Discipleship Program - Year Ones are Invited

Hullo everyone

The 3 month Discipleship Program starts this coming Sunday, 1st July 2007.

Year One youth catechists are invited to attend and journey together with the confirmands.

Please come to the Church Hall at 930am on Sunday. Do dress comfortably and appropriately as we might be sitting on the floor.

Hope to see everyone there! :)

Jac and Roy

Countdown to Semester 2

There will be no session on the 23rd of June a.k.a this Saturday to give our dear YCs time to prepare for the new school semester.

Post Island Blues

On the whole, Bonding Day 07 was blessed with fine weather, good food and marvelous company. I shall let the pictures speak for themselves...


Waiting for the day to start proper


Fr Luke pairing off confirmands and facils


IHM YESSS!


Setting up a shelter for our bags


Let the games begin!


MINE MINE MINE MINE MINE!


Phwoar...


Lunch is served :)


Posing for the camera


Say "Gootenstoffle!"

Thanks to all everyone who went for the outing: confirmands, year 1s, year 2s and above and others! It wouldn't have been the same without you! Apologies for not posting photos of you guys in the water... I was in there too and hands were wet. Please nurse those sun burns, for those of you who have them... Cheers and have a safe week ahead! :)

BONDING DAY 07 @ SENTOSA

YO to all who are going for tomorrow's Bonding Day @ Sentosa!

Please report in church at 8.30am and bring spare clothes, water bottle and $10 cash (this includes lunch and entrance fees). Also, girls are to wear dark coloured t-shirts in case you get wet. The day will end at 6pm.

SEE YOU THERE!

TRIDUUM and ConCamp 07

This is a note for all YC members to make an effort to come down for the triduum leading up to our church's feast day.

Dates: 13, 14 & 15 June (Wed, Thurs and Fri)
Time: rosary commences at 7pm, followed by worship at 7.30pm and mass after

All of us will be seated at the right side of the church next to the choir. Please wear something formal as this is a grand occasion. Two of our members will be appointed as lecters for mass; attire for lecters: white top and black bottom. You will be notified if you have been selected. :)

On a separate note, thanks to all the year 1s who volunteered to help out with games and parents' nights during the con camp. Your support is greatly appreciated! Kudos also to the year 2s and above, whom together with members from other youth groups, have worked so hard to plan the camp. God will see all that we have done and reward us accordingly.

In the coming week, please pray that all organizers, session presenters, facilitators and logisticians will have the strength, discipline and wisdom to carry out what is necessary. Please also pray for the confirmands and their parents, that the camp will heal any past/present hurts and that it will be an experience that opens new vistas for their faith journey.

Full steam ahead!!!

TEN-HUT!

All yr 1s who need a copy of the consent form for June 2007 activities please drop me an email at streetplay@gmail.com and I'll teleport a .pdf copy to you. Thanks!

Geri

YC ALERT!!! YC ALERT!!!

Hi All!

Mon 28th May : 2nd Language Paper (Please pray for all)

Wed 30th May : Movie Night at Bishan, 6pm (arrrrr... 27 turned up. watch for post on this event..)

Fri 1st Jun : Con-Camp Meeting (only for session presenters - you know who you are...)

Sat 2nd Jun : YC Gathering [ALL YCs MUST COME!]

Sun 3rd Jun : Con-Camp Facil Training 1pm - After mass (Open invitation to all year ones)

Fri 15th Jun, Sat 16th Jun : Decoration of the Church Hall [CONTACT DANIEL] ; Sec 1 event, IHM Feast Day + Farewell to Fr Brian + Welcome Fr Luke Dinner

Mon 18th Jun : Bondageing Day - YC games and fun at the BEACH! [CONTACT ERICA]

Sat 23rd Jun : Sec 2 Novena Amazing Race



xoxo
Jac

Cranium

While three of our yr1s headeed off to study for their last few papers, the rest of us stayed behind in the prayer hall and had a wild game of Cranium! We spread ourselves out according to age such that each group consisted of both old(er) and young(er) people. And yes, we now know that Jules, at a tender age of 22, is the third-oldest member in the group. :)

Group 1:
Roy - Andre - Marissa - Cassie - Marianne

Group 2:
Jac - Geri - Louis - Ivy

Group 3:
Jules - Joshua - Rebecca - Amos

It kicked off with some of us learning how to play the game and the rest of us re-learning the rules. Group 1 was off to a good start, followed by group 2 and group 3 who seemed to be perpetually stuck at the starting point. They soon caught up, however, and were constantly vying for second place with group 2. Here're some other interesting things we learned:
- Ivy has a strange affinity with the colour green
- Cassie is an excellent roll-er (dice, la)
- "Around the world in 80 days" is not a phrase
- Precept = rule/law
- Trans World Airlines Terminal is in JFK airport, NY
- Rebecca can spell backwards very well
- Laptop casing makes for a good and embarrassing blindfold

Winner: Group 1! whose game piece was closest to the big purple brain end-point in the center of the board. [Watch this space for photos!]

