'Youth should shoulder responsibility'

They should take up the role of dedicated leaders, which is lacking in the society, knowing their duties as good citizens well.

Chief guest of the programme Justice Michael Saldanha said that youth should stop shrugging their shoulders saying nothing can be done to change the world and should dream of the impossible dreams.

“The country is passing through a crucial period of time where there is corruption, violence and unrest everywhere. It is said that there is no need of a leader during peaceful time but it is during the crisis that the need for leader is felt and ordinary men should be in the position to transform themselves into leaders,” he said and called upon the people to fight against injustice in any form.

Reiterating words of Martin Luther King, Justice Saldanha said that misfortunes and tragedies need not always have their link to evil but it is always due to the ‘silence of the good’ that evil forces thrive on.

“We are committing the mortal sin of cowardice. We do not speak out when it is necessary but now time has come when we can not afford to be silent anymore because we are started think of all the evil around us as part of life,” he said and added that it needs moral courage and perseverance to speak out against injustice.

Mangalore Bishop Dr Aloysius Paul D’Souza said that youth at present are becoming easy targets and victims of vested interest to execute destructive activities because of poverty, unemployment and various other factors.

St Aloysius College Principal Swebert D’Silva, Provincial Superior Sister Olivia, Catholic Board of Education Secretary Fr Wilson D’Souza, Federation President Alan Prajwal among others were present on the occasion.