To strengthen the network of youth ministers and better serve the needs of young Catholics in the region, the Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific (JCAP) Youth Ministry organised its first meeting for youth ministers in Colégio Mateus Ricci, Macau from March 18 to 22.

More than 30 Jesuits and young people from Australia, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand and Timor-Leste participated in the meeting.

“For the past five years since the establishment of the JCAP Youth Ministry, we have been focusing on the Magis Formation programme as a way of accompanying young people in our Asia Pacific conference”, said Youth Ministry Coordinator Fr John Nugroho SJ. “This year, we would like to share with the youth ministers another Ignatian method of training young people to be servant leaders.”

The core team plans to hold the youth ministers meeting every two years. For this first gathering, the participants were provided with practical ways they can “journey with the youth”, one of the four Universal Apostolic Preferences of the Society of Jesus.

“We hope to encourage those who have already graduated from the Magis Formation programme to take part in the Church’s work, give back to the community and serve as animators in accompanying their younger friends”, said Fr Nugroho.

He opened the meeting with an update of the projects of the JCAP Youth Ministry. One of these is a manual on how to organise and implement youth ministry programmes in the conference level. Another document underway is a youth volunteer manual that will help connect Asia Pacific youth with Jesuit missions in need of volunteers in the region.

The participants had the opportunity to share how they carry out their youth ministry programmes in their own countries, including their challenges and strengths. Many of them said they were inspired and happy to learn from the experience of their fellow youth ministers.

To deepen their sharing, the participants assembled into small groups of three to four people for Contemplative Dialogue. During the first round of sharing, they each expressed what inspired them from the day’s sessions and where they found God. In the second round, they expressed what touched them from their friends’ sharing in the first round of the dialogue. Then they concluded with conveying a phrase that expressed God’s message for them during the sharing.

The meeting was also a chance to learn about the work of the Chinese Province, which encompasses four places: Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau. Fr Vincentius Haryanto SJ from Macau gave a talk on Ignatian Pedagogy and how it can be applied in the youth ministry beyond the school setting.

Nineteen-year-old Renata Tania, who is part of the JCAP Youth Ministry core team, shared about her experience as a trained JCAP youth minister, how it has changed her life and help her to grow in Ignatian Spirituality.

JCAP President Fr Tony Moreno SJ reflected on how young people have a passion for the common good.

“We want to listen to the voice of the youth. God’s voice can be heard through them”, he said. “Sometimes we say we accompany the youth. But actually, it could also be the other way around, that we are accompanied by the youth.”