March 2022
Hi, I'm Dom, the new Youth Pastoral Worker of St Mary's! I'm part of the Youth & Young Adults Office, working together with the parish friars, youth coordinators Nicholas & Geraldine, an advisory team for the safety and protection of young people, and a formation team of adults overseeing the faith and development of youths & young adults.
As a team, our Office leads the growth and development of the youth and young adults’ community in St Mary's. We want to enable and effect plans & ideas from young people to empower them to contribute more proactively to the parish community and build an ecosystem where they can feel safe, belonged and supported, and to grow in the likeness of Christ, our Shepherd and St Francis.
We would like to invite youth and young adults with the burning desire to serve the parish to come forward and share your ideas with us! We want to support and help see through those ideas and plans with you.
We currently have 7 groups under our care, and we are planning to set up 2 more soon.
Upcoming Programmes
You can look forward to the following programmes our Office has planned in the coming months:
11-14 March: A Youth Conference (based on Laudato Si') - to launch the start of all our programmes for this year
Lent (on Sundays): Journey to Golgotha - organised by San Giorgio
22 April, 7.30pm: Earth Day Youth Rally
End July: Youth Leaders Retreat - formation sessions to grow our young people and to build an evangelical community focused on relationships with God and others
If you would like to know more about the Youth and Young Adults Office and our programmes, or want to share your ideas for the youth of St Mary's, please reach out to me at youths.stmary@catholic.org.sg, or visit stmary.sg/youth. Hope to hear from you!
"We are not the sum of our weaknesses and failures, we are the sum of the Father's love for us and our real capacity to become the image of His Son, Jesus." - St Pope John Paul II
Reflection
Check out a reflection shared by one of San Giorgio's members on her experience of the Journey to Bethlehem sessions held during Advent last year:
Journey to Bethlehem was the chance for youths to (finally!) meet face-to-face in church. It was in this time of Advent that we wanted to focus on the journey towards the Crib. As organisers, we felt that for many of us, our faith had become rather stagnant. Journey to Bethlehem was an opportunity for us to meet companions on the journey as we sought the Christ child – the one who would bring hope to the world.
During the sessions, participants were invited to reflect upon the characters they resonated with, and to draw parallels between the character’s journey and their own personal faith journey. We made space in our busy lives to find Jesus and prepare our hearts to receive him.
It was heartening to see and hear the voices of youths, all gathered in one place. The buzz and excitement were palpable over the weeks, and this nudged us to look forward in anticipation to the birth of Christ. We took time to reflect and take stock of our lives over the year; to recall the highs and lows in our lives; to realise that we are not making the journey alone, but that there are others around us, and we can help each other on our journeys.
Now that we are in the season of Lent, we take this opportunity to reflect upon the journey Jesus made to his crucifixion on the cross. Journey to Golgotha is a time for us to experience the Passion of Christ more deeply, to uncover the mysteries of this familiar story which we hear year after year. Let us follow Jesus in his path and experience the joy of his resurrection, the promise of God fulfilled.
