Numbers at CYM events are on the up and up.
By Robert Hiini
The outlook for Catholic Youth Ministry’s upcoming “Hope” Conference looks good, with 100 young people attending their “Sunday Sesh” on June 21 at Holy Spirit Parish in City Beach.
After an introduction of games, attendees heard from veteran youth minister and recent Papal Award recipient Fr John O’Reilly who answered the question “Bread or Jesus?”, explaining the doctrine of transubstantiation and competing theories throughout history.
Participants got a chance to experience the reality of what they had learnt with 25 minutes of Eucharistic Adoration, featuring music and Scripture reading, following a DVD presentation from Lifeteen in the US.
Catholic Youth Ministry are currently finalising the line-up of speakers at their World Youth Day anniversary conference – entitled ‘Hope’ after Pope Benedict XVI’s second encyclical Spe Salvi or Saved in Hope – which will take place July 15 -19 at Chisholm Catholic College in Bedford.
The conference for youth and young adults, from 15 years-of-age upwards, will feature talks from Archbishop Barry Hickey, Auxiliary Bishop Don Sproxton, Bronia Karniewicz and other speakers in an event that CYM says will feature live music, games, stalls and giveaways.
The conference will also include workshops facilitated by Caritas, the Respect Life Office, Young Vinnies and Vocations Director, Fr Thai Vu, among others. The agency’s Sunday Sesh initiative is held once a month at a north-of-the-river parish and a south-of-the-river parish over two consecutive weeks, with the last “southern” Sunday Sesh held at the Basilica of St Patrick, Fremantle on June 14. With the exception of last week’s event, the average attendance at CYM’s Sunday Sesh events had been around 70.
CYM’s youth ministry worker, Olivia Lavis, described the crowd at their City Beach Sunday Sesh as “an interesting mesh of people from all over” with participants coming from the parishes of Whitfords, North Beach and Mt Lawley among others.
Olivia Lavis coordinates the northern parish event while her colleague Catherine Martinez – who also doubles as CYM’s media coordinator – organises the Sunday Sesh in southern parishes.
Every month, both CYM staffers meet with parish representatives from their respecitve areas to provide formation and networking opportunities to parish youth leaders. All but 10 of the parishes in the north metropolitan area and 14 south of the river have nominated a youth representative for the meetings.
To register for the Hope Conference or for more information on CYM events visit
www.cym.com.au or phone 9422 7912.