Kiunga, Western Province: A two-week Youth Leaders Capacity Skills building Workshop held from March 28th – April 8th had the participation of twenty Catholic youth leaders and animators representing 12 parishes in Western Province.
Held at the Peter ToRot Formation Centre in Kiunga, the workshop was aimed at equipping the youth leaders and animators with the necessary skills and knowledge to be effective in their roles as leaders when they are conducting youth programs in their respective parishes during the course of their leadership.
The workshop began with a lively Eucharistic mass led by the Diocesan Youth Chaplain Fr. Julianus Gunawan CM. In his homily, Fr. Julianus encouraged the Youth Leaders to take up their responsibilities as leaders and appreciate the roles they play in their respective parishes.
The youth leaders and animators were enlightened with well-informed and educational sessions from different facilitators on the topics of Legal Basic Knowledge, proposal writing, financial literacy, awareness on synodality in the Catholic Church, and media and communication during the workshop.
An animated mass concluded the two-week program on the evening of Friday 8th April and was celebrated by the Bishop of the Daru/Kiunga Diocese Bishop Joseph Durero SVD.
Basing his homily on the day’s Gospel of John 10:31-42, Bishop Joseph encouraged the youth leaders to recognize and acknowledge both the Divine and Human nature of Jesus and not to be like the Jews in the Gospel and concluded his homily by thanking the youths present for showing leadership qualities in their respective parishes.
“The Catholic Church is more than 2000 years old but it gets younger every time young people fill up the church and take part in church activities and so I challenge you to guide other youths that are in your care to acknowledge the Divine and Human nature”, he said.
The mass was followed by a closing meal with speeches and entertainment by the youth leaders.
When addressing the youths during the closing program, Fr. Andrew Moses said that such a workshop is a way of empowering the youths with skills and knowledge to progress and live their lives meaningfully.
“Many youths today are confused, lost or dissatisfied with their lives and we are not fully aware of the potential within them to be successful”, he said.
Facilitators in the program include the Diocesan Youth coordinator Mr. Ambie James, Catholic Youth Professionals representative Mr. Desmond Aigilo, Vicar General of the Daru-Kiunga Diocese Fr. Andrew Moses, BSP Kiunga Branch Manager Mr Ruben Atai and his staff and Social Communications representative, Ms. Jessica Oata.
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