Youth Confirmation
Bloemfontein Metropolitan Priests with Education for Life
Cast your burdens: Fr Solly, Fr Sammy praying for their brothers of Bloemfontein Metropolitan.
If we don’t change our current negative behavior what kind of Leadership are we promoting?
Mthatha Diocese – EFL in Schools
EFL Pre teens – Queenstown.
Report on the Education for Life Bandcamp
21st July 2012
– The Parish of the Blessed Sacrament – Viginia
The Idea of the band camp was to use music as a tool to evangelize youth ,Music is universal and attracts youth, There are a few Youth bands in the Archdiocese but there has never been an opportunity for them to come together and look at the spirituality behind music and liturgy ,The team comprising of Mark Naicker (Program Co ordinator – Education for life)Sean Latergan (Musician and youth worker St Dominic’s –Hillcrest) Vincent (Youth for Christ Missionary )Zee (Youth for Christ Missionary )The team met every Wednesday at the Chancery to discuss the Program. The meeting always began with inviting God into our discussions and asking for his guidance in our project. Posters were sent to all Parishes in the Archdiocese .Sean created a website for Participants to register .A total of 35 people registered and there was a registration cost of R50 to cover the costs of the meal and teas and stipends for speakers. The day began with registration and an opening prayer from Fr Joseph. Sean welcomed the Participants and explained the reason behind the Camp, This followed by four speakers ,first was Katia Benedetti who spoke on the topic of Professionalism in the Ministry then,was David Sprong- Our Musical Heritage. Sean Lategan spoke about the The Heart of Worship and the final speaker was Fr Julian Davey and his talk was Gateway to the Heavenly Jerusalem – Music and the Liturgy. All participants were asked to bring a packed lunch to share which brought the message of sharing together as a family. All activities during the day was designed to impart not only music knowledge but important life lessons .The Practical sessions for the participants was an amazing experience as it gave them the opportunity to learn new skills but also to realize that playing in the band is not about the music but about the spirituality behind the music. Two of the musicians where not Catholic but facilitated with respect and understanding of the Catholic faith. The facilitators were Claire Coleman – Vocalists, Avi Mackanjee – Guitarists, Paul Boissezon – Bassists, Jeremiah Nair – Drummers , Sean Lategan– Keyboardists after the practical session the participants were divided into mini bands by myself. The newly created bands now had to name their band and to play together as a band to the song that the team provided them. This was exciting as the newly formed band members had to work together as a team with complete strangers. The presentations where good, after the presentations the participants attend the Parish mass. The program continued after mass with a meal together and ending with a praise fest where all present were allowed to come and use the instruments provided to thank God for the day together .
The youth band camp was a vision of Education for life which is always in search of providing a platform for Youth and young adults to be inspired to change their lives to a positive Christ filled life. I would like to thank Sean for his commitment to Our Vision as a team, he brought the band camp idea to a physical reality, getting the facilitators, the speakers ,making sure the setup was done perfectly. Most importantly I thank the band camp team for our vision together.
THE WAY FORWARD
The team will be having their final meeting on the 2nd August to discuss where to from here ,We may need to add a few more members to the team or if the team decides we can leave it to the 4 of us.
POSSIBLE PROGRAMS FOR THE WAY FORWARD
- Build a band comprising of those that participated in the camp
- Be part of the Education for life parish promotion teams on A Sunday
- Organize praise and worship evenings which would include adoration and confession
We need to encourage young people to be active in their Spirituality ,to understand their purpose of being called Catholic, I hope the team can help set the youth on fire like the first deciples,by making them trust in the Churches spirituality and Guidance and love and thereafter becoming young adult missionaries for the Christ
Mark Naicker
– Program Co ordinator – Education for life
Education for Life Program (SACBC)
A SEEDLING PLANTED, NOURISHED AND ROOTED IN LOVE HAS THE POTENTIAL TO GROW TO FULL MATURITY.
WE ARE ALL SEEDLINGS IN THE HANDS OF GOD WHO DESIRES OUR TOTAL FREEDOM AND FULLNESS OF LIFE ALWAYS.
