24 Jun 2015

Minister of Youth, Sport and Culture, Mr Thapelo Olopeng, has implored the church to partner with government to ensure the realisation of youth economic empowerment and holistic development of a young person.

Addressing Roman Catholic Church youth at Ave Maria in Gaborone in commemoration of the international Day of the African Child recently, Mr Olopeng said to mould and develop a young person and impart economic empowerment required a joint effort from the church and government.

“As government, we cannot do it alone, we would like to partner with you because you as the church have the power, know-how of dealing with young people and shaping their behaviour,” he said.

Furthermore, the minister said, through God, the youth could prosper and make something of themselves by using government programmes and policies. “Without knowing the truth or knowing God, all these government programmes would not be successful,” he said.

The youth who were in the right standing with God can be agents of change and stir the nation on a positive path as opposed to non-believers whom he said have the potential to cause instabilities and wars.

“As a nation, we are concerned about the moral decay amongst our youth and partnering with churches allows us to build that strong spiritual base of our future leaders,” he said. Young people should go all out to ensure they become the salt of the world, he added.

Amid thundering cheers from the youth who were overflowing in the hall, Roman Catholic Bishop Valentine Seane acknowledged the role of the church in moulding a young person to become and portray acceptable behaviour in the society.

Bishop Seane said this is critical for the reason that when one is not rooted in faith there are so many voices today that can influence morals of young people adding that the church aims to play its role to mould spirituality of young people which in turn affects the way they behave.

He noted that worldwide there was still a very serious challenge for the girl child. “They do not have equal opportunities with the boy child, they are given in marriage at a tender age,” he said.

Batswana are gradually taking the marriage institution less seriously and this can cause other social ills, adding that it was important for young people to go into marriage at a tender age for the reason that they mature together in the sacrament of the holy matrimony and raise a closely knitted family which in turn brings harmony to the society.

“The lack of marriage is a concern to the church, while you are still fresh, work hard on companionship and not when you are too old,” he said.

Bishop Seane encouraged young people to realise their potential and understand that God created them to be co-creators with him. When young people realise this and energize their potential they are capable of inventing anything because it is God who gives the intelligence to one, he added. ENDS