ULAANBAATAR (UCAN) -- It can be embarrassing and even "unnatural" for Mongolians to speak the word "love" in public, but Catholic missioners recently spent a week openly discussing the topic at a youth camp.

One of the 120 campers, 18-year-old Monkhtsetseg, blushed as she explained: "We Mongolians hardly ever say 'I love you.' It is quite unnatural for us to talk about love, even if it is always on our minds." She was attending such a youth camp for the first time. Like most Mongolians, she uses just one name.

The venue for the July 15-22 gathering was part of the public Yanzaga park that the local Church rented for the occasion. The campsite is in the middle of green valleys and lush forests, 20 kilometers north of Ulaanbaatar.

Consolata Father Ernesto Biscardi, one of the organizers, told UCA News the "God is love" theme "gave youth leaders and youth commission members a chance to incorporate practical issues in their teaching." The Italian missioner said the plan was to help youngsters think about various aspects of love, human and divine, and to consider ways they could learn to express love in daily life.

The speakers, mostly missioners, focused on different aspects of the theme each day, Father Biscardi said, "but on the day we discussed Christian family, we invited Catholic couples to share their experiences and answer questions."

For Azjargal, 19, that "family day" was the most helpful. He told UCA News, "Most of us are preparing or at least thinking about marriage and family, so it was useful to learn how other Catholics manage their marriages."

Bayaraa, an 18-year-old youth baptized this past Easter, said he developed a real enthusiasm to talk to people who have yet not heard of God. "My family is not religious," he said. "They accept that I am a Catholic because they do not condemn any religion, and my friends do not mind I am a Christian."

"Nowadays," he continued, "almost everyone somehow hears and knows something about Jesus because Christianity is steadily spreading in Mongolia." However, "even if many people hear about Christianity," he added, "they do not really know God. I would like to teach people how to pray."

Enkh-Oyu told UCA News she also wants to share the love of God with others. The enthusiastic 18-year-old girl said, "I want to spread God's love to all, and teach catechism and have a holy family by marrying a Catholic. I want to learn and know more about God all my life."

Attending the camp with the young Mongolians were 21 Korean seminarians and 10 missioners. The summer program has been a regular event for five years.

The Catholic Church in Mongolia and South Korea's Catholic Church are closely linked. Seminarians from Taejeon diocese in South Korea attend various activities in Mongolia as part of their practical mission training.

The diocese sent the first Korean missionary priest to Mongolia in 1997, and the Seoul-based apostolic nuncio to Korea has been the nuncio to Mongolia since 1992. That year, missioners began to enter the country for the first time after the Soviet Union's 70-year dominance over Mongolia came to an end.

Kim Min-su, a Korean seminarian, told UCA News his first "immersion" in the mission field was enlightening. "I had a chance to experience a completely different culture, different youth and different customs."

He also noticed, he said, that "some youths and children who are really very poor and suffering a lot, but their minds are very pure. I was really touched to see children and youths praying and singing really sincerely."

Father Biscardi said the youth commission began advertising the camp six months before it began. "The real cost for each participant was US$35, but we could not expect so much from them. Our youths are mostly from families who live far below the poverty line, so the parishes sponsored their members."

At the same time, however, the organizers wanted the youngsters to learn to shoulder at least some of the camp costs on their own, so "several of them worked and saved up the US$7 we asked from each participant," he said.

Enkh-Baatar, a youth leader who helped organize the event, elaborated the point. "More than half of Mongolia's people do live under the poverty line and most youths coming to Church are in that half," he told UCA News. "Sometimes, they have no money even for transport. Thus, many cannot always come to church because they must help their family and try to work while on school vacation."

But poverty is not the hardest problem for young Mongolian Catholics, Enkh-Baatar added. The greater problem, he said, is that while Christianity spreads more widely, many people disapprove because most Mongolians are Buddhists and many of them have some misunderstanding about Catholics and Christianity.

Moreover, Enkh-Baatar added, many older folks, who are revered in Mongolian society, still believe in communism. So, while some youths may greatly desire to come to church, they cannot because parents do not allow them, he said.

To support Mongolian Catholic youths, he concluded, "We need stronger faith, and we must provide different educational programs and activities, such as clubs, seminars or debates. That could be perfect for our Church youths."

He then asserted his hope. "Even if the Mongolian Catholic Church is small and young, it is built on the foundation of our youth. I hope and believe this foundation will be firm enough to last into eternity."

Mongolia's 345 Catholics are spread among three parishes. About half of the country's 2.8 million people are Buddhists, and another 40 percent have no official religious affiliation. Christians and shamanists together comprise another 6 percent, and Muslims account for about 4 percent.

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