Education for Life is a program aimed at the formation and support of our youth in good Christian principles, a healthy way of living and a deep respect for all life. It encourages a healthy approach in relationships between members of the opposite sex and abstinence of sexual intercourse before marriage. It points to the dangers which confront our youth of today, and educates accordingly, especially towards the harmful effects of drug taking so that our young people be empowered in fulfilling their goals and dreams.
By the late 1990s the Bishops saw the need for such a program among the youth and in January 2003 they approved it as a National Youth Program and placed it under the National Youth Desk within the SACBC which includes South Africa, Botswana and Swaziland.
What event are we planning? Early this year we met at Mariannhill with the Diocesan Coordinators. We discussed many things there. One of them was the 10th Anniversary celebration of the Education for Life. We want to celebrate with all the youth of Southern Africa including Botswana and Swaziland. There will be those who want to share their testimonies and to encourage other young people to see the importance of abstinence and live life positively.
Who will the event benefit? Firstly our youth will benefit. There is a World Youth Day but some of our youth won’t be able to go to Brazil. We need them to take this opportunity to be part of the National Youth Day here in South Africa. We need to accommodate our youth in such events because we always speak of urban areas not rural areas. What we are planning to do will help our young to understand the norms of the Catholic Church and they can be counted as strong Catholics. Education for life is embracing every one not in the Catholic Church only but to any young people who want to live life positively and become an agency of change.
Why we request Donation? The program will have its 10th anniversary 2013.We know that in the early years in Southern Africa the Church was funding all events. Things has changed, we need to train our people to do things for themselves. If i recall very well it was 2005 where we received a message from our Bishops in the Pastoral letter. [GET UP WALK WITHOUT CRUTCHES]. They said: “Make a plan how to get rid of the crutches; Faithful people of Southern Africa! It is time to sit together in your parishes and communities to discuss how to support yourself financially. In this way you make a plan to get rid of your crutches and stand on your own feet. Rather than staying a cripple begging form other people.” This was message from our Bishops here in South Africa.
Request: To celebrate our 10th anniversary our team is planning a “National Youth Day” which will be held here in South Africa and, no doubt, we need your financial support in this effort. To facilitate this we have opened the sms line donation. Just SMS: Education for Life and your name to 32310. The SMS will cost R1. It will be wonderful to have your support.
Conclusion: I started to work at SACBC in 2009, it was not easy. But with the help of Sr Benedette Duffy a Holy Cross Sister; I gained strength and move forward with the programme of Education for Life. That is why I need to share my experience as a National Coordinator and see the need of Celebrating the 10th Anniversary of Education for Life.
Thanks to each and everyone who supports the EFL. Which covers 29 dioceses?
Sr Victoria Sibisi (FCSCJ)
SACBC National Youth Programme Coordinator
Fundraising for Education for Life!
This is the SACBC Youth Programme of Education for life.
We are preparing the big event next year.
We have chosen this way to raise fund for our project, hoping this will help us.
Please help us by sms Education for life and your name to this number: 32310.
The Sms will cost R1, 00. With your help the programme will grow!
Thank you very much
May God bless you!
– Sr Victoria Sibisi FSCCJ
ANNOUNCEMENTS
28 May 2012.Durban Metropolitan will meet @ Mariannhill:
Venue: Tre-Fontein
Time: 10h00am
The idea of the meeting: Preparing the forthcoming events: 10TH Anniversary of the Education for Life.
Date: 02-04 August-2013.
Church in Need – Reflection.
Seminarians
One vocation in ten depends on you
Brazil: “You are a priest for ever… ” –for God “will not change his mind”.
Syria: “Blessed are you when men revile you… on my account.”
Cameroon: “… teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”
Slovakia: “Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me…”
“… In remembrance of Me”. Through the priest, Christ remains present among us.
The number of seminarians is increasing in Africa and Asia, but it is
Falling in Europe and in the Americas. Worldwide, the pontifical yearbook
has registered a slight increase of almost1%, to a total of 118,000.
