MANILA, Sept. 25, 2013—The celebration of Youth Month in the Archdiocese of Manila will culminate with a youth ministry conference and mission concert on September 28 at the Cardinal Sin Auditorium, Paco Catholic School.
Themed “Go, Do not be Afraid, Serve,” the conference will run from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and will be followed by the mission concert in the evening. Expected attendees are youth leaders from different ministries in the archdiocese.
There are 9 tracks for the conference: Empowered Life: Treading the Road to Self-Awareness and Personhood, Sustaining a Unique/Genuine Culture for the Youth, Media challenging the digital natives, Leader-full Young People and Social Engagement, Creative approaches for Youth Sessions, Family and Youth Ministry: A Partnership, Enhancement Skills Workshops for Youth Leaders and Emerging/Potential Leaders, Youth as Caretakers of the Environment, and a special track for youth ministers.
Track 1 will help participants discover their purpose and how to live a passion-filled and purpose driven life. It will also discuss issues regarding sexuality, relationships and chastity.
The session hopes to inspire participants to live their lives empowered by their dreams and God’s purpose for them.
Track 2 challenges the youth of today to have a culture that is a lot different from the previous generations, to make the faith heard and seen by the youth in a way that gets through to them, something they can relate to.
Track 3 will discuss how media can be a tool in integrating values and in the work of evangelization. It will also encourage the youth to use the social media as a powerful tool to evangelize their fellow youth.
Track 4 pursues the call of the Pope and the challenge of the signs of times for the young people to be sensitive and engaged in what is happening in their own communities, as young leaders.
Track 5 integrates creative activities that youth leaders and ministers may use for Catechesis and youth ministry programs aiming to sustain interest and engagement with the young.
Track 6 endeavors to build and strengthen the relationship between family and the youth ministry. The session hopes to facilitate mutual support, understanding and interdependence of the family and youth ministry.
Track 7 will include facilitating skills, module making, giving a talk or public speaking and conducting meetings. These will enable the youth to assume their responsibilities in the youth ministry effectively and efficiently.
Youth as caretakers of the environment awakens and create an urgency to do something as a response to the reality of global warming and climate change. This track aims to empower the youth to organize themselves to take responsibility for the environment.
Track 9 can serve as an inspiration for parish priests, youth directors or ministers to build empowered youth groups and leaders. The session will provide growth-enabling relationship between youth ministers and young people and aims to understand and situate youth groups and group experience within the youth ministry.
A thanksgiving mass will be celebrated before the conference. A mission concert is scheduled at 6 p.m. in the same venue. (Jandel Posion)
