Lent Images
April 13, 2020Mother of God Church – Palle By Prof. Marcellus D’Souza
July 11, 2023
Addressing the youth of the parish on the occasion of Annual Youth day 2022, our parish priest, Fr. Raymond Rumao, emphasized the phrase, ✨“The youth is the power of the church.”✨ This phrase was exactly what had led to the initiation of this program. After a long break of about two years, it was time to get the youth together and celebrate the unity of the youth of the Roman Catholic church. We had all been fragmented and isolated due to the clutches of the pandemic. All the activities that we had been engaging in for years were now left on the shelf. Now that the restrictions were being eased, the youth group backed by our Youth Director, Fr. Nobel Main started executing a plan of action for a gathering which would indicate ‘back to normalcy.’ And it is our pride and pleasure as the Youth Group of Mother of God Church Palle to call it a grand success.
After a series of meetings and discussions, we had the event planned and the brochure ready. Flyers were sent across villages/zones to spread the word about the program. In response to this, about a hundred and fifty youth had gathered in the church hall on Sunday, 6th March 2022 to participate in the annual event. The program commenced with a welcome speech by Fr. Nobel and the youth took over thereafter. There was a fun ice-breaker activity conducted to kickstart the event which was followed by designating groups to the participants.
The synod announced by Pope Francis calls for us Christians to walk together and listen patiently in communion with each other. In the groups, the participants were asked to unmitigated conversations among each other to familiarise with similar interest. This activity has proven to increase the bonding between the youth of our parish and also gifted new friends to many. Action songs are just a mandate to lighten the mood at events. Our youth had practiced hook steps of some popular action songs and led the audience into shaking a leg in celebration. Later, Fr. Raymond took to the pedestal to address the youth. He spoke about the youth as being the pillar of church. Father had all the terms simplified and had everyone’s attention captivated though the videos he showed. All in all, Father’s session was highly insightful and interactive. Next in line was Shirley Simieon, a parish council member and an active member at church. Shirley introduced the gathered youth to the basics of the synod and asked them to meditate upon their perception of the church. The youth were then asked to get back into their groups for a quiz round. Fr. Nobel along with his team of youth conducted a quiz based on the Bible and other synod related trivia.
We concluded the session with quick spot prizes and other games. A prize distribution round for the winners of the games and quiz followed. Fr. Baptist Dabre did the honours of giving out the prizes to the ones who aced. To bid adieu, the youth were gifted a rosary and a bookmark with a caricature and a prayer to St. Gonsalo Garcia, the patron saint of vasai.
It was an afternoon full of energy and enthusiasm and we look forward to more such gatherings and activities in the near future.