Gearing towards PDYD 5

Approximately 40 youths, aged 16 to 26, gathered on Sunday, May 8 for the parish level Youth Day Celebration at the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (NVBM). The event was geared towards introducing and garnering a response to the Fifth Penang Diocesan Youth Day (PDYD 5) from Oct 21-24.

May 13, 2022


BUTTERWORTH:
Approximately 40 youths, aged 16 to 26, gathered on Sunday, May 8 for the parish level Youth Day Celebration at the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (NVBM). The event was geared towards introducing and garnering a response to the Fifth Penang Diocesan Youth Day (PDYD 5) from Oct 21-24.

It began with an introduction by Nicholas Ooi, the NBVM Youth Leader and the opening prayer by Fr Dominic Santhiyagu. This was followed by a multilingual Praise and Worship session by Brenda and team.

After a short break where participants were served with light refreshments, they had a sharing session with Jason Tioh, who has served six years in the Youth Office at the Penang Diocesan Youth Network (PDYN). Jason’s sharing touched on how Pope John Paul II was the pioneer of World Youth Day, which first began in Brazil. He emphasised that PDYD was the local equivalent of World Youth Day, initiated by PDYN.

He further elaborated that PDYD 5, with the theme, “Mary arose and went with haste, Luke: 1:39” is all about empowering young people, being united and walking with faith.

Jason reminded everyone that the PDYD Cross, which consists of five parts representing five states, namely Perlis, Kedah, Penang, Perak and Kelantan, is not just a tangible, visible reminder of the event but something much deeper. He illustrated how Jesus came into our midst, and pointed out that Mother Mary was an icon and a good example to follow.

Then, a game session was conducted by Lawrence Soon, NBVM Bahasa Youth Leader, to help the participants meet and make new friends.

The event concluded with the Gospel of John by Fr Dom, who shared his experience of attending one of the World Youth Day celebrations.

Overall, Fr Dom was happy that this gathering took place, since the pandemic had prevented many such gatherings for the past two years. He hopes to see young people coming together for the Deanery Level of Youth Day Celebration on May 14, before PDYD 5.

Similarly, Nicholas was content that many youths turned up for the event, saying it was a good start with simple activities in the wake of the upcoming event. He further described that he was hoping for the best as a lot of work goes into organising and preparing for the Deanery Celebration and around 100 youths have registered for it. -- nbvmscic.org

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