Risen Christ Penang parishioners connect via weekly Zoom sessions

Oct 08, 2021

By A J Michael
Fr Arul Mariadas, OFM has been conducting hourly sharings every Thursday via Zoom to connect with his Risen Christ parishioners.

Some of the topics covered include Sacred Scripture, Creed (Profession of Faith), Catechism of the Catholic Church, Basic Ecclesial Community (BEC), Praying with the Bible, Faith Formation in the Family, Pious and Popular Devotional Practises, Church Fathers, Renewal in the Church and Caring for God’s Creation. The sessions have been well received by attendees and will continue into 2022. After each talk, participants are invited to share their experience or ask questions on the topic via a Google form, which Fr Arul addresses in the following session.

On Sept 25, the parish Youth Ministry organised a town hall session with Fr Arul as the panellist. Before the session, members were asked to fill out a questionnaire via Google form on issues related to family, romantic relations, friendship, sexuality, and mental health, as these are often topics youth will not discuss with parents, mentors, or friends.

Based on the anonymous replies, depression, body image, pre-marital sexual intercourse, pornography, betrayal, toxicity, peer pressure, infidelity, long-distance relationships, physically abusive partners / parents / guardians, poor co-parenting, feeling unloved by parents, sibling rivalry and a myriad of other issues were covered. Responses received were revealing and reflected real-life problems faced by today’s youth. Fr Arul dealt with each issue and advised participants based on the results and answers given by respondents.

Assistant Youth Leader Ruben Luke, who moderated the session, said: “The session was very good. We learnt about our everyday adolescent problems and how we can handle them. It was very nice to know that we are not alone when it comes to situations like this.”