“USE the talents that God has given you” was just one of the messages Archbishop John Bathersby of Brisbane shared with the inaugural Power House of Leaders gathering at New Farm in Brisbane.
The spiritual formation day for student leaders attracted Year 12 leaders from Brisbane Catholic Education (BCE) schools and religious institute colleges from the Gold Coast to Hervey Bay and all areas in between to Brisbane Powerhouse.
Archbishop Bathersby told the youth they could make a difference during their life, and most importantly to enjoy those lives.
“Life is made to be full of joy and happiness not to be filled with misery,” he said.
Archbishop Bathersby also encouraged them to “do good always … not necessarily with great actions … but mostly in small actions of forgiveness, actions of care, actions of kindness”.
BCE principal education officer for religious education Mark Elliott said the gathering was an initiative of the Brisbane Catholic Education Office, Directorate of Evangelisation and Religious Education and could become an annual event.
He said the gathering involved liturgy, guest speakers, a youth marketplace and the opportunity for the Year 12 leaders to meet like-minded students.
“We wanted to focus on liturgical and personal formation,” he said.
“We have 537 people in total, of which 440 are students.”
Mr Elliott said as well as focusing on fostering the personal and spiritual growth of the youth present the day also aimed to provide a good experience of Church, “so they see that the school is part of the wider Church community”.
He said the Power House of Leaders was also aimed at sending students away with options for the future.
“One of the things is that they can see there is a whole variety of options available to them post schooling, and that’s why we’ve got the youth marketplace and (that is why) we invited a whole lot of archdiocesan groups and agencies to be here,” Mr Elliott said.
He said the day provided a rare opportunity for student networking.
“They have a lot of formation as a leadership team in their own school but they don’t get opportunity to have formation with kids from other schools and meet with students who are doing a similar sort of role in other schools,” he said.
Mr Elliott said organisers would wait for feedback from schools before deciding whether to introduce the gathering as an annual event.
