Two hundred eighty participants from the six parishes in the Northern District attended the Penang Diocesan Youth Day 2 Northern District Level Celebration which was held on August 25, Saturday, at the Church of Christ the King Hall in Sungai Petani, Kedah.
Young people from the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Butterworth), Church of St. Anne (Bukit Mertajam), Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (Kulim), Church of the Holy Name of Mary (Permatang Tinggi), Church of Christ the King (Sungai Petani) and Church of St. Michael (Alor Setar) came by buses as early as 8 o´clock in the morning and enjoyed a day of fun, prayer, songs and various inputs given during the sessions.
Rev. Fr. Dominic Santhiyagu officially launched the celebration after the Enthronement of the Bible. The participants, led by the Northern Region Music Band, sang the PDYD 2 themesong, “Come People of the Risen King”. The Getting-to-Know-You was done through the Baton Game facilitated by the young people from the Church of St. Anne. As the baton was passed around, participants introduced themselves and shared their hobbies. The game ended with participants laughing and feeling comfortable with one another.
The culmination of the morning session was celebrated with the mass at the Church of Christ the King. Fr. Dominic, in his homily, invited the young people to “walk the talk”. He explained that words do not really describe what we want. Rather, our actions will make people understand what we really want. He challenged those present to proclaim the Gospel by words and most importantly, by their actions. Most of the time, leaders are capable of saying wise things but their actions speak otherwise.
The invitation to “Walk the Talk” was further explained during the session on the topic, Go and Tell. The participants were divided into three language groups namely: English, Mandarin and Tamil with Martin Wong, Michael Peter Foo and P. Kevin Eruthayanathan as facilitators, respectively.
The one-day Northern Region youth celebration ended with a “Talent Time“. Representatives from each parish put up a show for everyone to enjoy and, at the same time, learn something from it. The St. Anne youth group performed a skit about Lazarus and his sisters entitled, “CSI:Operation Lazarus”. The youth from the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus related the Bible story in a skit that left the participants silent yet inspired by the message that was conveyed by the presentation. The Church of the Nativity of Blessed Virgin Mary performed a skit with a message that without God, Satan takes control of us and makes us lost in his world of benefits. The youth from the rest of the parishes entertained the participants with their well-applauded dance moves.
After having tea, the participants got on their buses and left with a smile on their faces, a sign that they are really looking forward to the big celebration that will be held at Penang Island on 16th -19th November 2012.
For more information on PDYD 2,
LIKE: (PDYD2 FB Page) http://www.facebook.com/PDYD2
JOIN: (PDYN FB Group) Penang Diocesan Youth Network [PDYN]
-DARRIEN BRYAN DANKER
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