A new way to reach the young

May 31, 2020

SANDAKAN: The COVID-19 pandemic has really affected our way of living.  We need to strictly adhere to all the important instructions of the Malaysian government, especially on ‘social distancing’.

Until and unless a vaccine is found, social distancing prevails. In view of this, all youth programmes that had been planned for 2020 will be postponed until further notice.  It is shocking but we need to adapt to the new situation immediately.

All this while, we have been so used to meetings with the young people without being worried when we hugged and had conversations with one another.

But this time around, none of these activities will be happening. So the question is, how should we continue to do pastoral work among our young people and conduct faith formation programmes when social distancing is required?

To address this issue, members of the Diocesan Youth Apostolate met via online using Google Meet for the very first time. It was a bit weird but at the same time, we were excited to experience a new style for meeting.

During the meeting, everyone shared their experiences during the MCO.  There is no doubt  that it was challenging but everyone agreed that to overcome the  changes as a result of COVID-19, the standard operating procedures (SOP) from the authorities needed to be followed.  The members also discussed ways to  reach the young people during the MCO.

Currently, all communication is done online and most of the members are not used to doing this. However, the situation is such that they are encouraged to learn and to explore ‘how to do it’. 

One of the members also shared on how the Youth Commission in other dioceses are reaching out to the young people via the Internet.  The online discussion was fruitful. The members also decided to do a live stream Taize prayer, whilst at the same time adhering to all SOPs.

The meeting adjourned at 10.00pm with a closing prayer by Fr. Dafrinn Diwol.--Newsupdatedospo