“Be fire!”, youth told as ACYC 2018 concludes in Ras Al Khaimah

Ras Al Khaimah (28 October 2018). 

Reinforcing the theme “Do not be afraid”, Bishop Paul Hinder, Apostolic Vicar of Southern Arabia, speaking at the conclusion of the Catholic Youth Conference of Arabia (ACYC) on the evening of Saturday 27 October with Bishop Camillo Ballin, Apostolic Vicar of Northern Arabia and Archbishop Francisco Padilla, the Apostolic Nuncio, said “I can only say that I am proud of you and I hope that the gifts which you have re-discovered during these days will accompany you and you will develop them in your respective places.” “Be fire!”, Bishop Paul exhorted to thundering applause by the enthusiastic participants, who went through two days filled with a highly rich and packed programme featuring powerful talks, break-out sessions, dances, skits, Adoration and Mass.
 
The timing of the conference, which was held from 26-27 October, coincided with the closing of the Synod of Bishops on Young People, Faith and Vocational Discernment which was held in Rome from 3-28 October 2018. A theme that has resounded throughout the synod and also within the final document, approved on the evening of 27 October was that “young people want to be heard”. The representative of the Holy Father to the countries of the Arabian peninsula, Archbishop Francisco Padilla, Bishop Paul Hinder and Bishop Camillo Ballin showed how seriously they take their young people when they took the initiative to spend the two whole days of the conference with their young people on the campus of St. Anthony of Padua Church, spending time with them, listening to them and answering their questions.
 
The conference was attended by 1600 young people between the ages of 18-35, including youth from the UAE, the hosting country, and delegations from Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Qatar. The 15 member delegation from Oman was accompanied by Fr. Mariyan Miranda, a Capuchin priest from St. Peter and Paul’s Church, Ruwi. This year’s event also saw a nine member delegation from Jordan, led by Fr. Wissam Mansour, the youth chaplain. Fr. Wissam remarked, “I was lifted up by motivational music, vibrant  atmosphere, influential speakers, genuine catholic young believers, warm welcoming bishops. I had the chance to talk to some participants, I felt the fire ignited once more in the hearts of the Arabian youth. The fear of losing a job, failing in academic life or not finding a perfect match are all common  challenges that may dampen the faith of our young people in Arabia. It is Jesus who can dispel all of our fears. I think that many of our youth had the chance to meet our Lord Jesus Christ in each session and break-outs. I would over and over say it to myself and to every young believer “Do not be afraid!"

The largest international delegation was from Kuwait, which had 40 young people, and accompanied by two priests, Fr. Lionel Braganza SDB and Fr. Ivan Perera. For most of these young people, it was their first experience at the ACYC. Speaking to us, the delegation said that they were very impressed not only with the sessions, but also the decorations, the stalls, especially the “Garden of Gethsemane” built around the theme of the Garden where Jesus suffered his passion, with quotes meant to stir participants to meditate finally leading up to a beautifully set up oratory.
 
Several priests working in the parishes of the UAE were present to meet and mingle with the young people throughout the conference. Two nuns, Sr. Helen Wahura and Sr. Maria de Lourdes of the Comboni Missionary Sisters, a religious order which has been present in the region for many decades, stayed back during the full duration of the conference to become part of the gathering.
 
The conference opened with an ensemble of about 15 African young drummers and dancers leading the participants to the foyer of the church, sparking an atmosphere of celebration. Soon after, the ACYC Dance Team took center stage, delighting the onlookers with stellar performances to a mix of secular songs. The 40-member dance team, with nationals from the Philippines, India, Pakistan and Portugal, deserves much praise for holding the conference together by assisting the bands, the praise and worship teams and coming in between sessions and major breaks to maintain the festive mood.  
 
Fr. Stalin Varghese, the General Convenor of ACYC 2018 and also the parish priest of St. Mary’s Church Al Ain, welcomed the delegates, the Bishops and the resource persons. Bishop Paul, the Bishop of the hosting country, declared the conference open by releasing a rosary balloon. The Apostolic Nuncio, at the opening prayer prayed for inspiration and encouragement to face the challenges and anxieties confronting young people in this region, the strength to become witnesses, to overcome fears, and to become salt of the earth and light of the world with the help of the Blessed Virgin Mary. 
 
The liturgy of the Eucharist on the first day featured the gospel passage of Bartimaeus, the blind beggar. Bishop Paul reflected on the importance of recognizing our own blind spots and the need for the courage to turn to the Lord for help. The music for the liturgy was led by the Ras Al Khaimah Chorale Choir. The evening of the first day also had a time for Adoration, which was led by Archbishop Christopher Prowse, one of the resource persons. Many participants found this time of adoration a profoundly touching and transforming experience.
 
Bishop Camillo Ballin celebrated the Mass of Our Lady of Arabia on the second day. In his homily, Bishop Ballin led young people to reflect on the importance of repentance and turning to God without which we run the risk of jeopardizing the gift of salvation which is offered by Jesus. “God in his great love offers us through Jesus Christ any amount of chances to turn to him. He continues to love us till the end of our lives. We have to make the choice to turn to him and accept his love”, Bishop Ballin said. The music for the liturgy of the second day was led by the members of the Young Adults Ministry choirs from the parishes of Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and Jebel Ali.
 
More than 50 young people worked round the clock on the creative team which transformed the church compound into a welcoming youth festival arena and put up uniquely designed and engaging stalls featuring spirituality, fun and games. A highly professional and specially designed stage was set up for the “Cana Night” on Friday evening which featured some of the UAE’s best catholic worship bands - Ablaze, Coheirs, InsideOut, Master Plan, Redeemers.
 
