While technology and the internet in particular has transformed lives, broken all forms of barriers inhibiting human interaction and made activities seamless and quick, it has presented a major challenge to religious sects like the Catholic Church.
According to Rev. Fr. Samuel Atinga, an Administrator at the Bolgatanga Sacred Parish of the Catholic Church, the Orthodox church now has the herculean task of competing with the internet, movies and other technological inventions for the attention of the youth whom the church should be training in the ways of God.
Rev. Fr. Atinga argued that in the olden days when these technological inventions were not available, it was easier to bring youngsters closer to God.
However, the advent of these inventions courtesy science and technology has become a distraction to the youth, making it difficult for the church to help them grow in their faith and be devoted to the teachings of the lord.
“I remember that when I was a young person growing up, the parish was the centre for the youth. And when we came home from school, we got up in the morning, if you have nothing to do at home, we gather at the parish center with tutors, with youth groups and societies that helped us to grow and develop properly,” he stated.
“Today, there many distractions. And it is not just the Catholic, all other organizations. Our phones, the internet, movies. All sort of things that when we were growing, we didn’t have. So for that reason, the difficulty in putting young people together and informing is a real challenge”.
Nevertheless, he indicated that the church has adopted innovative measures to ensure that the younger generation is not influenced these developments to go astray.
Rev. Fr. Atinga said this in an interview on Breakfast News in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Sacred Heart Cathedral Parish in Bolgatanga.
He stated that regardless of the challenges confronting the church and its human shortcomings, it has been able to contribute positively to the development of society.
On why the church is losing a chunk of its members to charismatic Christian sects, he explained, “some feel that maybe they are not getting enough and so they think they can get enough from other places”.
He continued, “Some have various reasons that they are leaving and going to other churches. And it has to be underscored that you know and I know that almost every day, churches are springing up everywhere – in classrooms, in open places etc. That also opens possibilities for people to say ‘oh I feel better this way or that way’”.
Rev. Fr. Atinga rejects the notion that the Christian youth are not willing to offer themselves to the service of God.
He argued although such lifelong commitments have become undesirable for many in the present day, there are others are putting themselves forward to serve as priests and priestesses.
