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River Above Asia and Oceania Ecclesial Network

RAOEN joins booklet launch, the synodal journey of the Pulangiyēn youth

The River above Asia Oceania Ecclesial Network (RAOEN) joined the youth from the Apu Palamguwan Cultural Education Center (APC) and Balay Laudato Si’ in Bukidnon in Mindanao, Philippines on 5 October to launch Living Laudato Si’: The Synodal Journey of the Pulangiyēn Youth.

This booklet celebrates the youth’s journey in discovering hope, love, and faith amid the contemporary challenges they face, and their dreams for their community and culture, while contributing to the ongoing synodal process.

APC Grade 12 students and staff were joined online by previous APC staff who accompanied the youth, network partners, and other colleagues. “This is the story of how the youth are learning to listen to self, to others, and to God as they engage life,” Pedro Walpole SJ, APC Executive Director and RAOEN Coordinator, shared in his opening remarks.

Three young speakers joined the launch and shared their testimonies and reflections on their synodal journey, and how this led to a deeper appreciation of their identities and relations with the gaup or ancestral domain.

The journey that the youth shared also relates to the ongoing synodal journey the Church is undertaking to listen to the voices in the margins. The effort is to share with the Church the voices of the youth as they continue to act and dream for their community and life.

As echoed by Sue Martin, Assistant Coordinator of the Reconciliation with Creation ministry of JCAP and the event’s moderator, “our hope as we launch this publication is to encourage an answer from the Church that, yes, we are listening to the youth and we are listening to the margins.”

This story is originally published in the APC website where the Living Laudato Si’: The Synodal Journey of the Pulangiyēn Youth is available as a PDF document.

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