Youths joining gangs reveal social fragmentation, Archbishop Aguer warns

La Plata, Argentina, Dec 10, 2008 / 20:51 pm

Archbishop Hector Aguer of La Plata in Argentina has called for attention and care for young people who feel driven to join gangs, saying the problem represents “a dangerous phenomenon of social fragmentation.”

 

“In fact, the issue of gangs is today the object of special consideration and debate,” the archbishop said during his program “Keys to a Better World.” “There are very serious studies in this area, about what it means as a problem of social psychology related to the family, the educational system and in general, to the very fabric of society,” he said.

 

Young people who have healthy relationships with their families do not need to join these gangs, and many Argentinean young people are not a part of them, he said.  “I think most teens and young people live their lives normally.  They surely have their problems like we all did,” but they are connected to the associations that are “proper and natural to society.”

 

He stressed that strengthening the family and providing young people with ways to “develop themselves culturally, to play sports and engage in healthy interaction” would “contribute to building the future of Argentinean society.