YOUTH ministry workers from all Queensland dioceses gathered in Townsville earlier this month to discuss initiatives and preparations for World Youth Day 2008.
Brisbane archdiocesan Youth and Children’s Ministry development officer Paul Catchlove said the Queensland Catholic Diocesan Youth Co-ordinators Conference, held from November 1-3, was a time for youth co-ordinators to share ideas, resources, to collectively plan ways to capture and engage youth and young people to develop the faith of young adults.
Mr Catchlove said the highlight of the three-day conference for him was the opportunity to hear what initiatives were being used in the dioceses.
He said the co-ordinators focused some of the time on strategic planning for World Youth Day 2008.
“World Youth Day is going to be an event that is a great catalyst for engaging young people in Church,” he said.
“But World Youth Day needs to be looked at within the context of ministry and the ongoing engagement of young people.
“We can’t see World Youth Day as an end within itself but rather as an initiative, a catalyst to engage young people and to use the explosion that World Youth Day will be.”
The conference also allowed different ministries to discuss the issues and events that affect all of them, as well as giving them an opportunity to see how other ministries work.
Mr Catchlove said Brisbane archdiocese had created a Lenten program for young people in high schools and for young adults.
“What this does is propose a tool and a process of theological reflection, and our hope in doing that is that we will give young people the tools to be able to break open the experience of World Youth Day so it’s not just a ‘feel-good’ experience, but rather something that nurtures and develops their faith,” he said.
