Members of the Catholic Youth Federation in Kandy, central Sri Lanka, are going house to house in rural areas to garner support for their movement and increase membership. Wasanth Ramalingam, a member, pointed out that many young people, especially in the vast tea estates, loiter aimlessly, talk with friends, watch movies and do nothing constructive. The movement hopes to get these young people to be more focused and live a constructive life. “We have a prayer service with them while visiting the houses and convince their parents to help them join the group,” said Ramalingam. The federation has been undertaking this venture for the past two months. “This is the fifth time we have done this. We organize certain programs and activities,” said Thilan George, president of the federation. Some of their programs include ways to pray, avoid drugs and alcohol and ways to seek employment. Kandy diocese has about 85,000 Catholics or a little more than 3 percent of the mostly Buddhist population there. SR14371