experiences" "
“We are making efforts in all our dioceses. The most recent moment was the celebration of diocesan Youth Day on the vigil of Palm Sunday. At Scutari, my own diocese, over 2500 young people intervened for a very rewarding evening on the theme ‘You are the salt of the earth, you are the light of the world’. A small delegation, with the symbolic presence of a couple of youngsters for each diocese, will go to Toronto from our country. In this regard we wish to thank all those who will help us” to do so: so says Msgr. Angelo Massafra, president of the Albanian Episcopal Conference. In his view, the major obstacle to a serious programme of youth apostolate in Albania today is the lack of work. “Most young people leave the country, to seek a better life abroad. That’s why the pastoral care that is requested of us is directed mainly at Albanian emigrants. In Albania itself we face great difficulty in proposing pastoral care, not only due to the difficulties of moving about the country, but especially because many of the young people who participate in the meetings we arrange, mainly persons who are already actively involved in the Church, sooner or later go abroad, they too, in the search for work. So not only is the country impoverished in precious human resources, but the pastoral efforts of the Church must constantly recommence from scratch”. Msgr. Massafra also reports his experiences of making pastoral visits to dioceses and encountering the joy of the young in being able to participate in emotional ecclesial events. “But all that is not enough to change the situation he emphasizes because the Church today gives spiritual bread and values but it cannot, nor is it her task, to give work and opportunities to prevent young people from emigrating. For my part I never let slip an occasion to appeal to the young to love their homeland more in order to serve it and help it to grow. The problem of emigration in Albania is serious and cannot be ignored in the diocesan pastoral ministry”. The practical responses with which the Albanian Church is trying to alleviate the problem include such initiatives as “laboratories of formation, vocational schools and Msgr. Massafra points out the ‘Workshop Project’ aimed at giving work to young people”.
