Youth Apostolate

Rev. Fr. Joseph Odongo

Youth Apostolate

The Diocesan Youth Apostolate/Department/Ministry is a Pastoral department that operates under the Diocesan Pastoral Directorate. It has been in existence since the inception of the diocese in August 1998. The department was established to address the moral and spiritual needs of the youth in the Diocese. The department focuses on all youths; in the parishes, in schools, colleges and universities.

CDK has a Diocesan youth office that acts as a coordinating platform of all the activities of the youth, both in and out of school. The office is headed by a Youth coordinator who work hand in hand with other priests who are Youth and schools chaplains.
Since inception, the youth department has had five different coordinators from 1999 namely; Rev. Fr. Werunga, Ms. Leah Wairicu, Mr. Boniface Mmen, Mr. Silas Sum, Mr. Stanley Siakilo, and currently Rev. Fr. Joseph Odongo.

Mission: To enhance spiritual growth among the youths and improve their quality of life.

The department has since then grown in membership, activities and movements. It started with one general movement that consolidated both the youth in and out of schools under the same program and activities between 1998 and 2004. Since the year 2004, the Youth Apostolate department has grown into two separate movements, namely; the Youth In Parishes (YIP) and Young Christian Students (YCS).

This classification of the youth later demanded for the introduction of two more movements based on the different needs of different groups. The YIP was further sub-divided into two i.e. the YIP and the Catholic Young adults (CYA) while the YCS gave birth to the Catholic Students Association (CSA).

According to the 2014 revised Kenya Catholic youth constitution, a youth is defined as any unmarried or married person aged between 13 years and 35 years. This explains the dynamism in the different needs of the groups above. Thus, each group must be handled differently with emphasis on enhancing transition and sustainability.

The CSA comprises of all Catholic youth in tertiary learning institutions i.e. colleges, universities, technical colleges etc. and are coordinated by a CSA Patron appointed by the school.

The YCS comprises of all the students who are in secondary schools from Form one to Form Four and are coordinated by a YCS Patron.

The YIP comprises of all the unmarried youth aged between the age of 13 years to 24years and are in the parishes.

CYA comprises of all the married and unmarried youth, literate/illiterate, employed/unemployed between the ages 25years to 35 years.

Each movement has its own Slogan or Motto as follows:

Movement                        Slogan

  1. YIP –           Youth Information, Transformation and Formation.
  2. YCS –           See, Judge, Act, Evaluate and Plan.
  3. CSA –           Informing the mind, Soul and Spirit.
  4. CYA –           Journeying together for transition.
Ongoing Projects

Goals and Visions of the Youth Apostolate

  1. To promote integral formation of the youth; challenging and enabling them through the Gospel of Christ and social teachings of the church, to live a more spiritual life and become economically self-reliant.
  2. To have youths who are morally upright, spiritually well-nourished with a fully developed culture of love, unity, friendship, hope, honesty and willing to share
  3. To have a Diocesan Youth Apostolate that is adequately endowed with resources to enable it deliver quality services to youths in the Diocese.
  4. To have youth groups that are morally self-supporting and financially self-sustaining
  5. To have fully established awareness programs for all youths in and out of school.

Main Functions

  1. Foster Christian faith/spiritual faithfulness and values among the youths.
  2. Enhance self-awareness, knowledge and maturity among the youths.
  3. Empower youths economically to ensure self-reliance and sustainability, through establishment of Income Generating Activities (IGAs).
  4. Foster peer evangelization amongst the youth through evangelization programs.
  5. Foster social interaction and recreation amongst the youth.
  6. Improve coordination and communication within the diocese through routine visitations.
  7. Coordinate, animate and conscientize all the youth activities in the diocese.
  8. Identify, develop and utilize the different talents, gifts and abilities of youths in the various realms of life.
  9. Promote a Christian culture of love, unity, honesty and sharing among youth.
  10. Promote pastoral care, develop and promote the spirit of apostleship and mission.
  11. Foster cohesion, understanding and good relations between youths and adults in society.