“The ability to foster vocations is a hallmark of the vitality of a local Church,” said Pope Benedict on the 48th Day of Prayer for Vocations. The same is true of ACN. The Holy Father is counting on you. One seminarian in every 10 around the world has you to thank for the fact that he can pursue his vocation. However,
their individual needs can vary greatly. The 30 seminarians of the apostolic prelature of Chuquibamba, in
Peru don’t have enough for their basic needs – including food. Their monthly running costs come to 4,648 Euros and 54 cents, and there is always a short fall. We want to give 2,300 Euros to cover the gap.
In Mozambique the 134 seminarians of the Archdiocese of Nampula need books. Many shelves in their library, their store of spiritual and intellectual sustenance, are empty. We have promised 8,500 Euros to provide them with manuals and textbooks – Basic nourishment for their minds and souls. This is particularly urgent as the diocese is located in a region culturally dominated by Islam, where solid knowledge and sound argument are the daily bread of interreligious dialogue. A similar problem faces the 85 seminarians, 16 novices and 40 aspirants of the Dominican Order in
Vietnam. Their Province is under the protection of Our Lady and bears the distinctive name “Queen of
Martyrs”. The formation for the Order of Preachers has always been very thorough –as indeed it is in Vietnam today. We have promised them 100 Euros for every brother of the order founded by the great Doctor of the Church, Thomas Aquinas.
From Sri Lanka the appeal embraces both the human and the structural dimensions. For, in the wake of the Civil War, the 83 candidates in
the Saint Francis Xavier seminary in Jaffna has little left but their own goodwill. In order to make a new start they need … well actually they need everything. With
your help we can help them meet their initial needs with a contribution of 150 Euros for each seminarian. And in
Angola too, where after 30 years of war the religious orders and the dioceses are now experiencing a blossoming of vocations, the Church can at last look towards a better future. There are many new candidates looking to us for help, so that
They can fulfill their joyful “yes” to the Lord. And much the same could be said in Brazil, Venezuela and Colombia, and again in
Ukraine, Romania, Lithuania and Latvia in
Eastern Europe. These young men all wish to serve “in the person of Christ, the Head”, as the Second Vatican Council puts it, by ministering the Sacraments and proclaiming the Word of God. It cannot be done without them. But their call to serve God is also a call for us to help them. Let us respond with an
Enthusiasm that stirs and inspires! •
Vocations – a sign of the vitality of the Church
Any donation you kindly give will go to support these or similar projects of a pastoral nature through Aid to the Church in Need.
B. The family that prays together stays together”. This wise counsel was again passed on to us by Pope John Paul II in his Apostolic Letter on the Holy Rosary. And where there is prayer, there are also people who walk the path of peace.
Bishop Pablo Emiro Salas Anteliz of Espinal, in
Colombia treasures these wise words. In fact he has built his family apostolate upon it. The basic idea is a simple one: in his diocese there are many children in great danger. Their schools are utterly neglected, the walls cracked, the roofs leaking; and the educational system itself is no better. Moreover the rebels continue to come and abduct the youngsters, forcing them to bear arms and using them as cannon fodder in their battles. Almost every family mourns its losses to these para-military groups. The best weapon against such dangers is the solidarity, within the family and within the community of love, faith formation and prayer. This sort of integral education, in a truly Christian sense, can lead to justice and Peace. This is exactly what Pope Benedict XVI says in his message for the World Day of Peace 2012. For the young men and women of today, he says, it is “more than ever indispensable to learn the value and the way of peaceful coexistence, mutual respect, dialogue and understanding”. This requires a “sound formation of conscience”, He adds, which can enable them “to fight always and only by trusting in the power of truth and goodness”. It is an education “that begins in the family and continues in the schools”. In this way they can develop into men and women who are “genuinely peaceable and peacemakers”. This is the goal. In order to achieve it
Bishop Pablo Salas is relying on ACN, in the shape of the Child’s Bible, the Rosary book for children and the little catechism I Believe. He is particularly taken with the Rosary booklet, in fact – which is not surprising as this is a particularly Marian diocese. More than 50 of its 56 parishes are dedicated to Our Lady and the cathedral itself is consecrated to Our Lady of the Holy Rosary. Bishop Pablo wants as many families as possible to have a Child’s Bible, a Rosary booklet and a little catechism. He believes that the catechism will also help young couples to prepare for marriage; many of them in fact will afterwards work in the parishes as catechists. Most of these catechists meet together once a month to pray for peace and unity within families. In his address to the Diplomatic Corps, Pope Benedict XVI spoke of the primary importance of “the family, based on the marriage of a man and a woman. This is not a simple social convention, but rather the fundamental cell of every society.” Bishop Pablo Salas has enshrined this truth in his family apostolate. He has put his trust in Our Lady and is now putting the Holy Father’s words into practical effect in his diocese. And you are helping him to do so. •
Many children are in great danger.
