Mission and Tasks of the Commission

Today’s globalized world is characterized by permanent and perpetual political, economic, social and technological changes. The latter strongly affect the future of the world and of the Church constituted by young people, in particular. Rwanda is not absent from the race. A significant number of young Rwandans are in a one-dimensional world in which one takes seriously only what seems useful and especially what offers immediate practical and technical results.

In addition, a category of young people lives in great relational instability, economic, religious and moral that often leads to insecurity about their future : unemployment, poverty, unsustainable relations, divorces...

Abbé Jean Léonald MUNYANGAJU, Secrétaire-CEPJ

To escape from this fear, and not knowing what sense to give to their lives, a significant number of young people make use of alienating experiences : alcohol, drugs, body worship tending to sexual vagrancy, religious sects or movements that promise miraculous answers to the problems of life, etc.

On this point, the Roman Catholic Church in Rwanda has the immense duty to help all these categories of young people to find security and give meaning to their lives. It is called to secure these young people through an adapted and inclusive educational pastoral. Updating the educational project that fuses faith, life, and culture will go a long way towards seeing the Church not as an institution but as a familiar and intimate environment where youth meet the Lord.

The strategies to be developed consist in reinforcing and intensifying its presence in the educational and work environment of young people : primary and secondary schools, higher education institutions, associations, cooperatives and youth movements.

The Episcopal Commission for Education and Youth has the duty to help the Bishops of the CEPR to :
 Conduct studies on youth challenges and education in Rwanda,
 Propose the contribution of the Catholic Church in Rwanda on policies and durable solutions on education and youth ;
 Collaborate with the government authorities to define a better educational policy and a better integration of young people in the active life of society ;
 Define a pastoral to implement for the promotion of education and secularization of young people from different backgrounds : primary schools, secondary schools, universities and higher education institutions, associations and youth cooperatives ;
 Collaborate with parents and educators for better education of young and old ;
 Promote the teaching of the Catholic religion in primary and secondary schools,
 Make proposals, monitor and evaluate Catholic identity in Catholic schools ;
 To carry out a pastoral animation in the schools of basic education and institutions of higher education,
 Encourage Catholic initiatives in universities and higher education institutions,
 Develop and organize pastoral animation in associations, cooperatives and youth movements and other environments and structures (formal or informal) that welcome young people,
 Initiate and / or support meetings and other pastoral youth events at the local, regional and international levels ;
 Promote pastoral care that helps young people become the first apostles of young people.

Members of the Commission

Office Addresses