The conference was animated by six resource persons, John Pridmore from the United Kingdom, who shared the story of his conversion and experiences with Mother Teresa, with whom he had worked for a brief period in his talk “Yes to Life in Abundance”. “If God can love and save someone like me, he loves you too”, he told his listeners. Sr. Anne Flannagan, a Pauline sister and popular blogger from Boston talked about ‘Saying Yes to Love’ encapsulating John Paul II’s “Theology of the Body” in an hour’s session. J.C. Libiran, an author, life coach and social media influencer from the Philippines, talked to young people about “Live the Joy”, highlighting the importance of developing a positive attitude to life, leaving behind our past negative experiences and how forgiveness can change one’s life. Mark Nimo, an evangelizer from Ghana, and presently living in the United States, animated the gathering with a powerful presentation on being “charged” by Jesus on the Cross who is our power source. One can be fruitful only by being connected to the source of fruitfulness through prayer, the Word of God, the Sacraments and service. One must move from the stage of catching fire to being fire and then spread the fire.
 
Archbishop Christopher Prowse gave the concluding talks on both days. The first talk was on ‘Saying Yes to the Catholic Church” where he spoke about moving from Silence, Presence and Encounter to Mission as highlighted in the life of the Blessed Mother. “Where do you start with Jesus? You dont give Jesus your trophies; you give Jesus your tragedies. When you give your wounds to Jesus, your wound will become womb. In Christian prayer you start where you ache – you start at Good Friday; you start at Golgatha! You dont start where you shine, or you sparkle,” he reminded the participants, inviting them to turn their aches and pains to the Lord in the moving time of Eucharistic Adoration that followed. In his concluding talk on the second day, Archbishop Prowse struck home in the hearts of his young listeners again by emphasizing three “B”’s – Believe, Belong and Become. He invited his young listeners to be energetic witnesses of their faith and “to be fire” in the world around them.
 
The breakout sessions were well-attended with around 200 people turning out for each session. The sessions were led by John Pridmore who spoke on overcoming addictions, Sr. Anne Flannagan who spoke on pro-life based on theology of the body, Fr. Arul who spoke on dealing with depression, Mark Nimo who spoke on apologetics, J. C. Libiran who spoke on being in sync with a high-tech world, Fr. Cherian Nereveetil who led a session in Malayalam and Fr. Wissam who led a session in Arabic. On the second day, another highlight was the panel discussion which saw the Nuncio and the two Bishops of the region join the resource persons to answer questions raised by the participants. The questions ranged from a wide variety of topics including marriage, free will, sexuality, child abuse and role of women in the church.
 
Several young couples also attended their event, some with their small children. Tony and Thushara, a young couple working in Dubai, attended the conferencde with their two children Reelyn aged 2 and Catherine, just 5 months old. They are originally from Kerala, India, but brought up in Dubai, their parents having migrated to the UAE. Both of them are members of the Family Ministry of Jesus Youth, an international youth movement, also very popular in the United Arab Emirates. They said they were both deeply touched by the Eucharistic Adoration led by Archbishop Prowse. Tony remarked, “Usually in a crowd like this, it is difficult to do a silent adoration. But the Bishop’s talk made us think and brought us to a beautiful time of silence. We felt this was brilliant!”
 
Eugene Pereira, the General Coordinator of the event, said that this was the first time that all the youth groups together have come together on the Vicariate level to help convene the conference and in this, the conference was a great success. Some of the larger groups like the Divine Mercy Youth Group, Sharjah, Life Teens, Sharjah, Jesus Youth, Singles for Christ, Light of Jesus, Servants of the Lord, Come Alive, Konkan Yuva, the Pakistani youth group, Joc, an Arabic/ French group, Goan youth, St. Joseph’s Young Adults, HSI Youth Group, English Charismatic (Youth Warriors – all in all, about 20 different youth groups of different nationalities, charisms, cultures are coming together to work for the church. He said that “More than an event which would just throw material at young people, we wanted to make this a conference which will throw life into them. We want to tell our young people not to be afraid of Jesus, not to be afraid of the “dirt” they might see within them, not to be afraid to bring it to the Lord. We have a Lord who even, in a certain sense, “likes” this dirt.” Joby Sebastian, the Assistant Coordinator, who also worked for the past two conferences in 2009 and 2012, also remarked that it was a great success to be able to maintain the same level of numbers as during the past two conferences even though the numbers in many of the youth groups have dwindled compared to previous years.

While thanking the organising team, Fr. Rodson Goes, the joint general convenor of ACYC, acknowledged the months of pain and hard work undertaken by the young people of the UAE in putting together a fantastic conference catering to a wide variety of tastes of the region's multinational and multicultural youth. 
 
At the conclusion of the conference, the joyful faces of the participants revealed that they had indeed found in the campus of St. Anthony’s Church Ras Al Khaimah an experience of a church truly present with its young people, which are its strength, vitality and life. As Pope Francis reminded us at the concluding mass for the Synod of Bishops, “May we too ask for the grace of a heart that listens.  I would like to say to the young people, in the name of all of us adults: forgive us if often we have not listened to you, if, instead of opening our hearts, we have filled your ears.  As Christ’s Church, we want to listen to you with love, certain of two things: that your lives are precious in God’s eyes, because God is young and loves young people, and that your lives are precious in our eyes too, and indeed necessary for moving forward. May the Lord bless our steps, so that we can listen to young people, be their neighbours, and bear witness before them to Jesus, the joy of our lives.”


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