Remain Connected, Remain Committed, Remain Church

Apr 23, 2015

By Nicholas Nathan Kuan
During the recent school holidays, the Youth Ministry of the Parish of St Francis of Assisi organised a Youth Retreat for their youth aged 18 to 21 years. Held at the Good Shepherd Church, March 20 - 22, the retreat themed Remain Connected, Remain Committed, Remain Church was designed to remind the youth of their continued commitment and mission as youth of the Parish. More often than not, the Form 4 and Form 5 Sunday school students look forward to their Confirmation as it means “graduating” from Sunday school, no more Catechism classes and the Ministries that each of them had pledged to serve as part of their Confirmation pre-requisite would be “abandoned” after Confirmation due to new commitments.

The facilitators gave their best and the participants definitely found the sessions enriching. The first session, after a round of ice-breaking and Praise & Worship, was on the topic Into the Real World. Here, Melvyn Kuan shared about what youth, especially school leavers, have to face when they move into the next phase of their life…college and pre-university life. We cannot run away from peer pressure and the many different trials that will come our way.

Remaining connected to God was indeed a “wake-up call” covered by Faustina Bok: We were made to realise that being busy is not good enough a reason for any one of us to not be able to find time to pray and to speak to God. We were reminded that as we move on in life, whether in college or at work, life will always be hectic and busy but we must always try to remain connected with God, even through simple prayers, wherever we may be.

On day two, we saw the working youth sharing about how their faith is always being put to the test in their daily working life. One was through the topic Mission Orientation by Edmund Kwok and the other was through a sharing session, The Real World Panel. It was indeed an eye-opener for the younger youth as we listened attentively and had an insight of what we may be facing when we step into working life in the near future. This was followed by the screening of the movie God’s Not Dead which tells about how a Christian college student, Josh, was challenged by his atheist lecturer to prove to the whole class that God is not dead.

After the day’s heavy session and Sunset Mass, day two ended with the Taize Prayer. It was indeed a very calm and relaxing evening, filled with prayer sessions with harmonised tunes, scripture readings and moments of silence with the Lord.

On the third and final day, Adrian Thomas spoke on Remaining a Catholic in a Secularized World. This was on the challenges faced by Catholic youth in today’s world. In his sharing, we were reminded that as Catholics, we are not bound to “go with the flow” and compromise our faith and beliefs but rather, to rise up to the challenges through strong perseverance and prayer. The last session for the day was by Joanne Kurian on Choosing a Ministry. She shared on how being part of a Ministry in the Parish can help us grow deeper in our faith. Four of our friends were invited to share their individual experiences on how being part of a Ministry had helped them to grow deeper in their faith.

It was indeed a weekend well spent. The organisers and facilitators deserve a pat on their backs. The participants did not only go home with a new Mission but with a commitment to be at the frontline of the Parish, encouraging more youths to be actively involved in the parish’s activities and be part of the Youth Ministry…it is from here that we can grow and REMAIN CONNECTED, REMAIN COMMITTED, REMAIN CHURCH.