For those who're still having exams or who're about to, PERSEVERE! We're all behind you, and so is the Big Boss! :)

Previously on YC...

Andre helping yr1s out with work once again


Marissa says hi


A pouty Zach

Greg and Geri having some mindless fun.


Ready, aim...!


Whiteboard before


Whiteboard after

The exams will be over and done with soon enough, so hang in there all exam-takers!!!

IHMYC EXCO Retreat

A retreat was held for those IHMYC EXCO, Youth Catechists Year 2 and above and for Secondary catechists on 21st and 22nd of April 2007.

It was a weekend of contemplation, meditation and deep discussion. We used Anthony de Mello's Sadhana - a way to God for the meditative exercises. We even tasted a bit of Ignatian Contemplation.

All the participants felt recharged and rested when we left on Sunday. Some found that they became sort of "addicted" to the quiet and contemplation and couldn't wait to start their daily exercises, which reminds me, please remember to keep up your exercises guys!

Sunday lunch consisted of roast chickens and bread eaten with our hands. Some Year Ones joined us for that lovely meal after the Church History lesson.

We also had loads of fun preparing for the combined Church History lessons by doing skits representing the Persecution of Early Christians by the Roman Empire, the Coronation of Charlemagne, the Great Schism (between Western and Eastern Church) and the Council of Nicea.

Year Ones, this is a retreat you shouldn't miss next year!

Thanks be to God for such a Spirit-filled, fruitful and meaningful retreat!



Photos!

Council of Nicea


Mmmmm nice Sunday lunch...


Indulgences anyone?


Well rested and raring to go.


Breakfast discussion.


We're all ready to hit the ground running!


It is a bird? Is it a plane? Is it a canary gone wrong??!? Oh its Jac!


Being led into deeper meditation...


Parting Shot.

Church History Lesson 2

Kudos once again to all who helped out in the church history skits either by contributing ideas, acting or just simply lending support. Saturday's rehearsal was extremely fruitful and our efforts paid off!

I think all who were in the church hall would've noticed how the sec 3s were actually paying attention to the lesson and how much they enjoyed being involved in the second skit (recall: Daniel and co. begging the audience for donations). Just 3 weeks more of church history to go... :)

Forgot to wish Good Luck to all older youth cats (i.e. uni students) who're taking their exams now as well!

**A reminder to yr 2s and above who're facilitating for con camp that there will be facil training this Sunday 6 May from 1 - 6pm**

Over the Weekend

YC Retreat

"The air you breathe is God. You are breathing God in and out. Become aware of that, and stay with that awareness."

- "Sadhana: A Way to God" by Anthony de Mello

For the past two days, the YC ex-co and a few others engaged in a new and deeper form of prayer - meditation and contemplation. Aunty Angela and Roy took turns to conduct exercises that explored different ways of clearing the mind; they essentially center on appreciating silence and finding God in this silence. The first exercise required us to draw away from our surroundings and be fully aware of our bodily senses. Another exercise we carried out involved focusing solely on the sounds around us and experiencing the silence in these sounds. We also attempted thought control to find ways and means of clearing distractions in our minds. Before we ended camp, we delved a little bit into the power of fantasy and how it can actually help one to acquire emotional and spiritual riches.

Learning to cultivate inner silence is important because most of us prefer to speak to God in our prayers; we are always talking and often forget to just keep quiet and Listen. Hence, only in attaining this inner silence can we put ourselves fully in the presence of God. Contemplative prayer also serves as an excellent way of getting in touch with The Source (i.e. Jeebers) and becoming spiritually rejuvanated. This constant replenishing of spiritual zeal and in general, just finding quiet personal time is so crucial for maintaining one's sanity in hectic modern-day life.

