By Matters India Reporter

Mawtawiang, Oct. 28, 2018: The Franciscan Youth Federation (FYF) of India has recently conducted a four-day national training for young people of northeast to help them face modern challenges.

More than 300 Christian, Hindu and Muslim youth attended the program held in Mawtawiang, an interior remote rural mission in Meghalaya. They came from Arunachal Pradesh and Assam, besides Meghalaya.

The FYF held its eleventh annual national assembly as well as residential training October 19-21.

The training focused on various socioeconomic, religious-cultural, psycho-spiritual concerns of youth as well as society.

The participants were divided into 14 units and each group was asked to focus on a theme such as: helping the poor and destitute, causes of broken families, Ill effects of mobile and mobile addiction, alcohol addiction, causes of broken families, easy money and fashion, secularism and anti-religious mentality, addiction to TV serials, movies and crime against women and children.

The program comprised input sessions, group discussions, praise and worship along with cultural programs.

Brother Hermon provincial of the Congregation of the Missionary Brothers of St. Francis of Assisi, Brother Colintius, coordinator and Capuchin Father Nithya Sagayam animated the training program. The local state legislator Lyndoh inaugurated the training.

The northeastern states are neglected in industrial growth. The Congregation of Missionaries of Franciscan of Assisi (known as Borivily Brothers) has striven to change the situation with education, motivation, evangelization and holistic welfare, in the past 11 years.

The FYF network has also offered variety of social involvement through relief works, medical help to the sick, free tuition to the children, principle-centered youth motivational gatherings, concern for the poorest and downtrodden through charity activities.

The participants proposed the following after group discussions and deliberations. “We shall work on personal and collective vision and mission in life; we shall work for socioeconomic welfare of our people through our involvements; we shall have and promote principle-centered and God-centered life style; we shall focus on self-discipline with time management and we shall be prudent in the use of social media, TV Serials and avoid time wasters.”