INDIA (ACN News): Educated and IT-savvy Christians in India are bucking trends by becoming more involved with the Church, a bishop in the west of the country said.
Bishop Lourdes Daniel said religious commitment was more prevalent than 30 years ago – in spite of increased wealth, improved education standards and more business opportunities especially in new media.
In an interview with Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need, Bishop Daniel said youth parish involvement in his Nashik diocese had grown, in part thanks to the emergence of small faith-sharing groups and outreach schemes to the disadvantaged.
“I was a priest in this region in the 1980s. Back then we never heard about business degrees – MBAs – and IT (information technology),” Bishop Daniel said.
“But now people are much better educated and every second person you speak to is involved in IT.
“And yet their faith is very strong and more go to church. The churches are full, especially on Sundays.
“Whenever you ask young people to do something for Church, they are very happy to do it.”
The bishop said parishes in Nashik diocese were divided up into “zones” where young people met regularly for catechesis and Bible sharing.
He said young people in the towns went to some of the poorest outlying villages to provide nursing training, adult education as well as adult formation.
The bishop thanked Aid to the Church in Need for supporting leadership training programs for young people who taught the faith.
Explaining the growing interest in the Church in an increasingly educated and developed society, he said: “There is a genuine thirst for faith”.
“The (young people) may not always be able to articulate what it is they want but you can see a vacuum which people are wanting to fill with meaning,” Bishop Daniel said.