Overall, these exercises were well-received by those who went for the camp; I think all of us were open to trying something unfamiliar and benefited much from it. The retreat of course wasn't just all seriousness and no fun. Those who stayed up had a great supper feasting on hor fun, noodles etc from Hup Seng and ice cream. Needless to say, it was fun because of great great company! Yr 1s who will go through the retreat next year will definitely take away so many things from this :)

Church History Lesson 1
This lesson needs no introduction. I think everyone who was there enjoyed the skits that were put up by some of the yr 1s and ex-co members (recall: Amanda being attacked by bear-tiger Daniel, Daniel, Justin and the three female altar-servers in the coronation of Charlemagne, YC seniors as participants of the Council of Nicaea and Daniel, Justin and Amanda in the Great Schism). It was also extremely brave of Marissa and Davina to present the lesson! Two thumbs up, guys!

On A Final Note
The best of luck to yr 1s and all those having exams!


Work hard :)

Morals and Ethics

Topic of the day!
What are morals? What is ethics?

Main highlight of the day
Discussion about how to handle charges who are 1 year younger. Jac, Roy and Mel role-played a scenario showing how difficult it could be to get younger ones to listen to you. Sometimes, we might have to do 'right' things that we don't like. For instance, having to go home early just to ensure that your charges are home on time, or having to call parents to check if their children are telling the truth about staying out late etc. Even though we might not like the idea of having to nag or counsel our charges, we have to remember that we are responsible for our charges and are ultimately accountable to parents; we must know where to draw the line between being their teacher and their friend.

Before breaking up into our prayer buddy groups, we had some final advice from father: as youth leaders, we must take care to maintain professional and platonic relationships with kids. We should not lead people on or give them the wrong idea.

Prayer bunnies
We did away with bible sharing and instead shared our thoughts on the following quote:

"Wise is he who understands the action in inaction, and the inaction in action."

Most groups came up with the idea that you don't necessarily have to take action in order to achieve something. Conversely, taking action might prove counter-productive.

To end it all off...
Musical chairs with latin music!
Justin the funky man

OM!@#$%MYSEAT!&*()(*AAAH!

YAY! Someone kena forfeit!


The girls watch...


The boys watch...


Let's hold hands for closing prayer

See you all for study sessions starting this Sat! Remember to submit consent forms if you wish to come for study sessions. :)

EOY Retreat

IMPORTANT
This is just a reminder to all youth cats to start putting aside $8 worth of pocket money a week from now till end November for our end-of-year retreat at Cameron Highlands (tentatively) in December. More details will be provided at a later date. The total cost of the trip (transport, accomodation etc) will amount to approximately $160 - $200. So, start saving!!!

Show me the money!

'Twas the afternoon before Easter...

The time is 4 in the pm. The prayer hall is in complete silence as studious youth cats bury their heads in books... or daydream, trying half the time to grasp that studying is pain and that pain is friend.

Andre giving his best while tutoring year 1s

Amos and Louis engrossed in their work

More youth cats Mel, Joyce and Simeon oblivious of their surroundings

Meanwhile, a check on the older youth cats reveals:

Theo diligently practising her sketchwork.

Justin lost in the world of Terry Pratchet's novel

and a seemingly half-naked Roy (he's got his orange shorts on la, for those who really can't see).

Roy's arrival marked the start of the session with Michael bravely volunteering himself as the naughtiest person of the day.

Said a dissapointed visitor. "Why has my stay here yielded no fruit?"

"Could it be because you lack the courage to shake the tree?" said the
Master benignly.

We immediately delved into a discussion of the above mini-parable (which can also be found in the Reflections page [cough]). Roy got the ball rolling by offering his two cents' worth: Challenge us to challenge you. Any experience would be meaningful only if You take that first step to explore and discover more. Many other interesting questions such as these were raised:

What if I'm shaking the wrong tree (think lamp post)?
What if no fruits fall off the tree?
What if the fruits aren't the ones I expected?
How hard should you try to shake the tree?
When do you know that you've tried your best?

Davina also pointed out that this could be about instant gratification and perhaps we need the patience to wait for fruits to yield. All in all, it was an extremely fruitful session as we got to hear from all the year 1s, with Joyce leading the discussion. This, however, is only the tip of the iceberg and the questioning will only get deeper as we journey further as a group. Let's all pray for the courage to challenge ourselves and to grow in faith and strength together.

P/S: Happy Easter!!!

31 March Session + IHMYC camp photos

Just 3 noteworthy things from our last YC session:

1) we said opening prayer only after settling admin matters
2) year 1s have been officially deployed to facilitate in cat class
3) bible sharing on Matthew:5

And now... the moment you have all been waiting for...

eehimeek 2007 camp photos, courtesy of Roy and a handful of miscellaneous people who fooled around with his camera, can be found HERE! Thanks once again to camp leaders and participants for a fulfilling and fun experience! Here's to more spiritually and whack-filled camps. :) Enjoy!

