus, we must go to them, they are waiting for us”. Young members of a Committee set up by the Youth Synod decided to launch a mission of evangelisation involving every parish in Tahiti and many parishes on the other islands of Polynesia . The aim is to make Jesus and his message better known, certainly not to engage in proselytising or wanting to convert people at all costs. The Catholic community in Papeete has been asked to support this mission with prayer, fasting and material aid. As every year part of funds collected in Lent will go to support the activity of Secours Catholique to alleviate the suffering of poor people.
Referring to Pope Benedict XVI’s encyclical Deus Caritas est, the periodical underlines the importance of evangelisation and charity: “Spreading the Gospel is a great act of love for every Christian, but - as the Pope recalls - an act of charity for the poor is also a silent but powerful act of evangelisation.” (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 6/3/2007 - righe 26; parole 380)