A Youth/Young Adult meeting and workshop was organized by the Canadian Goan Christian Group (CGCG) on Aug 22 At St. Joseph’s Church Hall in Mississauga in order to solicit youth input on key issues impacting the Catholic church and provide their candid feedback on the CGCG “Evangelization of Youth” initiative. Only a minimum of CGCG members were present as “non-participating helpers”. This 3 hour long workshop was a fine success, far exceeding our expectations in terms of attendance, input and youth participation/commitment/passion.
All the valuable Youth workshop feedback, both verbal (individual & presentations) and written (questionnaire) is being carefully assessed/used by the CGCG to help develop specific youth programs targeted towards assisting our youth. The 40+ attendees chose one of the four groups for spirited discussion within their groups at breakout sessions: Engagers, Fence-Sitters, Wanderers and Rejectors. (Source: Hemorrhaging Faith – Why and When Canadian Young Adults are Leaving, Staying and Returning to Church.) Each of the four teams elected two or three presenters who shared their findings via impactful audio-visual presentations.
Sufficient time was also allocated for individual input and open discussions on topics such as:
1 What do you want to accomplish today…Why are you here? What is missing for you? Why is Faith important to you?
2 How did you feel about the process?
· What did you like about it?
· What didn’t you like about it?
· What did you learn today?
· What do you think about the quality of what you created?
· Did we achieve your objectives?
The responses received from our Young Adults/Youth were candid and illuminating. The CGCG is collating these and are committed to using such valuable insights in order to adequately assess, plan and implement next steps in the “Evangelization of Youth” initiative.
Rudy Fernandes (CGCG member)