Challenges of Globalization on Catholic Youth Venito Colaco Introduction The very title, “Challenges of Globalization on Catholic Youth” seeks to elaborate the challenges posed by globalization on our catholic youth today and tries to seek answers in the context of globalization as to why the youth of today avoid the Church. Is it Globalization that is to be blamed or the Catholic Church? The younger generation today is much ahead and advanced due to Globalization. It has made the lives of the younger generation look like heaven and it has also created a secret hell that the young are slowly moving towards to. Today globalization poses a great challenge to the youth of today as individuals or as a group which directly or indirectly affect their life; for instance their personality, identity, purpose and faith. This paper seeks to bring to light some of key effects of globalization on today’s young catholic generation and how the Catholic Church as a universal family can accompany these youngsters to face such challenges. 1. Who are the Youth? “Youth is the pollen that blows through the sky and does not ask why.” 1 Youth is best understood as a period of transition from the dependence of childhood to adulthood’s independence. The United Nation defines Youth as those persons between the age group of 15-24 years. 2 Youth is also defined in terms of appearance, freshness, vigor, spirit. 3 Youth is a stage, where in young people undergo very disturbing changes at various depths of their personalities- physical, intellectual, emotional and spiritual. This transition means surrendering the ownership by parents and entering into ones one’s self – possession - a period of searching, questioning, doubting and fraught with its successes as well as failures. 4 Youth is also the age of rebellion and experimentation where the youth are easily carried away by social pressure, peer pressure and various other factors. There are age old clichés 1 Stephen Benet Vincent, John Brown's Body,(Chicago Elephant Paperback y. Chicago:1928, 22 2 United Nation, “Definition of Youth,” http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/documents/youth/fact-sheets/youth- definition.pdf, accessed August 4, 2018 3 Benson Valiyaveettil sfx, “ Leading Youth to Jesus Christ,” Euntes Docete, 18 ( March, 2014), 45 4 Kimberly Dias, “Globalization, A youth Phenomena? A generation Gap,” Euntes Docete, 11, (2006-07), 72