Photo credit: Sabah Youth Day 5 Papar Facebook
By Linda Edward
Jul 17 2021
THE heat of the largest celebration of the Catholic faith in this Land Below The Wind, Sabah Youth Day 5 (SYD5), is being felt.
With only two days left, the celebration will take place virtually on July 19-23 with the participation of 2,594 Catholic youths.
On July 15, three Bishops of Sabah attended the Special Program with Three Bishops via Zoom online, giving words of encouragement to the youth leaders, the organizers of SYD5, who have worked hard day and night to realize this long-awaited celebration.
Words of encouragement from the three bishops in Sabah
Seeing the efforts of youth leaders to bring SYD5 virtually, Bishop Julius Dusin Gitom of the Diocese of Sandakan said that COVID-19 was not able to defeat the power of God’s grace.
“I am confident and believe that even if SYD5 is held virtually, it is not ideal according to human standards, but it will still give an injection of faith and enthusiasm to the youth,” he said.
Bishop Julius invites the youth to come to Jesus in SYD5 to get relief from Him, “I believe our youth will also feel relieved even virtually.”
“I am relieved to see the ‘fresh’ faces of the youth friends (here), I believe this virtual SYD5 will still give relief and an injection of faith and enthusiasm to all of us,” said Bishop Julius.
Bishop Cornelius Piong of the Diocese of Keningau also saw SYD5 as an expression of the youth’s commitment to be witnesses of Christ.
“Having SYD5 will build a spirit of commitment in our mission as youth, and also as members of the church, to be witnesses of Christ so that we can become light and salt wherever we are,” said Bishop Piong.
Referring to the current state of the world which is becoming more chaotic, Bishop Piong saw SYD5 as a platform for the youth to dare to go out to the community, “If church members are not sensitive and do not care about the community, I think we will also experience chaos like in other countries.”
Archbishop John Wong of the Archdiocese of Kota Kinabalu said the presence of many young people in the SYD5 organization showed great hope for the future of Sabah.
“Tonight there are 152 youth leaders, if you come together with one heart and one purpose, you can do great things, ‘you can shake Sabah,'” said the Archbishop.
The Archbishop said although SYD5 is held virtually, this meant the organizers dared to take on new challenges, and advised them to take this challenge as an opportunity.
The total number of SYD5 virtual organizers is 171 people coming from the three dioceses in Sabah.
Participants of the Virtual SYD5
According to Roney Eming, host of the evening’s special program, Virtual SYD5 will feature a combination of youth participation from the three dioceses in Sabah, including several participants from dioceses outside of Sabah.
A total of 1,477 participants are youths from the Archdiocese of Kota Kinabalu, 674 participants from the Diocese of Keningau, 431 participants from the Diocese of Sandakan, five participants from the Archdiocese of Kuching, six participants from the Archdiocese of Singapore, and the Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur and one of the Diocese in Indonesia registered one participant.
Priests and various religious congregations will also participate in the celebration from their respective dioceses.
SYD5 Program
Also that evening, Anna Amandus, Deputy Coordinator II introduced the SYD5 virtual program line -up to the bishops.
According to her, the program will be held in the evening only from 5.30 pm – 9.30 pm via the Sabah Catholic Youth website, Papar Facebook Sabah Youth Day 5 and closed applications.
The program is divided into two, namely an open program that can be participated by all Catholics, and a special closed program for registered youth participants.
The open program will consist of an Opening Mass and a Closing Mass, SYD5 Concert, Way of the Cross, Thematic Performances from the participants and Youth Fiesta.
While the closed program involves the deepening sessions with specific topics to assist in the the formation of the Catholic faith of the participants.
Anna said the essence of these sessions would utilise the book ‘Christus Vivit’, an Apostolic Exhortation of Holy Father Pope Francis to the youth published in March 2019, and the new Encyclical from the Holy Father published in October 2020, ‘Fratelli Tutti’ on brotherhood and social friendship.
The Opening Mass will be held on July 19 at 6.00 pm to be presided by Archbishop John Wong.
Meanwhile, the Closing Mass will be presided by Bishop Piong on the last day on July 23 at 6.00 pm, and the bishop will then announce the host for the 6th edition of SYD.
