Hundreds of youth from Penang parishes gather for the Penang Island Deanery celebration
By Gwyneth Tan
Sep 12 2022
THE Genesis Youths of Mercy (GYM) from the Church of Divine Mercy, (CDM) were offered the incredible yet challenging opportunity to host the Penang Island Deanery Celebration recently.
This is an event leading to the Penang Diocesan Youth Day Five (PDYD5) in October.
Approximately 200 youth from parishes across Penang Island and the mainland attended, including from the Minor Basilica of St Anne in Bukit Mertajam, Cathedral of the Holy Spirit, Church of the Assumption, Church of Christ the King, Church of Holy Name of Mary, Church of the Immaculate Conception, Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, to name a few.
The GYM team chose Back to the Future as the theme for the day, to signify coming back to church (post-pandemic), as the path to the future. A sense of vibrance and energy began early in the morning, with youths from the different parishes mingling over breakfast and flowing into a fun session of icebreakers and worship. The first programme of the day, “Revelations” is GYM’s take on group discussions utilising mobile phones and online tools to gather the sentiment of the participants.
The youth shared various topics – ranging from favourite memories from childhood to an honest sharing of how the church has hurt them. The youths poured out their hearts in their groups and the anonymous responses were projected live on screens next to the cross/crucifix in church, to deliver a powerful message on the changes they would like to make in their faith.
To close this session, the youth from the GYM team coded a function from scratch to pick up the various mission statements shared by the participants and formed them into the shape of a cross (pic below): The GYM team wanted to do things slightly differently this PDYD as far as food and fellowship went. Each parish would bring a dish that represented their parish youth/ church through food. The buffet included classic fried rice, mouth-watering veggies, bite-sized nuggets and sausages, and a crowd favourite — fried chicken along with drinks and desserts.
Participants were encouraged to bring and wash their own cutlery to prevent the tremendous accumulation of single-use waste products, keeping true to CDM’s Laudato Si’ motto.
The day continued with a fresh take on workshops. Instead of the usual sessions on dance, drama, or music, the GYM team came up with “Genesis Labs”, to introduce new skills that youth would enjoy and could use in their personal lives and church ministries. The Lab was made of three parallel sessions:
1. Code Genesis (by Andrea Gonzales): An introduction to coding via pocket Code. Youths learned to code mobile games on their phones – which can then be used as ice breakers for their events, followed by coding a simple Bible reading app.
2. Genesis studios (by Adrian Oyog): A session on live streaming. Here, they learned about purchasing equipment for the best audio and visual quality from various budget ranges, for personal usage (Vlogs, TikTok, reels, etc) and church (live streaming of Masses)
3. Genesis Concept (by Christine Sum and Angelli Raj Kaur): A session on social media and digital marketing. Youths learned about different techniques to increase engagement on their personal and ministry social media platforms, along with pointers on search engine optimisation.
The event ended with Mass celebrated by the Bishop of the Penang Diocese, Rt Rev Sebastian Francis. In short, the Penang Island deanery celebration was an eye-opening experience for youths from the diocese — from experiencing energetic praises to down-toearth conversations, it was truly an unforgettable experience — the first of many more to come. – Herald Malaysia
