His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel addressed the participants in Romania’s Youth Gala held last Saturday in Târgu Jiu, the city bearing this year’s title of capital of Youth in Romania.

The Romanian Youth Gala took place on November 18, 2023, at the “Constantin Brancusi” University Auditorium in Targu Jiu, as organised by the Ministry of Family, Youth, and Equal Opportunities. The Gala served as a platform to recognise the youth’s significant impact on community development through their participation in projects and initiatives across diverse domains of interest to their generation.

In his message titled “The joy of seeing beautiful projects bear fruit,” His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel pointed to the various youth programs carried out by the Church. He called for support for “the aspirations for good and beauty of the young generation” since society guides young people and cultivates their confidence to love perennial spiritual, moral and cultural values.

The joy of seeing beautiful projects bear fruit: full text

The organization of the 8th edition of the Romanian Youth Gala represents a new opportunity to highlight the activities that young people have carried out so far and establish new projects that contribute to promoting Christian values in contemporary society.

Advancing on the path of their own development by participating in the spiritual and social life of the communities they belong to, young people discover new sources of spiritual joy and the formation of their personality.

The young generation’s aspirations for good and beauty must be supported by the whole society, which is responsible for guiding the youth and cultivating their confidence to love perennial spiritual, moral and cultural values.

The Family, the Church and the School have to provide a Christian education to young people to cultivate faith as the light of daily life, as well as love for God and people.

By utilising its available infrastructure, the Romanian Orthodox Church offers young people the necessary space and the opportunity to develop their assumed capacity for participation in a creative process with a purpose well determined by the formation of their personality.

Through the youth programs carried out by the Church both in the country and abroad, including camps, pilgrimages, scholarships, and many social activities developed in the parishes, young people have the chance to cultivate confidence in themselves and their peers, respect and love for people and nature, strengthening their community life, Christian solidarity, friendship, belonging and respect for the Church, national identity and dignity in international dialogue.

At the level of the Romanian Patriarchate, the intensification and multiplication of youth activities is a priority, with the following objectives:

providing a framework conducive to the personal growth of young people as members of the Church, through which they learn to communicate, interact and develop harmoniously;
offering an alternative to the methods of spending free time promoted by the secularised society;
promoting social responsibility among young people;
engaging youth in the coordination of volunteer initiatives within the dioceses from which they originate;
formation of youth teams to develop youth programs under the guidance of diocesan centres;
Educating youth about the specifics of each region of Romania.

Dear young people, we encourage you to cultivate with joy the love for the Christian family, which can only be sanctified in the Church because here, it has the value of an icon of Christ’s love for humanity. At the same time, the saints of the Church are models of life in Christ and intercessors for all the world’s young people.

We congratulate the organizers and bless all the participants in the 8th edition of the Romanian Youth Gala, wishing you all health, joy, peace and much help from God!

With fatherly blessings,

† DANIEL
Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church

Photography courtesy of Basilica.ro Files