Catholic Youths in South African Archdiocese Urged to “have the courage” to Follow God’s Calling

He highlighted the role of the Ordained and Consecrated as important, saying, “We need Priests, we need our Deacons, we need our Sisters and our Brothers because they are the shepherds who keep us together, who do not let us go astray.”

“We want to walk together, but we must be kept together, and therefore we need the leadership,” Cardinal Brislin emphasized.

The Local Ordinary of Johannesburg challenged youths in his Metropolitan See to foster Christian values despite cases of ridicule.

“We believe in things like truth and justice, morality and sexual morality, ethics. We believe that people should try to care and have compassion for those who are poor, those who are sick, those who are mentally challenged or physically challenged,” he said.

The 68-year-old South African Cardinal, who started his Episcopal Ministry in January 2007 as Bishop of South Africa’s Kroonstad Catholic Diocese called upon young people to support the right to life from conception.

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Support the fact that “every life is important, that life begins in the womb and ends in the tomb,” he said, lamenting that nowadays, people undermine “these things ... people do not believe.”

“We’ve got to bring those values of the Kingdom of God into the world. To have courage, once again, we need each other,” Cardinal Brislin said.

He went on to advice Catholic youths in his Metropolitan See, “We need to choose our friends among those who have similar beliefs and similar values, not people who are going to lead us off the path, but people who are going to walk on the path with us.”

Sabrine Amboka is a Kenyan journalist with a passion for Catholic church communication. She holds a bachelor’s degree in mass communication from St. Paul's University in Kenya.