Bishop Pablo.
Education for Life 10th Anniversary Soon!
The team of Education for Life and Diocesan Coordinators are preparing special events next year. We had a meeting last Month and we looked at some areas of the Programme that make us think about celebrating it. The Education for Life program has been in existence since 1999 in South Africa. It was born in the Diocese of Tzaneen; a team from Kenya which included the co-founder of the program Sr Miriam Duggan was invited by Bishop Emeritus Hugh Slattery to train people in the diocese.
The program really took root in Tzaneen; amongst the people trained was Fr John Selemela and Sr Bernadette (Holy Cross) who was then a teacher in the diocese of Tzaneen. Sr Bernadette moved to the Archdiocese of Pretoria at the SACBC as the secretary to the Associate Secretary General. Sr Bernadette was instrumental in introducing the program to the Bishops of the SACBC until it was approved and endorsed.
Our Achievement
- We were the first program that advocated for behavior change
- EFL is alive and active in almost all the dioceses within the SACBC region
- We modified the program from Uganda and developed a spirituality which is taken from the Gospel of Jh 10:10
- We are running the program schools and houses of formation
- Within the SACBC region, over 100 000 people have undergone the Education for Life process We have introduced the program to Pre-teen to assist them to make well informed choices as they grow older
- We have ran the program in other countries such as Ireland and Australia
- We hosted an Inter-Africa conference where 12 African countries were present
- We launched Youth Alive which is a program that helps young people to sustain EFL values Amongst the young people that encountered the EFL program some have been called to the priesthood and religious life others to marriage
Challenges
- We have a major problem of always training new facilitators as this is a voluntary ministry therefore when people find employment they move
- In some diocese Youth Alive have not taken root and as a result it becomes difficult to sustain the program
- Funding especially in the dioceses is a problem
Beyond Ten Years
- We would like to revive those dioceses that have fallen and help those who are starting out.
- To establish Youth Alive in all the dioceses
- Promote Pre-Teen workshops in all the dioceses to continue training people in the EFL program Promoting EFL in schools
- We would like to have more new members in the team.
Written by Sr Victoria Sibisi FCSCJ
Mariannhill Education for Life Conference 2012 – Timetable
12 March (Monday)
16:00 – Arrival & Registration
17:00 – Mass- (KZN Cluster) Bishop Dlungwane & Bishop Kumalo
18:00 – Supper
19:00 – 10th Anniversary celebration
13 March (Tuesday)
07:00 – Mass (Eastern Cape Cluster)
08:00 – Breakfast
09:00 – Reviewing the Manual
10:30 – Tea Break
11:00 – Manual Continued
13:00 – Lunch
15:00 – Manual Continued
16:30 – Tea Break
17:00 – Manual Continued
18:00 – Supper
19:00 – Recreation
14 March (Wednesday)
07:00 – Mass (Free State & Cluster)
08:00 – Breakfast
09:00 – Recap
10:30 – Tea Break
11:00 – Youth for Christ
13:00 – Lunch
15:00 – Youth Ministry and Media in the modern World.
16:30 – Tea Break
17:00 – Youth Alive Manual
18:00 – Supper
19:00 – Recreation
15 March (Thursday)
08:00 – Breakfast
09:00 – Recollection
12:00 – Mass (Gauteng & Polokwane Cluster)
13:00 – Lunch
14:30 – Outreach- Durban
18:00 – Supper
19:00 – Recreation
16 March (Friday)
08:00 – Breakfast &Departure
Welcome
To change is to Grow. To grow is to change often.