SOP & Prayer Bunnies (BOING!)

"In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. Will the naughtiest person in this room volunteer to say the opening prayer, please?" asked a very cheeky Roy. What followed was a long, awkward moment of silence with occasional sniggers and embarrassed smiles. Weird looks were also surreptitiously exchanged as everyone tried to keep their faces hidden... Roy finally broke the silence by admitting he was the naughtiest person and said the opening prayer.

Shortly after, those who submitted their SOP were assigned to their preferred area of contribution. Most opted to be facils whilst a few others decided to help out in logistics and admin. (Reminder to those who have not submitted your SOP to do so by 27 March Wednesday! Please email them to the youthcat email add at the sidebar of the blog.) It was rather amusing to hear the many names that were mispelled and mispronounced... :)

Minutes later, facils and year1s without prayer bunnies were made to stand in the centre of the circle we formed and choose their prayer bunny(s). We were then given half an hour to read and reflect on Matthew chapters 3 and 4. The main theme of the readings was evanglism portrayed through John the Baptist and Christ himself.

The day ended with everyone playing a modified version of Blow Wind Blow. Those who didn't scramble and find a candle to stand behind in time were left stranded in the centre of the circle; it was then their turn to shout out another condition. Those who found themselves stranded 3 times would have to perform a forfeit. Daniel, Justin, Simeon, Marianne and Amanda (or Atricia??) were the five lucky ones who incurred the Happy/Sad Dance forfeit. When the dance was completed, Roy instructed everyone to arm themselves with a candle and throw them back into the box which he placed in the center of the circle. Red plastic was bouncing off the floor and soaring across the room, hitting some in the most unlikely places and others in the most unfortunate... Our previleged Neenja target of the day: Amos! Who was so lovingly showered with the entire box of candles, courtesy of Roy. :)

Closing prayer was said and most of us left at 6 but came back later for Movie Night! Which was a blast. Yes and Amen to future crazy sessions and movie nights!

Thank you for the IHMYC retreat

The IHMYC retreat on the whole was a really enriching and wonderful experience. Thank you for those who came down to help and participate in this retreat. Many thanks to those who planned the retreat.

But most importantly, we'd like to thank God for making the retreat possible and always being there for us as we journey and grow as Youth Catechists. Everyone had fun and bonded really well together. Just like the theme for the retreat, "I am Called", we hope everyone finds a way to serve in IHMYC and that there will be many more fun and memorable times in the future.

Updates about the camp as well as photos and pictures will be posted up soon...

Session before the camp

Had a session in Mother Mary's room.

Some of them handed in their consent forms and feedback forms regarding the IHMYC sessions were given out and each one had to write down a number indicating whether they liked the way the session was conducted or if it can be improved.

Then after 10 mins for everyone to fill up the feedback form, Daniel gave a briefing about the IHMYC retreat coming up on Tuesday.

Basically it's more of a retreat than a camp since there will not be any games, mostly sessions and prayers for the 3 days.

On Monday evening after mass, it'll be nice if people would like to volunteer to go help mop the place, after attending evening mass.

Report at the Retreat House before 12.30pm.

Bring along the usual camp stuff, blanket or sleeping bag as it'll be really cold there, bible, rosary, jacket and 1 day's worth of newspapers...if you forget to bring that, Justin will make you go buy Newpaper...

After the briefing, everyone was split into 3 teams...given very weird names by Justin. Jac and Justin were the one to come up with phrases and words for them to act out in charades.

Some of the stuff Jac and Justin came up with were pretty interesting...like dancing chicken, jumping harmonica playing crocodile, cow jumps over the cactus, etc.

There was a tie-breaker for the last two groups and the phrase was Jesus stole the cookie from the cookie jar...really interesting as the two chosen people from each group tried to act it out for their team members.

Last group had to say closing prayer and after a few last words from the Exco members, everyone was dismissed.

Apologetics III cont'd

Hey all! Geri's here to post up a few pictures she took during the latest youthcat session.

Daniel's insatiable appetite


Justin, Greg and Melissa doing the Happy Dance!


Justin and Daniel doing the Sad Dance...

Apologies for inaccurate shot of happy dance... People moving too quickly. Will put up more pictures in time to come. I'd just like to share how much fun I had during the last two sessions I've been to; I'm sure everyone else found them just as fun and educational. I hope this keeps up!