Fifteen Vocation Promoters from Australia, Cambodia, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia-Singapore, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand and Timor-Leste gathered in Bangkok from February 7 to 11 to learn more about young people and to discover new ways of promoting vocations in the region.
This year’s meeting responded to the call of the bishops in their recent Synod to walk with the young especially in the area of vocational discernment. “The young are called to make constant choices that give direction to their lives; they express the desire to be heard, recognized, accompanied.” (Final Document, XV Synod of Bishops, 8.)
Gino Borromeo, the Chief Strategy Officer of McCann Worldgroup Philippines, presented a cross-cultural study on the youth, “The Truth About Youth.” He said that despite the fast-moving world of social media and technology, three enduring human truths about being young remain true today as they ever were.
“If we think about these three truths: finding yourself, finding your people and finding your place in the world – the fundamentals of being a young person haven’t changed,” said Borromeo. However, he continued, that the context of how people approach these goals has been completely reimagined.
The study revealed that the notion of needing to “find oneself” has transcended generations. Young people are desperately trying to “figure things out” and specifically, “figure out” what kind of person they are. It also re-discovered how, for young people, friends are everything and “finding one’s people” or a group of people to hang around with is the key to finding oneself and one’s happiness. Meanwhile, finding one’s place in the world remains relevant across eras, including this generation. This is a time for them to figure out their values, their passions and their ideals.
Borromeo reminded the group that as Jesuits, we have something valuable to offer them: the gift of discernment. According to him, this generation values “wisdom figures” citing that 71 per cent of the youth would follow the advice of those 55 years old and above.
While living as a religious seems to be a challenging task, many young people may still find this attractive as this life responds to their need to pursue their passions and live a meaningful life. With that in mind, he advised the vocation promoters to be creative in promoting the Jesuit vocation.
Ria Limjap, Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific Consultant for Communications, gave some helpful tips on effectively telling our stories in the context of promoting vocations. “Behind every Jesuit is a great story,” she reminded the group, citing the importance of building a narrative for vocation promotions.
She added that conversion stories of Jesuits and stories of missionary Jesuits can be accompanied by compelling narratives and photos to further enhance their effectiveness in promoting vocations to the Society. She also showed examples of using pop culture to create effective promotional materials.
On our last day, we visited the Candidacy house in Sam Phran, Thailand and interacted with the candidates.
Filipino Jesuit Fr Eric Anthony Escandor is the Convener of Vocation Directors in the Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific.