177 youth participate in Inanam Youth Day II

INANAM – One hundred and seventy-seven youth of St Catherine‘s Church here converged for the second Inanam Youth Day (IYD) Sept 16-20, after a gap of four years.  A project of the Tim Pastoral Belia Paroki (Parish Pastoral Youth Team), its aim is to organize activities for the deepening and growth of the faith of the young people. The programme is fully supported by parish priest, Fr David Sham, and his assistants,  Fr Paul Lo and Fr Rayner Bisius, as well as the parish pastoral council.

This year’s participants came from the parish and its chapels such as St Victor Poring-Poring, St Paul Kionsom Kecil, St Michael Kironggu, St Simon Pulau Penampang, St Augustine Babagon Toki, St Mary Kionsom, and St Teresa De Avila Bantayan.

Besides the Eucharistic celebration, Divine Mercy devotion, Divine Office, Way of the Cross, Lectio Divina, veneration of the Cross, and Taize prayer, there were  three sessions as well:  Getting to know yourself,  Family, and Salvation History.

IYD-2 was different from the first one in that each day was given a sub-theme to encourage more reflection. The sub-themes for each day were:   Day 1 – “Who am I as a Catholic,” Day 2 – “Friendship Night,”  Day 3 – “Being with the Cross of Jesus,” Day 4 – “The Father Who Keeps His Promises,” and Day 5 – “Jesus Saviour of the World.”

The objective of these activities was to reaffirm the participants’ identity as agents of transformation in evangelisation, and to know that the Kingdom of God is a real gift within them.

The coming together as a body was also to celebrate their Catholic faith as one body of Christ. The highlight of the programme was the arrival of the SYD-4 Youth Cross on Sept 19  after the youth had their preparation by their active participation in the IYD.

The spirit of IYD-2 continued as the youth accompanied the Cross  to the different chapels.  From St Catherine parish, it journeyed to St Victor Poring-Poring (Sept 21), St Mary Kionsom (Sept 22), St Augustine Babagon Toki (Sept 23), St Paul Kionsom Kecil (Sept 24), St Teresa De Avila Bantayan (Sept 25), St Simon Pulau Penampang (Sept 26) and finally to Good Shepherd Parish in Manggatal on Sep 27. – A. Axell, Inanam TPBP