The Australian Young Christian Students (AYCS) have last week launched a (COVID-19) Pandemic Enquiry for secondary students in schools and parish youth groups throughout Australia.
In a statement released last week, the YCS highlighted that the recent Victorian lockdown, which originated from a single undetected infection contracted in a quarantine hotel in another State, brought home to all Australians the point that the COVID-19 pandemic remains an urgent and pressing national issue.
Shaping our Post-Pandemic World is a five-session enquiry for students in secondary schools and parish youth groups. It has been designed to engage as many students as possible, whether they are in the YCS or not.
The Pandemic Enquiry comprises five sessions which explore “How the Covid-19 Pandemic has affected me, my country and our world; why it should concern me; and what I might be able to do about its consequences”.
YSC Project Officer Lys Crowe said the Enquiry was written because the Pandemic has had such a momentous impact on the lives of many, especially students, whose goals and aspirations have been threatened and challenged.
“It is through a better understanding of how the Pandemic has affected our own lives that we may be able to understand how we, our nation, and the world, might respond to this new reality,” Ms Crowe said.
“The Pandemic Enquiry was developed with international and national perspectives – it takes up the frequently expressed concerns by Pope Francis,” she continued.
In the “Challenge to Action” session the Enquiry takes up the challenge in an article written by the President of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, Archbishop Mark Coleridge, on the need for, and the capacity of, Catholics and Catholic organisations throughout Australia to respond to the issues raised by the Pandemic.
In responding by video to the Enquiry, Archbishop Coleridge noted the Enquiry’s use of the “see, judge, act” methodology popularised by St John XXIII and its commitment to relationship and building communion between people. That commitment, he believes, is fundamental in helping “societies recover from the Pandemic and show us the way into the future”. He concluded:
“My hope and prayer is that if we can discover our shared humanity more, and more deeply, through the COVID-19 crisis and create new forms of solidarity, then we will come out the other side of this ordeal as better people and stronger communities,” Archbishop Coleridge said.
“This resource, the YCS Enquiry on a Catholic response to the Pandemic, is certainly an aid to that vision and I commend its use as widely as possible,” he said.
The Pandemic Enquiry and the Archbishop’s video response are at https://www.aycs.org.au/pandemic-enquiry