We believe that individuals and whole communities have the inherent capacity to change attitudes, values and behaviours.The power to fulfill this capacity is often denied or is not exercised.
The Education for Life programme helps, Pre-Teens, Teens and young Adult to see life as a gift from God. The Education for Life is not for the Catholics only, that is why we say: Education for Life embracing youth holistically!
I welcome every young person, youth workers and Mentors to this website of the SACBC YOUTH PROGRAMME, to come and draw water of life. We are going to feed you with a lot of reflections, stories that touches our Life. We incorporate the programm with other programmes. We are going to have or build good relationship with other programmes that existing in the Church of Southern Africa.
Let us share the news of our work, I know our Diocesan Coordinators and Youth Chaplains have a lot to share, please bring your photos, your work that you are doing will be fruitful and known through the whole world.
Our Motto says: I have come so that may have life and have it to the full. (John10:10)
I remember one day Cardinal Napier emphasize the importance of Education for Life. He said; ‘This programme sets out to bring young people to a deeper understanding and esteem of themselves so that they come to appreciate their spiritual self; its relationship with God, to neighbor and their physical body’.
Our programme is all about life Family and my community.
I NEED TO CHANGE: Is about ME (introspection)
I HAVE A CAPACITY TO CHANGE: Is about ME again.
I BELIEVE OTHERS CAN CHANGE: Is about my neighbor and the society.
I CAN CALL ON THE SPIRITUAL POWER TO CHANGE: (God is the Source of Life)
Let us look our emblem: “A SEEDLING PLANTED, NURTURED AND ROOTED IN LOVE HAS THE POTENTIAL TO GROW TO FULL MATURITY. WE ARE ALL SEEDLINGS IN THE HANDS OF GOD WHO DESIRES OUR TOTAL FREEDOM AND FULLNESS OF LIFE ALWAYS.”
May god bless all those who will be the part of our programme? We need to give love of God to our children and to all young people of Southern Africa.
Thank you
Sr Victoria Sibisi FCSCJ
SACBC: Education for Life National Youth Programme Coordinator.
2nd week of Lent Reflection
Genesis 22: 1-2, 9-13, 15-18.
God tested Abraham and said to him; “Abraham” And he answered; Here I am, take your son, your only son ,Isaac, whom you love and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I shall point out to you..They then came to the place to which God had directed them.
This is about you and me trying to hear the voice of God but failing to take it into action. How many times God spoke to us and we just ignore His voice. We are the pillars of change, we need to be the first to listen what God is telling us. Sometimes you feel like having a call of joining religious or priesthood but the world is calling you, and you don’t know which way you want to take. Which voice are you listening .World Voice or God’s voice. Try to think and where are you now with your life. Yes I am working for the Church and my Congregation but which voice I am listening now.
Lent is the time of many activities: Reflection, Sacrifice and Love of Neighbour. It is very painful to take a long journey without planning. It is time to forget about me think about others and pray to God to see the needs of others.
Gospel of Mark 9:2-10 is about transfiguration: Who needs this kind of life right just now, is me and you. Jesus took Peter and James and John and led them up to the mountain. How many people do you want to take with you? Or you are so selfish you don’t want to involve people on your journey.
Psalm 50: To the upright I will show the saving power of God.
Co-ordinators Conference
12-16 March 2012
Education for life Coordinators Conference
Venue: Mariannhill Retreat House
Starting point is 17H00 PM.
Contact Person : Sr Victoria Sibisi FCSCJ EFL Coordinator
As we are preparing the 10th Anniversary of the Education for Life we are going to have special Opening Mass. We need to pray hard for next year preparation. This celebration will be focusing of what we are going to do next year for our Anniversary.
Bishop Dlungwane will be main Celebrant
Bishop Xolelo Kumalo will give us a talk and words of encouragement.
All those who will be attending be there in time.