Liberty took centre stage at the recent 35th Annual Flame Ministries International Congress from 17 to 19 January at John 23rd College, Mount Claremont.
The esteemed speakers who delivered various sessions during the event included St Charles Seminary Vice-Rector and Vocations Director, Fr Joseph Laundy, Catholic Youth Ministry Director, Adam Phillips, former Flame Ministries Senior Director, Kaye Rollings and current FMI Senior Director, Cyrus D’Souza.
The Eucharist was celebrated by Fr Tadeusz Seremet SDS, while the praise and worship were led by Carlos Moreira.
The speakers also touched on the Jubilee year, which is a time of pilgrimage, prayer, reconciliation, and spiritual renewal.
The tradition of the Jubilee originated in ancient Jewish custom, with the word ‘Jabal’ meaning ram’s horn or trumpet. The Jubilee was celebrated about every 50 years, and was a time when slaves were set free, and all debts were cancelled.
The 2025 Year of Jubilee, as declared by Pope Francis, presents an opportunity to express our freedom and liberty within the bounds of the church.
In his catechesis, Fr Joseph Laundy spoke about the concept of freedom as it relates to Christian teachings and human purpose.
He described freedom as a double-edged sword; while it offers autonomy, a lack of guiding principles can lead to chaos and self-destruction.
He explained that in secular society, freedom is often defined as doing what feels right without regard to consequences, which raises the question on of whether this is true freedom.
Fr Joseph proposed a deeper understanding of freedom, described as “freedom for others,” suggesting that true liberation comes through self-giving and sacrificial love, as exemplified by Jesus Christ.
This paradox highlights that by serving others, individuals discover their true selves and attain genuine freedom.
CYM Director Adam Phillips discussed living a life for liberty, a concept that emphasised the importance of being open to God’s call in our lives.
He shared that he was born into a Catholic family, was raised in a religious environment and attended church regularly as a young boy.
He recalled, during his teenage years, he became rebellious and struggled with attending church.
Despite this, he found a freedom to express his faith through youth ministry at Antioch, a youth space where people shared their faith together.
During his talk Adam shared three key things for living a life for liberty, being open to God’s call, living with a servant heart, and sharing our faith with others.
Kaye Rollings discussed the concept of liberty; highlighting that we live in a free country.
“We don’t have an oppressive government, although you might think we do,” Ms Rollings said.
“But we are free to do whatever we like. We have freedom of religion. We have freedom of speech. We can go anywhere we can do anything we like,” she said.
Quoting 1 Peter, chapter 2, verse 16, Kaye explained that as Christians we cannot do anything we like.
“We cannot malign people, we cannot gossip, we cannot go down that path of ‘do whatever we like’,” Ms Rollings emphasised.
Flame Ministries Senior Director, Cyrus D’Souza Senior Director of Flame Ministries, noted that the pursuit of liberty is a desire in various aspects of our lives, not just in hardships but in all circumstances.
He emphasised, Christ has promised us this liberty and peace, and it is closer than some realise, it is within our control.
“God makes this possible for us. He touched on this through his five sessions,”Mr D’Souza said.
Mr D’Souza continued by saying that our liberty that comes through God’s forgiveness of sins, referring to the parable of the unforgiving servant, he mentions that many are bound by unforgiveness and suffer a great deal, yet seeking freedom from this suffering is within our choice to forgive as Jesus taught.