THE youth of Our Lady of Graces parish, Carina have started the new year and their new youth group by launching an exciting calendar of events.
Activities ranging from the latest movies to rock climbing and pizza parties will make way at the end of the school holidays for regular Friday night youth events.
The youth ministry team began meeting late last year when parish priest Dominican Father Peter Nguyen decided the community needed to assist the young people in the parish.
Grant Sparks, Amanda Kearns and Michael Van Pelt have been chosen as youth ministry team members.
‘We started meeting and developing ideas and found that everywhere we turned people wanted to help us,’ said Grant.
The team is offering activities for a wide range of ages.
Under 12 and over 12 groups have been running events throughout the school holidays and the group also plans to implement an over 15s group in the future.
‘We believe that the only way to achieve a long-term effect would be to start at a much younger age,’ said Grant.
‘If we want teenagers to become active in the life of the Church, we need to put a lot of work into making sure they have grown up as part of it all along.’
In February, the ministry team plans a leadership program for young people who want to become more active in sharing their skills with their peers.
‘The best youth ministry that we have ever seen has been given by young people themselves. Teenagers who are active in their faith can provide positive role models for their peers in a way that adults can never do,’ said Grant.
For more information or expressions of interest, contact the parish office on (07) 3398 2977.
