Church of St Joseph’s Youth Rally: Be the salt of the earth and light of the world

The Youth Rally of the Church of St Joseph made a comeback during the recent parish feast day celebrations.

May 26, 2023


By Andronicus Valentino Gonsalverz and Teren Anthonysamy
The Youth Rally of the Church of St Joseph made a comeback during the recent parish feast day celebrations. It was aimed at bringing back the spirit of the parish youth and encouraging them to serve in the parish. Seventy-two participants, aged 14 to 32, attended the two-day event.

Starting small last year, the youth ministry has grown tremendously. Alvina and Azra were tasked to establish a working group for the success of the event. The 13-member team looked to our patron saint for inspiration and mirrored this year’s Lenten campaign theme, Salt of the Earth and Light of the World for the rally.

Bro Philip Asirwalam (pic right), a seventh-year seminarian, spoke at two sessions. The first, Called to be Salt of the Earth, was an integration on what is Lay Vocation and next, Living as the Light of the World, correlated to Religious Vocation.

He later opened the floor for a Q&A session which the youth found informative and insightful.

Parishioner Benedict Savarimuthu conducted the final two sessions on day one. He spoke on Leaven of God's Kingdom, based on Matthew 13:33 in which Jesus shows that the kingdom will begin in the hearts of His followers and eventually grow to become the glorious kingdom the people were hoping for. Ben’s second session, Guided Adoration, was to teach youth how to sit in adoration before the Blessed Sacrament and worship the Lord.

The turnout was outstanding and the organisers were in disbelief. We were blessed, and thankful to those who took part and took their time in spreading the word on this rally and joining us.

We are grateful to our parish priest, Fr Frederick Joseph, our resident priest, Msgr James Gnanapi ragas am and Fr Anthony Madalaimuthu for being our advisors, providing us the insights that were needed and fulfilling our needs to ensure that this event would bring change.

From this rally, we have learned and understood the needs of our youth, we have received constructive criticism and feedback to improve upcoming events. With this spirit and foundation formed, we pledge to grow even bigger and join the likes of the other churches with a strong foundation.

Their success stories have inspired us and one day we shall inspire others to be like us. The Youth Rally has ended, but our journey in faith has just begun — we start as small as a mustard seed, but will someday grow into a big tree










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