Basic Ecclesial Communities (BEC) Involvement and its Relation to the Spiritual Growth of the Filipino Urban Youth

Authors

  • Milagros Cortez-Arrevillaga University of Santo Tomas, Philippines Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.63931/pasrj.21.6

Keywords:

youth involvement, spiritual growth, BEC, basic ecclesial communities, Metro Manila Parishes

Abstract

This research endeavors to describe the involvement of a selected group of Catholic Filipino youth in Basic Ecclesial Communities (BECs) and how such involvement contributes to their spiritual growth. The BEC has been integrated by some of the parishes in Metro Manila Area in their respective systems to mobilize manpower and enhance people involvement through the grassroot-level of evangelization. Utilizing the purposive sampling method, the researcher worked with the youth of Sagrada Familia Parish (Caloocan City), Sta. Quiteria Parish (Novaliches City) and San Jose Agudo Parish (Quezon City).

Youth involvement was measured based on the length of membership in the BEC. Indicators of spiritual growth were incorporated in the survey questionnaires, with subscales on thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. The researcher-made instrument was content-validated by an expert in the BEC. It was also pre-tested and shown to have a correlation coefficient of 0.824.

Results of the survey indicate that involvement of the youth in BEC has a weak correlation to their spiritual growth. Benefits gained from community involvement, areas for improvement, and recommendations were threshed out in a Focus Group Discussion conducted for the three (3) represented communities.

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Published

2025-04-05 — Updated on 2025-06-30

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Vol. 2 No. 1 (2016): PASR Journal: Religion in the 21st Century: National Canopy Forum on Theory, Methods, and Research

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How to Cite

Cortez-Arrevillaga, M. (2025). Basic Ecclesial Communities (BEC) Involvement and its Relation to the Spiritual Growth of the Filipino Urban Youth. Philippine Association for the Sociology of Religion Journal, 2(1), 1-30. https://doi.org/10.63931/pasrj.21.6 (Original work published 2025)